Another themed Saturday storytime special, filled with the most fantastique Fancy Nancy Storytime fun! This outline has a lot of extra content because I came up with so many activities that made me super excited. Not everything made it into my storytime since I had a limited amount of time.
I had so much fun getting FANCY for this storytime, particularly after getting to know Nancy Clancy and her universe. I was more familiar with Baby Shark and Elephant & Piggie before those storytime specials, but for some of these storytimes, I’ve got to really explore these characters for the first time. Nancy is such a sweet kid who just wants to make everything better with lots of accessories, lace, and glitter.
I made a preview video you can watch here:
To help continue the Fancy Nancy fun at home, I curated a PDF packet that we shared with event participants. Download it here.
Watch the full storytime here (starts about 5 minutes in):
The general storytime layout–in order of what I presented–is below, with videos where applicable. All the extra videos I didn’t use for the program are at the bottom.
Fancy Nancy Storytime Outline
Backdrop Setup: Fancy Nancy pennant banners, book covers, and images. I’m happy to share these printable files if anyone is interested–just let me know in those comments or send us an email.
Intro Song: Add a Little Fancy by Fancy Nancy
Fancy Nancy Dance Soiree Checklist: Whenever possible, I like to give my special storytimes a storyline to help with transitions and to make the experience more entertaining for everyone.
In our Fancy Nancy storytime, we were hoping to complete our Fancy Nancy Dance Soiree Checklist (soiree is a fancy word for party). If we completed all of our tasks by the end of storytime, we might just get a magical phone call from the one and only Fancy Nancy inviting us to an after-storytime dance party!
Download your own Fancy Nancy Soiree Checklist here:
Get to Know Our Hostess (Book): Fancy Nancy by Jane O’Connor
(And Her Secret Indentity) (Music): Dazzle Girl by Fancy Nancy (with scarves)
As part of our virtual programming, I run a monthly school age storytime, designed for ages 6-8. This program highlights a different diverse individual from the Little People Big Dreams book series. In November, I featured Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycotts in my Little People Big Dreams Storytime.
Each program features 1-2 books on the famous individual (one book being their matching title from the Little People, Big Dreams book series). I also highlight music from a diverse artist and include a link to an at-home packet to continue the fun and learning.
Explore More Little People, Big Dreams Storytime Outlines:
First Book: Rosa Parks by Lisbeth Kaiser (Little People Big Dreams)
Music Break: Leap Frog by Jazzy Ash (with shakers)
Second Book: Pies from Nowhere: How Georgia Gilmore Sustained the Montgomery Bus Boycott by Dee Romitto
Closing Rhyme: See You Later, Alligator
See you later, alligator In a while, crocodile Give a hug, ladybug Blow a kiss, jellyfish See you soon, big baboon Out the door, dinosaur Take care, polar bear Wave goodbye, butterfly!
Does anyone know why all of the Weird But True books have been checked out with long holds lists since the pandemic started? I know Disney+ expanded the National Geographic TV show, and these books have always been popular, but our books have been checked out for months, and nearby larger systems also have very high circulation rates. If you have an idea why, let me know in those comments–otherwise, read on for everything Weird But True Trivia!
My live audience was small for this one, though it slipped past me that this event didn’t have a Facebook event or any advertisement beyond our website. My handful of players definitely spanned all ages, so this had a different kind of appeal than some of our past trivia events.
I shared the questions via screensharing a PowerPoint on Facebook Live (details below under Logistics). Twenty questions, followed by going back through the twenty questions faster to review the answers.
As always, if you would like any editable files, please send us an email at bookcartqueens@gmail.com or comment below.
Watch the full video here:
View below and download the PowerPoint here. I used Century Gothic and Cartoonist fonts:
Like many of our live school age programs, Weird But True Trivia took place on Facebook Live, though this could easily be translated to whatever platform your library is using for virtual events.
There are many great tools out there for trivia. Kahoot is a particularly popular tool that I’ve seen used frequently. That tool asks participants to play along on their phone or another device while watching the livestream, and the system times the questions and ranks participants. While I like that concept for an adult or maybe teen trivia, when there are no prizes involved, I don’t like that system for kids. Plus, it involves a second piece of technology, and for families playing along, it may be especially difficult to have each kid play individually.
I added the questions to PowerPoint, shared to Facebook using their livestreaming screenshare technology. Some detailed tips for those interested in trying a program this way:
Make your slides “widescreen” so they fill up the viewers full computer, phone, or TV screen. Do this by going to Design – Slide Size in Microsoft PowerPoint.
