Story Time Around the World - weeks 1 & 2

Since Grace has started full-day kindergarten, I've been trying to come up with activities to get Claire and I out of the house (and to keep us from getting too bored).  I heard from a friend that the Knowledge Knook in Longview sometimes does a story time, so I checked it out.  I just so happened to get the info on this story time the day before a new 8-week session was starting.  It's called "Story Time Around the World."  We go every Friday at 10:30 in the morning.  Each week the kids learn about a new continent and some of the countries that make up that continent.  There are usually 2-3 stories read, and then a craft that relates to the week's theme.  The lady running it usually brings items that are either from one of the countries or represent one of the countries.  Week one was about North America.  The kids learned about maps and what towns, states, countries, and continents are.  She read a story about a Canadian boy and also about a Mexican artist.  Claire really wasn't that interested, but I'm hoping the more we attend the more she'll get in to it.  The Knowledge Knook is actually two stores in one.  It's a teacher supply store and a specialty toy store.  The first week Claire was much more interested in the toy store. 

She's excited for the first story!



The story lady brought a hockey puck from Canada for the kids to pass around



There was also Mexican and Canadian money. 

The craft this week was a cute little flip book.  on the front page the kids drew their house. Next page they drew their town.  Then they colored their state.  Next they colored their country in their Continent.  The final page was of the entire world. 

They also gave each child a passport.  Each week Claire gets a stamp in her passport.  At the end of the 8 weeks if she has at least 6 stamps she will get to pick a toy from the store.

The second week was about South America.  The story lady read a book about llamas, and then a couple about rain forests.

Again, Claire had a hard time sitting still for the story so I pulled out the camera to entertain her a bit

The story lady brought this necklace from Ecuador.  She didn't want to give it back.

They did a little parachute activity.  I don't recall how this related to the stories or South America.

The craft was sand art.  Claire drew a picture of her choice with pencil, then I outlined it with glue.  Claire sprinkled the colored sand on the glue.  She was pretty proud of herself for making that heart.  I have to admit that I was too!

Wendy's for lunch after story time.  I thought it was time to teach her the proper way to eat a frosty... with a french fry instead of a spoon!

Meanwhile... it was homecoming at Harmony so Grace was having fun at her first pep rally!