Toddler Story Time - Bugs! Bugs! Bugs!

Is there anything better than a fun bug themed story time in the summer?  I don't think so!  This week I had the toddlers up and marching to a buggy beat! 

We started off with the book I Love Bugs! by Emma Dodd.  The little ones especially loved the last few pages describing creepy crawly bugs.  This book definitely got us talking about all types of bugs!

Next came the short but cute fingerplay, Beehive.  A great find from the Perry County Library Storytime page!

Beehive
Here is a beehive  (make a fist)
But where are the bees?  (shrug shoulders)
Hiding inside where nobody sees  (point to fist)
Soon they'll come out of their hives
1,2,3,4,5  (open fingers one at a time)
BUZZZZZZZ!  (wiggle fingers in the air!)
(credit: Perry County Library Storytime)

My original plan was to sing The Ants Go Marching, but at the last minute decided I really needed some cd help with that long of a song.  (I must admit, I am not a great singer but the little ones don't usually seem to mind!)  I am so glad that I made this decision because once the music started playing and I had everyone marching in place, it just seemed like the perfect opportunity to march around the room!  There are lots of children's cds with this song, but I chose the version from the cd Bugs, Bugs, Bugs. 

I used the action rhyme 1, 2, 3  directly after our dance break.  (A,B,Cs and my new favorite song, Clap Your Hands from the They Might Be Giants cd, No!)  This short little rhyme worked great to get their attention back after moving around for a few minutes!

1, 2, 3
1, 2, 3
There's a bug on me!  (pretend to knock it off)
Where did it go?  (look around)
I don't know!  (shrug shoulders)
(credit: Perry County Library Storytime)

Our second book was Look Out, Ladybug! by Jack Tickle.  Ladybug is trying to learn to fly.  She meets several animals along the way and it has a super funny ending!

Sticking with ladybugs, we did the fingerplay Five Little Ladybugs.  Instead of inserting kids names in this rhyme, I used family members.  I have been having larger than normal groups during story time recently and didn't want to leave anyone out (or have to repeat the rhyme four times!).

Five Little Ladybugs
Five little ladybugs on our front door,  (Hold up five fingers)
One flew to Daddy, and that left four.
Four little ladybugs, oh so wee,  (Hold up four fingers)
One flew to Mommy,, and that left three.
Three little ladybugs saying "howdy-do,"  (Hold up three fingers)
One flew to Sister, and that left two.
Two little ladybugs snoozing in the sun,  (Hold up two fingers)
One flew to Brother, and that left one.
One little ladybug alone on the door,  (Hold up one finger)
It flew to Baby, then there were no more.
(credit: Perry County Library Storytime)

Can't have a bug themed story time without The Itsy Bitsy Spider!  We sang along with my flannel set to add a fun visual to the words.  So much fun we did it twice!

Our last book was Butterfly, Butterfly: A Book of Colors by Petr Horacek.  I have used this book before in story time.  The little ones love the pop-up butterfly on the last page!

As a special treat, I made all the little ones butterflies to take home with them.  They were very easy to make.  I just printed the outline of a butterfly on card stock, cut it out, and taped it to a popsicle stick.  We waved out butterflies to the the song Flutter, Flutter, Butterfly.  It is tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star."  I changed the wording a little bit to fit summer instead of spring.

Flutter, Flutter, Butterfly
Flutter, flutter, butterfly,
Floating in the summer sky.
Floating by for all to see,
Floating by so merrily.
Flutter, flutter, butterfly,
Floating in the summer sky.
(Credit: Storytime Katie)

I decided to try a fun, new activity to end story time this week.  We played Bug in a Rug!  I got the idea from the blog Falling Flannelboards.  I made a set of flannel bugs (different colored ladybugs) and a little rug.  I lined all the bugs up with the rug underneath.  Then I told them to close their eyes.  I moved one of the bugs under the rug and let them open their eyes.  They all did a great job guessing which bug was in the rug.  To make it more interactive, I chose volunteers to come up and lift the rug.  I also left this activity up on the board so they could continue to play with it after story time.  Several little ones had fun hiding bugs and making Miss Kristie guess!

