This Week at Mommy and Me: Valentine's Day

Of course, this was an extra-fun day at Mommy and Me. We did two flannelboard stories at circle time because they tied in with the day's activites. I love this "Little Red Valentine" activity I first saw on Storytime ABC's. Because I have a small group for Mommy and Me, I start by giving each child a heart. As we sing the song, they come put their heart up on the board.

Little Red Valentine, I love you.

Little Red Valentine, I love you.

Little Red Valentine, I love you.

Orange one says, "I love you, too!"

Little Orange Valentine, I love you.

Little Orange Valentine, I love you.

Little Orange Valentine, I love you.

Yellow one says, "I love you, too!"

Little Yellow Valentine, I love you.

Little Yellow Valentine, I love you.

Little Yellow Valentine, I love you.

Green one says, "I love you, too!"

Little Green Valentine, I love you.

Little Green Valentine, I love you.

Little Green Valentine, I love you.

Blue one says, "I love you, too!"

Little Blue Valentine, I love you.

Little Blue Valentine, I love you.

Little Blue Valentine, I love you.

Purple one says, "I love you, too!"

Little Purple  Valentine, I love you.

Little Purple  Valentine, I love you.

Little Purple  Valentine, I love you.

Pink one says, "I love you, too!"

Little Pink  Valentine, I love you.

Little Pink  Valentine, I love you.

Little Pink  Valentine, I love you.

Everyone says, "We love you, too!"

Next up was "I'm a Little Love Bug".
I created this rhyme to go along with our squishy bags.

I'm a little love bug. Now let's start.

I am made from a big red heart.

I'm a little love bug. What a surprise!

I think someone has my eyes!

I'm a little love bug. Now who do you suppose,

has my cute little heart-shaped nose?

I'm a little love bug. I give big hugs!

Who has a striped arm for this bug?

I'm a little love bug. I have flare!

Who has my sparkly, spiky pink hair?

I'm a little love bug. I'll see you in a while!

Just don't forget my great big smile!

Just like the rhyme, the squishy bag has two eyes (googly eyes), a heart shaped nose (button, you could also use foamies), spiky pink hair (pom-pom), two striped arms (pipe cleaners cut in 4 pieces), and a great big mile (thick yarn). Start with about 1/3 of hair gel (Dollar store). Let the kids put in a pinch of colorful glitter (I put in way too much). Seal it with duct tape. The bag has a heart drawn on with purple Sharpie. 

More felt hearts were available at the song card center. We do a new song card every other week. They picked a heart, then tried to find the corresponding song lyrics--looking for color clues in the text.

 

Our Valentine bags were very open-ended,
with opportunities for writing and cutting practice. I provided
plain paper bags, stickers, crayons, and scraps of  paper to cut and paste.

And the perfect Valentine from teacher to student during cold and flu season--
"You BLOW me away, Valentine!" (tissue 6-packs from the Dollar Store).

This Week at Toddler Storytime-Opposites

We had sooooooo much fun with this flannelboard story inspired by 1234 More Storytimes. I altered the rhyme slightly:

Two little blue birds sitting on a cloud

One named soft, and one named loud!

Fly away soft. Fly away loud!

Come back soft, Come back loud!

Two little red birds sitting in the snow,

One named fast, and one named slow.

Fly away fast. Fly away slow!

Come back fast,Come back slow!

Two little green birds sitting on a pig,

One named small, and one named big.

Fly away small. Fly away big!

Come back small, Come back big!

The flannelboard stories were the stars at this storytime. We did another favorite Little Ball, Big Ball.

We ended with two fun sound recordings--Very, Very Tall from Wiggleworms Love You and Loud, Quiet by Caspar Babypants from Singalong!.

This Week at Toddler Storytime--Constuction

At toddler storytime, everything is better if it involves moving those little bodies. For Tip Tip Dig Dig by Emma Garcia, everybody tapped their legs on the repetetive words--"lift, lift, lift". Next, we built a shape house with a story and patterns from A Treasury of Flannelboard Stories by Jeanette Graham Bay.

Some of the pieces from Shapes and More Shapes

After reading I Love Tools! by Philomen Sturges, we put out Johnny's hammers inspired by Miss Meg's Storytime. I had the kids help me count the hammers and name the colors, and I asked them if they could work with 5 hammers. I demonstrated how to do it, and we sang the traditional song using the lyrics on Songs for Teaching.

Pop-ups are another sure thing with toddlers. We read Truck Jam by Paul Strickland and practiced driving with I'm Gonna Drive My Car by Laurie Berkner. We always hang out and play for a little while after storytime. We have these awesome musical hammers, so I put them out along with some blocks. Those little cuties could have hammered those blocks all day. Have fun reading to your little ones this week!

This Week at Toddler Storytime: Kittens and Mittens

I posted my version of Mitten Matching last year, but this year I added something new. I made three kittens to go with the mittens, and the kids are having a lot more fun with them. We started off reading The Three Little Kittens by Paul Galdone. Then I passed out one mitten from each pair to all the kids (I have a a lot of mittens). I say, "These little kittens have lost their mittens." I put one mitten on a kitten and say, "Did you find this kitten's other mitten?" I repeat until all the kittens have mittens, then take them all off and start again.

When I do this in my three year old preschool class, I put the pieces out during centers so the kids can practice retelling the story and matching mittens.

