Three of my favourite things! Get ready to jam, y’all. Many of these are biographies, but a few of them would be great storytime picks. Perhaps one of them will win a CLEL Bell Award for a picture book that supports the five early literacy practices.
A sequel to the first Kat book which made my 2018 favourites list!CODE RED, CODE RED: There is a new Emma Garcia book coming out this year!!Nothing left for me to do but DANCE.Can you name all of the people on the cover?Willems is back again.I need to know how the art was made!A biography to add to your collection.Blues is having a year.Angleberger is known for his middle grade novels, so I’m interested to see how this does.Feel the beat in the rhythm of your heart…A storytime winner? I have high hopes.So many kids in my neighbourhood play piano. Really excited to get this one.And another biography!Miles Davis, yes please.Interesting contrast between happy and sad on the cover.For ballet enthusiasts. The illustrations are so elegant.Also on my Books Featuring Babies list.Features on my women biographies list.Songs are powerful.Had me at the title, the font, the guitar, the centipede…
Which ones have you read? Which ones are you waiting on? Let me know in the comments!
Sometimes you stumble upon a website or resource that’s just so good you have to write an entire blog post about it. I should probably have one about Harvard University’s Center on the Developing Child too. Today’s post is all about the Center for Childhood Creativity, the research and advisory division of the Bay Area Discovery Museum located in California (I know I have no right to feel a swell of pride anytime anything great comes from my state of birth, but YOU GO, GIRL).
The Center for Childhood Creativity positions itself as “the missing link between academic research and adults’ work with children ages 0-10.” Did you say academic research? Did you say working with kids? I am all ears folks.
In the Reimagining School Readiness Position Paper, they look at over 150 research studies from cognitive and developmental psychology to identify skills and conditions for kids to success in school and later in life. I LOVE that they define “early childhood” as up to age 8. My province, British Columbia, is also re-writing our Early Learning Framework to include this expanded age range. The 6 key findings are clearly presented and they challenge us to change our checklist of things we look for in kids to measure success.
Once you’ve read the position paper, check out the Promising Practices: A Guide for Library Staff. They sort their 6 key findings into three categories and give specific examples of things you can do in a library setting. The three categories are: Talk & Play, Science & Math, Body & Brain.
Also included in the toolkit are case studies, bookmarks, math activities, flyers, and posters. They designed all materials so you can add your own library’s logo!
The first report lays out 7 critical components of creativity in children: Imagination & Originality, Flexibility, Decision Making, Communication & Self-Expression, Motivation, Collaboration, Action & Movement. The second report uses the CREATE acronym to lay out a pedagogical framework for creating experiences that foster creative problem-solving. Both of these are a wonderful planning tool for libraries – think about how they could transform your summer reading programs!
Lastly, I want to draw your attention to two reports that are specific to babies, toddlers, and preschoolers. Their report called Shared Discoveries: Positive Parent-Child Relationships and Child Development is packed with early literacy tips you can share in storytime, and it also works well as a source for advocating for library programs that allow us to help facilitate these relationships. Secondly, for those of you deep in the world of STEM learning, they have a report called The Roots of STEM Success: Changing Early Learning Experiences to Build Lifelong Thinking Skills which presents 6 key findings for harnessing STEM abilities in the early years and using it to promote lifelong learning.
Whew, are you feeling the research bug yet? Grab me a pen and highlighter and I am ready to go!
Have you come across any amazing resources that inform your work as a children’s librarian? I’d love to learn about them!
Instagram voted and this week’s winner is Under the Sea!
If you didn’t immediately hear Sebastian’s voice in your head after reading that title, then you were not a mermaid obsessed 6-year-old like I was. Let’s look in the ocean this week! I love living a 15-minute drive from the sea – so many of these creatures are right at my doorstep.
Need to catch up on the series? Check out the other posts:
I am loving the different shades of blues and purples plus the vertical lines that draw your eye upwards.Got me thinking Storytime.This is about animal conservation, right?This dude has seen some battles.1Fish, 2 Fish….A case of mistaken identity!Love me a true life story about rescuing animals.Predicting laughter for this one.Required reading.Okay, now I’m getting Sebastian vibes for reals.What do these things have in common? It starts with an F.Seen lots of good press about this one!The next in her peek-through series.Loving this cover SO HARD.Not an animal book, but still very much part of the sea!The first one in this series was great for school-age kids.Oh boy.I think that’s my tagline too.Another rescue story.Not gonna lie, this slightly terrifies me.Cuteness overload.Ask yourself how many books you know about sea dragons.That’s the cutest looking monster I’ve ever seen.Hey, another great book by Portis!
Which ones will you be ordering for your library? Let me know in the comments!
Today we’re talking puppets. Feared by many new storytime leaders, puppets are actually an easy way to connect with kids and provide a visually stimulating storytime. This post will cover how to use puppets in different ways without having to become a voice actor. If you’re looking for ideas on how to make puppets, please read Miss Mary Liberry’s post which has fantastic suggestions for how to make a variety of cheap puppets. Seriously. Read her post, folks. She’s amazing.
Benefits of Using Puppets
Using puppets with children has myriad benefits. I’ve found during a rowdy storytime bringing out a puppet is the only way to recenter the group and regain their attention. Most kids have stuffed animals at home and have positive feelings about said stuffies, so breaking out a puppet is a familiar yet exciting thing for them to experience. Kids who are hesitant to talk to you as the adult sometimes come out of their shell when they see a puppet as it appears more friendly and less intimidating. Puppets also encourage kids to use their imagination and infuse a sense of play into storytime. If you’re using puppets to tell stories they can act as a wonderful way to build language skills too. This short video from the New Hanover County Public Library does a great job of summarizing the benefits.
