Excited about watching virtual Storytimes but wanting to get more out of them? We are delighted to bring you some extra activities you can add to your day to get more out of our Storytimes! Each Friday we’ll be bringing you a preview of the themes for the next week and suggestions for ways to build extra learning and fun into each day.
Here’s a reminder on how to access Tumblebooks before we get started.
Monday June 29, 2020
*Special Announcement: Summer Reading Club and Read to Me Club Registration will be opening! Head to tnrl.ca to register!*
Theme: Family
Activity: My Family (recycled material craft)
Extra Story: “Grandma’s Pear Tree” by Suzanne Santillan on Tumblebooks
My Family (recycled material craft)
Create recycled material figures to represent each member of your family or significant caregiver in your life! Caregivers can also take part in this activity as they talk about the people who strongly influenced them growing up. These can be parents, siblings, teachers, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, etc… whoever is considered “family” to the individual creating the characters!
Materials:
- Yarn
- Plastic spoons/ popsicle sticks/toilet paper rolls/ recycled cardboard
- Scrap paper
- Googly eyes (optional)
- Clear Glue (or hot glue gun with help)
- Scrap pieces to decorate family characters
Instructions:
Step 1: Lay out the materials on a table or open space so they are all easy to see and accessible.
Step 2: Spend some time talking about family, what your family looks like, and who you consider as family. You could draw up a little “family” tree, and talk about how each individual is connected to the child in some way!
Step 3: Start creating your characters! You can cut people out of recycled cardboard (cereal boxes/cracker boxes are great for this) or re-imagine how everyday materials could make up a doll like character! Make clothes by cutting up scrap pieces of paper, or using scrap material from old clothes.
Bonus Activity: Build recycled material houses for your characters to live in and take part in some imaginative play!
Tuesday June 30, 2020
Theme: Canada
Activity: Maple Leaf Garland
Extra Story: “Crazy for Canada!” playlist on Tumblebooks
Materials:
- PDF maple leaf template (or simply draw out a maple leaf) (5 copies)
- Paint (red, white, black)
- Scissors
- String
- Paper plate or a piece of wax paper or aluminum foil
- Hole punch (optional)
Step 1: Print off and cut out 5 maple leaf templates (or simply draw out a maple leaf).
Step 2: On a paper plate or a piece of wax paper or aluminum foil, spread out some blobs of paint. Swirl it around with the back of a pencil or paint brush so the paints are incorporated into one another!
Step 3: Take the maple leaf cut out and place it on top of your paint swirls. Press lightly into the paint then remove the maple leaf gently. Place it in a safe drying space, then repeat with the rest of the maple leaves!
Step 4: Once the leaves are dry, punch 2 holes in the top of each maple leaf. These holes are what you will be threading the string through!
Step 5: String the maple leaves onto your string, then find the place you want to hang your Canada Day garland!
Wednesday July 1, 2020
Canada Day – No Storytime today! Check out some of the early literacy tips and weekend activities we have on our blog! You can use the tags “early literacy” or “weekend activity” to search. See all of our tags at the bottom of every post.
Thursday July 2, 2020
Theme: Monkeys
Activity: Monkey Snack
Extra Story: “Any Pet Will Do” by Nancy Shouse on Tumblebooks
Monkey Snack
Ingredients:
- Rice cake
- Peanut butter
- Banana
- Chocolate chips
Get into the swing of monkey things by having a fun monkey snack! Simply spread peanut butter (or any alternative spread) onto the rice cake, cut up a few pieces of banana then get creative! This could alternatively be done on a piece of bread cut into a circle.
Friday June 26, 2020
Theme: BLAST OFF into summer
Activity: Moon Sand
Extra Story: “Older Than the Stars” by Nancy Davis on Tumblebooks
Moon Sand
Materials:
- Flour
- Oil (baby oil works best, but vegetable and canola oil do the trick as well!)
- Aluminum foil
- Any additional play items (rocks, marbles, alphabet letters, etc..)
- Scoops, shovels, etc… (optional)
- Bin to hold it all in
Instructions:
Step 1: To make the “moon sand” use a ratio of ¼ cup of oil to 2 cups of flour. 8 cups of flour and 1 cup of oil makes loads of moon sand to play with!
Step 2: Make “moon rocks” out of aluminum foil. This can just add texture and moon rocks to your sand, or you can make an activity out of it by wrapping letters of the alphabet inside each “moon rock” for the kids to dig through and find. You can even make it a look and match game by having a piece of paper with all of the letters of the alphabet written out for the children to match their found letters to!
Step 3: Add in any additional “space like” materials you might have around to the sensory bin! We added glitter, stars, letters from the alphabet, rocks, marbles and an astronaut to this bin.
Step 4: Let the kids play freely! This is a HUGE mess, so be prepared to do a thorough sweeping afterward, or make this an outside activity. Let the children play with spoons, containers, shovels, funnels etc… while they experiment with their moon sand!
Bonus Activity: Create a fun adventure story together while you play. Pretend one of your toys has landed on the moon. Talk about what they see, how they might start living on the moon, or how they will get back home! What creatures might they see?
That’s all for this week! We’ll be back next week with more Storytime fun.