By Kim Harris Thacker: mommy, writer, and Bookshop Talk host
I love to volunteer in my community, whether that means
helping out at youth organizations, at my daughter’s school, or in garbage
clean-ups. But my very favorite thing to help with in the adorable town in
which I live, is storytime at the local environmental institute.
I first became involved with storytime last year, when I was
asked to be a reader. Now, I’m not always socially adept (in fact, I quite the
introvert), but when I’m around kids, all my inhibitions fall away and I have a
ball! Maybe the reason lies in the fact that I was a teacher for a while and am
now the mother of two young girls. At any rate, I really, really enjoyed
helping out. So this year, when I was asked to head up the storytime as an
adult volunteer, I said, “yes, please!”
As the storytime bossy-boss, I get to choose the books we
read and the activities that follow the readings. And, as a Bookshop Talk
hosty-host, I’d like to share those books and activities with all of you. That
way, you can hold your own storytimes! Whether you choose to do that with your
children or in a larger community setting, I know you’ll get a lot of joy from
the experience—and give it out in hefty doses, too!
I
chose a garden theme for the first week, since the readings are held at the environmental
institute, and I wanted the kids to get excited about exploring the area. The books I chose were as follows:
MY GARDEN by Kevin Henkes, 2010. The
illustrations in this book are phenomenal, and the text is really sweet. Funny,
too! This was our featured selection, which meant that I read it very first.
MAMA, IS IT SUMMER YET? by Nikki McClure,
2010. This is another gorgeous picture book. The kids enjoyed looking for the
bits of bright color on each black-and-cream colored page, and they loved the
anticipation of summer that the boy in the story experienced (and that built up
for the reader, too). Kids are always asking, “Mama, are we there yet?” on
trips, or, “Mama, is it my birthday yet?”, and this book gets at that idea.
Good things come to those who can exercise a little patience!
AND THEN IT’S SPRING by Julie Fogliano,
2012, with illustrations by Erin E. Stead. This book is sheer poetry, with
stunning illustrations. It’s also another “waiting for spring” book.
All three of these picture books are very much suited to
young kids—ages Can-Sit-Still-for-Ten-Minutes-But-Only-Ten-Minutes to about eight,
I’d say.
One other book that I’d like to recommend that fits this
garden theme is THE CURIOUS GARDEN by Peter Brown (2009).
This book was inspired by the High Line garden that runs through Manhattan on
an old elevated train track! Truly, gardens can exist anywhere—and should exist
everywhere, in my opinion!
Speaking of gardens existing anywhere, how about in an egg
carton? This was our activity for the kids who came to storytime, and two great
things about it was that it was really, really fun and really, really cheap.
I cut recycled paperboard egg cartons into individual cups,
which the kids filled with soil, a bit of water, and three pea seeds (just in
case some don’t grow). Then we poked tiny, postage-stamp-sized signs with
pictures of peapods on them into each cup. Toothpicks made the perfect flag
poles for our tiny peapod flags. This activity was a hit with all the kids, and
even the tiniest ones participated (with the help of grownups).
We also planned a scavenger hunt around the nature center,
but we ran short on time, so we decided to bag it. If you were to hold a
storytime at a similar site to ours, however, a scavenger hunt to get to know
the area would be great. You could place each of the items that are needed for
the pea-planting at different areas around the site and give each child a map
(with photos as well as text) showing where they need to go in order to obtain
their materials.
I hope you enjoy many, many storytimes this summer! Stay
tuned to hear about more of the books that are read at the nature center
storytime this summer and about the activities that go along with them!
Is anyone else out there involved with summer storytimes? Where is it held? What sort of activities do you do? What storytime books have you read this summer?
2 comments:
This is great stuff, Kim!! Thanks for sharing :)
I actually haven't read any of these. How embarrassing! I'll be doing a bit of catch-up on picture books before I host my own. Thanks for the post!
I want to win a book!
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