Last week at story time Amy said she’s been spending so much time in the dirt in her garden that she wanted to take us on a trip under the ground to see what fascinating things we can find below the earth’s surface. She shared with us Denise Fleming’s book UnderGROUND. You can see it read aloud here: Under Ground / Mrs. McDonald’s Stories. This book took us deep down to explore all that is happening under our feet. We met the burrowing, tunneling, digging animals and bugs who are busy making homes, raising families and working, and saw the roots, vegetables and even little bits of trash that are often just below the surface.
Polly took us outside and shared some of the treasures that can be found as you dig around and explore in the dirt. A toad had been hopping across her yard right before story time, so she came by for a quick visit before Polly let her go hopping off. Then Polly shared some of her rock treasures and showed us how fun it can be to play with water and rocks and see how a rock can transform when it gets wet. If you all found some treasures in the dirt this week, or made any drawings of them, we’d love to see them. Bring them to story time or email us a picture!
Amy also introduced us to Joel the Mole and Herman the Worm, two simple sock puppet friends (so simple in fact that they were the socks off her feet!). With kids at home without peer networks, puppets can be a great way to help them feel connected to additional “friends” and continue to practice their social and emotional skills.
How to introduce puppet play in your home:
- Adults can easily enter into their child’s imaginary world through a puppet (or doll or action figure) to whom the child can relate.
- Adults can help kids practice conversation skills, talk about feelings, and empathize with others’ experiences through interaction with a puppet character.
- Puppet play can take the form of making up stories, acting out a child’s imaginative story, or working through pretend problems.
- In such an uncertain time for kids and adults, puppet play is one more way to help our children to feel safe and secure. As Mr Rogers said “Pretending through puppets is often a safe way for children to talk about things that really concern them.”
- Here are more helpful puppet suggestions from the Fred Rogers Center: https://www.fredrogerscenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/WWCCTLFFR-January-2016.pdf
This Tuesday at Cook story time:
We’re goin’ fishin’! Amy and Polly have been thinking about all of the fish in the lakes and rivers around us. We’ll learn about fish and do some pretend fishing with Polly in her backyard. Oh, and this Monday, June 1st is National Barefoot Day! Let your kids kick up their sensory learning a notch and explore head to heels by freeing their toes!
Hope to see you at Zoom story time soon!
Amy and Polly
If you’d like to join our weekly story time, email polly@tamworthlibrary.org. We’d love to have you join us!