Flannel Friday - Little White Rabbit

I LOVE Kevin Henkes' Little White Rabbit! 

What a beautiful picture book to share with little ones in the Spring, especially around Easter time.  The simple text makes it easy enough for babies and toddlers, and the imaginative story makes it a magical read for preschoolers, too!

I decided to make a felt set to make the book more accessible for little ones. Here's my take on it:

Little white rabbit hopped along...

As he hopped through the grass, he wondered what it would be like to be green...

When he hopped by the trees, he wondered what it would be like to be tall...

When he hopped by a rock, he wondered what it would be like to not be able to move...

When he hopped under the butterflies, he wondered what it would be like to fly...

I mostly traced Henkes' illustrations out of the book, since I'm not exactly an artist! I outlined the felt with dark green Sharpie marker, and glued little pink felt noses to the bunnies.  The butterflies are also colored with Sharpies, with green felt bodies.

These bunnies will be a great addition to my "Hoppy Easter" Baby Story Time this week! Happy Flannel Friday!

Thanks to Miss Meg's Storytime for hosting the round-up this week!  Flannel Friday is for anyone interested in finding and sharing great flannel board ideas!  You can learn more about Flannel Friday and how to participate here.

Preschool Story Time - Easter Bunnies

It's hard to imagine that Spring will come, but it will.  We have had two very cold winters in a row here in Ohio and as I type this, the snow is softly falling.  But I wanted to make sure I blogged my Easter story time for all those who are preparing for Easter in their communities.  I have to be fair and state that this Easter story time does not have very much to do with religion, and that is so it can be inclusive. You will see a lot of bunnies, chocolate, and bonnets, (as anyone would see in the stores) but I stayed away from any religious overtones.

Max Counts His Chicks - Rosemary Wells

A counting book, and a book with a moral all rolled into one!  How would you feel if Ruby kept finding all of the chickens?  Have fun counting up to 10 and back again!

Jelly Bean Countdown- Poem and Felt

So I found this great lesson plan on 123 Learn Curriculum (Click HERE for the entire lesson and templates).  It suggested I use real jelly beans or flannel ones.  I chose flannel simply because some kids have allergies to the dyes in jelly beans and I thought this way there would be no hurt feelings.

5 little jelly beans
I wish I had more!
I'll eat the (color) one
Now there are four!

4 little jelly beans
Tasty as can be
I'll eat the (color) one
Now there are 3!

3 little jelly beans
Only a few.
I'll eat the (color) one
Now there are 2.

2 little jelly beans
Eating them is fun
I'll eat the (color) one
Now there is one.

1 little jelly bean
The last one for me
I'll eat the (color) one
I'm as happy as can be!

Easter Parade - Berlin

Most of you may never had an Easter Bonnet, or walked in an Easter Parade.  It seems like its a pastime of yore.  I had an Easter Bonnet as a child though, and I remember learning and singing this song every year.  If you know the song, why not teach it to another generation?  I promise you that you will get a lot of blank stares, but the grandmas in the room will think it's great.  So go ahead!  Just make sure you know how to pronounce rotogravure before you get to that part of the song!

Song:

Easter Parade:

In your Easter bonnet, with all the frills upon it, you’ll be the grandest lady in the Easter Parade.  I’ll be all in clover, and when the look you over, Ill be the proudest fella in the Easter Parade.

On the avenue, 5th Avenue, the photographer will snap us, and you’ll find that you’re in the rotogravure.  Oh I could write a sonnet, about your Easter Bonnet, and of the girl I’m taking to the Easter Parade.

There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Chick - Lucille Colandro

Because I really enjoy all of the "Old Lady" books, I especially like to sing and immortalize these books in felt.  The kids love the silliness and love to let me know when she is eating something that is ridiculous.  Here is my felt set.  I like to let the kids put the items in or near the basket.  The artwork  is directly out of the book.

Time for a DANCE!   Here is The Bunny Pokey

You put your bunny ears in, you put your bunny ears out, you put your bunny ears in and you  shake them all about.  You do the bunny pokey and you hop, hop up and down.  That’s what it’s all about!

Continue with:
Bunny paws
Bunny nose
Bunny Tail
Whole Bunny

Easter Bunny's Assistant - Jan Thomas

This book cracks me up!  I love all of Jan Thomas' books.  You will learn which of your kiddos have that preschool-humor down as the skunk...well, skunks up the place when he gets SO EXCITED!!  Use your big voices for this hilarious book!

STEM activity - Shaker Eggs

This was GREAT fun.  What happens when I put beans in the eggs and shake them up?  What if I put in pennies.  Does it sound the same?  How about rice or marbles or feathers?  We tried a few things to see what they would sound like, then I let the kids fill eggs with what they wanted.  Together we used the shaker eggs to shake our sillies out in song and dance.

