Baby Explorers: October 2019

Baby Explorers is the program I run for infants and toddlers 0-36 months, where we use activities, crafts, and early science experiments to explore the world around us. I try to include 4 activities per session: gross motor, fine motor, create (a craft or take home activity), and explore (a sensory activity). Here's what we were up to this month:

Fine Motor: Pipe cleaner threading- we used giant pipe cleaners and slices of foam pool noodles to practice threading. Of course some of us just had fun playing with the pipe cleaners!

Explore: Sensory bottles- I filled several bottles with a variety of objects to explore. Some were heavy, some made a lot of sound, and some were shiny. Adults were encouraged to talk about the colors, textures, and sounds they experienced.

Gross Motor: Ball pit- we filled our kiddie pool with balls from our play time set. The sides of the pool were nice for our babies who needed a little help sitting up and adults were encouraged to talk about the colors they saw in the pool (and also to talk to the other adults about how cute all the babies were!)

Create: Unfortunately I didn't get any photos, but our Create station was making bath tub clings. Kids or adults drew shapes on foam sheets and then cut them out. When they're wet, they cling to the sides of the bath tub! 

Baby Explorers: August 2019

Baby Explorers is the program I run for infants and toddlers 0-36 months, where we use activities, crafts, and early science experiments to explore the world around us. I try to include 4 activities per session: gross motor, fine motor, create (a craft or take home activity), and explore (a sensory activity). Here's what we were up to this month:

Explore: Spaghetti pool! This is one of my favorite Baby Explorer activities and perfect for the summer (when we can be outside to minimize mess). Families are encouraged to take off their shoes and squish around.

Create: Thumbprint art- Bigger toddlers could create pictures using their thumbprints while younger babies could play with the inkpads and paper or adults could help them create their art.

Gross and Fine Motor: Sensory walkway- Using foam floor tiles and an assortment of knick knacks (sponges, giant pipe cleaners, pom poms, etc.) we used our hands and bodies to feel different textures and see different colors. This activity was very cheap to create and was a huge hit!

Llama Llama Pajama Jam 2019

Apologies for the super late programming posts! We had a very busy Summer at the library, including this fantastic Llama Llama program! This program was meant as a celebration for the newest Llama Llama book, Llama Llama Mess Mess Mess (an Anna Dewdney book):

This program was also a great lesson in changing plans at the last minute. We submit our program plans so far ahead of time that we frequently need to change our plans. In this case, the publication date for Llama Llama was pushed back far enough that it was not published in time for our event! Instead of storytime first followed by activities, we went straight into our stations. We still had a fantastic time!

The biggest hit of the night was a visit from two alpacas! A local farm & petting zoo (who we've used for programs before) brought two of their friendliest alpacas for kids to pet and feed. Although they weren't technically llamas, our age group was young enough to not notice or care. They were a ton of fun!

For a bedtime snack, we mad Bedtime Trail Mix (chocolate chip "goodnight kisses", marshmallow "pillows", and teddy graham "teddy bears"). I've done this snack before and it's always a big hit.

I thought I took more pictures, but we also made our own Llama Llama activity books, color matched paper quilts, and played a pajama memory game. 

Picture Book Book List: Math

Using math in storytime always seemed intimidating to me until I attended a STEAM programming seminar. One of the presenters spoke about incorporating math books and activities into storytimes  and it was like a revelation to me! Ever since then, I have been keeping my eyes peeled for math picture books which also read aloud well. Many of these titles are new, but quite a few are ones I remember from my childhood. They're all wonderful for reading at storytime or one-on-one. I've marked which age group I've used them on to the most success, but I encourage you to try them all and see for yourself!

Multiplication- PreSchool, School Age

Balance, Size, and Weight- Toddlers

Counting in large quantities and Skip Counting- PreSchool, School Age

Biography and Math in the World- PreSchool, School Age

Geometry- Preschool

Geometry- PreSchool, School Age

Measuring- PreSchool, School Age

Counting & Subtraction- Toddlers, PreSchool

Even and odd numbers- PreSchool, School Age

Counting & Ordinal Numbers- Toddlers, PreSchool

Fractions & Math in the World- PreSchool, School Age

Graphing- PreSchool, School Age

Geometry- PreSchool, School Age

Telling Time- PreSchool, School Age

Skip Counting and Estimation- PreSchool, School Age

Infinity- School Age

Negative Numbers- PreSchool, School Age

Fair Division, PreSchool, School Age

Math in the World- PreSchool, Grade School

Math in the World- PreSchool, School Age

*This author has several others which are equally fun

Measuring- PreSchool, School Age

Multiplication- PreSchool, School Age

Math in the World- PreSchool, School Age

 

Multiplication- School Age

Division and Skip Counting- PreSchool, School Age

Place Value- School Age

Probability- School Age

Division- School Age

Geometry- School Age

Geometry- School Age

*There are many more in this series

Geometry and Math in the World- School Age

Counting- Toddlers, PreSchool

Addition- PreSchool, School Age

Division- PreSchool, School Age

Skip Counting- PreSchool, School Age

Zero- PreSchool, School Age

Picture Book Art: Eric Carle

One of the most popular programs at the children's museum where I used to work was an art program where we created pieces based on stories we read. I wanted to try a program with that idea, but make it a little more picture book- based. Hence, Picture Book Art! We started by talking about the difference between an author and an illustrator (and how sometimes they're the same person). Then we read The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse by Eric Carle, talked about collages/how to make them, and got start making our own collage masterpieces! This program was for 2-5 year olds and took about 30 minutes.

Art in action:

We used glue and tissue paper to cover animals however we chose, although we did talk about how in the book we read, Eric Carle chose to use one color family per animal. Eric Carle's specific method of collage was a little complicated for 2-5 year olds, so we had a video playing in the background where he explains how he does his illustrations:

This program was a lot of fun! I love doing huge programs, but sometimes it feels really good to do a quiet program where families feel like they can settle in together and work however they feel. The simple collage method we did felt just right for this age group, but it would be fun to try it the exact way Eric Carle does it (but definitely with older kids since it would involve a knife and/or scissors). I can't wait to try another session with a new artist in the fall!