Summer is a great time to break out of the storytime structure I find myself in during the rest of the year. There’s nothing wrong with having structure, of course, but I find it invigorating to mix it up and feel free to try new things and be experimental during a set time of year.
In the summer, I offer outdoor programs for kids ages 0-3.5 and their caregivers. We spend about 15-20 minutes doing songs, rhymes, books, and extension activities, and then take about 20 minutes at free-play sensory stations that engage kids and caregivers to talk, socialize and practice social skills, engage in science and age-appropriate STEM inquiries, flex creative muscles, and have lots of fun, associating the library with positive feelings. This post will detail these stations.
Each week I had eight stations that families could wander through. There was no requirement that they had to go to each station or change stations at any certain time, or at all. They chose their path and self-regulated. Some stations were available every single week, some rotated, and some were unique and only appeared during one week. They fell into “wet,” “dry,” and “art” categories. I used old sheets to cover the stations so they wouldn’t be too tempting during the storytime portion of the program, and that worked well.
I also had a backup plan for when the weather or air quality was too poor to be outside. This was the summer of the Canadian wildfires, so there were several days that were not rainy, but smoke and particulates in the air made it unsafe to be outside – especially for the very young and for senior citizens (and many of my caregivers are grandparents in that category!) If we weren’t outside, I had reserved our two largest and adjoining meeting rooms, where I was able to set up both an area for stories and songs and the parachute on one side and stations on the other, so thankfully we didn’t miss out on any activities. If I remembered to take pictures indoors and out, I included both below to give a sense of layout.
The Plan: Stations
Wet Stations
This is a big draw – everyone likes playing in water! Outdoors, I used a hose and outdoor water supply to easily fill my tubs with water and could just pour it all out at the end of the session. Indoors, I hauled buckets from our janitor’s closet and possibly filled everything just a little bit less than I would outside. I used old flannel sheets underneath to absorb spills and make them easier to clean up. The meeting room has an emergency exit door that opens to some landscaping so all the water got dumped there at the end.
Pouring Station (all weeks)
This is a repeat from last year, so I had all of the materials for this one already. It’s also an easy one to set up, so it’s my anchor wet station: we had it out every week. Last year I asked coworkers to collect clean plastic recyclables with wide openings for this station and visited Goodwill for some additional pitchers. We had measuring cups and funnels in our materials, as well as a baby pool, which is the perfect container. I fill the pool with the plastic bins and fill them randomly with water. Original idea from Busy Toddler.
Pool Noodle Soup (Weeks 1 & 4)
I cut sections of pool noodles and used them in three different ways, starting with this wet station. (You’ll see them below as a dry station and an art supply, too.) I used two drawers from a plastic storage bin as my containers, and added water, the noodles, some ladles and slotted spoons, and some squeeze bottles. Original idea (and photo on the sign) from Happy Toddler Playtime.
Fly Swatter Slap (Weeks 1 & 7)
Again, I maximized my materials by using flyswatters in both wet and dry stations on different weeks. The wet station included the (new, clean) swatters and ping pong balls that I drew flies on. I found the plastic containers at Goodwill and they are a little bit smaller than the drawers used above. The swatters were hand-shaped and different colors. Original idea (and photo on the sign) from My Bored Toddler.
Sponge Play (Weeks 2 & 7)
This was another repeat from last year, but one that’s especially great for the youngest of my age group. When it was out it was usually surrounded by the “baby brigade!” The shapes were ocean animals since last year’s theme was “Oceans of Possibility” but they were just as happy with the simple shapes. Original idea (and photo on the sign) from Little Lifelong Learners.
Scooping Blocks (Weeks 2 & 5)
Lego Duplos plus water and scoopers! This one was fun for its obvious purpose, but added bonus: some kids actually took the Duplos out of the water and put them together! We had all the Duplos already, and I added some of the sorting blocks from our baby toys to the mix, as well as ladles, colanders, and sieves from Goodwill. Original idea (and photo on the sign) from My Bored Toddler.
Mystery Water (Week 3)
Another repeat from last year – I originally saw this as on Pinterest as a reel, and was intrigued. Cornstarch and a little food coloring are added to water to turn it murky, and kids can search for items in the water to match up with a finding guide. We had a bunch of colorful plastic cookie cutters in storage that were perfect for this, so I traced them on a separate sheet for the kids to match up. They weren’t as solid and heavy as the original poster’s, so they tended to float a little, unfortunately, but it didn’t really matter. Original idea (and photo on the sign) from bright_little_brains.