ALTERNATE FELT SET!  

Since doing this particular story time, I have done more with bunnies.  Actually, I have done another Easter story time too.  Click HERE for more resources for Easter.  The felt set above is simply a fun bunny story that has the kids saying "OH NO NOT AGAIN!" It is called Too Many Bunnies by Matt Novak and you can CLICK HERE for more on this felt set....including the entire story in case you don't have the book on hand.

Craft - Bunny Collage

Look at how cute!!  These bunnies are made by swirling a little white paint with a Q-Tip, and then using Q-tips for ears.  Simple and fun for the kids!

I hope this helps while putting together some of your trickier holiday story time themes!  Thanks for stopping by!

Preschool Story Time - Bunnies

I have a little problem.  It happens when people know their job is ending soon, they are moving, or they are looking forward to any other life altering event.  You start to panic a little.  There are so many books I want to read to kids, so many felt stories I want to do (or do again), and more craft ideas than I know what to do with.  This story time falls into category B.  I have a felt set I just made and wanted to use it!

First of all, Miss Kristie sent her daughter Daisy in with bunny ears and a tail.  So I wore them.  It seemed like a natural thing to do at the time, and the kids just loved it.  (Thanks Kristie!)  Miss Kristen brought her son, Adam to story time too!  It was great to have support but I was a little nervous too.  So here's what we did:

Chloe is the middle child of 21 bunnies.  Everyone wants to sit and watch TV but Chloe has a better idea for Family Fun night.  Will dad understand?

Star of the day!  This new book was a huge hit with the kids and the parents.  I was so happy to read this one.  Make sure you notice that the number of bunnies is growing each day.  Hilarious!

Then it was time for my Flannel Set - Too Many Bunnies!  By Matt Novak.

Too Many Bunnies! Matt Novak

In a green field, there were two holes.  One hole was very empty.

Across the field there was another hold filled with bunnies, Chubby, Fuzzy, Floppy, Whiskers, and Bob.
One Day, Chubby said, “There are too many bunnies in this hole!”
Chubby hopped out of the hole, across the field, and into the big empty hole.
“Big,” said Chubby.
“Chubby is right,” said Fuzzy. “This hole is too crowded.”
Fuzzy hopped out of the old hole, across the field, and into the not-so-empty hole.
“Comfy,” said Fluffy.
“That other hole looks much better,” said Floppy.
Floppy hopped out of the hole, across the field, and into the new hole.
“Nice,” said Floppy.
“It is cold in here,” said Whiskers.
So Whiskers hopped out of the hole, across the field, and into the almost-full-hole.
“Cozy,” said Whiskers.
“I’m lonely,” said Bob.  “Where IS everybody?”
Bob hippity-hopped over to be with the other bunnies.

“There are too many bunnies in this hole,” said Chubby. 
But across the field, there was an empty hole.
“It looks big,’ said Chubby.
“It looks comfy,” said Fuzzy.
“It looks nice,” said Floppy.
“It looks cozy,” said Whiskers.
“Wait for me!” shouted Bob.
And that’s why there are always TOO MANY BUNNIES!

The kids got a big kick out of this once they figured out what was happening.  They started shouting out how this could go on all day, or they would yell "OH NO not again!!"  It was funny.

After Halftime, I kept them standing for another song, accompanied by Moi on the ukulele"
If you're a bunny and you know it twitch your nose.
If you're a bunny and you know it twitch your nose.
If you're a bunny and you know it and you really want to show it
If you're a bunny and you know it twitch your nose.
(Continue with:  Eat a carrot, wiggle your tail, flop your ears, hop around)

Another big hit because, you see, I had on that bunny tail.  No one wanted to wiggle their tail because they were way too busy laughing at me!!!

Then we got into the "Easter" portion of the bunny story time.  There are so many great bunny books, but these I wanted to try out.  By the way - if your whole theme is Easter bunnies, I invite you to check out my other story time with a few more Easter books and references. Click HERE for more.

Funny stuff!  There is only one sentence per page, but the text is as long as a good picture book is, so there are a lot of pages to this book.

I just had to.  I love all of Jan Thomas' books!  This one definitely appeals to the boys in the crowd.

My craft was 'stolen' from Crafty Mama's website - so thanks for that.  I forgot to take a photo of my craft, so here is the inspiration:

However we also made bunny NOSES!  We put spring colored pom poms on pop sticks so everyone would have a nose to twitch.

Hope you enjoyed Bunny story time!  I think the ears and tail made it.  Next week is butterflies - I am thinking it is time for some wings!