Tips and Tricks
Practice Beforehand
Just like practicing reading aloud your storytime books, you also want to practice with your puppets. Here are some questions to consider once you decide to use a puppet:
Does it fit your hand comfortably? A too big or too small puppet may not work.
Do you have to put fingers in certain places for it to fit (I have an octopus puppet that can be a bit tricky!)?
Can you move the mouth open and shut allowing you to make the puppet speak? Or will this puppet mostly move around?
Will the puppet have a particular voice and if so what will it sound like? Is it comfortable pitch for you to sustain?
Where will you store the puppet during storytime when it’s not in use? Does it have a special home like a basket or box? Will the kids be able to reach it?
There are no right or wrong answers to these questions, but the answers will influence how you use the puppet and how well you are prepared.
Sometimes you will end up dressed exactly like your puppet and that’s okay.
Introducing the Puppet
Think about how you want to introduce the puppet to the group. This will largely depend on how you plan to use the puppet. If the puppet is a mascot who comes out every week and has a name and personality, then you can make their appearance a special moment. Sometimes I’ll pretend that I hear something and it ends up being whatever the mascot was doing before I brought it out such as baking a pizza, playing basketball, etc. It’s really fun for the kids to get to say a special hello.
Most of the time, and especially when I was just starting though, I used puppets in a less formal way during songs and rhymes. For this purpose the puppets didn’t talk; they acted as a visual cue for kids to help them understand what we were singing about. I fill a large bag with puppets and then dramatically pull them out one by one as we sing each verse. Sometimes I’ll pause and we’ll talk about the colour, texture, and shape of the puppet to model the early literacy practice of talking.
Manipulating the Puppet
Even if you don’t have the puppet speak, the eyes and mouth are important features. Slightly bend the puppet downward so that kids can see the puppet’s eyes. If you do have a puppet speak, even just to sing a song, open its mouth on the accented syllable. If it’s talking, look at the puppet as if it were alive. Kids will follow your gaze and watch the puppet too. Similarly, when you speak have the puppet face you. Even if I’m using puppets in an informal way during songs and rhymes I still try to treat it tenderly so that kids know they are special. This also preserves the illusionary aspect of a puppet if you use it as a character.
I love grabbing a bunch of farm animals and then throwing in a random dragon, octopus, or other unusual creature to sing classics like Old MacDonald Had a Farm.
Storytime Examples
Here’s some examples of how to use puppets in storytime in a simple way.
Songs and Rhymes
My Toddler Storytime: Using Puppets blog post is chock full of easy examples of using puppets in a non-intimidating way. Have a favourite storytime song that includes animals? Try adding a puppet to help you sing a verse. I created a Puppet Songs and Rhymes playlist on YouTube as well with tons of ideas. If you’ve got a random assortment of puppets, try something like “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” or “When Cows Get Up in the Morning” as you can customize the verses based on what you have available. And trust me, the weirder the animals the better! If you have a small storytime group you could pass out a puppet to each child and have them “lead” the verse by coming up to the front.
Reciting Poems or Jokes
I love bringing out a puppet to share a poem or a joke. That way I don’t have to memorize anything because the puppet reads it for me! If it’s a big poetry book I will prop it up on my easel and then have the puppet read it aloud. This is a great way to introduce a concept or theme of the day. If you’ve given your puppet a personality then having them tell a joke at the beginning or end of a storytime is fun. It doesn’t have to last long – they make an appearance, read the poem or joke, we thank them, and then they go away. This can be a great way to interact with families as they are gathering or leaving too. I’ve had many kids offer their own jokes to the puppet (but not to me!).
Mascot or Host Puppet
I don’t do this one myself, but I know many storytimes that use a puppet as their host or mascot. Usually they come out at the beginning of storytime to say hello, introduce a concept or theme, or lead a song. If you are really creative you can make clothes for the puppet that change with the seasons. You could also come up with a catchphrase or song the puppet always says. These things anthropomorphize the puppet and contribute to kids making a bond with the puppet. I’ve also heard caregivers talk about how kids will go home and use their stuffed animals in a similar way, showing how they mimic and learn from our storytime activities. The following video gives a great example of a host puppet including an early literacy tip for caregivers.
Further Learning
If you are ready to go above and beyond the basics of puppetry, you can learn how to tell puppet stories and put on puppet shows. The ALSC Blog has a great post on Puppet Shows at Storytime which gives an example of how a library used a series of puppet shows to address common childhood concerns.
There is also a 5-week online course offered through ALSC called Storytelling With Puppets that dives deeper. This course is taught by the same person who does the Storytelling with Puppets YouTube channel which is full of videos demonstrating how to tell picture book stories with puppets.
Lastly, if you are able I highly recommend shadowing someone else’s storytime who uses puppets or sharing ideas at a staff meeting. I’ve gotten so many ideas from seeing others in action!
What are your tips and tricks for new storytime leaders when it comes to using puppets? Or if you’re new, what questions do you have? I’d love to hear in the comments!
So many holiday books coming out this year! I’ve arranged these loosely by holiday so you can order the ones that will fill any gaps in your collection. Still waiting on a more diverse array, but for now Christmas reigns supreme.
See the other books in my 2019 Picture Book Series:
