Welcome to another installation of the Early Literacy blog! We had a wonderful time this week continuing with our farm theme. I asked the kids to help me read a few books by making animal sounds. This type of story time interaction keeps them listening and engaged.

The 2 and 3 year olds enjoyed Book! Book! Book! by Deborah Bruss. In this story, the barnyard gang is sad and bored because the children that they played with all summer long had to go back to school. At the end, the hen makes sure they get some book Book BOOKS!

In Story Time with 4’s and 5’s, we also read The Cow That Went OINK by Bernard Most. This tale begins with a cow that can only oink, and is picked on by the other animals. She meets a pig who only says “MOO,” and they help each other learn the sounds that they make. The kids really sympathized for the cow and pig when they were laughed at by the others. There is a happy ending, thank goodness!

We completed some wonderful crafts this week. Everyone had a farm animal to color, and we completed them with clothespin legs! How cute are these?

All you have to do is make a mirror image copy of your animal (without legs, of course), cut, color, and attach the clothespins. I have a chicken here, but we also made pigs, sheep, and cows!

The 4’s and 5’s also got to make buttons! The Children’s Department has an incredible button machine that makes buttons in a few easy steps. The kids just have to color their pictures, and I put the buttons together so they could take them home. All of them wore their buttons proudly after the programs!

We will continue our farm theme next week. Stay tuned for more down-home crafts and stories!