I don’t like the clunkiness of viewers seeing me open my powerpoint after going live. To always just have the powerpoint shared on your screen:
In PowerPoint, start the “Slide Show” mode, making your PowerPoint full screen.
Use the Windows key (not ESC) to exit the Slide Show presentation view. This key leaves the presentation open in the background.
Start your Facebook Livestream. Instead of sharing your entire screen, just share one application — the Slide Show view of PowerPoint.
Return to the Slide Show view to change slides for your participants. Always use the Windows key to exit. If you use the ESC key, you won’t be able to restart the slideshow without creating a new livestream.
Using the steps above, you cannot easily see the comments during the presentation without toggling back and forth (and creating the risk of you using the ESC key and having to start a new stream). I have my phone nearby with the livestream running, allowing me to see questions and comments as they come in. A coworker posts links and types responses to the comments, and I respond verbally as I can.
These are supposed to be 30 minutes, but I talk too much, and this, like previous similar programs was closer to 45 minutes. An easy way to shrink the length of the presentation would be to run through all of the answers immediately after the questions, instead of going back through them again later.
Another themed Saturday storytime special! So much Llama Llama Red Pajama fun! This outline has a lot of extra content because I couldn’t decide what to use in the storytime, so I filmed a bunch of videos and picked through more carefully closer to the program.
No preview video this time because it was Election Week 2020 and my productivity was focused on concrete tasks more than creative tasks. We still had a fairly strong audience (about 75) without the preview video, which makes me happy, especially with our lower numbers at regular virtual storytimes lately. I’m definitely missing our print event guides now that we are open to the public again, as 90% of the people who walk in the children’s department don’t have any idea that we are doing (or have been doing) any virtual programs.
To help continue the Llama Llama fun at home, I curated a PDF packet that we shared with event participants. Download it here.
The general storytime layout–in order of what I presented–is below, with videos where applicable. All the extra videos I dropped from the program are below.
Llama Llama Storytime Outline
Backdrop Setup: Llama Llama pennant banners, book covers, and images. I’m happy to share these printable files if anyone is interested–just let me know in those comments or send us an email.
Intro Song: Shake Your Sillies Out by Rainbow Songs
Book: Llama Llama Red Pajama be Anna Dewdney
Song: The Monkey Dance by The Wiggles Have you looked for llama songs for kids? I have. A lot. And they are all odd or annoying or emphasize “big fat mama llama” or things I don’t want to include in a storytime. So I used The Monkey Dance as our get-the-wiggles out song instead.
Fingerplay: Two Little Llamas
Song: L-L-A-M-A
Download your own LLAMA BINGO printable letters here:
I made a lot of extra content that I was sure I was going to use until I was practicing. A lot of my materials were completely swapped around the day before the storytime when I practiced and didn’t like the storytime with the content below.
Is Your Mama a Llama? Book Retelling, Llama Llama Edition
We’ve been exploring different ways to provide virtual programming to our patrons. Many libraries have been providing make-and-take kits, but, unfortunately, due to our library’s curbside setup and our patron demand, that isn’t an option for us. A few week’s ago, I shared my Baby-Sitters Club Membership Kits, and my Camp Half Blood Welcome Kits (Percy Jackson). These How to Train Your Dragon Kits follow a similar style.
Why dragons? As part of our annual Wizards & Wands Festival, we have a 30-foot, smoke-breathing dragon on our library roof. While our large event is not taking place in 2020, Hilda has returned, and we have a few events throughout the month with a magical feel.
Why send kits in the mail? Especially kits that focus more on fun than a specific learning concept? Read my thoughts in this post.
I had a lot of fun with these! Lots of dragon and viking magic will be found within. I focused on making sure each bag contained a tangible activity (not just something to read, no matter how cool that reading might be).
Downloads for most items can be found in the downloads section below. All files are PDFs, though you can email me (bookcartqueens@gmail.com) or post in the comments if you are interested in the originals for editing.
Each child received their own envelope, even if there were multiple kids in the same house registered. This made it more individual–not just that the oldest or youngest got to open the package from the library.
Each kit contained a general welcome kit, in a document envelope, as well as seven individual bags. Four bags focused on a different element of dragon training, two were related to Viking apparel, and one contained tools that were parts of multiple included crafts.
