Story Time Crafts and Early Literacy

I started incorporating crafts this past fall during Spanish and bilingual story time, but I only do a project about once a month to stretch out the children's department's existing craft supplies. So far, I've done a paper plate pizza (lots of prep work), drawing with chalk (easy and no prep), illustrating a book (little prep because the books were already made from a previous craft), and newspaper sailor hats (practice, practice, practice!). This spring, we'll be making paper plate owls, Mo Willems crafts (put together by a co-worker, whew!), a butterfly made from a toilet roll tube, flower (not fully planned yet), all sorts of crafts for Día de los Niños/Día de los Libros, and maybe some kind of transportation-themed craft, like paper airplanes or a rocket.

My personal reasons for after storytime crafts are that they make story time even more fun, slightly increase attendance (with advance publicizing), and I get to spend more time talking with the parents and getting to know the kids that much more. And it's not all "fun."  Here is a link to a post by Colorado Libraries for Early Literacy (CLEL) that discusses how crafts build early literacy skills: http://www.clel.org/node/307

Here are other blog posts related to crafts and early literacy from CLEL:

Benefits of Crafts in Library Storytimes: http://www.clel.org/node/304

Selecting and Presenting Enriching Storytime Cratfs: http://www.clel.org/node/313 

Creating Storytime Crafts that Support the Six Skills and Five Practices: http://www.clel.org/node/316

Early Literacy-Based Crafts: Incorporate Print: http://www.clel.org/node/322

Early Literacy-Based Crafts: Tell a Story/Sing a Song: http://www.clel.org/node/324

Early Literacy-Based Crafts: Talk About It: http://www.clel.org/content/early-literacy-based-crafts-talk-about-it