Mitten suncatchers

I often get my best craft ideas when I'm digging through the odds and ends in the library's craft corner. I made these suncatchers with leftover contact paper and cardstock. This was our January craft for Crafty Tots (ages 2-5). It was a fun craft for January, since we all need a little sunshine and color this time of year.

Supplies:
Contact paper
Tissue paper, many colors or shades
Construction paper or cardstock
Glue
Ribbon or yarn
Hole punch

Cut the contact paper into a mitten shape using the template on the right. Peel the paper side off and lay the mitten on the table sticky side up. Tear tissue into small pieces and stick them onto your mitten. If you like, you can cut the excess tissue paper from around the edge. Cut paper or cardstock to make the border. Glue a border onto either side of the mitten. Punch a hole in the top and tie the ribbon through it. Hang in a window and let the sunshine in!

For another variation, try melting crayon shavings between two pieces of waxpaper and cutting them into mitten shapes.

Caldecott Review - Animals of the Bible

My resolution for 2010 is to read all of the Caldecott Medal winners, starting with the first winner from 1938.



Animals of the Bible
Dorothy P. Lathrop
1937

This is a collection of short Bible stories about animals. Most of the stories are accompanied by an illustration. Naturally, the artwork is the main attraction here. Check out the Leviathan from the book of Job:



The text is pulled directly from the King James version of the Bible, so it's a little complicated for children. Not to mention that the story about Balaam's ass will be unintentionally hilarious to the grade-school set. Between the heavy text and the black-and-white illustrations, I don't think this particular title is very likely to find many young fans nowadays. In a perfect world, I'd like to see it updated with text from a more recent translation of the Bible or just paraphrased Bible stories.

The Incredible Edible Snowman

This craft is based on something I did with my librarian when I went to story time. That was 20 years ago, so it certainly left an impact on me. It was a big hit with the pre-k and kindergarten story time groups, and even some of the older siblings got in on it. Some of the snowmen made them out of the library; some were not so lucky. The one pictured here tragically lost his life when one of our teenage pages got hungry.

Supplies:
Marshmallows
Pretzel sticks, broken in half
Fruit roll-ups, cut into strips
Graham crackers
Tube of white cake decorating gel
Round sprinkles

Stick half a pretzel into the top of a marshmallow. Press another marshmallow into the top of the pretzel. Repeat so you have three marshmallows stacked on top of one another. Break another pretzel in half and stick them into your middle marshmallow to make arms. Wrap the fruit roll-up strip around the snowman’s neck to make his scarf. Use the decorating gel and sprinkles to give him a happy face; add buttons of you want. Finally, squeeze gel onto the bottom of your snowman and stick him to the graham cracker base.

Admire. Devour.

What we read:
Cat and Mouse in the Snow by Tomek Bogacki
Tracks in the Snow by Wong Herbert Yee
First Snow by Bernette Ford