Sense of Sight -- 3/18/25

Story Times are held weekly on Monday and Tuesday mornings at 10:00 am. A monthly virtual Story Time is posted the first Tuesday of the month on the library's Facebook page.  It is available to view for one month before the next video is posted.

Click HERE for this month's Story Time video.

Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Shark in the Park! by Nick Sharratt

Books:
All the Better to See You With by Margaret Wild
Bear Sees Colors by Karma Wilson
The Black Book of Colors by Menena Cottin
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin, Jr.
Douglas, You Need Glasses! by Ged Adamson
Where's Baby? by Anne Hunter

Craft: Binoculars

- Curl two quarter sheets of cardstock into tubes and glue

- Cut a long strip of paper (8-1/2" x 2-1/2") and glue it around the two tubes

- Optional: Add some tape to tubes and strip to make sure they stay in place

- Hole punch a hole at end of either side of tubes and tie yarn to hang around neck

Extension Activities:

- Play a game of I Spy or go on a scavenger hunt to find specific objects.

- Let your child(ren) experiment with binoculars, microscope, magnifying glass, or telescope.  

Amy Krouse Rosenthal Story Time -- 3/21/23

Story Times are held weekly on Monday and Tuesday mornings at 10:00 am. A monthly virtual Story Time is posted the first Tuesday of the month on the library's Facebook page.  It is available to view for one month before the next video is posted.

Click HERE for this month's virtual Story Time.

Little Pea by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Plant a Kiss by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Books:
Bedtime for Mommy by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Cookies: Bite-Size Life Lessons by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Don't Blink! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Spoon by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Uni the Unicorn by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Craft: Planted Kiss
- Draw a stem and leaf onto a piece of paper
- Cut out small hearts from colored paper and glue onto paper as flower
- Glue on sparkles to make your "kiss" grow

Extension Activities:

- Do some cloud watching with your child.  See if you can find any shapes in the clouds.
- Plant some flowers or other seeds with your child.  Ask them to take care of them under they grow.

Unicorns Story Time -- 2/7/23

Story Times are held weekly on Monday and Tuesday mornings at 10:00 am.  Online Story Times will be posted monthly in the morning of the first Tuesday of the month.  (The video is available to watch for one month before a new one is uploaded.)

Click HERE for this month's Story Time video.

Do You Believe in Unicorns? by Bethanie Deeney Murguia
Uni the Unicorn by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Unicorn Day by Diana Murray

Books:

I Am a Unicorn by Helen Yoon
Shine Like a Unicorn by Shelli R. Johannes
Sophie Johnson, Unicorn Expert by Morag Hood

You Don't Want a Unicorn! by Ame Dyckman

Craft: Unicorn

- Print out a horse outline and cut out 

- Cut out a long, skinny triangle as horn

- Color horse and horn before gluing together

- Cut thin 2" strips of colored paper or color yard and glue on as mane and tail

Extension Activities:

- Make Unicorn Horns as a snack.  For a large Unicorn Horn snack, cover outside of ice cream cone with icing and roll in sprinkles.  For small Unicorn Horns, eat Bugles.

- Have a discussion with your child about the similarities and differences between horses and unicorns.

Green Story Time: March 16-17, 2020

Books:
The Croaky Pokey by Ethan Long
Good Luck Bear by Greg Foley
Little Pea by Amy Krouse Rosenthal *
Snip Snap! What's That? by Mara Bergman *
Where Is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox *

Craft: Shamrock Necklace
The kids colored a shamrock cutout which was then strung onto a length of curling ribbon along with beads to make into a necklace.

Extension Activities --
- Where Is the Green Sheep is a great lead in to going on a scavenger hunt.  Ask your child to find items of different colors throughout your house.
- Learn about St. Patrick's Day.  There are several books at the library that can be checked out or search online for kid friendly websites and videos.

Love & Hate Story Time: February 11-12, 2019

Books:
Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney
I Loathe You by David Slonim
Little Pea by Amy Krouse Rosenthal *
Love and Kisses by Sarah Wilson *
Pigs in Love by Teddy Slater *

Craft: Heart Person
This week's craft is based on the picture at left.  The kids colored a large cardstock heart with a face on it.  They then glued on four strips of accordian-folded paper for arms and legs.

Extension Activities:
- Make homemade valentines to give out to family and friends. 
- Little Pea talks about foods we love and hate to eat.  Have your child make a list of foods they love and hate.


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Clouds Story Time: March 4-5, 2018

Books:
Cloudette by Tom Lichtenheld
Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal *
It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles G. Shaw *
Little Cloud by Eric Carle *
The Police Cloud by Christoph Niemann

Craft: Thunder Cloud Man
The children were given a cloud cutout and four lightning bolts to color.  They then glued the lightning bolts to the cloud for arms and legs.

Literacy Extensions:
- Learn about the rain cycle. There are several great books for children teaching the the basics of the rain cycle.
- Spend some time with your child cloud gazing.  Look for different types of clouds and determine what shapes they are making.


