Two Little Butterflies

 

I'm ready for Spring! I have Two Little Butterflies ready for Storytime:

Two Little Butterflies on a daffodil

One is Lindbergh and the other is Lucille!

Fly away Lindbergh. Fly away Lucille.

Come back Lindbergh. Come back Lucille.

Two little butterflies on a daffodil, 

One named Lindbergh and one named Lucille.

My butterflies have black plastic-coated wire antennae and sequins and glitter glue for fun!

Butterflies are so much Fun with Friends at Storytime!

Shoo Fly!

This is a theme we did 2 years ago but it was so much fun I'd love to do it again! There are several Flannel Friday Pinterest posts about flies and then there is the classic, 'I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly' but I made up an interactive rhyme so that the kids could buzz up to the flannel board. Here's the link for the rhyme, 'Colored Flies'.  I programmed a sheet of paper with a Google image of a fly and printed it on colored paper. I used my little laminator and then cut them out and added a piece of velcro to the back and we were set!

Get out your fly swatter and get ready for Fun with Friends at Storytime!

There are other great flannelboard ideas on the Flannel Friday Roundup.   Check out the wonderful resources on the Flannel Friday Pinterest Boards. Here's the link for the official Flannel Friday blog for more info! 

Shy Ladybug!

I've got my version of the ladybug, Little Mouse rhyme and game to share today. There are many ladybug posts on the Bugs - Flannel Friday Pinterest board but I'm adding one more. I can't remember where I found it but I thought it was really cute!  Here's the rhyme;
'Ladybug, Come Out and Play'
Ladybug, ladybug, come out and play.
Where are you hiding from us today?

I just free hand cut out the big pieces and the ladybug is an Ellison diecut so that was easy! I added a small piece of velcro on the backs to make sure the flowers and leaf stay on the board as we look for the shy ladybug. I have a filefolder ladybug post HERE too. Ladybugs are so much buggy Fun with Friends at Storytime!  There are other ideas this week @ Flannel Friday Roundup. Check out the wonderful resources on the Flannel Friday Pinterest Boards. Here's the link for the official Flannel Friday blog for more info! 

Catching Fireflies

Fireflies are so magical! I've done this theme for years! Several years ago I made up a rhyme that I used with a pellon set of a jar and 5 pellon fireflies. Then I made a smaller set of 10 fireflies and a smaller pellon jar. Then, recently I was inspired to remake my set in flannel when I saw this post @catch the possibilities. Check out the Flannel Friday 'bugs' Pinterest board for other posts about fireflies. I decided to add my set and rhyme to the mix!  Here's a printable link for my rhyme,  'Catching Fireflies'


Here's the progression of my fireflies...

I also offered a craft with this theme. I cut out a jar shape from black construction paper. I put out pans of glue with glitter stirred in it and the kiddos stamped with little porcupine rings to make fireflies in their jar. Easy Peasy!  We recently got in this new firefly book. It's beautiful!! I want to use it next time I do this firefly theme! Fireflies are so much Fun with Friends at Storytime. There are more great ideas on the Flannel Friday Roundup. Check out the wonderful resources on the Flannel Friday Pinterest Boards. Here's the link for the official Flannel Friday blog for more info! 

Old McRainbow's Flower Garden

Here's another post for springtime bees and flowers! I was inspired last week to make up a new rhyme for Old McRainbow for Springtime! This is a color recognition and listening activity as well. Since I hand out the colored bees the kiddos have to wait and listen and watch for the color of the flower to change in the filefolder. There are several learning skills happening with this simple little activity! My littlest kiddos get the hang of this very quickly and love to add their piece to the flannelboard! Here's the link for the rhyme:  Old McRainbow's Flower Garden.

