Story Time at Home: Let's Visit Israel!

Today’s Story Time at Home theme is Israel!  If you would like to share a picture of your story-time-at-home experience (i.e. You might send a picture of a finished craft project), just shoot us an email at ozarkregionallibraryyouth@gmail.com, and it might get included on our blog!  No names will be included with submissions for privacy reasons.

Let's Visit Israel Story Time

Books: 

Welcome to Israel!

by Lilly Rivlin and 

Gila Gevirtz, et. al.

Cover image from Goodreads.

Sammy Spider's First Trip 

to Israel by Sylvia A. Rouss

and Katherine Janus Kahn

Cover image from Goodreads.

Game/Activity: Tambourines are an ancient Israeli instrument mentioned in the Book of Exodus.  Make your own tambourine by stapling two paper plates together and filling with small pebbles, beans, or beads.  Play your tambourine, and notice how the sound changes when new materials are substituted for the filler.

Snack: Make a potato latke, such as is traditionally eaten during Hanukkah.  Mix together 2 cups of frozen hashbrowns, 2 beaten eggs, 2 tablespoons of milk, ¼ cup of chopped onion, and 2 Tablespoons of flour.  Drop the batter by spoonfuls into a heated skillet, and flatten into cakes with a spatula.  Brown on both sides, and then serve warm with applesauce.

Craft: Make a miniature copy of the Israeli flag.

• Gather a blank, white index card, as well as glue, blue markers, and six toothpicks (you might have some of these left over from our France Story Time at Home a few weeks back).
• Color your toothpicks blue. 
• Glue the toothpicks into the shape of two, separate triangles.
• You can make a Star of David for your miniature flag by overlapping and gluing together the two triangles; one triangle will be right-side-up, and the other will be upside-down.   
• Glue the Star of David onto your white flag, and let dry.  

I hope you enjoyed this idea for how you can recreate story time at home!  Check back in a few days for more fun, travel-themed ideas focusing on a new area of the world!

Keep reading!

Shaen

Story Time at Home: Let's Visit Hawaii!

Today’s Story Time at Home theme is Hawaii!  If you would like to share a picture of your story-time-at-home experience (i.e. You might send a picture of a finished craft project), just shoot us an email at ozarkregionallibraryyouth@gmail.com, and it might get included on our blog!  No names will be included with submissions for privacy reasons.

Let's Visit Hawaii Story Time

Books: 

The Hawaii Snowman 

by Christine and Michael Le

Cover image from Goodreads.

Pig-Boy: A Trickster Tale
from Hawaii
by Gerald McDermott

Cover image from Goodreads.

Game/Activity: Ok, so the hula hoop didn’t originate in Hawaii, but the “hula” dance sure did!  For this silly exercise in music and movement, dig out your old hula hoop (or snap one up on the cheap at a yard sale), and try to dance the hula while hula-hooping.  Impossible?  You won’t know until you try!

Snack: Keep your snack simple.  Buy some canned, sliced pineapple, and savor the flavors of island life!

Craft: Make a flowered, paper lei.  The Family Fun site has a great tutorial using cupcake liners!

I hope you enjoyed this idea for how you can recreate story time at home!  Check back in a few days for more fun, travel-themed ideas focusing on a new area of the world!

Keep reading!

Shaen

Story Time at Home: Let's Visit Greece!

Today’s Story Time at Home theme is Greece!  If you would like to share a picture of your story-time-at-home experience (i.e. You might send a picture of a finished craft project), just shoot us an email at ozarkregionallibraryyouth@gmail.com, and it might get included on our blog!  No names will be included with submissions for privacy reasons.

Let's Visit Greece Story Time

Books: 

Hour of the Olympics:

The Magic Tree House #16

by Mary Pope Osborne

and Sal Murdocca

Cover image from Goodreads.

The Orphan: A Cinderella Story

from Greece

by Anthony Manna, 

Christodoula Mitakidou, 

and Giselle Potter

Cover image from Goodreads.

Game/Activity: Research the origins of the Olympics, and have your own outdoor contest.  The possibilities are limited only by your imagination!

Snack: Olives and figs are common fare in Greece.  Sample some green or black olives, or have dried figs or Fig Newton cookies for your snack.

Craft: Make a chiton, or robe-like piece of clothing similar to what the ancient Greeks wore. 

