Preschool Story Time - Flutter by, Butterfly!

YES!  Spring has really arrived in Ohio!  I was getting a little worried about that.  What a perfect time to talk about my all time favorite bugs.  Bug story times are great - there are so many resources!  Today we did mostly butterflies, but we threw in a few flies and other bugs too - mainly because I have a felt set I wanted to use again.  Here we go!

Oh my goodness is this a beautiful book! Its just a year old now, but definitely should be included in every butterfly story time.  AND it is perfect for my craft which you will see later!

These two are the best friends ever!  But one wants to dig, dig, dig, and one wants to climb, climb, climb.  They realize how important they really are to one another.  Cheers and another ovation for a wonderfully written and illustrated book.  I adore this one.

Have you seen my BIG Wide-Mouthed Frog felt set?  I chose to do this story even though there is no butterfly in it - because I just love to tell this story.  I decided that the fact that the frog eats flies was good enough tie-in for me.  I always say, do what you love and the kids will love what you do....and it's true.

After HALFTIME, I pulled out the UKE to keep the party going.  We did the insect song to the tune of Wheels on the Bus:

The fireflies at night go blink blink blink (dont forget to blink your hands!)
blink blink blink
blink blink blink
The fireflies at night go blink blink blink
All summer long....

Continue with:
The bees in the flowers go buzz buzz buzz (move your hand like a darting bee) 
The ants in the grass go march march march  (stomp feet) 
The crickets on the leaves go chirp chirp chirp (make bird beaks with your hands up to your ears) 
The caterpillar in the field goes creep creep creep (move finger like inch worms) 
ALL SUMMER LONG

Do you know the song to this one?  I sang most of the book, but had the kids (and parents) swatting the air and singing "Shoo Fly, Shoo Fly, Shoo"  The entire time, one little boy said "I would just swat it!" So he was thrilled at the end when the fly meets his SPLAT.

Hilarity reigns supreme!  This is possibly the 4th or 5th time I have done this book in story time, and it is a huge hit every time.  The kids and parents were just laughing out loud.  If you are going to do it, GO BIG.  The kids were doing the movements with me, until I did the backside part.  If you read my Bunnies story time, you know this part is a big hit with one of my little fellas.

Finally my craft!  I love this type of craft and probably do it several times a year.  Today's sun catchers were in the shape of butterflies.  First, I made a template and drew it onto wax paper like this:

The kids put glue down, and filled the butterfly with tissue paper squares.  After the paper dries (at home), the parents cut out the butterfly shape, and this is what you get!

One pack of tissue paper and a box of wax paper cost $1 each at the dollar store, but the number of crafts I get out of this idea is numerous.  I figure I could do this craft at least 5 times with these materials, which means a grand total (besides glue already on hand) of about 40 cents per story time, or 2 cents per child.  You simply cannot beat that!  The kids love the fine motor skills practice, and the moms and grandmas love the craft for their windows.

And today we had a bonus!  Look what I found while at the dollar store!  These were in a package of three.  I was going to have a bling-station for the kids to decorate the foam butterflies and bugs with sequins and bobbles, but we were really quite full up today.  Because every good fairy deserves a magic wand, I gave them out to all of my little peeps. (and they don't hurt when the boys are whacking each other with them).  It was my Easter present to my group.

My story times are racing by these days.  I want to go on and on.  I am glad my last ones are so fun though because this transition will be harder than the others.
Thanks for stopping by!!