If you’re looking for some last minute books to help you through the holidays, come see the display cabinet on the first floor of the OISE library. All materials in the cabinet can be checked out and this month we’ve gathered together OISE materials about winter holidays around the world!
Check out the holiday activity and craft books to help you and your students through the chilly days leading up to winter vacation. Better Homes and Gardens Holiday Crafts Kids Can Make, First Nations Christmas Activities, The Holiday Handbook: 700+ storytime activities from Arbor Day to Yom Kippur-from Diwali to Kwanzaa to Ramadan, and International winter festivals: projects and patterns for Holiday Gifts, Greetings, Ornaments, Decorations and Classroom Displays, offer a wide variety of holiday, Christmas, and wintery crafts.
For learning about Christmas look to the children’s books Yoon and the Christmas Mitten by Helen Recorvits, Christmas in Canada: a Celebration of stories form Past to Present by Canadian author Rick Book, the dual language book Uno Dos Tres posada: Let’s Celebrate Christmas by Virginia Kroll, and Le Noel de Petunia by Jean Little.
We also have a number of Kwanzaa children’s books, Kwanzaa by Marc Tyler Nobleman, and Seven Candles for Kwanzaa by Andrea Davis Pinkney highlight the week-long celebration.
Coming up next weekend is the winter solstice; learn all about the shortest day of the year through the beautifully illustrated The Shortest Day: Celebrating the Winter Solstice by Wendy Pfeffer.
Though Hanukkah this year has ended, Wendy Wax’s Hanukkah, oh, Hanukkah!: a treasury of stories, songs and games to share will help you prepare for next year. Wax’s treasury holds Hanukkah poems and stories, accompanied by beautiful water colour paintings. Feast of Lights by Ellen Jaffe emphasizes the importance of family love and explores the main character’s cultural heritage and the history of Hanukka.
We also have two activity kits featured in the display, the Hanukkah Celebration Box and the Kwanzaa Celebration Box, which are great introductory resources on the respective holidays. Each include a book describing the origins of the holiday, as well as everything you need to follow along with the holiday traditions.
Finally if you’re looking for something wintry to help teach about any of these holidays, we have several puppets, like the display cabinet’s penguin, that can also be borrowed from the library!
Come see the staff at the OISE Service desk to take out or look at any of the items in the display cabinet.
Happy Holidays!