Storytime for relaxation and stress relief

Yeah, for real. I was feeling pretty frazzled during December, and I’m sure a lot of my storytime attendees were too. In my effort to dig in and enjoy the winter the best I can, I was doing yoga at home (shoutout to the free videos at Yoga with Adriene) and I was inspired to do a stress relief storytime. I’ve incorporated yoga into storytime before, but I imagined this as more of a mellow, deep breathing, calming experience. Quite different from my usual, very energetic storytimes.

When I told my director that I was doing a relaxation storytime with dim lights and yoga and deep breathing, she laughed and looked at me like I’m a total crunchy hippie. Not too far off.

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Puppets for Non-Puppet-People

Puppets! They can be a fraught topic – I’ve heard a lot of librarians say that they’re just not puppet people and don’t feel comfortable using puppets. And to be honest, I kind of fall into that camp too. But early in my library career, I worked under a librarian who LOVES puppets. We did a big monthly puppet show, had a small kids’ puppet theater and big puppet theater for staff use always set up in the department, and had a truly impressive collection of puppets of all sizes.

Puppets for sale at the 2015 Kids First conference in Des Moines

Puppets for sale at the 2015 Kids First conference in Des Moines

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Flannel Friday: Going to the Beach with Props

At the beginning of May, I attended the “Kids First” conference, which is a fantastic conference for Iowa youth services librarians that happens every two years . It was hugely inspiring and refreshing to be surrounded by other children’s and teen librarians from around the state, and I left with so many ideas! It is such a perfect way to kick off such a busy season, and I can’t wait for 2017 to come so that I can go again.

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Flannel Friday: Little Mouse with Barns!

So I was trying to find a flannel to add to my Farm storytime, and I just could not muster the enthusiasm to make a bunch of different felt animals. Finally, I settled on the idea of doing “Little Mouse” with barns instead of houses! I love doing guessing games – they are my favorite type of flannels.

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Flannel Friday: Mary Had a Little Lamb

Recently I participated in my county’s Toddler/Kid Fest, where local libraries, day cares, and other agencies that serve children have tables with information and activities. I wanted to share something fun and interactive, so I settled on a song with a puppet and flannel board. I saw the idea for this Mary Had a Little Lamb flannel and made it out of felt with a puppet we had.

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Flannel Friday Roundup

flannelfridayThank you to everyone who participated in this week’s Flannel Friday! As a new blogger, it was really fun to host, and see what everyone’s been up to.

Kathryn at Fun with Friends at Storytime has a wonderfully colorful “What Did You Put in Your Pocket?” flannel. I love the painted stitching detail!

Lauren made these adorable pigs AND pancakes for a guessing game that I will definitely be trying.

Emily at Literary Hoots has TWO different mustache-themes flannels! Mr. Lou and his mustache that grew and grew is just hilarious, and the monsters of Mo’s Mustache are too cute.

Katie from Storytime Katie made Five Turtles, and I love the colors on the shells!

Jane at Piper Loves the Library shared this fabulous Pop-Up Craft for National Library Week! I like how each heart is unique, but they all look so good together! I’m definitely adopting this idea for a passive program, and soon.
My contribution was this Mary Had a Little Lamb flannel/puppet that I used for an outreach event. It was easy to adapt the song for different ages and attention spans, and was a lot of fun to sing!
Thanks again for participating and for the fantastic ideas!

Flannel Friday: Five Little Monkeys

I’m finally getting around to posting these little finger puppets! I usually do pretty simple flannels, but every once and a while I just want to actually sew and embroider something.

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Flannel Friday: Valentine’s Cookies

I decided that I wanted to add a flannel rhyme to next week’s Hugs and Kisses storytimes, but didn’t really have the time or drive to make something out of felt. Printables and laminator to the rescue! I found this adorable printable playset with cookies, frosting, a spatula, and a baking sheet.

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Tune In Tuesday: Up and Down by The Pop Ups

I love seeking out unusual, enjoyable children’s music, to the point that I sometimes listen to it on my own and recommend children’s artists to people who are not and do not have children. But really, I find myself saying, there’s a LOT of good stuff out there right now! There really is. I always planned on having a regular music feature on my blog, but then I found Tune In Tuesday!

The Pop Ups are a great children’s group, and a few of their songs work well in storytimes, including Up and Down, which is my FAVORITE scarf song.

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