• Gather a large paper grocery sack, scissors, a holepuncher, ribbon or yarn, and crayons/markers.
• Open the grocery bag, and set it upright on a table.  Then, remove the side panels of the bag with your scissors.  
• Cut a wide opening in the bottom of the bag– this will be the neckhole of your garment.
• Holepunch down the sides of the bag, and tie the sides together with ribbon or yarn.  
•  Decorate your garment however you would like.  Then, slip your head through the neckhole and your arms through the sides of the bag (before the yarn lacing begins.  Tighten the yarn sides to fit, and you’re done!

I hope you enjoyed this idea for how you can recreate story time at home!  Check back in a few days for more fun, travel-themed ideas focusing on a new area of the world!

Keep reading!

Shaen

New Educational Puzzles in at Library

The Ironton Headquarters of Ozark Regional Library is pleased to announce the addition of a circulating collection of ten Melissa & Doug chunky educational puzzles to our children's section.  Puzzle themes include Dinosaurs, Farm Animals, and Sea Creatures, among others.  Come try out the new selection at the library, or check one out to enjoy at home.

Melissa & Doug puzzles.

Keep reading!

Shaen

Story Time at Home: Let's Visit France!

Today’s Story Time at Home theme is France!  If you would like to share a picture of your story-time-at-home experience (i.e. You might send a picture of a finished craft project), just shoot us an email at ozarkregionallibraryyouth@gmail.com, and it might get included on our blog!  No names will be included with submissions for privacy reasons.

Let's Visit France Story Time

Books: 

The Cat Who Walked Across France

by Kate Banks and

Georg Hallensleben

Cover image from Goodreads.

Anatole by Eve Titus and

Paul Galdone

Cover image from Goodreads.

Game/Activity: France is recognized as being a hub for perfume-making.  Test your nose with this fun sensory activity!  Gather approximately half-a-dozen small paper Dixie cups, and with a sharp needle, poke a small hole in bottom of each cup.  Put one item in each cup that has a strong scent (i.e. a banana slice, a cotton ball soaked in peppermint extract, a piece of a gingersnap cookie).  Turn the cups upside down on the tables with the items still tucked inside.  Let kids smell the scent wafting from the pinhole in the cups, and guess what the scents are.

Snack: Make crepes!  To make the crepe batter, combine 1 ½ cups of milk, 1 ½ cups of flour, 3 eggs, ¼ teaspoon salt, and 2 tablespoons of melted butter or margarine in a bowl until smooth.  A hand-held mixer will yield the best consistency.  Let the batter sit for an hour.  Then, heat a small skillet.  Pour ¼ cup of the batter into the pan, and tilt from side to side until the bottom of the pan is covered.  When the crepe is cooked, remove it from the pan, and stack on a plate.  Make as many crepes as you would like, and then add your favorite topping– chocolate, whipped cream, diced fruit– before eating!

Craft: Recreate the Eiffel Tower– from toothpicks!

• Gather a box of toothpicks, a sheet of construction paper (preferably black), and glue.  Glitter is optional, but nice!
• Find a picture of the Eiffel Tower, and recreate its shape simply with toothpicks (hint: try making a triangle for the top of the Tower, and more toothpicks to create the “legs” the Tower stands on).
• Glue your toothpicks to your paper.  
• Add more glue to your Parisian scene, and sprinkle on some glitter for extra sparkle.  

I hope you enjoyed this idea for how you can recreate story time at home!  Check back in a few days for more fun, travel-themed ideas focusing on a new area of the world!

Keep reading!

Shaen

Story Time at Home: Let's Visit England!

Today’s Story Time at Home theme is England!  If you would like to share a picture of your story-time-at-home experience (i.e. You might send a picture of a finished craft project), just shoot us an email at ozarkregionallibraryyouth@gmail.com, and it might get included on our blog!  No names will be included with submissions for privacy reasons.

Let's Visit England Story Time

Books: 

Katie in London

by James Mayhew

Cover image from Goodreads.

B is for Big Ben: An England Alphabet

by Pamela Duncan Edwards

Cover image from Goodreads.

Game/Activity: Sing the classic rhyme, “London Bridge is Falling Down.”  You can find lyrics and more info about the song here.

Snack: The British enjoy their daily afternoon tea time, so why not make some tea– or hot cocoa for those who don’t have a taste for tea–, and snack on homemade or store-bought cookies (call them “biscuits” like they do in England for an added bit of authenticity!).

