Disney-cember

I find the holiday season a stressful time. More so when I'm at work and my arm is twisted to make our department "Holly and Jolly" with little or no help from my co-workers.



My idea for a Harry Potter themed tree was nixed and was suggested that we do a Night Before Christmas Tree and that we make craft templates so all the staff could decorate one. (Translation: I will tasked to make them.)  I've been hauling butt to get ornaments, trees, and crafts ready for the first week of December.

However, admist this holiday hell there is something heavenly With the success of last years winter break programs, we are bringing back movies and crafts for patrons to do while the kids are off of school. Foolish, they let me pick the movies and went with our theme....Disneycember!*

Don't lie. You just hummed the theme music when you saw this image.

I keep threatening to have my own Disney marathon during December. (54 films /31 days) My husband thinks it's doubtful but I have faith and a two year old which is a good excuse to watch Disney movies

During winter break, we will be showing a classic Disney movie with popcorn. We will also have crafts and activities based on the movie being shown.

The Lion King- A super easy yet surprising sophisticated lion mask. Instructions at Disney Family

Aladdin- A Magic carpet craft. Kids decorate a simple blue sheets of construction paper with tissue paper and other decorations. Punch some holes on the side and add tassels. Viola, your own magic carpet!


Snow White- A craft of my own design. Cut out paper to make a hat and clothes. Glue it to a cardboard tube. Decorate with eyes, nose, belts, buckles, buttons, etc. Lastly glue on a beard made of cotton ball to have your own dwarf!

Robin Hood- Using a template (or a blank sheet of paper) kids can create their own Wanted poster.

Also, I've ordered in plenty of "How to Draw" your favorite Disney character books in. I have a station were the kids can draw and color just like animators. (I might bring up the light board!)


Bonus- What else is big, coming out and December and happens to belong to Disney.....

Star Wars! We are having a "release party" the day after "The Force Awakens" comes out. Similar set up. Crafts and activities all day, a movie in the afternoon. I couldn't convince my boss to let us have a marathon all day. I'm only allowed to watch 1 two hour movie on the clock.

If you really want to step up your game (or are just a Disney freak like me) you can also show a short cartoon before a film. Just like back in the day. Lots of the Disney short cartoons such as Three Little Pig, Prince and the Pauper and Mickey's Christmas Carol are available on DVD.

Pictures to come soon, after the programs. But for now here is the program ideas if you are still searching for stuff to keep your young patrons entertained over the school break.

Happy Disneycember to you all!!!


*Disclaimer: Disneycember was coined by Doug Walker, the Nostalgic Critic. If you want to watch his reviews of the all the traditional Disney animated features and have a warm fuzzy feeling that brings you back to your childhood, check it out here.

Storytime From the Liberry: Mittens & Kittens

I tend not to do storytimes that rely too much on seasonal or holiday themes. Not everyone celebrates Christmas or Thanksgiving in the typical way. Not everyone goes out apple picking in fall. So it was with trepidation I planned on a winter themed storytime to kick off the next storytime session. I focused on books that involved dressing and warm clothes so I wouldn't hype anyone up about snow, and not have any actual snow outside.

Well...yeah, we had 5 inches of snow followed by arctic temperatures this week making it the perfect setting for winter themed storytime.

This was also an exercise for me in adapting your storytime for your audience. We had low attendance this week because of the weather and other factors. One of my co-workers would not deviate from her schedule of what she was going to do in storytime, even when she had only one kid show up and started begging for them to participate in every single activity. It was pretty awkward to watch.

For my first storytime I had two little girls and their moms. My storytime is for 2 and 3 years and they is a huge diffrence from a child who has just turned two to one that is 3 and a half. These girls were new, and on the younger end of the spectrum. They wanted to huddle up close to their mom and suck their thumbs. They weren't very chatty. It was very clear that they weren't going to be the bunch singing "Wheels on the Bus" with all the motion or lasting 2 and half minutes of direction in "Shake your Sillies Out"

So instead of playing the fool and singing these songs all the way through by myself and possibly making my group uncomfortable, I adapted. I sat on the floor with them, introduced myself and my puppet. I said we would be doing some song and stories and they can let me know what they would like to do the most. It was easy to read to them since they wanted to stay in their mom's laps. When they go antsy we distracted them with something else ( a nursery rhyme or song that was not on my list of planned things to do) I didn't pressure them to do activities with too many directions or that were too noisy. Therefore this also made me feel more at ease.

But for the regularly scheduled program, this is what we did...

Opening Song: The Wheels on the Bust

Book: Froggy Gets Dressed by Jonahtan London 
I'm kinda of kicking myself for not reading this book before. I'm skimmed through this series and dismissed them as too long for my storytime. Yep I'm an idiot. This book in particular is excellent for this age. It's full of great onomatopoeia for the little ones and gets the grown ups to laugh too.

Song: Snowman Song
Once there was a snowman, snowman, snowman
Once there was a snowman tall tall tall
(Stretch your arms up tall)
Then the sun it melted melted melted
(Shrink down and do you best Wicked Witch of the West impersonation)
Then the sun it melted it small small small




Book: One Mitten by Kristine O'Connell George

Song: Winter Hokey Pokey- Piggy back using items like mittens, boots and hats. Ask they kids where they would wear these items on their body before each verse to give them direction

Book: Under my Hood I Have a Hat By Karen Kuskin

Dancing Song: Shake Your Sillies Out

Book: Three Little Kittens by Paul Galadone

Activity: I really wanted to do a mitten matching activity and I saw many great ideas on the Flannel Friday Pinterest page but some felt a little too advanced for my group. I was also worried about size because I usually have a day care group come in and double or triple the number of kids, so they can't all be rushing towards the flannel board at once! For a simple version, I cut out mittens on the Ellison die in different colors. I put some on the table with a sign directing each kid to pick up one for storytime and I hid the others in the picture book stacks.

We talked about how one mitten wouldn't be very useful on a cold day like today (-6) and that  you have two hand you need two mittens. The kids "found" their mittens like the kittens in the book and brought them back in exchange for a sticker.

Closing Song: Wheels on the Bus

Despite the lower attendance and freezing cold, I'm glad to be back doing storytime for our patrons. Thanks to the parents who made the effort to bundle up their kids and make a trip to the library for some storytime fun.