Monday, April 14, 2014

Life Sized Chutes and Ladders

This fabulous idea came from Amy at Show Me Librarian. I followed Amy's program to a tee, but I learned some thing will be helpful if I do this program again, or for a larger crowd. First, go read Amy’s post so that what I’m about to write makes any sense.
Like Amy, I had about a dozen participants, but the most I had playing at any one time was about seven. I followed Amy’s tip, and had the kids wear nametags with numbers to make turn-taking easier.

Books for checkout, and the numbered name tags I had players wear

 The big thing I would do differently is that I would make a set of ten LARGE numbered placards for them to wear around their necks. I would skip the names, since I referred to them by their numbers anyway, and I would limit the amount of players in one game to no more than 10. As kids come in, I would have them take a number, 1-10. If more than ten kids arrived to play, the extras would line up ‘on deck’ and would replace the winners as they made it to the end. As each player in the first game makes it to the end, they would hand off their placard to the next kid in line. The winners could be done, or if they wanted to play again they would go to the end of the line. I would keep letting new kids replace winners until it got to the point that the very first winner would start over. At that point, I wouldn’t let any numbers re-enter until we finished the game completely (allowing everyone to make it to the end). Then I would start a new game entirely! 


The thin masking tape connects the spaces to show game direction; the thick masking tape shows ladders, and yarn shows the chutes.



Instead of a physical spinner, I found cool customizable spinner online called Wheel Decide, and used our community room's laptop/projector to make the spinner huge on the wall. I clicked the button to spin each turn, and announced the results, but it was also projected on the wall behind me, so the kids could see it. They really got into the drama of watching the spinner and hoping it was going to land on the color they wanted. It was super awesome fun, and I will definitely use Wheel Decide in the future any time I need to use a spinner. Below I show how to customize it, and here is the finished product that I made.


Easy as 1,2,3!

1. Go to advanced options
2. Choose the color scheme that you want
3. Write in the labels for each space on the spinner. To make sure the colors match the words, use the same word order that is listed in #2
4. Don't forget to name your wheel!


Supplies List:

  • Leftover SRP books for prizes (I spread them on a table)
  • Candy treats to hand out after the first game, for kids to enjoy while I modified the board
  • Masking tape to make the ladders (Need to somehow differentiate from the tape used to show game board direction—I used thick tape)
  • Masking tape to connect the spaces/show which direction the board moves in
  • Book tape or masking tape to secure the spaces to the floor
  • Yarn for chutes
  • Library books about games for kids to checkout
  • Placards numbered 1-10 for kids to wear around their necks
  • Construction paper—12-13 sheets each of red, yellow, green, blue (I collated them ahead of time which was a lifesaver when I was getting set up for the game!)
  • Spinner/Laptop, projector, wi-fi to use online spinner
  • Optional: cd player for background music.



Thursday, April 10, 2014

Flannel Friday April 11th 2014

I am delighted to once again be hosting all of the delightful ideas, tips, and tricks for this week's Flannel Friday. There's some great stuff this week (as usual!). Clip-art, flannel--the materials don't matter so much as how you use it!  And here we go:

Think Spring! Photo Credit: 'Ajnagraphy' via Compfight cc


Props, Games, and Other

Linda from Notes from the Story Room presents something new and exciting--an original "Origami and Tell" story, Sally Square that combines shapes, storytelling, and origami!

Over at Itsybitsymom, Anne shares a very simply stoplight prop and a fun Stoplight Song game that will work perfectly with those itsy bitsy storytimers.

Flannelboard Stories, Rhymes, and Songs

Ms. Kelly at the Library shares her lovely summer (think green!) butterflies for Five Little Butterflies 

Get out your glitter glue and fancy felt, Kathryn's update to her story, A Gift for Mommy will satisfy all your glittery needs.

It's always nice to see Melissa, the brains behind Flannel Friday, return to us! This week, she shares some cutie cute (and quick!) Rainbow Ducklings

Jenna from Stories with Ms. Jenna demonstrates the valuable technique of reusing flannel pieces you've already made to tell new stories in her version of The Old Woman and Her Pig

Book Adaptations

Miss Tara takes on a project I've always wanted to do, but have been too daunted to take on! She does a simply gorgeous job adapting Caps For Sale to felt!

Miss Kristen from Library Village does a lovely job using clip art to adapt a too-small-for storytime book, Owen's Marshmallow Chick.

Another adaptation of a too-small-for-storytime book, this time a board book, comes from Lisa at Libraryland: Orange Triangle Fox--a great choice for a shape or color storytime.

Lisa at Thrive Over Three demonstrates how out-of-print books can have new life through flannel board adaptations in her reworking of the superhero(!) story, Captain Pajamas

Inspired by Flannel Friday

Let's all fall down the "inspired by Flannel Friday" rabbit-hole with Katie at Storytime Katie, with her happy, sunny (SUN!) Five Little Starfish

Another delightful version of the classic, "Monkey Face." This time from Kathryn at Fun with Friends at Storytime shares her sassy version.

Check out our Pinterest boards for hundreds of other ideas!
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