Beach Day!

Today was a beautiful day for the beach - at Storytime! We read about the beach, made an ocean craft, and even played with sand!

Sunglasses are important at the beach, so the first book we read was Pete the Cat and his Magic Sunglasses by James Dean. Our old friend Pete thought it was his sunglasses that made him feel fine, but we knew better than that! Then we read Miranda's Beach Day by Holly Keller and talked about the things we see at the ocean that we can't find at the lake. I Saw the Sea and the Sea Saw Me by Megan Montague Cash told of all the sights and sounds a young child experiences at the ocean. And some of us listened to and looked at Scaredy Squirrel at the Beach by Mélanie Watt, a richly illustrated story about a squirrel's first time at the beach!

Do octopi live in the lake? NO! But each child made an octopus from a paper plate, pipe cleaners, and colored ziti*! After they made a face on their octopus plate, kids added eight pipe cleaner legs, then strung each with multicolored noodles! It was a lot of work - but it was great fun!

After the stories were read and the crafts were completed, we played with sand - kinetic sand, that is! This sand molds just like real sand but structures dissolve away when you touch them! It's made for indoor play! We had so much fun making spheres and cubes, snowmen and pancakes! If you ever want to come to the library to play with this fun sand, just ask for it at the desk!

*Here's how to make colored pasta: 

Mix up a few teaspoons of rubbing alcohol with a few drops of food coloring. Pour it over uncooked pasta in a paper bag. Support the bottom of the bag as you shake it a few times. Check the color. When all the pasta is colored, spread it out on newspaper to dry. If you're a kid, check with an adult before you do this! You might be coloring tomorrow night's dinner!