All You Need for a Snowman
All You Need for a Snowman written by Alice Shertle and illustrated by Barbara Lavallee is one of those “perfect for a storybox” books. The plot is simple – all you need for a snowman is some snow, rolled into one big ball. That’s all. Except…for a middle-sized ball, and a small one, and a hat, etc. The text has a great rhythmic flow and the pictures are colorful and large enough for group sharing. But because it’s all about building a snowman, it’s the perfect book to make a feltboard storybox. Even folks who are craft-challenged like me can cut three white circles out of felt! Ms. Marge, our library’s craft guru, made the feltboard pieces you see below. You can build the snowman piece by piece as you read the story aloud to your group, then hand out pieces to kids to help you build the snowman during your rereading or picture-walk through the book. Not enough pieces to go around? Use a diecut machine to make lots of snowflakes – you need lots of snowflakes to make a snowman! After storytime is done, put the book and the felt pieces in the storybox by a feltboard so little ones can go through the book and make the snowman on their own. Felt pieces, a felt board, and a great book – that’s all you need to make a snowman storybox!
A Valentine Story You’ll Love!
If you’re planning ahead for Valentine’s Day ideas, “1 2 3 Valentine’s Day: a counting book” by Jeanne Modesitt and Robin Spowart is great for preschoolers and kindergartners. The rhyming text helps build phonological awareness, and little ones get to count to ten as the mouse delivers Valentine’s Day gifts to his friends. The visual of the corresponding number of hearts at the bottom of the pages is a nice touch. My fellow librarian and early literacy champion, Ms. Marge, uses this in storytime, and brings a big red box with her. In the box she has one of each item the mouse delivers – a silk rose, a paper heart, etc. – that she pulls out as she reads. Try reading the story to your young ones, then let them retell the story and pull out the objects from the red box. Your active, “body smart” kids will love it!
Guess Who Is Out of the Den?
