I am on a storytime break until the week of March 15, so I decided rather than simply announce my break I would do something new. This week I am going to discuss crafts that appealed to me but didn’t quite make the cut for storytime for one reason or another.
The first one is the Coffee Filter Shamrock. I found this on Free Preschool Crafts.
I loved this craft and really considered it! It is so simple and neat. The reason I chose not to go with it is the drying time. While it would not take very long for the children to complete the craft, it would take a while for the coffee filters to dry. I am only with the storytime kids for 3o minutes, 20 of that is taken up with books, songs, and games leaving only 10 minutes for crafts. that really isn’t a lot of time and while we can get a lot done in that time frame, coffee filter shamrock will have to wait. I think this craft would be better suited for a longer program. Maybe something at least 45 minutes long and the shamrock could be made first so that it could dry during the rest of the program.
After doing a bit of digging on the internet, it seems you can make anything with a coffee filter: flowers, earths, rainbows. I love this idea and will try to use coffee filters someday.
Another craft I immediately liked when I discovered it was the Paper Plate Flower Craft. This one came from Enchanted Learning.
The reason I like this craft is it is so cute. I think it would make a very lovely gift for a parent or grandparent (or librarian!) the problem with it is what makes it so lovely: the handprints.The kids who come to storytime are 3-5 years old. Most of them have a hard time tracing their hand by themself. They also need help cutting the handprint out. So this makes a great craft for parents to do with the children, but since parents aren’t always there for storytime (at my library, parents can choose to accompany their child or send them in alone) it make a lot of work for the librarian. I think I would use this for a family program.
There you have it! Maybe you will be able to take advantage of these cute crafts that didn’t quite make it.
Awesome Story Time 
Okay, that shamrock is totally awesome! But you’re right about drying time, they’d just want to whip it around right away.