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Love Story Time: February 13-14, 2017

Books:
Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney *
How Do Dinosaurs Say I Love You? by Jane Yolen *
I Loathe You by David Slonim *
Love You More Than Anything by Anna Harber Freeman
Plant a Kiss by Amy Krouse Rosenthal *

Craft: Valentine's Wreath
Children glued pink, purple, and red hearts of different sizes to the outer edge of a paper plate.  They could then write a Valentines message on the middle of the plate. (i.e. - Happy Valentine's Day, Love, "Child's Name", etc.)

Literacy Extensions:
- After reading Guess How Much I Love You, extend the story with your child by asking them to come up with expressions for how much they love you.
- Make valentines with your child to give to friends, family, and loved ones.

Owls Story Time: November 7-8, 2016

Books:
Good Night Owl by Greg Pizzoli
Hoot Owl, Master of Disguise by Sean Taylor *
"I'm Not Cute!" by Jonathan Allen
Little Hoot by Amy Krouse Rosenthal *
Whoo Goes There? by Jennifer A. Ericsson

Craft: Owl Picture
This week's craft is pictured at left.  The children were given the outline of an owl on a piece of paper.  They then glued on tissue paper feathers, brown wings, eyes, and a yellow beak to finish their owl.

Literacy Extensions:
- After reading Hoot Owl, see if your child can continue the story by coming up with costumes Hoot Owl could use to catch other animals.
- Learn more about owls.  Informational books on owls are available at the library.  Or visit the Wild Bird Sanctuary in St. Louis.

U / V - Umbrellas & Vegetables: May 11-12, 2015

Books:
One Rainy Day by M. Christina Butler
Rah, Rah, Radishes! A Vegetable Chant by April Pulley Sayre
Scarlette Beane by Karen Wallace
Underpants Dance by Marlena Zapf *
Uni the Unicorn by Amy Krouse Rosenthal *
Unicorn Thinks He's Pretty Great by Bob Shea
Up, Down, and Around by Katherine Ayres *
Veggies with Wedgies by Todd H. Doodler


Craft: Vine Picture
Each child was given a 3' piece of green yarn to glue onto a piece of cardstock as a vine.  They then glued on pre-cut leaves and flowers.

Literacy Extensions:
- Plant a small garden with your child.  Pick just a few plants to grow.  (Seeds are available to check out from the Arnold Branch's Seed Library.)
- Learn about the different types of food: vegetables, fruits, meat, dairy, etc.  Introduce the food pyramid and how many of each type of food you should eat each day.

O - Owls and Ocean: April 6-7, 2015

Books:
As an Oak Tree Grows by G. Brian Karas
Big Egg by Molly Coxe
Colors of the Ocean by Laura Purdie Salas
I Am Otter by Sam Garton
Little Hoot by Amy Krouse Rosenthal *
My Octopus Arms by Keith Baker *
Over in the Ocean: In a Coral Reef by Marianne Berkes *

Craft: Octopus
Our craft this week was based on the craft pictured above.  A piece of cardstock was cut in half and eight arms cut about 2/3 way of the sheet.  The sheet was then colored and glued into a cylinder.  The arms could be rolled or folded.

Literacy Extensions:
- Have your child continue the Over in the Ocean rhyme with other ocean creatures.
- Practice the different sounds of the letter "O".  See if your child can come up with words that use the different sounds (i.e. oo - Hoot, long o - old, short o - hot, etc.)

Colors Story Time -- Green: March 17-18, 2014

Books:
The Croaky Poky by Ethan Long *
A Girl and Her Gator by Sean Bryan
Good Luck Bear by Greg Foley *
Grandpa Green by Lane Smith
Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
Little Pea by Amy Krouse Rosenthal *
Snip Snap! What's That? by Mara Bergman
Ten Lucky Leprechauns by Kathryn Heling *

Craft: Paper Plate Leprechaun
Children colored a face onto a small paper plate and a leprechaun hat before gluing the hat and red strips of paper to the plate as whiskers. 

Literacy Extensions:
- See how many green foods your child can list.  Discuss why they do or do not like them. (i,e.. Little Pea)
- Practice rhyming with your child.  Have them try to come up with several words that rhyme with "green".

Amy Krouse Rosenthal Story Time - July 29-30, 3013

Books:
Bedtime for Mommy by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Cookies: Bite-Size Life Lessons by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal *
Exclamation Mark by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Little Hoot by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Little Oink by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Little Pea by Amy Krouse Rosenthal *
Plant a Kiss by Amy Krouse Rosenthal *
Spoon by Amy Krouse Rosenthal *

Craft:  Plant a Kiss Coloring Sheet
For our craft, we planted a kiss to see what would grow.  I drew a stem with leaf on a piece of paper.  The kids were encouraged to draw what they thought the kiss would grow to look like.  Sequins could be added to the drawing for sparkle.

Literacy Extensions:
- Do some cloud watching with your child.  Determine what you think the different clouds look like. (i.e. Duck! Rabbit!)
- Discuss the different types of punctuation and how they can change what a sentence means (i.e. Exclamation Mark)