Be Kind to Spiders Week - Virtual Storytime

Lately I've been looking to various lists of holidays and observances for inspiration for my storytime themes, and the first full week of April was "Be Kind to Spiders Week". Since so many people have somewhat irrational fears of spiders as adults, I thought maybe this would be a good opportunity to provide some factual information and a more positive spin on spiders.

Happy Birthday, Very Hungry Caterpillar! - Family Storytime

Fifty years ago a tiny caterpillar popped out of an egg and into the hearts of children everywhere. Generations later, it is still hugely popular, and has been translated into at least 40 languages. The upcoming anniversary of the publication of Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar inspired this caterpillar-themed storytime with some very special guests.

I started with my usual welcome song, followed by a new one from Jbrary I've been using lately:

 "Hello, Everybody"

Hello, everybody, can you touch your nose,

Touch your nose, touch your nose?

Hello, everybody, can you touch your nose?

Touch - your - nose?

(wiggle ears, pat head, rub tummy, etc...)

I followed that with our "story song", then introduced the topic and asked them how old they thought The Very Hungry Caterpillar was. First they guessed a year, then three years, five years, and ten years. Then I told them it was FIFTY years old, and that I read it when I was their age, which blew their minds. Then I told them that while most of them had probably read it before, I bet they had never read this version, and pulled out my special pop-up version that was created for the 40th anniversary.

Though I had had to make some repairs, it still worked pretty well and they were very impressed, and I think paid attention more than they would have otherwise. It's always fun to see an old favorite in a different format or told in a different way. My only fault with this classic is the mistaken use of a cocoon, when it should be a chrysalis. Caterpillars that become butterflies form a chrysalis, a flexible shell under their skin that hardens after they molt one last time. Cocoons are like sleeping bags spun out of silk by caterpillars that will become moths; they serve the same function, but are very different, and I explained this to the audience.

I followed that with a fun little song that would let them move around and get some wiggles out, including wriggling like a caterpillar and flying like a butterfly.

Can You Move Like Me?

Can you wiggle like a worm?

Can you squiggle can you squirm?

Can you flutter, can you fly,

Like a gentle butterfly?

Can you crawl upon the ground,

Like a beetle that is round?

Can you move like me?

Can you flip? Can you flop?

Can you give a little hop?

Can you slither like a snake?

Can you give a little shake?

Can you dance like a bee

That is buzzing 'round a tree?

Can you move like me?

Then we went from a very old caterpillar story to a brand new one, and instead of being very hungry, this one was The Very Impatient Caterpillar by Ross Burach. If you've read my previous review, you know I love this book! It is so funny, reminds me a great deal of Mo Willem's impatient Pigeon, and the humor is very similar.

I also love that it properly shows a chrysalis, and uses the appropriate term, plus introduces two other great vocabulary words, metamorphosis and migration. I got to read it earlier this week to the 4-year old class at my outreach visit, and they loved it, too.

Our Special Guests! 

Then I introduced our special guests, and let them all get a chance to see them up close.

I've always wanted to do the activity where you buy live caterpillars and then get to observe them as they grow and develop, forming chrysalises, and finally emerging as butterflies, so I figured this was a great excuse, and I wouldn't have to pay for it, plus I'd get to share it with everyone else. So we now have twelve Painted Lady caterpillars (from Carolina Biological Supply) living in our department, and I encouraged everyone to stop by every couple of days or so to check on their development. The whole process only takes about 3 weeks!

The caterpillars came in 2 cups, complete with nutrient media, which I set inside an aquarium with a mesh cover (taped down) to protect them from being picked up, shaken, or opened, and put them on a shelf near the desk with an info sheet where everyone can see them, and we can keep an eye on them. [They also came with a butterfly cage, feeding wick, and lots of info and resources.]

[I'll post further updates, photos, and videos to the blog under STEAM programming, and to my Facebook page, so be sure to follow along!]

Optional Craft

The craft I chose was very simple, but yielded impressively cute results. It actually combined two crafts, a caterpillar made with pom-poms and a clothespin, and a butterfly made with coffee filters, washable markers, water, and a pipe cleaner. I gave them the option of making either or both, and supplied ziplock bags for those who had to leave so they could take the supplies, take a picture of the directions, and finish at home.

