Stuffed Animal Sleepover

What fun was had at the library this Friday! I hosted a Stuffed Animal Sleepover and I think it was great fun for all involved. Here's what we did:

On Friday at 4:00 we had a storytime and invited kids to bring their stuffed animal for a sleepover at the library. We read books about toys and bedtime, then the kids made name tags for their toys (just to ensure that no one's got mixed up), and then they tucked them in for the night.

What did we read for our Stuffed Animal Sleepover? We read Corduroy by Don Freeman, Where's My Teddy? by Jez Alborough, and How Will I Ever Sleep in This Bed? by Della Ross Ferreri. We also did Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed with finger puppets, Teddy Bear Teddy Bear Turn Around, and a felt story about the first teddy bear. The storytime lasted about 25 minutes and then we had the kids make name tags. I had cut out a teddy bear Ellison shape, punched a hole through it, and threaded some yarn through the hole to make name tags the kids could put on their stuffed animals. We asked them to write the toy's name on one side and the kid's name on the other side. (I had visions of things getting horribly mixed up and people taking the wrong toys home, but all went smoothly, thank goodness.)

Once everyone was gone, we librarians got out the stuffed animals and took photos of them "playing" around the library. On Saturday, the kids came to pick up their toy. We printed out one picture for each child to take home and showed them all the other pictures. I wasn't there for the pickup, but from what I hear the photos were a big hit and we got some great feedback. This was a fun, inexpensive program that I will definitely do again in the future. I don't think we even really needed to print out a picture for them. Most kids seemed to be thrilled with looking at the pictures on the computer and I emailed the pictures to any interested families.