Tag Archives: story time project

Day & Night

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We recently discovered the coolest little easter egg (and book), and wanted to share it!

Fatima’s Great Outdoors (Kokila, 2021) is written by Ambreen Tariq – author, activist, and founder of @BrownPeopleCamping. The story follows Fatima Khazi and her family as they go camping for the first time. From building fires to fending off spiders, the family learns a lot about what it means to come together and learn new things. There are so many reasons to love and enjoy this book, and it’s beautifully illustrated by outdoor enthusiast Stevie Lewis, who we meet here.

The cover of the book is bright and charming, but when you remove the dust jacket…SURPRISE! The scene turns to night!

And yes, the back cover does that as well, but you’ll have to acquire a copy and see the lovely image for yourself! Better yet, turn this into a story time and activity with this simple (but SUPER popular) Dixie cup lantern…

this little light

Or you can put together this legal-size manilla folder backpack and supplies!

little camperDon’t forget to pack the marshmallows!

Yes! Dinosaurs on Wedding Cakes

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It’s not June, but we’re already rolling out the fancy wedding cakes for romantic reptiles! This simple project was met with incredible enthusiasm with the story time kids, both with cake decorating, and well-dressed dinosaurs.

We read There’s a Dodo on the Wedding Cake by Wade Bradford, illustrated by Kevin Hawkes (Candlewick, 2021). When Mr. Snore, violinist for hire, arrives at the Sharemore Hotel for a wedding reception, he quickly discovers a dodo nibbling on the wedding cake. He shoos him away, but is soon accosted by two beavers who also want the cake. The situation escalates, with more and more creatures invading the room until FINALLY it’s a booming dinosaur. What’s Mr. Snore to do? Thankfully, the wedding planner explains that the animals are all guests (except the mischievous dodo). Apologies are made, and a delightful wedding reception ensues.

This book is HILARIOUS and so fun to read for a story time. Highly recommended!

You’ll need:

  • A number of assorted boxes
  • Cake decorating craft supplies
  • 2 toilet paper tubes
  • Construction paper
  • Scissors, glue, and tape for construction
  • Markers for decorating

First, the cake! As you can below, the cake is very simple – just stack some boxes on top of one another and decorate. We offered tissue paper, color tape, stickers, cotton balls, pipe cleaners, self-adhesive foam, and crepe paper streamers. Kids were free to be as elaborate as they liked!

To make your dinosaur cake toppers, wrap 2 toilet paper tubes in green construction paper, then add mouths, eyes, wedding togs, and little arms.

We had a number of different wedding topper combinations – including no wedding togs at all, just dinos running all over the tiers of the cake. It’s all good!

Beautiful Lights, Beautiful Night

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It’s a simple project, but oh-so-beautiful! Design your own aurora borealis in Arctic skies, then light it up for a creative and colorful glow box!

We read The Lights the Dance in the Night by Yuval Zommer (Doubleday Books, 2021). Beginning as specks of dust from the sun, the story follows them as they whirl to Earth and change into gleaming, shining, lights for Arctic animals and people! Poetic and gentle, this book is just lovely to read and share.

You’ll need:

  • 1 box with a clear lid or window (more on this below!)
  • An assortment of tissue paper
  • 1 string of LED mini lights
  • White, blue, and yellow poster board
  • Scissors, tape, and glue stick for construction

The box for this project will need to be a good size, sturdy, and have a clear lid or window. I found some 12″ x 8″ x 2.5″ cake boxes on Amazon that totally did the trick (20 boxes cost $19).

Now for the aurora borealis! Open the box and glue tissue paper snippets on the interior side of the window. We found glue sticks to be the best way to adhere things, because you can clearly see the glue going on and it dries clear! When the sky is finished, tape a string of LED mini lights to the back of the box like so:

Close the box and use poster board to create a landscape on the front of the box. We used cool Arctic colors: light blue, dark blue, yellow and white. The boxes turned out great…especially this one with a FLYING UNICORN!!!