The caterpillar is pretty straightforward (just glue pom-poms on the clothespin and add eyes), but for the butterfly, stack two coffee filters directly on top of each other. Color the top one with washable markers, then lightly mist with water (or drip from eye droppers) until the colors bleed through the second filter; let dry. Then accordion-pleat each filter, hold together and twist pipe cleaner around and bend the ends into antennae; one filter forms the forewings, and the second makes the hindwings. Lightly "fluff" the wings.

Once both parts are dry, you can transform the caterpillar into a butterfly by clipping it onto the butterfly wings!

How It Went

This was a really fun storytime! I had a decent turnout, despite not getting an announcement on social media like I wanted*, and the kids all seemed enthusiastic, plus several were aged 4-6, which was a nice change.

We loved reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and I got really great participation, with the kids all saying the repeating line "...but he was still hungry" and identifying the foods he ate. Though I of course like to use storytime to introduce kids and parents to new authors, illustrators, and stories, it is nice to occasionally read an old classic because it's familiar and you get such great interaction and participation, and even better if you can share it in a new way, such as with a pop-up version, flannel story, using puppets or props, singing it, etc. Kids always love pop-ups, so of course the pop-up version I had was a big hit.

Most of the kids enjoyed the "Can You Move Like Me?" song, but for whatever reason, about a third of the audience left after that. But the ones that stayed really loved the humor in The Very Impatient Caterpillar, and though most of the kids denied it, the parents confirmed that they had a lot in common with the impatient caterpillar sometimes.

They also loved seeing the caterpillars up close, and hearing that we were going to keep them at the library and watch them grown and develop, until they transformed into butterflies. I encourage them to stop by and check in on them frequently, as the process is surprisingly fast!

*I had a whole social media component planned to go with this, announcing the arrival of the caterpillars and inviting the public to their big debut at storytime, then posting updates with photos of their growth and development. I even envisioned possibly being lucky enough to catch them emerging from their chrysalis on live video. But, alas, it was not meant to be. Our person in charge of social media quit, and it's kind of a hot mess right now. So I'll just post them on my own social media instead.

Cute As A Bug - Preschool Storytime

Last week I finished up a 2-week rotation with a "Bug" theme on the Storytime Bus, which I usually plan to coincide with late spring/early summer when there are lots of bugs outside. This is one theme that is easy to find a number of good books for!

I tried to start each storytime by talking about how some bugs are helpful, since so many people still seem to think the only good bug is a dead one. I talked about how bees make honey and pollinate flowers, lady bugs kill aphids that damage our plants, dragonflies eat mosquitoes, spiders catch annoying flies, butterflies are pretty, and fireflies are just cool! Then we did our "Letter-of-the-Day", which was the letter "Bb", and sing our story song to help us settle down and be ready for our first story.

The Books

The Very Greedy Bee by Steve Smallman and Jack Tickle seems to be an overlooked gem. I came across it shelf reading a while back and knew it would be great for storytime. It has humor, suspense, vocabulary, and a good lesson about not being greedy and being kind to others. The illustrations are cute, bright, colorful, and very engaging. I highly recommend it!

Jan Thomas' books are always a big hit with their silliness, limited text, and simple, bold illustrations. In Can You Make A Scary Face? a lady bug invites us to play pretend, after first making us stand up, sit down, and stand up again. This book is very interactive and great for a movement activity, and it even has us doing the chicken dance!

The Honeybee and the Robber is a great pull-tab book from Eric Carle that I had never seen before. We follow the honeybee through her daily activities and back to the hive, when suddenly a bear shows up, trying to break into the hive and steal their honey. Unfortunately this book is out-of-print and hard to find, so it you come across a used copy in good condition at a reasonable price, snap it up!

The Very Busy Spider is another book from Eric Carle, with a spider who is so busy spinning her web, she can't even take time to answer the other animals when they invite her to play. This is a simple story, but the kids enjoy it, and most will join in saying the repeated line "She was very busy spinning her web."

In Emma Dodd's I Love Bugs a young boy shows us lots of different kinds of bugs, ending with a spider. The illustrations are cute, slightly abstract, and colorful, and the text is very descriptive and has a nice rhythm without rhyming. The audience can try to identify each bug, but will probably need a little help with some of them, so it's a good idea to be sure the adult knows what they all are.

Paul Stickland's Big Bug Little Bug is subtitled "a book of opposites", but some of the word pairs are more contrasting than true opposites, but it is still a fun book with big, bold, colorful illustrations of bugs, some real, some fantasy, that ends in a huge, wonderfully impressive pop-up. This book is great for younger kids, but does okay with older preschoolers as well.

