Pasta Dinosaur Skeletons

I hosted a pasta dinosaur craft program for children of all ages! It's super easy and a lot of fun.

Supplies:

• Brown Card Stock
• School Glue
• Dried pasta in a variety of shapes

Twisted Fairytale Storytimes

I used this theme for a past storytime. The program was for children ages 4 to 6.

Books

The Three Little Pigs and the Somewhat Bad Wolf by Mark Teague
The Boy Who Cried Bigfoot by Scott Magoon
The Three Billy Goats Fluff by Rachel Mortimer 

Songs & Fingerplays

The Muffin Man

Activity

Snowman Beanbag Toss

This program took place during the winter, so I used the snowman game toss! It's always a huge hit.

Craft

Three Little Pigs and Big Bad Wolf stick puppets

 

Supplies:

• Cardstock
• Crayons
• Popsicle Sticks
• Glue or tape to adhere the puppets 

I located the cutouts on Pinterest. 

Pizza Pie Storytime

I used this theme in a program last year. It went over well and I plan on repeating it in the near future! This program was for children ages 4 to 6.

Books

Ding Dong! Gorilla! by Michelle Robinson
Pizza at Sally's by Monica Wellington
Tony and the Pizza Champions by Tony Gemignani

Songs & Fingerplays

I Wish I Were a Pizza
Courtesy of Preschool Education

The other toppings we name are cheese, olives, mushrooms, and pineapple!

Pizza Man
Courtesy of SurLaLune Storytime 

Pizza Game

The children helped me make a giant pizza! I made different pizza toppings and handed them out to the participants. I read the poem A Pizza the Size of the Sun by Jack Prelutsky. I also found the CD with the poem in song form, and played it while we made our pizza. The CD is also titled A Pizza the Size of the Sun. When their topping was mentioned, the child would come to the front and place the topping on the pizza crust and sauce.

A picture of the prop pizza is provided below. I used railroad board to make the crust and the sauce. It's like poster board, but thicker. I printed pictures of the toppings, or used construction paper to make them myself.

Snack

We made dessert pizzas after the program using sugar cookies as the base. I provided a variety of easy toppings for kids to make their own sweet pizza!

 It's always a good idea to mention ahead of time if a program will have food. This will allow anyone with an allergy to bring a snack, or avoid the table with the foods.

Toddler Activity Time

I recently hosted an evening Toddler Activity Time. I used the same format as the previous program.

Songs & Fingerplays

I incorporated some nursery rhymes into this Activity Time.

Humpty Dumpty

For this rhyme I had the kids act out movements. It went as follows:

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall
(tap hands on knees)
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
(roll hands downwards)
All the kinds horses, and all the kings men
(tap hands on knees)
Couldn't put Humpty together again.
(place hands together over your head)

Hickory Dickory Dock

I was inspired by Jbrary's version of Hickory Dickory Dock. We only counted up to three.

Bubble Pop
Courtesy of Jbrary

I'm a Big Whale
Courtesy of Preschool Education

Instead of "I am swimming" we sing "I am splashing" while tapping our knees.

Fish are Swimming
Courtesy of Preschool Education

We also sang a variety of old favorites.


Scarf Play

Let's Go Riding in an Elevator
Courtesy of Jbrary

The Fish in the Sea
Courtesy of Jbrary

The kids free danced to Octopus's Garden afterwards. 

Craft

Paper Plate Pineapple!

Supplies:

• Green construction paper
• Plate
• Yellow tissue paper
• Stapler
• Glue sticks  

I had a volunteer cute out the pineapple top and shape to make it easier for the kids, since they were younger.

This craft was inspired by Glued to My Crafts.

Shark Week Craft

In honor of Shark Week, I hosted a jaw-dropping shark craft with a colleague. It was a lot of fun! This was a drop-in craft program for children of all ages.

The craft was inspired by a blog post found on a ModCloth. The directions for the craft can be found in the post.

Supplies:

• Large gray construction paper
• White paper
• Black marker
• Double-sided tape
• Red glitter or glitter glue
• Scissors
• Glue sticks  

If you choose to use regular glitter, I would highly recommend using a glue stick. It sticks better and dries faster! It's important to use the double-sided tape as well. Regular tape usually doesn't adhere to construction paper.

Curious George Storytime

I hosted a Curious George storytime last summer and it was a big hit, so I decided to repeat it. He's still a favorite with kids! This program was for children ages 3 to 6.

Books

Curious George and the Pizza Party
Curious George and the Birthday Surprise
Curious George and the Hot Air Balloon

I received a Curious George kit from a publisher last summer. In it was this great yellow hat! I wore it during the program.

Songs & Fingerplays

Five Little Monkeys

Go Bananas! 
Courtesy of Jbrary

We start the song saying pick bananas. We also leave out chop bananas.


Craft

Monkey Mask

Supplies:

• Brown plate
• Tan Card stock
• Large google eyes
• Large Popsicle stick

I found the face template on Pinterest from FreeKidsCrafts.com.