Most popular toy in the library

This is BY FAR the most popular toy I have purchased for the children's area in my library:

Alphabet Machine

I remember standing in Lakeshore Learning debating whether or not to buy this--it seemed kind of pointless? But, wow, am I glad it was on sale, which is what tipped the balance for me to try it out. It is, by far, the most popular toy in the library.

Basically there are 81 buttons that pop up and down with a click. On top, there is a picture that corresponds with a letter sound, and the letter is printed on the sides of the buttons. I've seen kids and parents create all sorts of games--parents asking kids to find, "The picture that starts with B" or "Find the apple." Kids are perfectly delighted to exercise their fine motor skills by popping all the buttons up, popping all the buttons down, making patterns, taking turns, racing--and on and on and on. It turns out that this is the perfect balance of open-ended and directed play.

It makes approximately the same amount of sound as a pen clicking, but not as annoying--I think because it isn't as fast and manic as someone repeatedly clicking a pen. Our reference desk is a ways away from the toy area, and it was months before my boss asked what made the clicking noise (despite the toy being in CONSTANT USE), so I take that as a good sign.

*this is not a sponsored post

Flannel Friday--Alligator Pie

 The very first storytime I ever did was Alligator themed. Why alligators? No idea. Unfortunately, I don't remember where I found the rhyme Alligator Pie, but it was part of that very first storytime outline.

When I did it in storytime way back when, it went ok, but it felt kind of awkward and didn't really go over well.

Now that I've been doing this for a few years, I've been revisiting some of those old outlines and decided to give Alligator Pie another chance. Because of all I've learned with Flannel Friday, I thought that some visual cues for my audience might make a big difference.

I used clip art and made these--the main rhyme is the size of four 8.5x11 sheets, and each verse is on legal sized paper. I leave the main rhyme up, and switch out the other pages for each verse (I laminated these and use them on the magnetic whiteboard side of my easel).

      

It was a great success! I do a clap rhythm (hand clap knee slap) while we recite it, and with the visual cues everyone participated with me--Hurrah! I will be adding Alligator Pie into my regular rotation.

 Email me if you'd like to share--they are Microsoft Publisher files.

Learn more about Flannel Friday here, and see the rest of this week's round up on Andrea's blog, Roving Fiddlehead Kidlit

You Are My Baby: Farm by Lorena Siminovich

Have you seen this book?

You Are My Baby: Farm by Lorena Siminovich

When I ordered this book I failed to notice this amazingly ADORABLE design feature:



It's a tiny book! Within the book! You can mix and match the animals and their babies! I need a lot of exclamation points to express my excitement! I was completely squee over this when it came in at the library.

This is great conceptual design (whether it is sturdy design is another question, but it seems like it will hold up as well as a touch-and-feel book/better than a lift-the-flap or popup). The format of the book reinforces the concept of the book, and both work together in perfect harmony. This is what good design is all about, people.

I reviewed Siminovich's picture book, "Monkey See Look at Me" last year, and while I ultimately recommended it, I was not blown away by the text/plot of the book despite my love for the illustrations.  Her art is really fantastic; full of soft lines, bright harmonious colors, and rich with patterns without becoming busy or visually assaulting. That was a hard book for me to review, so it's wonderful to see something so knock-it-out-of-the-park successful from this talented artist.

This book is making me EVEN SADDER that I don't have a baby storytime, and that's very sad.

There's also a Safari version:

You are My Baby: Safari by Lorena Siminovich