Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Nocturnal Animals

We did a really fun Nocturnal Animal themed storytime last week. I love it when I get to teach little children big words. I think that at least one or two of the kiddos will remember the word nocturnal after today. I really drilled it! LOL! Anway, I used this great board book with large pictures and cutouts for guessing. I want to buy my own copy to always have it on hand. The children ages, 2-5 were very engaged the whole time. On the page with the large yellow eyes the 5 year old in the group guessed that it was a cat. When I turned the page we saw that it was a fox. The 2 year old beside him said, "Kitty!" and no matter how many times I said, "it's a fox!" he kept saying, "Kitty!". The other 2's took up the refrain until I turned the page. Hilarious! This is why I love storytime!!  There's a fox, weasel, owl, and several other nocturnal animals including the last page that has a lot of small cutouts with eyes that are the mouse's family. Awwww! Happy ending!

We used Nancy Stewart's song of the month, "Nocturnal Animals". I used Google images to make a large set of pictures for me and small pictures that we laminated and hotglued to large tongue depressors. We practiced holding up the matching picture as I held up the big picture and then we tried it again with the song. Big Hit!!  I also used her song, "Five Coyotes".
This theme was a chance to use my Five Little Bats again. I also have a set of 5 little owls that were a big hit with the kiddos. Eli really liked the goofy eyed owl! He even wanted to hold it after storytime and fly it around. Precious moments for me to see the joy of a child! I got my design idea from Loons and Quines@ Librarytime.








Here's the Home Extension that we handed out. We had a lot of help prepping these from our Teen Corp Volunteers. Thank goodness! Actually, this is fairly easy to prep. We used hole reinforcers for the eyes. I made small pics of the finished piece for the caregivers and paper clipped all the pieces together.  They loved it! I'm a firm believer in these Home Extensions. As the child does the activity they can remember the storytime theme and activities we did at the library. Everytime the kiddo looks at their raccoon they'll remember our book, Raccoons and Ripe Corn. They might even remember that big word, nocturnal!  Nocturnal Animals are so much Fun with Friends at Storytime!
*Update* For a terrific customized search through MANY blogs for a theme or topic head over to Mel's Desk and use her search box!! It's Terrific!!
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2 comments :

  1. Kathryn, thank you for so many ideas. The goofy-eyed-owl. Right up my alley! And honestly - I have never considered hole reinforcers for eyes! I didn't know that hole reinforcers were still "out there"! I do not know the book, Run Home, Little Mouse - but I will need to order asap. I do love it when the kiddos take over the book "kitty, kitty" Home today - working Saturday and I am making your turkeys from last week! Thanks again ~ jane

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    1. Thanks Jane, your kind words and affirmation mean a lot to me! Love those funny moments during storytime....I did another storytime this week where we were thinking of things to be thankful for. I mentioned pets and one little boy says "I don't have pets, mommy and daddy are 'lergic!" Ha!! So much fun!

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