Craft: England is known for its complex and beautiful cathedrals dating back to the Medieval period.  Make your own stained glass window picture for today’s craft!    Here’s how to make your picture:

• Gather two small sheets of waxed paper (about the size of a sheet of 8 ½” x 11” typing paper), colored tissue paper, scissors, and tape.
• Tear or cut small shapes from the colored tissue paper.  
• Tape the colored tissue in a pattern onto one piece of waxed paper.  
• Place the second piece of waxed paper over the top of your design, and secure it with tape as well.
• Trim any extra waxed paper from the edges of your stained glass window, and you’re done!  Suspend your creation in a real window to catch the sunlight.

I hope you enjoyed this idea for how you can recreate story time at home!  Check back in a few days for more fun, travel-themed ideas focusing on a new area of the world!

Keep reading!

Shaen

Spring Story Time 2012- Colors!

Spring Story Time 2012- Colors!

From freephotosandart.com

The story time schedule for the spring 2012 season is complete and ready for viewing!  Our theme is "Colors".  Some fun activities to look forward to?: reading about pizza, singing about dinosaurs, and painting with grape jam!  Just click on the schedule image below (or visit the library website) to view the schedule or stop by your local library in person and pick up a more detailed paper copy of the schedule at the front desk.

Spring 2012 Story Time Schedule-
click for larger image.

Keep reading!

Shaen

Story Time at Home: Let's Visit China!

Today’s Story Time at Home theme is China!  If you would like to share a picture of your story-time-at-home experience (i.e. You might send a picture of a finished craft project), just shoot us an email at ozarkregionallibraryyouth@gmail.com, and it might get included on our blog!  No names will be included with submissions for privacy reasons.

Let's Visit China Story Time

Books: 

Lon Po Po: A Red Riding Hood

Story from China

by Ed Young

Cover image from Goodreads.

The Seven Chinese Brothers 

by Margaret Mahy and 
Mou-Sien Tseng.

Cover image from Goodreads.

Game/Activity: Have a chopstick relay race.  See who can place “rice” (white cottonballs) in a bowl the quickest, only using chopsticks to pick up the rice.  If you don’t have authentic chopsticks from a Chinese restaurant, you might substitute a pair of unsharpened pencils.  For better grip, use the eraser end of the pencils to snag the cottonballs.

Snack: Make rice or instant rice pudding, or eat pre-packaged rice cakes.

Craft: Make a beautiful paper fan.    

     

Instructions:

• Gather a paper plate, a popsicle stick, glue or tape, and crayons or markers.
• Draw a scene on the paper plate with crayons or markers.  Traditional Chinese scenes are of flowers, fish, butterflies, or birds.
• Securely glue or tape your popsicle stick to the bottom of the plate.

I hope you enjoyed this idea for how you can recreate story time at home!  Check back in a few days for more fun, travel-themed ideas focusing on a new area of the world!

Keep reading!

Shaen

Story Time at Home: Let's Visit Canada!

Today's Story Time at Home theme is Canada!  If you would like to share a picture of your story-time-at-home experience (i.e. You might send a picture of a finished craft project), just shoot us an email at ozarkregionallibraryyouth@gmail.com, and it might get included on our blog!  No names will be included with submissions for privacy reasons.

Let's Visit Canada Story Time

Books: 

Imogene's Antlers by David Small

Cover image from Amazon.

Looking for a Moose by Phyllis Root 

and Randy Cecil

Cover image from Title Source 3.

Game/Activity: Play a Canadian Animal Memory Match Game!  Print off two images each of a variety of Canadian animals, such as elk, deer, and moose.  Children have to put like pairs of animals together.  To make this game more challenging for an older child, cut squares around the animals, instead of revealing the actual shape of the animal.  Then turn your these square "cards" upside down so that all the card backs show their blank side.  A child has to make pairs using guessing and memory skills, similar to the game of "Concentration".

Snack: Make maple leaf cookies or sandwiches.  To make cookies, cut leaf shapes out of sugar cookie dough, bake, and then decorate the tops with red frosting or white frosting with red sprinkles.  To make sandwiches, cut leaf shapes out of a light-colored bread, and then leave the sandwiches open-faced, decorating the tops with red foods, such as strawberry/raspberry jam or ketchup and lunch meat.

