Early Literacy Center- Alphabet!

So this technically isn't located in our 'Play and Learn' area. In case you don't know, we have a huge boat in our children's room. It's awful. Kids love to run and jump on it all the time, but especially while parents are asking questions or checking out their books.

Earlier this month I decided to try and distract them by adding a fun new addition to the boat. We used our Cricut machine for the letters and found images online. When we were ready for them to be displayed, we just used contact paper to apply them on the surface of the boat. They've lasted for 3 weeks and haven't been peeled off yet!

They are at a perfect height for our favorite patrons, and they are spaced out over the entire boat. This gives kids an opportunity to still be moving, while keeping their attention focused on a specific task. This is great for early literacy game for a number of reasons. They're being exposed to letters and have an opportunity to trace them with their fingers, and they're working on their vocabulary with words like narwhal and yak!

Now instead of running, kids love to sing the alphabet to us, tell us about all the animals, or tell us other animals that begin with the letter they've discovered. My personal favorite is when a child goes to the letter their name starts with and says, "Look mom! They have my letter here!"

Our lovely college aide whipped these letters up in an afternoon and had them up by the next day. It's a huge hit and it was cheap and easy!

Flannel Friday Round Up – March 29th, 2014

IT'S THE END OF MARCH?! How did this happen to us? Oh well, we have some great flannels to share this week. Flannel stories make everything better.

I've participated and hosted round-ups before, but this batch is truly amazing! I am blown away at the array of ideas and ways to incorporate them into storytime. You all are wonderful! You make me want to...

First, we have the lovely Thrive After Three who made an amazing Superman Flannel board. Her pieces are awesome. There's even a Daily Planet flannel newspaper!

Ms. Jenna shares 2 great ideas. The first is a flannel version of Five Little Kites, inspired by Storytime Katie. The second is a Scroll Story about Spring! I personally have never seen this done before and I am in awe. Look at how amazing this thing is!

Anne over at Itsybistymom shares a fabulous Duck Memory Matching Game. The game is really great, but the spinner she uses is absolute genius. I'm making one as soon as I finish this round-up.

To celebrate Mr. Rogers birthday, SLC Book Boy made an amazing flannel game involving vehicles, finding a job, and Pigeon. I bet Pigeon needs to find a job because of his student loans payments– we sympathize Pigeon.

Kathryn over at Fun with Friends at Storytime is going to have a new grandbaby this year! Congratulations! To celebrate, she made an adorable set of flannel babies to use in storytime.

Miss Sue over at Library Village shares the classic There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Trout.  What a beautiful flannel set!

Bridget at What is Bridget Reading? made a gorgeous pair of crocheted elephant finger puppets. Look at how cute their little shirt and dress are. I've now decided in my free time I will learn how to crochet.

Christine at Felt Board Ideas shares two very cute flannel rhymes involving rain. If you're a visual learning she even includes a You Tube video!

The amazing Meg over at Miss Meg's Storytime shares a Pete the Cat game! You can never go wrong with Pete the Cat. Unless you dump your original writer and decide to illustrate and write your own books for mass profit :)

Storytime Katie, who I met IRL and was just as fabulous as she is online, made an adorable Ten Fluffy Chickens rhyme. I love all of the spring rhymes we're getting on this roundup!

Linda at Notes from the Story Room shares an original story "Raccoon and the Magic Fish". So many great options with this story!

Miss Tara at Storytime with Miss Tara and Friends found some amazing old flannel books. They were a little beat up, but she turned them into an great matching game!

Jane & Piper of Piper Loves the Library share a beautiful flannel Maisy! She makes some of the prettiest flannel pieces I have ever seen. Everyone should copy them immediately.

Flannel Friday Placeholder

Best Charlie Brown ever.

Hello all!

This is the placeholder for Flannel Friday this week. Please leave your Flannel Friday submissions in the comments below. Include the url for your post and anything else you want to say. I will have everything up by Saturday!

Have a fabulous day!

Excitement for #pla2014!

I just arrived in Indianapolis for the 2014 PLA Conference! Indiana is my home state and I interned at the Central library so I feel like I'm truly coming home. There are so many sessions I am excited to attend and I'm looking forward to meeting some old and new friends.

If you've made it to Indianapolis, make sure to go visit the Central library. It is about a mile from the conference center, but so worth the trip. The youth area is amazing and the staff is lovely. They have a green room for little ones where your can put yourself on TV! It is one of the coolest things I've ever seen. 

I'll be live blogging with some other fabulous librarians at the ALSC blog, so make sure to keep an eye over there. It's a great place to get information if you weren't able to make the trip. Plus, you get to see multiple perspectives on different sessions. 

I'm also facilitating Guerrilla Storytime with the fabulous Amy Koester on Sunday at 9:15! It will be a great session full of interaction and amazing librarians. I hope to see you all there! 

Early Literacy – Ocean Animals!

During a trip to the library, where is the one place where almost every child and parent visits? The bathroom! We decided to use the space to promote some fun early literacy. Also, to help distract the little ones while the mom or dad is desperately trying to take care of other siblings.

Sorry about the bad lighting!

I decided to make an "ocean" theme for our bathroom. Since we live in Wisconsin, most of our child patrons have not seen an ocean. We still want parents to talk about it though!

I made it a simple seek and find game. Yes, I realize now that I didn't include the sea turtle on my list. I didn't realize it till I went back to take this picture though.

I also included a literacy tip for parents. It can be easy to talk about things surrounding you, but things you don't see every day are just as important!

Are you all decorating your bathrooms? I'd love to see your pictures!