Yet again, a minor sore throat/cold caused me to lose my voice, and it still wasn’t at full strength today – but I explained to the kids and they were SO QUIET. It was astonishing.

Our magical puppet/stuffed animal closet once again delivered, so we had Mr. Panda and the patient penguin from I’ll Wait, Mr. Panda. I also borrowed an idea from a parent/child yoga class I went to at another library recently, and we made stars with our bodies (feet apart, arms out to the sides) and rocked back and forth (balancing on one foot at a time, or just swaying) while singing “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.”

• Welcome, announcements
• “Hello Friends” song with ASL, from Jbrary
• Edward Gets Messy by Rita Meade: This story has a lot of words per page for this age group, but whether because of my quiet voice or the easily graspable subject matter, the kids sat and seemed to be listening!
• Yoga
• Worm Loves Worm by J.J. Austrian: A sweet story of two worms who just want to be married – and eventually they are, because Worm loves Worm.
• Who in this room has thumbs? Okay, now hide your thumbs behind your back. “Where is Thumbkin?”
• I’ll Wait, Mr Panda by Steve Antony, with panda stuffed animal and penguin puppet.
• Yoga/song: Stand in “star” pose, balance/sway, and sing “Twinkle, Twinkle”
• Kitten’s First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes
• Carrot and Pea by Morag Hood
• “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes”
• Perfect Square by Michael Hall (tie-in activity at the end)
• “Goodbye Friends” song with ASL, from Jbrary
• Clean up mats, put out project: Paper squares to tear, crumple, and glue

We still did six books as usual, but a little less singing (still, five songs/rhymes including our hello and goodbye), and wrapped up a little bit earlier than usual. The project was popular, though next time I’d cut the squares a little smaller; I had cut sheets of colored construction paper into six pieces each (not exactly squares, but close). With older kids, they could have worked on their own projects and used scissors and a hole punch to recreate some of the pictures in Perfect Square, if they’d wanted. Michael Hall’s books really lend themselves to craft tie-ins!