Butterfly, Butterfly by Petr Horacek is another good book for younger kids. As Lucy searches for her butterfly friend she played with the day before, she discovers many other bugs and small creatures. The audience can identify the bugs and/or their colors, then be amazed when the large, beautiful butterfly pops up at the end.

Like the others in the series, Snappy Little Bugs by Claire Nielson is a great little pop-up book that preschoolers almost always love. Some may feel the illustrations and text are a bit juvenile for older preschoolers, but I find they still enjoy it because of the pop-ups.

Good Night, Sweet Butterflies by Melanie Garth, Dawn Betley, and Heather Calhoon is great for 2-3 year olds and gives the opportunity to work on counting, subtraction, and colors as the sparkly butterflies settle in for the night one by one. The rhyming text is simple and while the illustrations are bright and focus mainly on a single color, but are filled with lots of other bugs and creatures.

How Many Bugs in a Box? by David Carter is part of a whole series of pop-up books featuring little bugs. In this book, the bugs start off looking something like real bugs, but then they become more silly and fantastical, with fish-bugs, frog-bugs, and ending with saw-bugs. Not only is it entertaining with the cute pop-up bugs and has counting, it also works on descriptive terms, such as colors, patterns, size, shape, etc.

The Activities

"Here Is The Beehive"

Here is the beehive,

Where are the bees?

Hidden inside, where nobody sees.

Count them as they come out of the hive.

One, two, three, four, five.

BUZZ...

I used my homemade finger-puppet glove and a picture of a beehive for this (idea and printables courtesy of Sunflower Storytime), but you can also use your fist as the beehive, and extend your fingers out one by one for the bees, which is what I have the audience do. At the end, I "buzz" all the kids with my bees, eliciting lots of squeals and giggles, and frequent requests to do it again.

__________________________

"Can You Move Like Me?"

(to the tune of "Do Your Ears Hang Low")

Can you wiggle like a worm?

Can you squiggle can you squirm?

Can you flutter, can you fly,

Like a gentle butterfly?

Can you crawl upon the ground

Like a beetle that is round?

Can you move like me?

Can you flip? Can you flop?

Can you give a little hop?

Can you slither like a snake?

Can you give a little shake?

Can you dance like a bee

That is buzzing 'round the tree?

Can you move like me?

The video above shows the movements that go with it.

__________________________

"Itsy Bitsy Spider"

The itsy, bitsy spider climbed up the water spout.

("walk" hands up like spider)

Down came the rain and washed the spider out.

(flutter fingers down, the sweep hands out to either side)

Out came the sun and dried up all the rain.

(make circle with hands over head)

And the itsy, bitsy spider climbed up the spout again.

("walk" hands up like spider)

_________________________

"The Bugs Go...."

(to the tune of "The Wheels On The Bus")

The fireflies in the sky go Blink, blink, blink.

Blink, blink, blink; Blink, blink, blink.

The fireflies in the sky go Blink, blink, blink,

All night long.

[I let the kids suggest the bugs and action/sound, but here are some possibilities]:

The crickets in the grass go Chirp, chirp, chirp....all night long.

The bees in the hive go Buzz, buzz, buzz.....all day long.

The butterflies in the sky go Flutter, flutter, flutter....all day long.

The grasshoppers in the grass go Hop, hop, hop....all day long.

The caterpillars in the grass go Wriggle (or Munch)....all day long.

The ants on the ground go March, march, march....all day long.

How It Went 

The kids seemed to really enjoy this theme, even though there were always a few that could not be convinced that spiders were not bad. I had one little boy who had just turned 3 and was very apprehensive about getting on the bus for the first time, but once he saw the bug decorations became very excited and enthusiastic. I had another older boy that was just amazed when I showed them how the lowercase "b" could be changed into the letters "d", "p", and "q", just by turning it backwards and/or upside down.

All the books were pretty well received, but the older kids particularly liked the silly fun of Can You Make A Scary Face?, and they really seemed to like the story of The Greedy Bee, and how the bee learned a valuable lesson from his ordeal and became a changed bee. I think it really appeals to their sense of justice when a character suffers the consequences of his actions, but they also like the sense of hopefulness and redemption when a "bad" character leans his lesson and mends his ways. The younger kids loved the pop-up books and the pretty, glittery butterflies in Good Night, Sweet Butterflies.

