Be Creative in the Kitchen!

Preschool Story Time.  June 30th and July 1st our little chefs-in-training enjoyed cooking stories such as A Cake All For Me and I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato and songs like Peanut Butter and Jelly!   Once their "training" was over they made super cool chef's hats to wear.  Then the kids chose from a variety of cereals, dried fruit, nuts, candies, etc. to create their own culinary masterpiece (Trail Mix) to enjoy at the library or at home! 

Be Creative ~ Food!

Elementary Library Hour - July 1st.  Our first Elementary program consisted of three stations. We made chef's hats in the first station and played a food-themed play-dough sculpting guessing game in the second. In the final station kids really got to be creative, making their own culinary delights. We had several different "bases" for them to choose from such as mini tart pie shells, chocolate cups, and scoop-type tortilla chips. Then they chose a filling like chocolate mousse, bavarian cream, apple pie filling, salsa, or even ham salad. Finally they topped it off with something like whipped cream, sprinkles, or cheese! YUM!

Create Color!

Preschool Story Time, July 7th & 8th. This story time was all about art and color. We learned about the color wheel and heard stories about mixing colors like Mouse Paint. Then we read Art Dog, a story about  a dog who saves important paintings for the museum where he works. We talked about art and museums and then had a look at some famous paintings. To create color of our own we made a special painting using liquid watercolors and shaving cream!

Be Creative ~ Clay!

Elementary Library Hour, July 8th. Beth Diesch from Seneca County Soil and Water joined us for this program all about clay. Kids discussed clay and it's many different uses and purposes then got busy making a clay project to take home. They could make a pinch pot, coil pot, tile, or just be creative and make a freestyle project!

Monkey See, Monkey Do!

Preschool Story Time (Special Program,) July 14th and 15th.  Our friend Sandy Lopez from Celebration Studio joined us for this super fun participation program. No one got to sit out on this one! Moms, dads, grandmas, and kids alike learned the importance of movement and rythym! We sang, danced, rocked, moved, and grooved to the music. Oh, and let's not forget about the fun dancing monkey craft we got to make and take home!

Be Creative ~ Recyclables!

Elementary Library Hour, July 15th.  Andria Marquis from the OSS Solid Waste District returned this year with another great recycling program. Kids made robots out of discarded and/or recycled materials and then entered them into a contest. Everyone started with a plain white box and chose from things like tissue boxes, milk caps, buttons, tin cans, and more to personalize their robot. The only rule was that you had to use everything you took back to your table. Judges Susie Mesnard, Clay Mesnard, and Adam Miller considered three categories when deciding winners. The prize for overall creativity went to Brock Ferres and his robot, “Kasey Kahne.” The winner of the neatness category was Abby Waldock for her robot “Marley.” And the robot with the best name was “Hydraulic” by Hayden Klinker. These first place winners went home with a prize package full of art supplies, and everyone in attendance received a participation ribbon and recycling awareness bracelet.

Discover Dinosaurs!

Preschool Story Time, July 21st and 22nd. We started this story time with an intro to dinos with a Prehistoric Pop-Up, then moved on to some great dino-stories like When Dinosaurs Came With Everything, and How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight?  We also did the Dinosaur Dance and sang the song/fingerplay Five Little Dinosaurs.  Our puppet friend, Rex, the baby dinosaur made a guest appearance to give "Dino Kisses," but didn't stay long, because it was time for his nap! Then our little paleontologists got to go on a dinosaur bone dig! After all of that we still had time to make a way cool Stegasaurus hat to wear home! RAWR!

Be Creative ~ PAINT!

Elementary Library Hour, July 22nd.  Diane Getter, member of the Tiffin Art Guild, shared her talent with the kids. She gave them a quick lesson on painting with watercolors and shared some of her favorite children's books illustrated in watercolor. Then everyone got to work creating their masterpiece. Each participant received a sheet of special watercolor paper and chose three colors of paint. A hair dryer was on hand for paintings that needed a little bit of help drying. Once dry we matted the pictures to take home. Before they left, kids had a chance to share their picture and the meaning behind it.

Be Creative with Leaves!

Preschool Story Time, July 28th and 29th.  Linda Rose, the program director of the Seneca County Park District, presented this program on Tuesday and we recreated it on Wednesday. We learned all about how to be creative with nature. Have you ever noticed some leaves are shaped like a heart or a star or maybe even a mitten? We used those shapes to make a special leaf picture. Some kids made an abstract while others chose to make a person or animal out of their leaves. The creativity was flowing!

Be Creative ~ DANCE!

Elementary Library Hour, July 29th.  Dancer Heather Smith presented this program all about dance!  She gave an introduction to several different styles of dance and then kids were encouraged to try each one. Before they left, particpants frosted and enjoyed feet shaped cookies as a refreshment.

Rhythm & Rhyme Time!

Preschool Story Time, August 4th and 5th.  We were hummin' and drummin' at this story time! We broke out the rhythm sticks and introduced rhythm and beats with stories like Tanka, Tanka, Skunk! and Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb. Our first song/dance was Jim Gill's List of Dances--a song 16 dances long! Then we grooved with our shaker eggs to the jazz tune Chicken Rhythm, and read the book This Jazz Man. Our last song of the day was If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out and was accompanied by rhythm sticks, shaker eggs, and a freestyle dance!  Finally, we learned about Maybelle's adventures drumming in the story Two Sticks and then made a drum of our own to take home!

Be Creative ~ MUSIC!

Elementary Library Hour, August 5th.  We enlisted a plethora of area musicians to share their special talents with the kids for this program. Participants enjoyed, not only hearing, but trying out unique instruments such as the accordion, dulcimer, hand bells, an upright bass, and more! We also had the standards: acoustic and electric guitars and a keyboard. In order to remember this special event everyone got to make and decorated a tambourine out of a recycled pie plate to take home!