Lemon Sensory Bin (Week 3)
Mm, this was one of my favorite stations! It was super easy and smelled so good. I bought a bag of lemons and divided them among my three sessions. That was maybe 2-3 lemons per day? Cut them up into slices and added them to a bin of water along with ladles. I did announce that there was a lemon bin before breaking for stations just in case there was an allergy issue, but no one had a problem. Original idea (and photo on the sign) from Taming Little Monsters.
Whisking Bubbles (Week 4)
Kids could whisk up some bubbles and then use colanders and sieves to play with the result at this station. At first I just thought I would get some dishwashing soap, but then I started thinking about soap in eyes and mouths. I ended up buying some body soap formulated for babies (tear-free) and that worked perfectly. I looked for actual baby bubble bath, but couldn’t find it in store, so was a little worried about how sudsy it would get, but it ended up being just fine. And I’m so glad I went that route – I remember one of the babies did a nose-dive into the bin at one point and, indeed, there were no tears! I added the soap at the beginning and left the water undisturbed so that the kids could create all the bubbles themselves. Original idea (and photo on the sign) from The Empowered Educator.
Flower Sensory Bin (Week 5)
I called our local Kroger florist and asked if they would donate flowers that were past their prime, so I was able to put this bin together without the cost of the flowers! It was also interesting to see the variety that was available on the two days I picked them up. One day I got a bouquet with several kinds of flowers that filled my two little bins, and the other day all that was available were colored daisies. Both were appreciated, and grown-ups commented on the pleasant scent and the novelty of the experience. I also got an action shot (with permission from the participants) on this one, since I wanted to include it in my thank you note to the florist. Original idea (and photo on the sign) from Learning and Exploring Through Play.
Ice Play (Week 6)
Another repeat from last year. I bought a large bag of ice each morning before my program and kept it in a cooler, adding it to the bins JUST before they were played in (so there’s no ice shown in the photos I took before the program). Ladles, colanders, and sieves were added for handling the ice. It was good weather for it – HOT – so the ice was mostly melted by the end of the station play time, but it was just enough. I reminded everyone to take a break if their fingers started to get too cold. Original idea (and photo on the sign) from Busy Toddler.
Ping Pong Fishing (Week 6)
I put the alphabet on ping pong balls and added them with scoopers into the bin. Adding the letters to all four sides of 26 balls took the most time! I think I added the housefly balls from the fly swatter slap station the second and third day, but they aren’t pictured. Original idea (and photo on the sign) from the Imagination Tree.
Dry Stations
There were a few families that didn’t want to get wet, so I was sure to offer three dry stations each week as well. Many of these gave practice in sorting various items by color, shape, or texture.
Kinetic Sand (all weeks)
Along with the Pouring Station above, this was the only station that was available all summer long. I had the supplies from last year, which included the kinetic sand itself as well as recycled fruit cup containers that had fun shapes and plastic shovels. I kept a sheet underneath this station to catch any stray sand that escapes the bins. Because the sand is not taste-safe, I do warn the caregivers that if their kiddo is still exploring with their mouth, they may want to skip this station.
Beanbag Sort (Weeks 1, 4, & 7)
We had these beanbags from Lakeshore Learning that are different colors and shapes. They’re a super easy station where kids can play and sort with them in several ways.
Craft Stick Sort (Weeks 1, 4, & 7)
Another repeat from last year that was already “done.” I noticed in my storage bin that I had these boxes of dot painters that have small holes already in the top. I colored a ring around each hole a different rainbow color and added colored craft sticks for a fine motor and color identification station.
Pool Noodle Sort (Weeks 2 & 5)
A new station this year, but one I’ll repeat. Using the pool noodle slices (from Pool Noodle Soup), I taped a dowel rod to four small plastic cones in red, green, yellow, and blue. Kids could then thread the colored noodles on to the cones. Original idea from this Pin (no blog).
Feed the Croc (Weeks 2 & 5)
Saw this and thought it was very cute, and actually had the container from last year that someone had given to me. I painted it so that the whole thing is green and the label was covered up, added the big googly eyes and made little nostril markings. I found a few metal tongs at Goodwill and added the ping pong balls. Nom, nom, nom! Original idea from Mama OT.
