• Activities

    Story Time Planning

    I’m always curious when a new session of story time comes around to see how the adults react in story time. I am much more patient with children in story time, than I am with their caregivers. Children, especially the toddlers I hang out with, (2 – 3 1/2 year…

  • Lifestyle

    My Musings on Story Time

    I’ve been a storyteller (I use this term lightly, because I’m more of a story time leader, than actual storyteller) for over five years now and I LOVE it!  I love interacting with the kids, trying new things, and just having fun with books – it’s what I went to school…

  • Reviews

    How to Train a Train

    Chugga-chugga chugga-chugga choo choo! If you’re looking for the perfect gift this holiday season for the train-lover in your family, you’ll definitely have to pick up How to Train a Train! Jason Carter Eaton’s text is full of fun and humor and pairs perfectly with John Rocco’s illustrations. Using pet…

  • Activities

    Storytime Theme: Imagination Station

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    This is the second Saturday storytime I’ve tried this fall and it’s great to see some regular faces, but also some new faces who can’t come in during the week! I had about 20 kids show up which worked really well and before we began I explained to parents the…

  • Activities

    Story Time Theme: Mo Willems

    This week was probably one of my favorites – Mo Willems Week for story time!  Willems is an amazing author/illustrator in the children’s literature world and his books are geared perfectly to my crowd of 2 – 3.5 year olds.  We shared Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus with…

  • Activities

    Story Time Theme – Amy Krouse Rosenthal

    This week’s story time author/illustrator was Amy Krouse Rosenthal – another favorite author of mine whose books are funny, poignant, and can help children learn valuable life lessons.  Again, I think these books may have faired better with a little older audience (I’m thinking preschool age), but they are still…

  • Reviews

    Pumpkin Trouble

    It’s that time of year!  No, not Christmas (yet!), but Halloween and there are some great books out there for the holiday.  Kids around here are ready to go trick-or-treating and have been talking about costumes for awhile now.  I thought I’d post this great holiday book as it fits…

  • Activities

    Story Time Theme – Paul Schmid

    This week our story time author/illustrator was Paul Schmid.  He writes and illustrates absolutely beautiful and adorable stories for little ones.  Unfortunately, these stories were a little too long for my crowd, but would most likely work for an older audience in preschool.  I did blowup balloons for the kids…

  • Activities

    Story Time Theme: Kevin Henkes

    This week I focused on books written and illustrated by Kevin Henkes.  And for some reason I had a lot of interest checking out the books after story time, Henkes books, I think, might work better in a one-on-one setting as many of his books are quiet books that can…

  • Activities

    Story Time Theme: Karma Wilson

    As I continue through my “author study” story times, this week we looked more closely at the work of Karma Wilson.  I found that most families were familiar with her popular Bear series, but may not be as familiar with her other work.  I chose three books that she wrote…