School Library Decor: Where Will Reading Take You? (with a free printable!)

I finally (finally) got my school library's decorations up. Hey, and it's only October. Woo! Anyway, I wanted to share the ideas here, point out some cool resources, and even share a free printable travel poster.

Travel poster? Travel poster. Here, you can see what I'm talking about. Check out this library...

Flannel Friday: Five Hungry Ants

I really am cheating at this whole "flannel" Friday thing, since I actually like making printable versions instead (sharing, is caring, right?). So here is a "flannel" you yourself can use--just print the images included! Check it out:

This is a classic flannel that I've since learned by attending storytimes with my daughter. The toddlers just think this rhyme is absolutely hilarious and I had to share my own printable version here. It's a counting down rhyme about some cute little ants trying to get some food at a picnic. Here's the rhyme with actions:

FIVE HUNGRY ANTS

Five hungry ants marching in a line, (hold up five fingers)

Came upon a picnic where they could dine. (eating motions with hands to mouth)

They marched into the salad, (march in place)

They marched into the cake, 

They marched into the pepper… 

Uh oh! That was a mistake! (hands to face with shocked expression)

A..a..a..choo! 

(do your most dramatic sneeze! seriously, the more exaggerated, the more hilarious)

Four hungry ants... (and so on counting down)

These ants at a picnic could go great with a bugs storytime, summer storytime, or with whatever suits your fancy. To get the free printables, just click on the links below. You can attach a little flannel or velcro to the back to get them to stick to your flannel board.

Free vector images to print: ant, salad, cake, and pepper*

(*Pepper shaker clipart credit here under Creative Commons License)

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Anne at So Tomorrow is hosting the Flannel Friday roundup today. You can also check out the FF website, Pinterest, or Facebook! Or use #flannelstorytime on Twitter!

More Funny Book Covers for April Fools

Happy April Fools! I decided to expand on my April Fools display from last year (which was originally inspired by Hafuboti) with five more popular picture book covers that have been specially photoshopped...April Fools style. I love me some funny books!

I've included the Google Drive pdfs in the caption of each of the photos below, so you can download these copies whichever way you please (for free!) and print them off for your own hilarious book display. Kids are sure to love them. Try setting it up where kids have to write down the correct titles, if they know it. Or have them design their own April Fools picture book cover!

Flannel Friday: Seashells!

After coming up with an underwater-themed storytime this week, I wanted to share the (free) printable flannel I made for Flannel Friday!

Okay, you're right, since it's printable, it's not really flannel (or felt for that matter). But hey! It works. Just stick a bit of Velcro or flannel on the back of the paper. The shells (vector images) can be found here: red seashell, yellow seashell, green seashell, orange seashell, white seashell. And of course, the crab is printable, too. 

So with this flannel, we played the ever favorite hide-and-seek game (a Little Mouse variation) with the crab hiding behind one of the shells. Then I let the kids guess which color shell we should look under and then we say this rhyme:

Little crab, little crab, where do you hide?

Are you in the red* seashell? Let's peek inside!

*Or whichever color. This is also a fun rhyme to practice sign language! You can do signs for the colors, "crab," and "seashell." The kids get ridiculously excited about finding the little guy. Hope you have fun with it, too!

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Kathryn at Fun with Friends at Storytime is hosting the Flannel Friday roundup today. You can also check out the FF website, Pinterest, or Facebook! Or use #flannelstorytime on Twitter!

Another Book Return Poster

After my awesomely nerdy book return memes garnered some success (and how could Gandalf, Yoda, and Batman not be a success?), I made another one for Thanksgiving. Well, it turns out that I enjoy making them so much, it was only a matter of time that I made one for Christmas.

Yep, I have another free printable with which to encourage patrons to return/renew their books on time. I figure this Christmas one would be especially useful at a school library before they go on winter break. Or really any library that closes for a number of days.

Like I said, a totally free printable. You can either download the image above or get the pdf off of Google Drive.

Turkey Book Displays and Book Return Poster

By far my most popular display I've made is my No-Shave November. Which I do love. It's pretty hilarious. So I don't really have a lot to add to the November library display collection...

Except for turkeys. I think they're so funny. So I couldn't resist adding to my book return meme collection (see the Batman, Yoda, and Gandalf ones here) with a new printable perfect for Thanksgiving:

And yes! You are free to print it and use it. If you want the pdf, here's the Google drive link.

Anyways, now I'm craving some turkey. Here are some other turkey library displays that I just want to gobble up!

Halloween Library Display and Book List

Halloween in the library! We always had a big party and storytime in my library with all sorts of treats, costumes, and (of course) the best stories. But to encourage excitement before the holiday itself, check out this display idea: "'Witch' book will put you under its spell?"

Encouraging Book Returns with Library Memes (with free printables!)

I'm a nerd. Let's be honest. If I could venture a guess, I would say that a lot of librarians are. In any case, this nerdiness is really making itself known today. Because I have designed some library memes (memes make a great display topic). But not just any library memes! Nerdy library memes. That are, in fact, very cool at the same time.

That's right, I made posters for a library to display to help encourage patrons to return/renew books on time. Avoid those icky penalties or late fees, you know? Anyway, I'm sharing these designs with you. All out. Do what you want with them. I just appreciate the credit.

Here are the files: Google Drive .pdf or you can download the individual pictures...

