Today’s storytime was all about Playing and the letter P!

P felt board

Playing is one of the five easy early literacy activities you can do with your child every day to help develop their vocabulary and prepare them to learn to read in school when they’re older.  The five early literacy activities are: Talking, Singing, Playing, Reading and Writing.  Take some time to do these things every day.  Turn off the TV, put away the devices, and make time to play!

We read Whoa, Baby, Whoa! by Grace Nichols and illustrated by Eleanor Taylor.  If you’re anything like me and find yourself often telling your children “No,” you’ll find this one lots of fun.

 

whoababy
Side note: One reason I like this book is that it shows a biracial family. My family is sort of biracial (or would you call it multiethnic?). I’m white and my husband’s Latino. There are quite a lot of biracial families in Pasadena, but most children’s books seem to show families that are all the same ethnicity. It’s always nice to find one that shows mixed races/ethnicities.

 

Then we read Pots and Pans by Patricia Hubbell and illustrated by Diane deGroat.  This is a classic and really illustrates the fact that you don’t need a lot of expensive toys to entertain a toddler–all you need is imagination and a little ingenuity, and often your toddler will supply those!

potsandpans

 

We did a flannelboard story based on the old book Play with Me by Marie Hall Ets:

 

A little girl asks a frog if he will play with her, but he is frightened off and hops away.
A little girl asks a frog if he will play with her, but he is frightened off and hops away.
One by one (and sometimes in twos) the animals are approached by the little girl and frightened away by her loud request to play with them.
One by one (and sometimes in twos) the animals are approached by the little girl and frightened away by her loud request to play with them.
In the end of the story, the little girl sits down by the pond and is quiet enough for all the animals to come back and feel comfortable with her.
In the end of the story, the little girl sits down by the pond and is quiet enough for all the animals to come back and feel comfortable with her.

We watched the film “Ruby’s Hippity Hop Dance” from the DVD Summertime With Max & Ruby (available for checkout at the Pasadena Central Library).

And we played with bubbles!  I purchased this set of Gymboree Bubble Oodles on Amazon and tried them out with all the storytime groups today.

bubble oodles

They worked really well and lasted a long time.  But one thing I learned was that you can’t blow too hard, or no bubbles will come out.  Slow and steady breaths are best.  And the soap is very thick and if it gets on your clothing, you’ll have spots for the rest of the day!  (I’m sure it washes right out though.)

bubbles on pants

 

It’s worth it to see the kids looking so excited and happy 🙂