Burnham Bunch: 'Night 'Night

Goodnight, sleep tight!

Read: The Napping House by Audrey Wood and How do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? by Jane Yolen

Flannel Board: The Napping House by Audrey Wood

Craft: N is for Night

Need: Black and white craft paper, glue sticks, star stickers.

• Prior to storytime, I cut the letter N out of craft paper.
• At craft time, I had the kiddos glue their N to their craft paper, adhere stars and done!

Burnham Libary: Halloween Paaaar-tay

Halloween

Read: The Runway Pumpkin by Kevin Lewis and There was an Old Monster! by Rebecca, Adrian & Ed Emberley

Flannel board: I'm a Friendly Monster from Storytime ABC's

I'm a little monster friendly and bright.
I won't give anyone a fright.
I love polka dots but I have none.
So step right up and give me a red one.

Repeat with Orange, Yellow, Black, White, Blue, Pink and Green

Final verse:

I'm a little monster friendly and bright.
I won't give anyone a fright.
I love polka dots and I have lots.
Thank you for all my colorful spots!

Craft: Make your own Monster!

Need: Paint, craft paper: white, black, red, orange, purple, glue sticks, scissors.

• Prior to storytime, I made "squish paintings" *(huh? see below) one for each child ... this will be their monster. When dry, we cut out around the shape to make a monster body! We also cut out various shapes from the craft paper, to make noses, horns, eyes, mouths, teeth and etc. 
• At storytime, each craft seat was equipped with a squish-painted monster, a glue stick, and an assortment of shapes to create their own monster.

*Squish painting - Ok, so you all know what it is ... but what exactly is the technical name? I am calling it Squish painting. Fold a piece of craft paper down the middle (longwise). Open the paper and on one side, place blob-ish amounts of paint (not too much, but not too little). Then fold the paper and SQUISH! Reopen and there is your squish painting!

Burnham Bunch: Halloween Part 1

Halloween Part 1: Ghosts

Read: Just Say Boo by Susan Hood and The Witch's Hat by Tony Johnston

Story prop: The Witch's Hat

I downloaded pics of rats, cats, bats and a white toad -- we printed and laminated them. I wore a witches hat and used a plastic caldron ....

Craft: Ghosts

Need: Sticky-back paper, (we ran out of sticky-back paper, and I DID NOT want to go to another craft store, so we improvised) white tissue paper, white and black craft paper and glue sticks

• Prior to storytime, I traced a ghost shape onto the white craft paper. Then I cut the middle of the ghost to make a ghost-frame.
• We cut black circles for eyes, black craft paper, and a bunch of tissue paper squares.
• At storytime, Miss Susan glued the ghost frame on each piece of black paper.
• I instruced the kiddos, to "color" the inside with their glue stick. And then stick on their tissue paper.
• Done! Super-spooooooooky!

I still can not figure out how to rotate an image!!!!

Burnham Bunch: Pumpkins

Pumpkins

Read: It's Pumpkin Time by Zoe Hall and Pumpkin Harvest by Calvin Harris

Flannel board: Jack-o-Lantern from Rain Makes Applesauce

Craft: Pumpkin Playdough and playing mat

Need: Playdough recipe, orange paper and laminator and laminating sheets.

• Prior to storytime, I made the playdough and divided it into individual Ziplock baggies. Susan cut-out and laminated pumpkin shapes into a rectangular mat.
• At storytime, I placed a baggie and playing mat at each craft seat ... and let them explore. I included baskets with cookie cutters and other materials to manipulate the dough.
• That is it!

Burnham Bunch: Owls

Owls (repeated from October 2011)

Read: Little Lost Owl by Chris Haughton and Wow! Said the Owl by Tim Hopgood.

Flannel board: Wow! Said the Owl display color-appropriate story-pieces as the story progress. Give children the chance to "shout" the color that coordinates with the text.

Craft: Owls

Need: Construction paper owl-parts cut from various colors. Glue sticks.

• Prior to storytime, have your wonderful assistant cut many many many owl-parts shapes out of paper (thanks, Susan!). For example, we had blue circles, purple half-circles, yellow rectangles, "sunny-side-up" eggs shapes, and orange and pink triangles. (see finished product below)
• Children will then paste together their an owl using all the colored owl-parts.
• As we constructed our owls, I prompted the children to find their blue circles and glue them to their owl body, find the pink triangles and glue and etc.