All of the songs and rhymes worked well since the involved sounds and/or movements, and of course everyone knew the Itsy, Bitsy Spider.  As usual they all loved feigning being scared when I "buzzed" them with my finger-puppet bees.

New Picture Books!

I grabbed a few picture books off the new shelf to review, fortunately I had much better luck than last month and found a few good ones.

How To Spy On A Shark by Lori Haskins Houran, illustrated by Francisca Marquez.  March 1, 2015.  Albert Whitman & Company.  24 pages.  Ages 4-7.

This non-fiction picture book shows some of the steps involved in studying sharks, with very brief, short explanations just right for very young kids and early readers, with fairly realistic drawings.  At the end of the book is more detailed information for adults to read and explain if they wish.

Somehow I missed this book when it first came out back in the Spring.  It is the perfect level and amount of information for younger kids who are curious about sharks and how they are studied, but are easily overwhelmed with too many details.  I like that the more detailed information is given at the end so that and adult can read and discuss it with the child(ren).  This would be good for a beginning reader, or could work for a storytime to introduce some factual information.

Sniff!  Sniff! by Ryan Sias, April 7, 2015. Harry N. Abrams.  32 pages.  Ages 3-7.

On each 2-page spread, see what the doggie smells and guess where he is going next.  On the first page, he smells bacon, pancakes, and oranges.....Breakfast!

This is a short, simple book with very little text and bright illustrations with heavy outlines, perfect for younger kids.  I think it would be great for a 3-5 year old storytime, but I personally think it's a bit short & simple for 7 year-olds.  I like that it has little text, but plenty of action and is interactive. 

The Fly by Petr Horacek, May 12, 2015.  Candelwick, 32 pages.  Ages 3-7.

What has two googly eyes, six hairy legs, and two transparent wings?  The narrator of this story, the common housefly.  As he goes throughout his day, the poor fly is constantly getting swatted at, but he doesn't understand why no one wants him around.

This simple but humorous story is sure to work well for a preschool or kindergarten storytime.  Kids will enjoy the sounds of the flyswatter smacking and discussing whether they think cows smell lovely, and the ending is sure to get a few laughs and giggles.

Billy and Goat At The State Fair by Dan Yaccarino, June 30, 2015.  Knopf Books for Young Readers.  40 pages.  Ages 3-7.

Billy and Goat were best friends, and did just about everything together, though not in the same way.  While Billy liked to swing, Goat liked to push.  Billy liked to smell the flowers, and Goat liked to eat them.  Billy liked reading adventure stories, and Goat wanted to have real adventures.  One day Billy decided to enter Goat in the Best Goat contest at the fair.  Instead of waiting patiently in the barn for the contest like he should, Goat leads Billy on a series of adventures and hijinks at the fair.

This is a cute story with bright, sharp illustrations and plenty of action.  It is a little on the longer side, with a few more pages and a bit more text on each page, so would probably work best as a one-on-one read, or in a storytime with older kids who have a longer attention span.

Bugs!

As the weather warms up and we get closer to summer, what do we see more of besides flowers?  Bugs!  Creepy, crawly, buzzy, fluttery bugs.   There are a number of cute books about bugs or starring buggy characters, and so many cute songs and rhymes it makes it hard to decide which ones to use.

As always I started with our welcome song, but since the kids have been extra wiggly lately with the warmer weather, I decided not to go straight into our "story song" after the introduction.  Instead, I added a fun song that fit today's theme and has lots of movement that I found at Sunflower Storytime:

         "Can You Move With Me"                   

          (to the tune of "Do Your Ears Hang Low")                    

          Can you wiggle like a worm?                         Can you flip, can you flop?
          Can you squiggle, can you squirm?              Can you give a little hop?         
          Can you flutter, can you fly,                           Can you slither like a snake?
          Like a gentle butterfly?                                  Can you give a little shake?
          Can you crawl upon the ground                    Can you dance like a bee,
          Like a beetle that is round?                           Who is buzzing 'round the tree?
          Can you move with me?                                Can you move with me?

Below is a video of an adorable little boy demonstrating this song with all the movements:

I encouraged them to be sure and do lots of wiggling and get ALL their wiggles out.  Then we went on to our usual "story song" to which I added some bug-related verses, like flap your wings, wiggle your antennae, and ending with sitting down, then saying "Shhhhh".  Now we were ready for our first book, I Love Bugs! by Philemon Sturges.  I like this book because it is short and simple, with graphic illustrations and covers a number of different bugs.  I also like that it had pictures with the name and a short fact about each bug shown in the story in the endpapers.  Emma Dodd also has a great book with the same title, but I chose the Sturges one because it was a little shorter and had clearer illustrations.

