I'm Hungry! Let's Eat! Story Time

I had grander plans for this story time when I originally planned it in August. However, time got away from me and while I'm not completely satisfied with the end results, I think it turned out okay.

We started off with the story, Little Pea by Alison Krouse Rosenthal. This book is absolutely adorable! IT's about a little pea and his family who eat candy. Little Pea HATES candy and can't wait to get to dessert, a big bowl of spinach!

Next we read Chew, Chew, Gulp! by Lauren Thompson. This one is very short and sweet and so I tried to stop occassionally and point out different things within the illustrations as well as to chime in that burping without saying excuse me isn't very polite.

Five Little Cookies

 

We finished up with a Five Little Cookies magnetic story.

Fix A Plate Craft

Our craft involved them picking and choosing which pieces of food and/or drink they wanted to put on their lunchtray/plate. I printed the items from here for the food (as seen on the last two pages of the pdf) and here for the place mat and adjusted them to my needs.

It's a ZOO in here!

Today's story time theme was It's a ZOO in here! The zoo is such an easy theme to talk to toddlers about because alot of them have been so they get the concept. They can point out animals they've seen before and talk about what noises they make.

Our first story was Two at the Zoo by Danna Smith. This is such a cute book about a trip to the zoo focusing on a boy and his grandpa. You can add lots of extras to this book by having them help you count the animals, telling you what noises they make or doing the movements the animals make. The kids liked this one, too!

Next up was the flannel board story I shared here a while back, Dear Zoo, based on the book by the same name. I left the pieces up on the board and the kiddos came up after they finished their crafts and we talked about the animals. Which was their favorite? Which would they like to keep at their house? What sounds do they make? Etc.

Our Second and Final Story was From Head to Toe by Eric Carle. This was the best out of all three in my opinion today. When I read what the animal could do, I would try it myself and ask if the kids could do it too.

The craft for today was a semi-collage giraffe. I just drew out a shape that i wanted for the head, ears, and neck and made a template. I made these eyes using circles I created in word and used black hole punched circles for the spots. I could have just added a black circle in word but i'm a glutton for punishment or as I like to tell everyone at work, "It's for the CHILDREN!" I just cut random size squares of brown construction for the mane and gave them crayons to add the giraffes spots.

Eventually I will try get a template on here for the giraffe if anyone would like one.

Until next week!

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.

Going Buggy!

Well my second story time ( and my last until September) centered around BUGS!

Our first book for this session was Beetle Bop by Denise Fleming. The reception was luke warm on this one and I was disappointed since i'd heard such good things.

For my story board, I did the rhyme Colorful Butterflies.  I put some magnet tape on the back after finding a butterfly clipart I liked afterI colored and  laminated them. I was sitting on the floor close to the chalkboard which made it easy for me to flick my wrist and have butterflies look like they were flying out of my hand onto the board! Sounds nerdy but I enjoyed it and so did the kids. 

Colorful Butterflies

The first to come to the garden bed

Is a lovely butterfly of brilliant RED

Then in comes another and that makes two

Fly right in my friend of BLUE

“The garden is fine, the best I’ve seen”

Says the butterfly of softest GREEN

Our garden needs a sunny fellow

Fly in butterfly with wings of YELLOW

Little friend of PURPLE, fly in too

The garden is waiting for a color like you

ORANGE, orange you’ve waited so long

Fly right in where you belong

Butterflies, butterflies, you’re such a sight

Flying together – what a delight!

Next we read I Love Bugs! by Emma Dodd. The kids (mostly thew little girls) screamed when we saw the spider page so we scared him away by turning the page.  

The last book was Jump! By Scott Fischer. It was an absolute HIT! The giggled and rolled and got into by helping shout out "jumped" at the appropriate parts. 

For our craft we did Ants on a Hill. I had the kids draw the legs and antennas as well as a treat to carry into the queen. Some things the kids drew include a chocolate cookie, a strawberry and of course a slice of watermelon.

I loved this activity because when some of the kids weren't focusing and getting kind of fussy, I got down on the ground and colored along side them!

Fun in the woods!

My first official story time was nerve racking and exciting all rolled into one! I started towards the end of summer reading so the themes were already picked out all I had to do was fill in the rest.



Since toddler story time is an in between point from lapsit to preschool story time, i'm trying to encourage parents and children to sit on the floor. In order to get the parents to feel comfortable sitting on the floor I am trying it out myself! I made a fake campfire out of cardboard tubes and tissue paper to make a focal point to sit around. The kids loved it and several of them knew that fires mean "hot!" (With several of them blowing on it to cool it down... adorable and smart.)

Once everyone joined me we started off by shaking out our sillies! Some kids were hesitant but with repitition several were willing to join in the next go 'round.

Next we jumped right into our first book, Just Me and My Dad by Mercer Mayer. The reception was okay for this book but it has lots of hidden things you can point out to the kids which they did seem to enjoy.

After that we used the pretend campfire to further our lesson in a version of the Campfire Hokey Pokey.

Campfire Hokey Pokey
You put your marshmallow in,
You take your marshmallow out,
You put your marshmallow in and you shake it all about,
You do the campfire pokey,
and you turn yourself about,
And that's what it's all about!

After the first time I asked if there was anything else that we could roast over the fire. Some suggestions were hot dogs, and s'mores.

Our next story was Maisy Goes Camping by Lucy Cousins. The kids loved when the campers POPPED out of their tent!

Finally it was time for our craft:

Cutout campfires
3 Paper cutouts of red, orange, and yellow flames
2 Popsicle Sticks painted to look like wood (Not necessary but I was overly excited!)
1 Blank Cardstock
2 Cotton Balls

Glue (Glue sticks don't work as well with this as the sticks don't stick well)
Crayons

1. Arrange the cutouts to look like fire.
2. Criss cross sticks on page to look like logs.
3. Add cotton balls to look like marshmallows roasting around the campfire.
4. Allow the kids to add other camping supplies/ people around the fire by drawing them using crayons.

Some other suggestions for stories with this theme include:

Monk Camps Out by Emily Arnold McCully

A Campin Spree With Mr. Magee by Chris Van Dusen


I hope y'all enjoyed my first story time!