Penguins Story Time

What is the perfect way to jump back into story time after winter break? PENGUINS!

Everyone loves a good reason to waddle around like you are a penguin.

I decided to add in a few minor tweaks to my overall story time pattern using some of the knowledge gained from my first semester observations.

I wanted to add in a Hello song again but this time I have the lyrics written down on a big yellow pad so that everyone can see them. If the parents know the words ahead of time they can join in and eventually so will the kiddos. I chose to use the version we also use in lapsit story time so if anyone has graduated from that program and has moved into my toddler program they will feel comfortable.

Hello Song

Hello everybody (Wave Hello)

and how are you (Open hands so hand is flat and make them go up and down)

How are you, (Same as above)

How are you? (same as above)

Hello everybody(Wave Hello)

and how are you, (Open hands so hand is flat and make them go up and down)

How are you today?

To kick off our topic today, we first read If You Were A Penguin by Wendell & Florence Minor. It quickly shows some of the things that penguins can do such as living in warm or cold places, as well as how they can wear tuxedos and make funny faces!

Now for my flannel board story I made up a rhyme to go with some penguins I found here. I laminated the hats and put velcro on them so they can attach to the penguins head much like it shows to do to turn them into a lapbook activity. After I said the verse, I would ask if anyone could see a matching color.

The Penguins Are Missing Their Hats!

I found a red hat, red hat, red hat

found a red hat, wonder where it goes?

(For more verses replace the word red

with orange, yellow, green, blue, purple)

Next story on the agenda, is Flip and Flop by Dawn Apperly. This is a charming tale of an older and younger brother penguin. The younger one is constantly trying to do the same thing that his older brother does.

Next I had a fingerplay written on the big yellow pad so that kiddos and parents could join in. ( I can't remember where I found this at, at the moment.)

Penguin Family
One royal penguin feeling very blue (hold up one finger)
Called for his brother and then there were two (hold up two fingers).
Two royal penguins swimming in the sea (swimming motion)
Called for their sister and then there were three (hold up three fingers)!
Three royal penguins waddle on the shore (waddle),
Call for their mother and then there were four (hold up four fingers).
Four royal penguins learning how to dive (make diving motion)
Call for their father, and then there were five!

Our final story is one of my absolute, all time favorites! Tacky the Penguin by Helen Lester is such a great tale about it is okay to be unique and march to the beat of a very different drum.

The reason for leaving Tacky until the very end is because our craft is making our very OWN Tacky the Penguin! I found the pattern for the penguin part here and traced an outline of the body to make the shirt. I used different scrapbook paper to make many different and unique shirts.

Five Little Cookies Flannel/Magnetic Story

Five Little Cookies

(Place the family on the board in the line – Mom, Dad, Sister, and then Brother. I also chose to add the numbers and words beneath the cookies and the family members to give this a little something extra to talk about.)

Five little cookies with frosting galore,

Mother ate one and then there were four. (Move 1 cookie by mom)

Four little cookies, two and two you see,

Father ate one and then there were three. (Move one cookie by dad)

Three little cookies, but before I knew,

Sister ate one and then there were two. (Move one cookie by sister)

Two little cookies, yum, yum, yum,

Brother ate one and then there was one. (Move one cookie by brother)

One little cookie, here I come,

I ate it, now there are none! (Take last cookie off board and hold to chest)

As per usual I found the family members for this flannel board story using clipart on the web. The cookies however were created using Microsoft word. All items were printed and laminated with magnets on the back. I also typed up 1-5 and the words Mother, Father, Sister, & Brother in word in a colorful font in order to associate them with the pictures. I had the kiddos and parents help me count the cookies before the rhyme as well as after.

Old MacDonald had a farm...

E-I-E-I-O!

Today we are talking about farm animals!

We started off with our bigger book Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown. This is wonderful story about the animals on the farm when the children are away.

Next up was our flannel board story, Old MacDonald Had a Farm. I've seen alot of incarnations of the cardboard barn to hide the animals in before you bust them out but this is my version!
We ended our storytime with the short, Barnyard Banter by Denise Fleming. This involves lots of animal noises and a missing duck!


Create A Farm Story Time Craft


Our craft today is Create a Farm. I printed out clipart barns, cows, ducks, pigs, etc and cut them out. I glued a half a sheet of blue paper to green cardstock to give the effect of the sky and a hilly farm scene. The kids can glue them on. This allows the parents the chance to discusss each animal, what sound they make, and why they put them where they did.

My favorite part of the whole story time was when the mom asked the little girl "What do pigs give us?" and she replied, "BACON!" I gigglesnorted for a good while on that one!

Old MacDonald Flannel

For my recent Farm Animals unit I really wanted to do Old MacDonald Had a Farm. It's a classic and easy for the parents to assist me with. Plus, the kiddos really love making animal noises!

