Early Lit Bits

July, 2012

Issue No . 27

In This Issue

Dream Big Craft Party

Nursery Nook

Music Minute

Learning with Crafts

Book Review

KDLville Play Spaces

Dream Big Craft Party

Dream Big @ KDL this summer with awesome and inspiring crafts! Let your imagination run free with a variety of craft activities.

Check the online event calendar for dates and times of all our FREE programs this summer.

Nursery Nook

I Have 10 Little Fingers

I have 10 little fingers (hold up 10 fingers)

They all belong to me! (point to self)

I can make them do things, (wiggle fingers)

Would you like to see? (point to others)

I can close them up tight (close into fists)

I can open them up wide (stretch out fingers)

I can raise them up high (over head)

I can put them at my side (put hands down at sides)

I can wave them to and fro (wave hands around)

And I can fold them - just like so! (fold hands together and place them in your lap)

This is a great rhyme to try right before reading a story or to transition to another activity. It ends with the child's hands in his or her lap, ready to listen! It also helps develop listening skills and how to follow directions.

Music Minute

Those classic nursery rhymes that everyone learns as a child are still a great way to help a child get ready to read. Singing them slows language down and helps to separate the different sounds in words. The short stories rhyme well and also invite imagination and movement. There are many fun versions of nursery rhymes available as music collections that will help introduce children to these rhymes. Sing, dance and have fun with a child today!

Nursery Rhymes for Little People

Greetings!

Kent District Library is here to provide you and your child with the skills needed to succeed in school and in life. KDL's Early Lit Bits newsletter is full of FUN and simple activities that will help foster that growth. For more information regarding the skills your child needs before he or she learns to read, visit the Play-Grow-Read section of the KDL website. You can also stop by any KDL branch to speak with one of our helpful youth librarians. We hope to see you soon!

Learning with Crafts

Water Painting

Here's a great way to beat the heat of summer and help your child learn to read and write at the same time. The trigger action of a squirt bottle and working on a vertical surface help strengthen the hand muscles young children will use when they learn to write later on. And as an added bonus, you'll have the cleanest fence on the block in no time at all.

Materials:

Plastic beach bucket (with handle is best)

Old paintbrushes, paint rollers and trays or squirt bottles (clean)

Water

To Use:

Fill the bucket with water and have children "paint" a wooden fence, brick wall or driveway with the water. Talk about how the water changes the color of the surface they are painting and how as the water dries, the surface changes back to its original color. Have the children paint their names.

Other Ideas:

Bring an art easel outside. Let children paint with real paint without worrying about the mess. Set up a clothesline in the yard for drying and displaying artwork. Encourage children to autograph their artwork. Look at pictures of famous art on the Internet or in a book and talk about how artists sign their names on their artwork.

Book Review

Chloe by Peter McCarty

Chloe loves family night more than anything, sharing time with her 10 older siblings and 10 younger siblings. However, when a big television arrives for the family to watch on family night, Chloe finds a way to entertain everyone without technology. Soon all the children abandon the television and produce their own show! This is a heart-warming bedtime read, with Peter McCarty's trademark illustrations. The spare text allows for plenty of conversation between you and your child as you read together. Talk with your child about things you can do together for an "unplugged" family night, such as board games, puzzles or coloring. And if you have any bubble wrap handy, release some energy by popping away! Talking with your child helps build vocabulary, which is a great way to get ready to read!

Chloe

KDLville Early Literacy Play Spaces

At KDLville at the Alto branch we are building homes with Katie L. We have activities set up related to construction. Kids can practice writing by filling in Katie's shopping list for the lumber yard. On display are books about building. And every home needs a pet; put together our pet puzzle and pick names for the animals. Go to the magnetic board and put together words of things that go in houses: l-amp, b-ed, com-pu-ter. Sort our paint can colors and tell us which is your favorite.

Come to the library, put on a hard hat and do these activities and others as you build with Katie L.

coloring