The general welcome kit included:
Personalized welcome letter from Hiccup and Toothless
Dragon Trainer ID Card
How to Train Your Dragon Activity Guide
Readalike Book Recommendations
Swag: Bookmarks, Buttons, Trivia Sheet, Viking Name Generator, Map of Berk
The kits contained two Viking bags to create Viking apparel, so dragons would be more comfortable in our young trainer’s presence. The first kit focused on Viking Helmets:
The second focused on Viking shields:
Our first dragon training bag focused on Identifying Dragons. These included a dragon identification guide as well as a BINGO game to help young trainers master their new dragon IDing skills.
Learn how to bond with your own dragon by getting to know Hiccup’s best friend, Toothless, through a paper bag craft.
Design your dream dragon by making an adorable paper plate craft dragon from Pink Stripey Socks.
Finally, train your dragon with the best training tool in all of Berk–sheep! Discover different ways to play with your sheep in the included training guide.
Each kit also contained a tools bag, which contained supplies needed to complete many of the included crafts, such as crayons, glue dots, and gem stickers. Scissors were also needed for most crafts, though those were not included.
Each kit’s Dragon Trainer Welcome Letter was personalized.
Downloads
Everything should be downloadable from the links below. Download all editable files here. They are all Publisher files, and as usual, I used a lot of fonts.
Materials: 4 Sheep (pre-made using a 2″ white pom pom, 4 black 0.5″ pom poms, black glitter foam, googly eyes, white paint marker, and lots of hot glue)
Another themed Saturday storytime special! This was a little different for me because I was not a Pete the Cat fan before this storytime–but I have been won over! Pete the Cat Storytime was a ton of fun, though a little more low key than some of my past virtual Saturday storytime specials.
I made another “commercial” for this program, which you can view below:
I’m not sure how much these videos contribute to the audience for these programs, but I am looking forward to some in-person marketing when our library reopens for browsing next week. This may give some new life to all of our virtual storytimes.
To help continue the Pete the Cat fun at home, I curated a PDF packet that we shared with event participants. Download it here.
The general storytime layout is below, with videos where applicable. This was a bit more chill for me, with me reading two books and retelling one more. No color-changing unicorns or flattened dinosaurs this time!
Backdrop Setup: Pete the Cat pennant banners, posters, and images. I’m happy to share these printable files if anyone is interested–just let me know in those comments or send us an email.
Pete the Cat Intro: Instead of my regular storytime intro song (Shake Your Sillies Out), we started with something a little more cool and grooving–Clap Your Hands by They Might be Giants.
Book: Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons by James Dean and Eric Litwin *I read this book, but I am including a previous video of this story being retold in flannel form below.
Song: Go Pete Go!
Book Retelling: Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes
Action Rhyme: Cool Cat Boogie (During storytime, we did not include the music for sake of time and so that I could include music in our last read aloud.)
Magnet Activity: Pete the Cat Playing Hide and Seek
Book: Pete the Cat Rocking in My School Shoes I synced up the music for this book so that I read the sentences, and we all sang along with the music each time Pete sang a song.
Superhero BINGO! One of my coworkers and I planned a series of after school livestream programs on Facebook Live in September. The first, Disney Trivia, received a decent audience, but after that program, attendance trickled down to just a handful of players.
Superhero BINGO was the last program in that series, and, unfortunately, I was sick on the day of the program. My coworker, Alexx, graciously presented it for me. Make sure to check out Alexx’s full superhero fun in the event video below.
Alexx played three rounds of BINGO, two where we aimed for five in a row and a final coverall game.
Watch Alexx’s amazing performance (costume and all!) here.
All of the BINGO cards have the same 24 characters on them (plus the free space). I include a number beside each character image to help kids and grown-ups quickly find characters they are unfamiliar with.
As part of our virtual programming, I began a monthly school age storytime, designed for ages 6-8. This program highlights a different diverse individual from the Little People Big Dreams book series.
Explore More Little People, Big Dreams Storytime Outlines:
Like all of our virtual live storytimes, this program took place on Facebook. I didn’t expect an audience here, and, as I expected, I was very much presenting a storytime to no one, but we are leaving these programs up a little longer than regular storytimes due to the content. We have had a slight increase in views over time, and I’m thinking about ways to make this more accessible (such as uploading storytimes to YouTube).
