Storytime: Families

Books

The Family Book by Todd Parr

One Family by George Shannon

Families, Families, Families by Suzanne Lang

Love Me Tender by Elvis Presley and illustrated by Stephanie Graegin

Littles and How They Grow by Kelly DiPucchio

We Are Family by Patricia Hegarty

I did this storytime around Valentine's Day. I never do holiday specific storytimes, but I still sometimes like to have themes inspired by holidays. What better way to celebrate love than talking about all different kinds of families? I tried to choose books that showed a lot of non-traditional families and diverse groups of people. I did a mix of songs and rhymes about both families and love.

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Flannelboard: Hearts

If I come up with more rhymes and songs to go with this set, the post will be updated to reflect that. If you have ideas for other ways to use the set, please share!

Flannelboard

This was actually one of the easiest flannelboards I've made so far, which was good because I didn't have much time to make it! The hearts were supposed to look like they were making kissy faces when you turn them over, but it mostly just looks like they are wearing lipstick. Oh well, it's still cute! I used this for my hugs, kisses, and love and families storytimes

Storytime: Hugs, Kisses, and Love

Books

*Love Always Everywhere by Sarah Massini

~A Kiss Like This by Mary Murphy

Hug Machine by Scott Campbell

The Perfect Hug by John Walsh

~*Kitty’s Cuddles by Jane Cabrera

Love Monster by Rachel Bright

Books marked with a ~ are ones used for our toddler storytime. Books marked with a * are ones used for our all ages storytime. Today was my first week doing both toddler and all ages storytimes. Since our toddler storytime was on Valentine's Day this week, I wanted to do something thematically appropriate for the holiday without actually mentioning the holiday directly. There is a lot of debate in the storytime world about whether to do holiday storytimes or not. I think it's best to er on the side of caution and not do anyhting directly related to holidays in case some of my patrons don't celebrate them and wouldn't be comfortable attending a storytime themed around one. Hugs, kisses, and love can be enjoyed by everyone though! Our all ages storytime ended up only having two toddlers this week so the books skewed younger than they normally would for that day. Love Always Everywhere, A Kiss Like This, and Kitty's Cuddles all have pretty simple text with few words on the pages. There aren't any plots for younger kids to follow or concepts illustrated by the pictures that might be hard to understand for very little ones. Love Always Everywhere has a diverse cast of children in the illustrations, which I love. It's a very sweet book and perfect for a love themed storytime. If we had had a slightly older crowed for the all ages storytime, I probably would have used Love Monster and Hug Machine, but the sweet simple text in Love Always Everywhere was great for the younger group.

Click read more for rhymes, songs, and crafts!