Afternoon Storytime Favorites with Miss Heidi

I love a good afternoon storytime! Growing up, it was my favorite time of afternoon on a hot summer day or a cold winter day. Or just when it was too wet and rainy to go outside. Mama would sit down with a good book like The Hobbit, Little House on the Prairie, or the Chronicles of Narnia series. She would read to us for a good hour as the little ones napped or had blanket time.

We would all gather with our projects – from an afghan we were crocheting, a latch hook kit, or cross stitch kit. My brothers sometimes would sketch and we girls would untangle a huge skein of yarn as we listened to Mama read. It was a such a fun time and we made so many memories.

Over the years, we have always been drawn to stories. We grew up with storytime with Your Story Hour on the way home from swim lessons. Mama also provided us with plenty of cassette tapes that we listened to on repeat. From all the old classics, through The Patch the Pirate Club, to stories she’d record off the radio. And we only had one Adventures in Odyssey cassette that we listened to on repeat before finding them on the radio! We went through plenty of tape players!

Listening to stories has always been a favorite and exciting way to dive into another world. So having story time with my nanny kiddos was one of the first things we started together in the afternoons. We have done so many projects together, learned many new crafts, and listened to more than 600 stories in the last 2.5 years!

Our Favorite Stories and Audio Dramas

We absolutely love Adventures in Odyssey! Each story is about 25 minutes long and teaches a character lesson. They are recorded by a full voice cast of characters you and your kids will come to love. The stories get better and better if you listen to them in chronological order. The story arcs, character building, and mysteries are captivating. I love how excited the kids get when they hear the intro! And watching their faces as we figure out a mystery is the best!

Currently you can find all the albums online at Christian Book in cd form. They are great for kids to listen to and re-listen to over and over again.

Another great way is the Adventures in Odyssey Club App. Here you can listen to every story ever released and in chronological order! You can search stories by themes and characters. They also have many other fun things on the app from The Imagination Station audiobooks to the Odyssey podcast. It is a great app with lots of content that kids love.

Another reason I love the Odyssey stories is that they are great for all ages. The little ones like to sit in and listen as well and if they are a bit confused, they ask about the story and I fill them in. Sometimes it is a bit much for them to understand, but they like to be in the room still. If there is a story series that I know is too intense for them, I skip them and come back to them on another day with just the big kids.

I have also shared with them a few of the Lamplighter Theatre stories as well. Most of these are made for children 8 and up as they can get a bit more intense. But the stories all share a great lesson and are exciting audio dramas adapted from old books. I love the full cast of vocal characters, the sound effects, and the music tracks.

If you want to see more of our favorite audio books and audio dramas visit my post about them here.

Our Favorite Crafts and Projects

Currently, the older kiddos are working on gem art projects that I bought for them a while ago from the craft store. These are a big projects that take a lot of time. I let them work on them for one story and them move onto something else if they would like if we have time for a second story.

They also love to draw and color still and it is great to encourage them to draw what they think the character in the story looks like!

My favorite craft for beginners is a Latch Hook kit. You can get these at any local craft store and they are so easy to teach. Once the child gets used to the concept, they can catch on quite quickly. This last week, it took me only a few minutes to encourage one child and he got it. By the next day he was following the pattern and doing rows by himself! AND he is only 6!

For little ones, I like to have a variety of fun new things to surprise them with. I have been blessed with my mom’s preschool files and I have kept a good bit of the curriculum that she collected. I am super grateful for this as many of these are not in print any more. Our favorite is the Carson Dellosa file folder games. I print off a few on cardstock and bring them for the little ones to work on. They are perfect for a special four year old to color and cut out and then I help her put it together in a file folder. She gets to pull it out next time and play the game with her siblings.

We also have listened to the book of the month on audio as we put together their lapbook kits! This has been a fun way to bring the story to life as we are creating the elements to the story! Lapbooks are creative and entertaining as kids show what they are comprehending from the book.

There are many great crafts for children to do these days. I created a two-part craft blog post a while ago that has more great ideas on crafts for your kiddos to do! Click here if you are interested!

Our Favorite Snacks

Ok, just for fun, most of the time storytime starts during snack time and the kids love to have something to nibble on as we listen and work. I have found that having muffins made is fun for them and a special treat.

My special baking buddy and I love this recipe and add whatever we find like raisins, chocolate chips, cocoa powder, or healthy sprinkles!

Sometimes we make crackers as well! Anything simple like this can help your budget as well as their eager bellies.

I hope you enjoyed this post and all the storytime ideas! The kiddos and I love when we can have an afternoon to listen and create. It makes a rainy day much more fun!

If you have stories that you like to listen to or if you also enjoy Adventures in Odyssey, please comment down below! I love to hear from you! What crafts are your kiddos loving right now?

Many blessings!