First Book: Ella Fitzgerald by Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara (Little People Big Dreams)
Music Break: A Tisket, A Tasket by Ella Fitzgerald (with shakers)
Second Book: Making Their Voices Heard : The Inspiring Friendship of Ella Fitzgerald and Marilyn Monroe
Closing Rhyme: See You Later, Alligator
See you later, alligator In a while, crocodile Give a hug, ladybug Blow a kiss, jellyfish See you soon, big baboon Out the door, dinosaur Take care, polar bear Wave goodbye, butterfly!
Next Time
In October, I’m planning to focus on athlete Pele. I think the storytime outline is going to stay the same, though not all famous people are going to lend themselves to a specific song like Ella Fitzgerald does. I’d like to continue to always use diverse musicians for my music though, no matter who that month’s famous individual is. I’m hoping interest in this series grows over time.
Another themed Saturday storytime special, this time celebrating the one and only Doc McStuffins! I didn’t have much knowledge about the young toy doctor before my deep dive for Doc McStuffins Storytime, but I genuinely enjoyed the episodes I watched. I’m surprised she isn’t more of a focal point in pandemic times, as she has a series of songs that align perfectly for kids and current times–songs about handwashing, playing outside, and even one about not being able to hug your friends right now so you don’t spread germs.
I made another “commercial” for this program, which you can view below:
To help continue the Doc McStuffins fun at home, I curated a PDF packet that we shared with event participants. Download it here.
Doc McStuffins Storytime Video
Unlike past storytimes, I didn’t create individual YouTube videos portionsof of this storytime. Most of the storytime included a lot of Doc McStuffins music, and the internet does not need more videos of me dancing along to music without clear motions.
I am going to risk the wrath of the copyright overlords and share a video of the complete storytime. This may be removed in a few weeks, but I am particularly proud of how this storytime came together, and I think it will make more sense in its full effect:
*The storytime starts about 5 minutes into the video. We start our livestreams early to allow viewers time to login and make sure technology is working.
Doc McStuffins Storytime Outline
Little ones were encouraged to bring their own stuffed animal to storytime.
Doc McStuffins Theme Song Intro: We got ready for storytime by dancing to the original Doc McStuffins theme song.
Book: Guess Who, Doc!
First Patient: Stuffy
After a quick explanation of how our program was going to work, I accidentally knocked down Doc’s Big Book of Boo Boos and Doc’s stuffed dragon, Stuffy. Poor Stuffy was instantly flattened, and we had to figure out what was wrong and how to fix it.
(How to do: Stuffed Stuffy was on the bookcase. Paper Stuffy was on the floor since before storytime began. I “accidentally” knocked stuffed Stuffy onto the floor with the Big Book of Boo Boos. When I bent down, I picked up paper Stuffy. We talked through our activity and song, and then put Stuffy down so he could stomp his own feet. After the song, we picked stuffed Stuffy back up.
Cured Stuffy by moving and grooving to shake out his stuffiness by dancing along to Doc McStuffin’s Dinosaur Stomp.
Second Patient: Gustav the Gator
Now that Stuffy was all better, we checked into our waiting room and discovered Hallie Hippo had a patient for us: Gustav the Gator! Gustav has been warned in the past by Doc about eating the right foods for him, and we had to talk to him again about foods he should sometimes eat versus foods he should always eat.
Taught Gustav about foods he can always eat and foods he should just eat sometimes as a special treat.
For our Always vs. Sometimes activity, I divided a magnetic cookie sheet in half, and we sorted chocolate chip cookies, apples, french fries, bananas, carrots, and ice cream (doughnuts and water were cut for time).
Third Patient: Lambie
Now that Gustav was feeling a bit better, we let him rest. We were about to check in on our waiting room again, when we started to smell something odd. Lambie was covered in mud! We needed to give Lambie a bath to get her nice and clean, and then we also practiced washing our own hands.
Gave Lambie a bath with the song “This Is the Way We Wash Our Legs.”
Practiced washing our own hands to the Doc McStuffin’s Wash Your Hands song.
We sang “This Is the Way We Wash Our Legs” to the tune of “Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush”:
This Is The Way We Wash Our Legs This is the way we wash our legs, Wash our legs, wash our legs. This is the way we wash our legs, Wash our legs, wash our legs, When we are nice and dirty!
We continued with our arms, bellies, and heads.
Fourth Patient: Chilly
We realized that we were missing one of Doc’s friends! We hadn’t seen Chilly all morning. Doc left us a clue with a guessing game activity. We found a picture of Chilly behind a picture of a white bear, and we found the real Chilly behind the real stuffed bear in our waiting room. Chilly was a bit nervous about seeing so many people for storytime, but we helped him get over his nerves by finding ways to say hello virtually.
