Sep 27, 2014

WonderWorks: Rubber Bands


Amazingly enough, we got through all three sessions of this class without anyone getting serious about shooting rubberbands at their friends--we MUST be working with preschoolers.

Today's Topic: Rubberbands (Technology)
Supplies:
--rubberbands in as many sizes and colors as you can find.  Don't forget about hair bands and ponytail rubberbands!  I also had a large resistance band and some stretchy rubber tubing from a physical therapy office
--Things to wrap rubberbands around (kleenex boxes, bowls, buckets, bookends, hangers, blocks)
--Geoboards
--materials to make "Jumping cups"

Book:  
cover art Just how long can a long string be?! / Baker, Keith
note: this book has nothing at all to do with rubber bands, but I couldn't find any that DID.  Recommendations are welcome!

Sep 26, 2014

The Supper Club: A new App Storytime

 A new evening family storytime featuring apps instead of books -- and also supper.  Mmmm... supper....

What it is:
I started a new program series this month called The Supper Club. We meet on the Third Thursday of each month at 6:30 p.m. and families are invited to bring a picnic supper or order from one of the five restaurants near our library (they'll deliver food to the library right before storytime and they created some great "family meal deals" for our storytime families!).  Then, everyone enjoys eating dinner while I read a few book apps, sneak in a few quick tips about healthy ways to incorporate apps into family life, and introduce a few non-book apps (games, puzzles, creativity apps, etc.).

This month, one of the featured book apps was Ink Robin's Picadilly's Circus.  The developer generously sent me some free copies of the app to give away to storytime participants and this great illustration showing an early sketch from the book:
If you'd like to find out which other apps were featured this month, check out the full list here!

Our hands-on craft this month was a DIY pinwheel as an extension of Duckie Deck's Huff n Puff app. You can download the template and instructions and make your own pinwheel here!

Since this is a new program, I need your (yes, you Dear Reader!) input-- would you like to hear more about the Supper Club?  Should I post the apps we featured each month?  Is the pdf version of the list okay, or would you strongly prefer clickable links right in the blog post itself?  Do you love this idea enough that I should add it to the sidebar and include an FAQ page?  Do you have other questions about this new program?  Or should I stick to the hands-on maker-y posts for this blog?  Chime in readers!

Click here to see a longer list of apps I'm happy to recommend (it's a work in progress at this point...).

Sep 25, 2014

Craft Lab: Embossing School Notebooks

Got some boring looking notebooks and folders for school?  Here's an easy way to embellish them!

Today's project: Embossing
Supplies:
cardboard (cereal boxes work great!)
die cut machine and dies (or... an exacto knife and a self-healing cutting mat)
gluesticks
bone folders (or Sharpie markers)
water in a spray bottle

Sep 23, 2014

WonderWorks: Sorting


The scientific concept of classification is fun to explore with preschoolers!

Today's Topic: Sorting (or Classification)
Supplies:
sets of things you have on hand (I used buttons, bottle caps, puppets, blocks, foam letters, some dyed noodles I had from a past project, magnetic wooden shapes)
containers to sort them into (I used ice cube trays, egg cartons, and buckets)

Book:
  cover art Same same / Jocelyn, Marthe


Sep 10, 2014

Summer Special: Edible Mars Rover

Who knew NASA's work could be so sweet?

Today's Project:  Building an edible Mars Rover (with help from the UW Geology Museum and a grant from NASA)

Materials:
graph paper
pencils
a picture of some past rovers
assorted candy
graham crackers
toothpicks
frosting
paper plates

Sep 4, 2014

Toddler Art Class: Foam Paint

Squishy like shaving cream or whipped cream with equally exciting sounds when it comes out of the can but it's paint!

Art Project: Foam Paint
Supplies:
foam paint
heavy cardstock or light cardboard
bowls
clean-up supplies!

Book:
cover art I ain't gonna paint no more! / Beaumont, Karen    

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