Sunday, March 21, 2010

Storytime at The Blue Bunny


I'm sitting on a Sunday afternoon, preparing for our 4th storytime event in eight days! What a wonderful and integral part of The Blue Bunny these gatherings have become. So many Blue Bunny friendships, with caregivers and kids, have been made through our regular storytime program. We've been doing our Monday morning 10:30 a.m. storytimes for years now, and have watched dozens of kids grow through toddlerhood and head out for preschool, only to welcome in dozens more, including the baby siblings of some of our graduates.

This winter we have been successful with our once-a-month Friday evening Storytimes. And this past Friday, we were so happy to share the stage with Joy Surprenant, whose non-profit group "Catching Joy" teaches young children the joy of giving by providing opportunities for them to share their gifts with others. Friday's storytime was a benefit for the Pajama Program (www.pajamaprogram.org), which collects new pajamas for kids living in shelters. Our crowd of kids and their parents donated 20 new pairs of pajamas, and after our "pajama stories" (Llama Llama Red Pajama was a fave!) they happily and busily decorated paper teddy bear cards to be given along with the pjs to kids who may need a little extra love.

We'll be doing more bedtime storytimes in the upcoming weeks. Look for news on our website about one on April 16th, and another special one on April 23rd, when we welcome Meena Kothandaraman as she shares her message of intercultural acceptance and respect among children with her book Can you say my name? We'll have a cool intercultural project to go along with that one!

Check out www.catchingjoy.org to learn more about Joy and her upcoming events. And join us any Monday morning.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Alaskan Author Debbie Miller Visits




What a treat it was to have Alaskan children's wildlife author Debbie Miller visit The Blue Bunny last weekend. Celebrating the publication of her latest book, Survival at 40 Below, Debbie was so gracious to us and the children we had visiting. She gave a great lesson to some very young listeners about the animals in Alaska and how they survive the intense cold during the winter. She also entertained us with her very authentic-sounding ptarmigan "calls" and wood frog "quacking."

Debbie's teaching skills were obvious in her attentiveness and patience in explaining the fascinating wildlife in her home state. Two thumbs up!