Flannel Friday! There was a girl who had a dog!

 There was a girl who had a dog

and PIPER was her name-oh!

P - I - P - E - R

P - I - P - E - R

P - I - P - E - R

And PIPER was her name - oh!

(sing to BINGO)

This is Piper's person!  Piper is my wonderful, very real, Puppet and she is the mascot of Monday night's Pajama Story Time.  I recently updated Piper's person, (the previous version was drawn with markers and laminated.) When we begin this story the letters are all over the flannel board, upside down, etc.. although the space holders are set in line right next to the person.  Here's our story, we are very silly:

Once upon a time, here in West Hartford, there was a girl with green hair...no? not green..what color is her hair?  Yellow.  thank you!  a girl with yellow hair.

She wore a purple shirt...no?  not purple...ooh, it's pink.  Yes, a pink shirt.

And her shirt says I love cats, right?  no?  what does it say...Oh, I heart dogs.  And what does that heart mean?  Love...okay, the little girl with the yellow hair has a shirt that tells us that she loves dogs.  

She has something in her hand?  what is that?  a ball, yes!  a green ball!  

I bet her dog loves the green ball.  

Now her dog has a name...and I think it begins with the letter P...

we go through the letters, the sounds, who has that letter in their name, etc.

Finally, we spell out P-I-P-E-R and then we sing the above song. 

p.s. (Piper script) my person's name is Brie

Kari Ann's Inside Snowballs!

Inside snowballs surrounding my snow domes!  

We use the inside snowballs in story time with all the winter themes, even the parents have fun!  My colleague, Kari Ann at My Storytime Life , taught me about inside snowballs this year and I can not thank her enough.  These are the only snowballs we've had in Connecticut this winter.  Kari Ann also introduced me to the song: Freeze on Carole Peterson's Dancing Feet.  Available on iTunes.

I am including my first tutorial below.  Things you will need:  

I purchase polyester tulle, I like the pale pink sparkly tulle best!  I also use pale blue.

I buy the tulle by the yard and fold the 54" wide in half

then cut into 7" strips with sharp scissors

I suggest a long tapestry needle

thread, doubled

With my thread doubled and knotted I start by securing the initial stitch, doing it twice, and then start basting right up the middle of the tulle 

I generally don't gather until the end, but I want you to see what is happening.  When I tug a little on the thread it pulls the tulle together ~ we are making a snowball!

When I get to the end of the strip I gather the entire snowball in tight.  I stitch through the middle a few times, (the long tapestry needle will be very helpful here), and then circle my thread around the middle to tighten even more and stitch through a couple more times.  I then push my needle through just a few layers a couple of times and knot my thread and snip.  I will trim the snowball ends at this point if they aren't straight enough for me.  

Then... just fluff and throw!!!  But of course you'll need about 50 of these for a good indoor snowball fight ~ have fun.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Piper had a difficult day on Flannel Friday

Bumps, bruises, scratches and scrapes made Piper's day very, very, difficult.  Oh my goodness.  I hugged and kissed Piper so many times.  Our friends placed bandaid after bandaid on her "booboos."  Piper cried, it was so sad.  I gave her my heart to hold, read her a book... and now she is "all better"!

My thanks to Flannel Friday for the bandaid idea. Visit Katie  And many thanks to Connecticut's Capitol Region Children's Round Table for being so willing to play with me! This is my first Flannel Friday.    

P.S. (Piper scripts) the pink bandaid is my favorite!

Piper visits the Farmington Library!

What a great day! We visited the Farmington Main Library today and Piper had the chance to ride Tinker!  OMGoodness!  Piper jumped right on Tinker's saddle and Miss Heather's Chicken, (a funky-edgy chicken who must be related to Mo Willems' Pigeon) flew over to join her and away they went!

I am thinking:  Don't Let the Chicken Ride the Horse!  

P.S. (Piper Scripts)  giddyap! Tinker, giddyap!!!

This is a beautiful library with an amazing Children's room.  The Children's Department is on the ground floor - very easy to access for visits, programs, and pony rides...just stroll right in!!  The staff is creative,  friendly and so willing to play.  A visit here is pure pleasure and Tinker, a vintage pony and new addition for Farmington, makes this library a destination place for families.  Please let the Children's staff know that Jane Breen and Piper told you to vist!  Oh and ask Miss Paula about Lucky! 

Take a peak at the Farmington Libraries!

If you would like us to visit your library...send an email to jbreen@westhartfordlibrary.org

We love to travel!

Ready for Valentine's Day?

Valentine's Day is always sweet especially when there are chocolate kisses!  This weeks's hi-light at Pajama Story Time was our flannel board story & song of candy kisses and mittens  : )  The children were very excited about discovering the kisses under the mittens.  And since I am not the heart, lace and glitter

 "kinda gal"-the flannel mittens were perfect!

I have a kiss for mommy

a candy kiss for mommy

I have a kiss for mommy

but where can it be?

If you look carefully you can see parts of the kisses sneaking out from under the mittens!

This only added to the excitement!

I have a kiss for daddy

a candy kiss for daddy

I have a kiss for daddy

but where can it be?

I made four kisses from card stock, covered them in foil and tucked in a little tag that said KISS.  Make as many kisses as you need!  After discovering the kisses - kiss your moms, dads, grams & grandpas!

We read Tanika's favorite book: Secret Valentine

Tanika, Piper and Jane...all had fun at Story Time  xoxx  and...Happy Valentines Day!

Take Your Child to the Library - February 4th was fun!

On February 4th we celebrated Connecticut's very first

Take your child to the Library Day!

The Faxon kids created this alphabet 

following a fun Penguin story time!