Colored Ball Sort and Drop (Weeks 3 & 6)
Two more repeats from last year. This ball sort and drop was made with Baker & Taylor boxes, but oriented them different ways so one was tall and skinny and one was low and squat. I had purchased ball pit balls and supplied different colors to each box. Photos from last year, which had weird blurs, sorry. Original idea from Taming Little Monsters.
Pompom Sort (Weeks 3 & 6)
A really easy station to put together: I just saved a couple of egg cartons, then poured a handful or two of different colored/sized pompoms into them. The plastic tongs I provided last year were all broken in use, so I bought some metal ice tongs for this year. (And again, weird blur). Original idea from Laughing Kids Learn.
Art Stations
With the exception of Coloring the Parachute, the art stations were all unique, and all were simple process-focused art with different media. To help with mess, I set up a “Rinse Station” near the art every week which consisted of two buckets of water and two old bath towels for washing up as needed.
Color the Parachute (all weeks)
My library has an interesting smaller parachute (maybe 8 foot diameter?) that is plain white and was advertised as “decorate it yourself!” When I inherited it, there were a small scattering of names from who knows how long ago and the rest was depressingly empty. This summer I was determined to fill it up. I laid it out each week and set it as a station inside the gazebo, with a small handful of permanent markers. I’m happy to say that it looks MUCH better now, though it could still use a lot more personalization to fill up empty spaces. I offered some different ideas as the weeks went on as to what to add, like a favorite animal or insect. The first time we were indoors I offered it as a station, but cleaning up realized there was permanent marker on our relatively new flooring. To keep my director from going nuts, I decided not to put it out indoors anymore. 🙂 You can see the rinse station in the photo as well.
Shape Prints (Week 1)
Using shape sorter blocks that we already had in our baby toy collection, kids could dip them in paint and stamp the shapes onto white construction paper. I use old recycled Lean Cuisine trays to hold the paint – they are a perfect size. Sadly, I missed getting any pictures of this station! Original idea (and photo on the sign) from Nanny Gunna.
Dot Painting (Week 2)
I originally had a different craft planned for week 2, but it was rainy that week and we were indoors the first two days. Dot painting is very easy and not as messy as slapping paint with flyswatters (see week 6 below), so the switch was made. The library has a supply of dot paint markers and I printed out some animal dot coloring sheets. Simple and still fun. I get a lot of these sheets, including the ones pictured, from The Artisan Life.
Pool Noodle Art (Week 3)
The pool noodles make another appearance! Trays of tempera paint and white construction paper are available with the noodles for any kind of art a child wishes to make. I had a few extra pieces of noodles that had been split lengthwise as well as sliced, to make half-circle shapes in addition to the full circles. Original idea (and photo on the sign) from What Can We Do With Paper and Glue.
Ice Painting (Week 4)
This is honestly very simple, but I always get a lot of comments from grown-ups about how cool it is and how they might be able to do it at home. (I LOVE hearing that they’ll adapt what we do at the library at home!) I add small craft sticks to an ice cube tray and put in a little liquid watercolor paint and fill the rest with water. I think it could easily be done with food coloring if you don’t have liquid watercolors, though. I keep the ice cube trays in a cooler in the shade until we’re ready for stations, then get them out to use. They do melt, but usually there’s a bit of ice left by the end of the program. And my groups were quite tidy, so I was able to just refreeze the trays each day and there was plenty of “paint” available for three sessions. Original idea (and photo on the sign) from ARTventurers.
Finger Painting (Week 5)
A classic and super-simple activity – construction paper in our messy trays with finger paints in trays. I actually had several kids who didn’t like the sensory messiness of it, so some of them creatively used the rocks that are there to keep papers from flying away to spread the paint around. I’m not sure of the source of the photo on the sign, I think it’s a stock photo from Canva.
Fly Swatter Art (Week 6)
A messy but very fun art project, using (re-using) supplies from other stations. Kids wielded fly swatters to slap at paint, making some very interesting abstract art. I think the best method turned out to be adding some dots of paint to the paper, then letting the kids aim for them, rather than trying to spread paint on the swatter. I’m grateful for good weather all that week, since this is very much an outdoor activity. Original idea (and photo on the sign) from Play Teach Repeat.
Chalk Art (Week 7)
Another very simple process art project, using black construction paper and sidewalk chalk. It was nice to end the summer with an art station that didn’t involve paint – this librarian was very tired by that point!
Wow, thanks for making it to the end of this very long post. I hope you found some good ideas and jumping-off points for out-of-the-box programming!
Storytime with Ms. Emily Library 