For my version I made it into a flannel board using clipart from the web. You can pick any animal you want to include for this which makes it very versatile. I added a little something interesting though. I painted a cardboard magazine holder (which we have TONS of) red and white like a barn. I housed the animals in there and before each new verse I made a big show of pulling out a new mystery animal.


The Barn (And the Sneaky Giraffe!)



The Animals



Five Pirates on a Treasure Chest flannel board story

Avast ye land lubbers! It be a flannel board story about pirates and their treasure! Haha. That never gets old. Any who, here is a rhyme I used in my Ahoy Mateys: It's a Pirate! story time. I found the original rhyme here. However I changed it up just a little bit to suit my age group.

5 Pirates on a Treasure Chest

        Five pirates on a treasure chest

        One jumped off and four are left.

        Four pirates on a treasure chest

        One slid off and three are left.

        Three pirates on a treasure chest

        One tumbled down and two are left.

        Two pirates on a treasure chest

        One blew away and one is left.

        One pirate on a treasure chest.

        She climbed down and now 
        there are none.

        No pirates on a treasure chest!

        Yo ho ho and now it's all MINE!

I found a sticker book (pictured below) at Michael's that featured pirates and only cost  $1! Hot dog! It worked perfect. I stuck the stickers on card stock and printed out a treasure chest clip art from the internet and laminated the set. I placed magnets on the back only because we are currently out of velcro. 

Five Little Pumpkins

For my pumpkin story time this week I made this version of Five Little Pumpkins.  I like it because it's different from others I have heard  and I could really animate the pumpkins as they moved around the flannel board.

Here is the Rhyme:
Five little pumpkins bouncing by the door, (Place each pumpkin by the door)
One rolled away (remove one), and now there are four.
Four little pumpkins sitting in the tree, ( Place each one on the tree)
One jumped down, and now there are three. (Remove one.)
Three little pumpkins playing 'Peek-a-boo', (Place each on board between door and tree)
One ran away, and now there are two. (Remove one.)
Two little pumpkins sitting in the sun, (Place the sun up above the pumpkins)
One went home, and now there is one. (Remove one.)
One little pumpkin, feeling kind of shy, blows you a kiss, and waves, 'good-bye'. (Remove last pumpkin.)

When it says rolled, jumped, etc. I made the pumpkin do the action. When the pumpkin played peek a boo so did I. We did it a couple times and that resulted in the kiddos collapsing into fits of giggles.

The tree is the same template I borrowed when I made the Autumn - Blue is the Sky flannel story.

Inspired by Flannel Friday - Autumn - Blue is the Sky

October is here and that means  (hopefully) cool air, leaves changing colors, and fall has begun in Texas time.
For my Leaves story time I decided to go with Autumn - Blue is the sky which I saw on Mel's Desk. It is short and sweet but helps illustrate some of the key parts of fall and the colors that are associated with it.

As you can see from the above picture I used all felt except some shiny silver wrapping paper I glued onto the stars. I did my old standby of searching for clipart that matched the elements of the rhyme. There is a pateern on the link to the original for the tree which I save and have used for a couple other upcoming flnnel stories that involve trees just because I love this shape so much.

Puppies & Dogs

I'm bacckkkkk!

After a much needed month long break i'm back int he swing of toddler storytime! Today are theme was puppies and dogs.  I'm trying to start out this semester with an opener so the kiddos know when it's time to settle down and get ready for the stories. I use the classic Open them, Shut them.

Today, we were able to read three stories and do a flannel board since they were so receptive.

First book up to the plate was Dog's Colorful Day by Emma Dodd. They liked this one and I tried to pause before saying which spot number we were on so they could shout it out.

Second, was Bark, George by Jules Feiffer. This one is hysterical and let me play it up using alot of exaggeration when it came to the noises george would make and how far the doctor had to reach for the animals.

We did the Doggy, Doggy Where's your Bone? flannel board inspired by 1234morestorytimes. After the second time through, they got comfortable saying which animal we should pick next. They would giggle when they found out who had the bone!

Last story was Waggle! by Sarah McMenemy. Another cute one. All though this one is a little longer we went ahead and read it any way because we had more than enough time and the kids were digging it.

Our craft this week was a puppy puppet made using an envelope. When the kids would should me their puppet we'd see what noise he would make much like George did in the book.

Dear Zoo Flannel - Inspired by

I'm very pleased to present my very first flannel board! One of the themes I chose for the upcoming year is Zoo and everywhere I look I see praise for Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell.

I found a printable here to use as a guideline for my pieces. I'm very excited to bring this one out and see how it goes! Until then here are some closeups of my favorites!

This one was inspired by Nikarella. You can see the original here.