Flowchart: Animal Books for 2nd-4th Graders

Phew, this was totally supposed to go up on Friday and I just kept adding more and more books! There's a lot of good stuff out there, which ended up surprising me a little bit because this is the age group that I often have the hardest time finding books to recommend. I've always felt it got a little lost in the shuffle between easy readers/early chapter books and middle grade fiction.

But! Without further ado, a flowchart of animal-themed books for kids aged 8 - 11 years.

These books are all chapter books, all have some illustrations/photos in them, and are great stories. Some I'd still double check what would be good for the right age (one might lend itself better to the 11-year-old than the 8-year-old). Some are classic, some are brand new. There's something for everyone, for sure.

Also, I have a link to download the printable poster: a pdf on Google Drive. It's sized 11" x 42" so you could, technically, print it on five landscape-oriented letter-sized pages. In any case, it's nice to have as a reference when recommending books!

Here's a full list of what's on the flowchart:

May the Fourth Be With You - Library Display

Star Wars is just getting better and better. And thus, more and more popular! There's so many great books and such to promote. And guess what's coming up next week? Yep, May 4th!

So it only made sense to make a free printable Star Wars library display! The idea originated with this share from Ridgewood Public Library. I liked it so much, I thought I'd make my own to share.

April Fool's Library Display: 11 Funny Book Covers!

I'm admitting straight up that the idea for this display is not mine. Rebecca from Hafuboti was so nice as to let me expand on her posts Library Fools and More Foolish Than Ever with eleven of my own silly/funny/foolish book covers. I love photoshop and I love funny books, so basically, it was a match made in heaven.

So without further ado, here are eleven book covers of popular picture books/early readers for your April Fools pleasure. Hang them up on a bulletin board or wall for patrons enjoyment. Or number the covers on display and have kids write down the correct title for each number for a small prize. OR, even better, have some blank papers out for kids to make up their own silly titles or stories!

Fortune Teller Library Display

Or do you call them Cootie-Catchers? One and the same, my friend. The point is, here's an idea to help patrons figure out what to read next. Like so:

St. Patrick's Day Library Book Display

Okay, we're going to try a little experiment here. Though I'm not actually at the library creating displays anymore...I still like creating displays. So this post is about what I would create for this time of year.

Yep, it's time for a St. Patrick's Day display!

So, basically, I saw this quote somewhere in passing, and thought it'd make a pretty perfect St. Patrick's Day book display sign. So here's a free printable! You can click on the image to download for yourself, or get the 11" x 17" .pdf from Google drive.

And just to help you get a feel for what it may look like on display, here's my obviously-photoshopped inspiration picture!

What's great about this display is you can highlight any collection, really—nonfiction, picture books, etc.—just find the books with the green covers! Add some four-leaf clovers for some extra luck and you're in business. Enjoy!

Cozy Quilt Storytime

Guess what? Today is World Read Aloud Day! Here's a storytime idea to get you inspired or you can just sit down with your favorite picture book and reading buddy. Either way, register your own read aloud celebrations here to participate!

This storytime is targeted at preschool-aged kids at the library. It's a great opportunity for kids to bring their blankies with them!

Flowchart: What Books to Give a Middle-Grader

I had a lot of fun with this one. So much so, that even though it was supposed to be posted on here yesterday (Thursday being my normal middle-grade book day), I spent a few more hours tweaking it and posted it now (obviously). So—without further ado!—a flowchart of middle-grade book recommendations!

Turns out it's hard to narrow down recommendations. This could have been SO much longer (heaven forbid). But hey, it works. So I'm hanging it in my library (see it here!). If you want to, too, here's the link to the .pdf printable in Google Drive.

If you want a full list of what books are on the flowchart, continue on, muchachos.

Constellations & Astronomy for Kids

This was an after school program that I put on for kids. (See all my kids' programs here!)

Eggs Storytime

This storytime was for a preschool-aged group at my library.

St. Patrick's Day Storytime

This storytime was for a preschool-aged group at my library.

Library Display: March Madness

Update: Due to the popularity of this post, I've uploaded the bracket sign images here. They fit onto standard letter-sized paper. Just save them to your computer, open them in your favorite editor and add the dates of your voting periods! 
Elite 8  Final 4  Top 2  Number 1

I admit it: I enjoy creating library displays. I also enjoy creating a bracket for March Madness (even though I have no idea which teams are better). So it only made sense to make this display with my coworker:

To pick our competitors, we pulled the top circulated items in our juvenile collection. What was funny, however, is that even with a list of the top 100 books circed, it was really just eleven or twelve series. Yep. In fact, our top ten includes eight of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. So instead of making it a competition between books in the same series, we simply selected the top circed book in each of the series. And then we pulled a few top YA books, so that we'd have sixteen competitors.

Starting with the Sweet Sixteen, each week in March, we'll let patrons vote on which book is better amid our competitors. Each book with the most votes will move on to the Elite Eight, then the Final Four, etc., etc., until we pick our winner at the end of the month. Those who make predictions (who fill out their own bracket) are eligible to win prizes.

We'll also have the books and other books in the series available for checkout, in case people want to see why these books are so great of competitors. Of course.

Hopefully it works! Wish us luck!

Ninja Storytime

This storytime was for a preschool-aged group at my library.