During Chilly’s turn as a patient, we:
Played “Chilly, Chilly, Where Do You Hide?” to find Chilly.
Found stuffed Chilly behind our white bear.
Diagnosed Chilly with a case of The Shy Guys.
Said “hello!” three different ways with the song “We Wave and Sing Hello!”
We played our own version of the storytime classic, Little Mouse, Little Mouse, by checking behind various toys to see where Chilly might be hiding. We used the words:
Chilly, Chilly, where do you hide? Are you behind the _______________? Let’s look inside!
After we found Chilly, we taught him different ways to say hello:
We Wave and Sing Hello We wave and sing hello! We wave and sing hello! With all our friends at storytime, We wave and sing hello!
We continued with: Sign and Sing Hello, Smile and Sing Hello
Fifth Patient: Hallie
All this time, we had left poor Hallie in the waiting room, but we realized that she hadn’t been talking much. We found out she was very tired today, even though she slept a lot last night, and we realized she might need some exercise to get some new energy.
Cured Hallie by doing some exercise with the Doc McStuffin’s Ready for Action song.
Showed off Hallie’s talking skills (she is a squeeze and talk stuffed animal).
Closing
We wrapped things up by reviewing everyone we helped today, talking about our Doc McStuffins School of Medicine Certificates (in those Doc McStuffins At Home Packets), and dancing along to the Doc McStuffins Theme Song – Toy Hospital Edition.
I wasn’t sure about attendance at this program, as the Doc McStuffins tv show ended in April, but this was my second highest Saturday Special attendance yet (after Baby Shark). Lots of Doc love, and now that I’ve spent some time with the character, I see why.
I am a Disney fan. I worked at Disney for about a year though the Disney College Program, we grew up growing to the parks and watching the movies, in non-pandemic days I vacation there fairly regularly. So hosting Disney Trivia was a bit of its own dream come true.
We didn’t have a big audience for this – about 45 people (this was no Dog Man Trivia). I think the questions might have been a bit too hard for the intended age range (6-11), though for the players who stuck through to the end, everyone had near perfect scores.
Content
I shared the questions via screensharing a PowerPoint on Facebook Live (details below under Logistics). Twenty questions, followed by going back through the twenty questions faster to review the answers.
Watch the full video here:
*The video cuts off at the very end. I think the internet went out.
View below and download the PowerPoint here. The fonts I used (that didn’t seem to copy over) were Century Gothic and Grobold:
Like many of our school age programs, trivia took place on Facebook Live, though this could easily be translated to whatever platform your library is using for virtual events.
There are many great tools out there for trivia. Kahoot is a particularly popular tool that I’ve seen used frequently. That tool asks participants to play along on their phone or another device while watching the livestream, and the system times the questions and ranks participants. While I like that concept for an adult or maybe teen trivia, when there are no prizes involved, I don’t like that system for kids. Plus, it involves a second piece of technology, and for families playing along, it may be especially difficult to have each kid play individually.
I added the questions to PowerPoint, shared to Facebook using their livestreaming screenshare technology. Some detailed tips for those interested in trying a program this way:
Make your slides “widescreen” so they fill up the viewers full computer, phone, or TV screen. Do this by going to Design – Slide Size in Microsoft PowerPoint.
I don’t like the clunkiness of viewers seeing me open my powerpoint after going live. To always just have the powerpoint as the center of your screen:
In PowerPoint, start the “Slide Show” mode, making your PowerPoint full screen.
Use the Windows key (not ESC) to exit the Slide Show presentation view. This key leaves it open in the background.
Start your Facebook Livestream. Instead of sharing your entire screen, just share one application — the Slide Show view of PowerPoint.
Return to the Slide Show view to change slides for your participants. Always use the Windows key to exit. If you use the ESC key, you won’t be able to restart the slideshow without creating a new livestream.
Using the steps above, you cannot easily see the comments during the presentation. I have my phone nearby with the livestream running, allowing me to see questions and comments as they come in. A coworker posts links and types responses to the comments, and I respond verbally as I can.
These are supposed to be 30 minutes, but I talk too much, and this, like previous similar programs was closer to 45 minutes.
This is part of a weekly livestream “after school” series on Tuesdays at 4:30 pm in September. I’m not sure if our audience will stick around, but I sure hope we keep up a following with this style event at a consistent weekly time.
