Read & Make: Owls

I've been wanting to share some quick story time posts!  I love reading about what other librarians use in their story times - and when I'm stuck in a rut, a new rhyme, book, or song can make all the difference! Owls are one of my favorite story time themes because there are so many cute owl-y books to choose from!

Read:
Wow! Said the Owl by Tim Hopgood
Owl Babies by Martin Waddell
Little Hoot by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
In My Tree by Sara Gillingham

Little Owl Lost by Chris Haughton is another favorite of mine to use for story time!

Rhyme:
Five Little Owls - template from Sunflower Storytime
Five little owls went flying high
Over the hills and through the sky,
Mother owl said "whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo"
But only four little owls came through 

(repeat until there are no owls left)

No little owls went flying high 
Over the hills and through the sky, 
Mother owl said "whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo"
And all five owls came flying through!

rhyme from King Country Library System (I added the last verse)

Make:
A simple paper & feather owl!  I used a volunteer to help trace and cut the templates, but if your kids are older you can let them cut the owl out themselves.  Just add googly eyes, color with crayons, and tape on some feathers!

Favorite Board Books / Baby Lit series by Jennifer Adams

I've got another round of my favorite board books for you today!  In full disclosure, I have not had an opportunity to use these board books in baby or preschool programming (yet!). The Baby Lit series is probably enjoyed the most by adults who are familiar with the novels these board books are based on, but they are just too clever and cute not to share with you.

Jennifer Adams and Alison Oliver have created a series of board books for babies & young kids based on classic novels.  There are currently nine titles in the series, including Romeo & Juliet, Alice in Wonderland and Moby Dick to name a few, along with the titles in the image above.  Each book focuses on a single concept such as counting (Pride and Prejudice), colors (Alice in Wonderland), opposities (Sense & Sensibility) or a single topic like weather (Wuthering Heights).  The books are extremely well designed with clean, bright vintage inspired illustrations that bring these well-known characters to life in a completely new and enjoyable way.  The humor and cleverness of these books is all in the illustrations which adults who are familiar with the original novels will no doubt pick up on.  These books are a great way to introduce classic stories and characters to young listeners during family story time - and the adults will enjoy the book just as much as the kids will!

Favorite Board Books / Gossie & Friends by Olivier Dunrea

During the school year, we host special Friday morning programs called "Friday Flings" about once a month for preschoolers.  Our latest Friday Fling was based on the Gossie and Friends series by Olivier Dunrea.  This is one of our favorite series of board books & little picture books!

The books feature Gossie the gosling and her farmyard adventures.  Dunrea's illustrations are completely adorable and each little gosling has their own distinct personality - Gossie loves her red boots, BooBoo loves to eat, and Ollie is a bit reluctant to hatch from his egg.  The simple plots come straight from a toddler's daily routine - from not wanting to take a nap to wearing the same red pair of boots every single day.  There are currently eight different characters featured in the series.  The newest additions are Jasper & Joop whose board book was just published in March.  I highly recommend this series for kids, especially ages 1-4.