"These little kittens have lost their mittens. Did you find this kitten's other mitten?"

This Week at Mommy and Me: Hey Mr. Snowman

We used Miss Alison's Hey Mr. Snowman to build our snowman. It's always a hit. There are eight kids (two-year-olds) in Mommy and Me, so we have the luxury of enjoying some audience participation. They love bringing up pieces for flannel board stories, and it really helps develop their listening skills. It was white week, so we read The Big Red Ball (and the little white kitten) by Christopher Franceschelli--so cute!

Every other week, we make a color shaker. This week we made our white shakers extra fun by adding a few special ingredients to the ordinary white rice. To go along with our flannel board rhyme, our "I Spy" bottles contained a red scarf, green mittens, black eyes, a carrot nose, brown sticks, and yellow buttons. This is a new favorite project. They really turned out cute.

We did one of my all time favorite projects--kick the can painting. Put a 4.5"x18" piece of construction paper into a coffee can; add a few marbles and few tablespoons of paint; and kick! (envision a gentle, slightly uncoordinated toddler kick). We used blue paper and white paint. I diluted the paint slightly and added a pinch of salt for a grainy/snowy look.

We wrapped up the day with white balloon snowballs in the parachute to I Wanna Be a Snowman by Caspar Babypants.

This Week at Toddler Storytime

We did colors and shapes this week in storytime--always a great opportunity to pull out a few favorites. I read Pete the Cat (of course!), we played a round of Little Bear- "Little Bear, Little Bear, are you under the red square?", and we mixed up a batch of Magical Rainbow Stew ala Storytime ABC's.

I was later reminded by a co-worker that I had written this shoe rhyme (even before I ever read Pete the Cat). She had a whole cat/shoes/color thing going on that was fabulous. Thank you, Donna Holmen.

I had to read through a few verses before I got the rhythm right again, but it is a fun one.

Shoes

By Shawn Wolf ©2008

*When you step in “something”, look at your feet and make a face like you stepped in something really disgusting. Start with orange shoe on the board. Tell the children this is a story about your favorite, fastest shoes.

I was walking along the street one day. (march)

With my knees up high, Can you walk this way?

But I stepped in something. Now what should I do?

My favorite, fastest shoes have turned the color blue!

I was hopping along the street one day. (hop)

On just one foot, Can you hop this way?

But I hopped in something. Now I’m filled with dread.

My favorite, fastest shoes have turned the color red!

I was twirling along the street one day. (turn in a circle)

Around and around, Can you twirl this way?

But I twirled into something, and I’m not a happy fellow.

My favorite, fastest shoes have turned the color yellow!

I tiptoed along the street one day. (tiptoe)

Way up on my toes, Can you tiptoe this way?

But I tiptoed in something. Now I’m about to make a scene!

For my favorite, fastest shoes have turned the color green!

I stood perfectly still on the street one day. (stand in place)
With my feet like this, Can you stand this way?
I stepped into nothing. But this isn’t very fun.
My favorite, fastest shoes are meant to run, run, run! (run in place)

Wondering what the kangaroo is for? "Kangaroo, Kangaroo, are you in the red shoe?"-- of course!

This Week at Mommy and Me: Cookie Monster

At circle time, I showed the connection between the flannel board, the book, the craft, and my shirt--all Cookie Monster. I knew most of them wouldn't know Cookie yet, but they loved him by the end of class. I only read part of the book to introduce some concepts. Everyone got one "cookie" to feed the monster. After each child placed their cookie on the flannel board, we all said, "Yummy, yummy in my tummy! "

Everyone painted a paper plate for our hungry Cookie Monster craft. They put brown dots ( and other assorted marks) on beige circles. These will be the cookies they feed their monsters after everything is assembled. I cut a semicircle mouth in the painted plate, and another half plate gets attached to the back to catch the cookies.

We threw cookie bean bags at the bean bag board and in buckets. We made play dough cookies and sorted cookie shapes. One little girl had egg shakers in her hand from the time she walked in the door, so we wrapped things up with a shaker mix :

Shake! by We Kids Rock

Shakeable You by Imagination Movers

I Know a Chicken by Laurie Berkner

Wonderful Winter Flannelboard Stories

Thanks to all who attended the workshop. Here are links to resources we discussed:

http://flannelfridaystorytime.blogspot.com/

http://pinterest.com/flannelfriday/
(Over sixty boards including various themes as well as “how to’s”)

http://www.makinglearningfun.com/themepages/SnowSnowmen.htm

You can contact me at the library:
swolf@kenosha.lib.wi.us

Or visit my blog
http://readrhymesing.blogspot.com

Or find me on Pinterest:
http://pinterest.com/shawnwolf/

My absolute favorite--can’t live without it—preschool blog:
http://www.teachpreschool.org/
 

Flannel Friday

Just Like Daddy by Frank Asch
We are doing Teddy Bears this week, but I think I will save this one for Mothers' Day. Little Bear does everything just like daddy--puts on his shirt, eats a big bowl of cereal, gives his mom a flower. But there is one thing he does just like mommy.

Another favorite I like to do for Mothers' Day is Ask Mr. Bear by Marjorie Flack. We have a great older version of this Folkmanis two-handed bear that was made for giving big bear hugs.

What are your Mothers' Day storytime favorites?