To lead into the next book about a bee, I asked them which bugs help us by pollinating flowers and making honey.  After they said "Bees!" I told them I had a great little rhyme about bees and did the classic childhood fingerplay "Here Is The Beehive":

          Here is the beehive.                                       (make a fist)

          Where are the bees?                                     (hold hand up questioningly)

          Hidden away, where nobody sees.                (cover hand, shake head)

          Watch them as they come out of the hive.     (bring fingers out one by one)

          One, two, three, four, five!  BUZZZZZZZZ!    (pretend to buzzz kids)

I borrowed the idea and printable art for making a simple puppet with a glove and five clipart bees that I cut out & laminated, along with the beehive, to go along with this rhyme from Sunflower Storytime.  I couldn't find any gloves this time of year, so had to make due with one I found laying around the house.  I also couldn't get velcro dots in time, so made due with tape for the time being.  But this would be a great way to complement other "5 Little..." rhymes.

Then we read a funny story about The Very Greedy Bee by Steve Smallman.  I loved this story about the selfish, greedy bee who hogged all the pollen and nectar for himself and became so fat he couldn't fly and had to depend on the kindness of strangers to get home.  It was slightly on the longer side, but I thought the kids could handle it if I kept the other stories short, especially since the dialog is pretty animated and expressive.  The illustrations are cute, and it sneaks in a lesson about sharing and kindness as well.

Next we transitioned into talking about caterpillars and butterflies and did the action rhyme "Roly-Poly Caterpillar":

          Roly-poly caterpillar into a corner crept.     (creep fingers across palm)

          Spun himself a blanket,                              (cover finger)

          And for a long time slept.                           (lay head on hands, close eyes)

          Roly-poly caterpillar wakened by-and-by.  (wake up, yawn)

          Found himself with pretty wings,                (stretch wings)

          Changed into a butterfly.                            (flutter hands)

           *Source:  Little Hands Fingerplays & Action Songs by Emily Stetson & Vicky Congdon

After that we read Petr Horacek's Butterfly, Butterfly, which follows a young girl as she hunts for her friendly butterfly and discovers other creatures along the way, and ends with a lovely pop-up butterfly.  This would also be a good book to use with a color or summer themed storytime.  Then we ended with our usual closing song. 

How It Went

It went really well, other than me starting out a little flustered because there was a traffic accident on the way & I had to take a detour and was afraid I would be late.  I got there on time, but the distraction made me blank on one of the lines of the "Move With Me" song and I had to grab my cheat sheet.  That has never happened to me before!  The kids enjoyed the song, and incorporating some bug movements into our usual "story song", and the extra movement seemed to help them be more settled. They were really engaged today and did a great job listening without interrupting too much.  We are still working on the raising-hands to speak, without the accompanying "Me, me, me, me!" :)

At first they were all "Ewww" when I introduced the topic of bugs, but then I reminded them that not all bugs are creepy-crawly, and that some are beautiful and some are helpful and we talked about bugs that we like.  They thought the boy in the I Love Bugs! was a little weird for loving bugs, but they seemed to enjoy it and I liked the bit of factual information in the endpapers.  The Very Greedy Bee was a huge hit; they loved it as much as I do.  They laughed hysterically when I made the slurping and burping noises, were appalled at the bee's selfishness, and worried when he saw the glowing eyes of a monster that turned out to be friendly fireflies (or lightning bugs as we say around here).  They were glad he got home and learned to share and everyone had a party to celebrate.  They were not as excited by Butterfly, Butterfly, but still listened and named the colors and the bugs Lucy found as she looked for the friendly butterfly.

The kids absolutely loved the bee puppet, especially at the end when I "buzzed" all of them and they shrank back in feigned terror.  It really enhanced the rhyme and I plan to make an upgraded version soon, and try to think of other things I can use it with.  They did fine with the "Roly-Poly Caterpillar", but I wish now I had taken a little more time to talk about the whole metamorphosis process a little more.  I also wish I could have come up with a really good prop for this one; maybe next time!  At the end, one sweet little boy asked me if I could stay and go outside with them.  Sadly, I had to go straight to work.