Stuffed Animal Sleepover...Take 3

The idea of a stuffed animal sleepover is one I ran across on PUBYAC while still in graduate school. This is the third time I've planned one and the ninth time I hosted one. For the first two, I held them at each of my four branches, ergo I hosted eight times.




Here's the way a stuffed animal sleepover works for me and my branches: kids bring a stuffed animal friend to a special storytime and then leave the animal for a sleepover. We hold our sleepovers on the nights when the branches are open late. After the kids leave, I (and hopefully a volunteer or two) pose the animals getting into mischief around the library. I share the photos with parents in a variety of ways. I've used Flickr, Photobucket, and now the library system's Facebook page.

When planning this sleepover, I looked back at what I'd done in the past. A few things I kept, but others I changed. Here's what I did:

Movement Song: “Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed”

Book: Hugless Douglas and the Big Sleep-Over by David Melling

Poem with Flannel Board: “Goodnight Mummy” by Roger Stevens from Switching on the Moon: A Very First Book of Bedtime Poems collected by Jane Yolen & Andrew Fusek Peters

Book: Let’s Sing a Lullaby with the Brave Cowboy by Jan Thomas

Rhyme with Flannel Board: “Blue Ted Said”

Book: Don’t Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late! by Mo Willems

Action Song: “Rockabye Your Bear” by The Wiggles

Book: Dream Animals: A Bedtime Journey by Emily Winfield Martin 

After storytime, the kids tucked their animals in and we sang them a lullaby (Twinkle, Twinkle, LIttle Star). 

All of the books, flannels, and songs I did were well received with the except of Dream Animals. The kids were just too wiggly to appreciate such a quiet book, but I do plan on trying it in storytime again.  

And here are a few photos from the sleepover. To view the entire album, you can visit our Facebook page.