And just in case you are not familiar with the They Might Be Giants song Clap Your Hands, here it is..

Isn't it wonderful?!?!

Miss Kristen also used a bug themed story time recently with the babies!  Check it out here.

I hope everyone is having a great summer!


 

Baby Story Time - I Like Bugs!

Spring is the time of year to celebrate all the creepy-crawlies we are starting to see outside! Grab your wiggleworms and get ready for story time!

OPENING SONG: "The Hello Song" *

GREETING SONG: "Hello" (Name Song) *

WAKE-UP RHYME: "Little Spider"
(Not sure where I found this originally, but you can find it here)
See the little spider climbing up the wall.
     (walk fingers up baby's arm)
See the little spider stumble and fall.
     (walk fingers down baby's other arm)
See the little spider tumble down the street.
     (walk fingers down baby's legs)
See the little spider tickle my feet!
     (tickle!)

1st Book: Caterpillar's Wish by Mary Murphy

It's unfortunate that this sweet book is out of print because it is just perfect for babies and toddlers! All Caterpillar wants to do is fly with her friends. Will she get her wish? 

 

Action Song: "The Insects and Spiders" (sing to "The Wheels on the Bus")

(borrowed from Miss Carol, our PJ Story Time expert!)

The pretty butterflies fly up and down, up and down, up and down,

The pretty butterflies fly up and down, all through the day!

     (flap arms like wings)

 

2) The spiders in the tree all spin a web... (roll arms)

3) The crickets in the field hop up and down... (bounce baby)

4) The bees in the hive go buzz, buzz, buzz... (fly with arms out)

 

Nursery Rhyme: "Little Miss Muffet" (Passing on classic nursery rhymes is so important! Don't forget about the old classics when you're planning your story time!)

Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet,
Eating her curds and whey.
     (sign for "eat" - fingers to mouth)

Along came a spider who sat down beside her,

     (walk fingers up baby's arm)
And frightened Miss Muffet away!
     (tickle!)

I use this little storytelling kit from Lakeshore Learning:

Action Song: "Open, Shut Them"
Open, shut them, open, shut them,
Give them both a clap, clap, clap.
Open, shut them, open, shut them,
Put them in your lap, lap, lap.

 

Walk them, walk them, walk them, walk them,

Right up to your chinny, chin, chin.
Circle around your little mouth but...
Do not let them in!
     (tickle!)

 

2nd Book: Lenny in the Garden by Ken Wilson-Max

Such a sweet book! Check out the felt set I made to go with it here.

 

Action Song: "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider"

The itsy-bitsy spider went up the waterspout.

Down came the rain and washed the spider out!
Out came the sun and dried up all the rain,
And the itsy-bitsy spider went up the spout again!

 

Rhythm Time: Scarves! Shake your scarves to the music!

 

"Ladybugs' Picnic" (from Sesame Street)

I pulled the music video up on YouTube and played it on my smartphone, just for the music.

 

"Shake My Sillies Out" (from Raffi's cd Singable Songs for the Very Young)

Love this song :o)

 

After our songs, we just played with the scarves for a few minutes. The babies really enjoyed putting them over their heads, so we played peekaboo.  It was really nice to just play without a plan.  If you haven't tried scarves with babies, I highly recommend them! Ours are transparent, so they can still see through them when the scarves are on their heads.

 

Ours are from Lakeshore Learning:

 



3rd Book: I Like Bugs by Lorena Siminovich

I really love the artwork in this simple counting board book!



 

CLOSING SONG: "If You're Happy and You Know It" *

GOODBYE SONG: "Babies, Bye-Bye" *

CLOSING RHYME: "Thank You" *



*Check out my Baby Story Time page for the words to all of my weekly songs and rhymes.

 

Thanks for stopping by! We'll be back in a few weeks - Summer Reading kicks off June 2!



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!!