Craft: Make an aurora borealis painting.  The "aurora borealis", or northern lights, are a beautiful phenomenon that can best be viewed from a northern country, like Canada.  Create your own from the comfort of your kitchen!  

     

Instructions:

• Fill several spray bottles with water and one or two drops of vegetable-based food coloring.  Make your solutions different colors; one can be blue, and another can be orange!  Tip: you can buy small, child-sized spray bottles for less than a dollar in the travel section of your local superstore, or you can use an empty, washed-out hairspray bottle in a pinch.
• Line your table or floor with newspaper or paper towels to minimize mess.  
• Spray different colors onto a flattened coffee filter until you're satisfied with the way your project looks.  The colors will start to bleed together immediately.  
• Let your creation dry for about thirty minutes.  

I hope you enjoyed this idea for how you can recreate story time at home!  Check back in a few days for more fun, travel-themed ideas focusing on a new country!

Keep reading!

Shaen

Story Time at Home: Let's Visit Australia!

Today’s Story Time at Home theme is Australia!  If you would like to share a picture of your story-time-at-home experience (i.e. You might send a picture of a finished craft project), just shoot us an email at ozarkregionallibraryyouth@gmail.com, and it might get included on our blog!  No names will be included with submissions for privacy reasons.

Let's Visit Australia Story Time

Books: 

Koala Lou by Mem Fox

and Pamela Lofts.

Cover image from Goodreads.

I Love You, Blue Kangaroo! 

by Emma Chichester Clark

Cover image from Goodreads.

Song: Sing the traditional Australian animal song, written by music teacher Marion Sinclair: Kookaburra Sits in an Old Gum Tree.  Plug the song title into a search engine to get the words to this popular tune.

Snack: Make an ANZAC biscuit.  You can find an explanation of the food’s acronym and a simple recipe for the dough here.

Craft: Make an aboriginal bark painting.  Here’s how:

• Gather several flat pieces of dry tree bark from your yard, as well as paintbrushes and paint.  
• Paint a scene on the bark; common themes for bark paintings might include fish or other animals native to Australia. 
• Let your painting dry for at least half an hour.

I hope you enjoyed this idea for how you can recreate story time at home!  Check back in a few days for more fun, travel-themed ideas focusing on a new area of the world!

Keep reading!

Shaen

Story Time at Home: Let's Visit Africa!

If you're at home with your little ones, waiting for another season of toddler/preschool story time to begin, why not try having story time at home?  For the next seven weeks, I'll be posting oodles of ready-to-use, story time outlines, which will include themed book suggestions, fun activities, and simple crafts you can make with materials you probably already have on hand.

If you get ambitious and would like to share a picture of your story-time-at-home experience (i.e. You might send a picture of a finished craft project), just shoot us an email at ozarkregionallibraryyouth@gmail.com, and it might get included on our blog!  No names will be included with submissions for privacy reasons.

So, without any further delay, let's get to the fun stuff!  Today's story time destination?  A continent across the world- Africa!

Let's Visit Africa Story Time

Books: 

Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears:

A West African Tale

by Verna Aardema and 

Leo and Diane Dillion

Cover image from Goodreads.

Mama Panya's Pancakes: 

A Village Tale from Kenya 

by Mary and Richard Chamberlin

and Julia Cairns

Cover image from Goodreads.

Game/Activity: Make your own game of Mancala, a “count-&-capture” game that has roots in Africa and Asia.  Click here for great instructions from Kaboose!

Snack: Combine two popular African foods- bananas and nuts- to make this super simple snack. 

Craft: Make a baobab tree.  Baobab trees are unique; they look as though they have been planted upside down, and their partially hollow trunks can hold up to 25,000 gallons of water!  Here’s how you make your own tree:

• Gather an empty, plastic soda bottle, brown and green construction paper (or color a couple sheets of typing paper), scissors, and glue or tape. 
• Wrap the bottle base with brown paper.  
• Twist small strips of brown paper to form branches.  Attach these to the bottle’s neck.
• Cut out and attach green leaf shapes to the ends of the branches.
• Admire your recycled creation!

I hope you enjoyed this idea for how you can recreate story time at home!  Check back in a few days for more fun, travel-themed ideas focusing on a new area of the world!

Keep reading!

Shaen