I Have A Dream Storytime

For Sunday's storytime, we celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr. with "I Have a Dream" Storytime. All books selected were meant to embrace a few of MLK's dreams of treating others equally, with respecting, accepting and celebrating differences, working together, and dreaming big dreams.

I Have A Dream Storytime Lineup:

Martin's Dream by Jane Kurtz, illustrated by Amy June Bates

A good, rhyming book about MLK for kids of all ages.

Martin Luther King Jr. Song

by Jacqueline Woodson

Tune: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

Freedom, freedom, let it ring.

Let it ring said Dr. King.

Let us live in harmony.

Peace and love for you and me.

Freedom, freedom, let it ring.

Let it ring said Dr. King.

The Crayon Box that Talked by Shane DeRolf, illustrated by Michael Letzig

Another straight forward, easy read about diversity and working together.

Same, Same but Different by Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw

I think I first read this book  in the late summer and afterwards put it on a long list I keep as a possible storytime book and I'm excited that I finally had to perfect occasion to read it. It's a charming story with wonderful illustrations. I have a feeling Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw has great things ahead of her as a children's author/illustrator.

My Name is Not Isabella by Jennifer Fosberry, illustrated by Mike Litwin

Usually on Saturday night,  I go through all the books (sometimes a mere 5, sometimes 15+) of the potential storytime books for the next day. And because I am indecisive, I have my husband read through them too. And my sister was in town last week, so she got to read through them as well. This book was both my husband's and my sister's favorite of the group. This author/illustrator duo also wrote a similar book with a boy character, My Name is Not Alexander.

An Awesome Book! by Dallas Clayton

A book dedicated to dreaming and dreaming BIG! I read Dallas Clayton's An Awesome Book of Thanks for Thanksgiving Storytime and both kids and parents really enjoyed it. I'm a huge Dallas Clayton fan and would love for him to visit our library some day. You can read An Awesome Book! in it's entirety here.

I Have A Dream Craft:

Dream Boxes

I've always wanted to use cigar boxes in a craft for storytime.

And so I did!

For the craft portion of I Have A Dream Storytime, we made "Dream Boxes", a safe place to go when we want to remember our dreams.

With the help of a couple cigar shops in the Lawrence area (On The Rocks and Centro Cigars) I was able to secure all the boxes needed for storytime. The only prep work that needed to be done was cutting and taping colorful cardstock on the box top. Which I didn't really have to do, but it made it easier for the kids to draw pictures or write their name if they wanted to. It also made for an easy surface to work with.

The materials used ran the gamut. Tape, glue sticks, school or craft glue, stickers, plastic jewels, crayons, markers, and printouts were what I used.  Other material ideas could include old magazines and maps, ribbon, fabric, feathers, paper doilies, etc. When I said the only thing I prepped were the boxes, that wasn't entirely accurate because I did print out "Dream" phrases, clipart pictures, and wallpaper samples. (fyi: Anthropologie has a variety of fun, kid-friendly wallpaper pattern picks)

And there you have it....

Safe keeping for all your wildest dreams.

image sources: MLK, martin's dream, the crayon box, same but different, name is not isabella, an awesome book