This is fairly easy to make too. I used a Google image of a cute bee and programmed a sheet with four bees and copied them on colored paper. I used my handy little laminator and laminated them. I rough cut them so that I could laminate 6 at a time and use less laminating film. Once I cut them out more carefully I'll add a small velcro dot to the back. I also used a Google image for my flowers. I just cutout some 'grass' for the bottom of the filefolder and a couple of leaf shapes. I cut out the flowers and the bee but colored with a sharpie the outline and stripes of the bee shape. I laminated the filefolder and hotglued two little googly eyes and stacked my paper and we're ready for Fun with Friends at Storytime!

There are more great ideas on the Flannel Friday Roundup. Check out the wonderful resources on the Flannel Friday Pinterest Boards. Here's the link for the official Flannel Friday blog for more info!

Buzzzzing Beezzzzz!

Hooray, the bees are buzzing around the flowers now!! Pollen is flying in the air and everything is yellow! I've got a couple of ideas for a Bee theme for Storytime. I love the classic fingerplays, 'Two Big Beehives' and 'Here is the Beehive'. They are so much fun for buzzing and tickling! Then there are a couple of flannelboard rhymes that I like to use too. You can use 'Five Little Bees' with the flowers from last week's Flower post or make a hive to use with the rhyme. I posted a fun bee story HERE. Be sure to click on the titles of the rhymes for a printable docx of each one.

 As you can see, I have 2 different kinds of bees. I do have 5 of each, I just didn't get them in the picture. The set on the left is out of paper using a diecut. The set on the right is colored pellon. The hive is made of felt with some glittery fabric paint for detail. Bug stickers are a great giveaway at the end of the storytime. I had yellow bee bodies cut out of yellow construction paper with the white tissue paper wings and black markers for the kiddos to make their own bees for a fun Home Extension. Bees are always a lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime!

There are more great posts on the Flannel Friday Roundup. Check out the wonderful resources on the Flannel Friday Pinterest Boards. Here's the link for the official Flannel Friday blog for more info!

Spiders!

I love the Eency Weency Spider in all it's versions! I needed a cute interactive spider set to go with this theme.  Here's a set of rainbow spiders and a rainbow spiderweb I made a few years ago. I used the variegated yarn from Walmart and some white pipe cleaners to make my web. I put a dab of hot glue at each joint and a piece of velcro to hold the web on the board. The colorful spiders are a diecut. I cut 4 of each color. Unfortunately, their legs are a little thin and sometimes a spider loses one in the hands of an enthusiastic toddler. LOL! I made up a rhyme to use with the set, Rainbow Spiderweb.

Here's a cute, paper plate craft for a Home Extension. I bought the black plates at the Dollar store and we cut crepe paper strips for the legs. We used paper hole reinforcers for the eyes and cut out the mouth for some spidery fun! We also added a long string so that the kiddos could make their spider jump and dance! Rainbow spiders can be a lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime!

There are more great posts on the Flannel Friday Roundup. Check out the wonderful resources on the Flannel Friday Pinterest Boards. If you want more info about Flannel Friday here's the link for the official Flannel Friday blog.

Beautiful Butterflies

Butterflies are incredibly beautiful and such a wonderful storytime theme! I haven't checked the Flannel Friday Pinterest boards yet, but I'm sure there are several with butterfly posts.  I thought I'd add mine here. I have an original rhyme, Color Butterflies, that I use with my large glittery felt butterflies and diecut matching butterflies that I hand out to the kiddos to bring to the pretend flannelboard 'garden'.  I also use the large butterflies minus one to do a counting rhyme. I can't remember where I found it sooo long ago!

Counting Butterflies

Six little butterflies happy to be alive

One flew off, then there were five.

Five little butterflies on flowers galore,

One flew off, then there were four.

Four little butterflies among the sweet peas

One flew off, then there were three.

Three little butterflies with nothing to do,

                                   One flew off, then there were two.

                                         Two little butterflies resting in the sun,

                                      One flew off, then there was one.

                                        One little butterfly, now the only one,

                                        She flew off, then there was none.

You can see the pic of the craft. A coworker shared this idea many years ago. I used snack ziploc bags that the kiddos spooned some colored cereal into. They colored the clothespin black. Then the bag and a small piece of black pipecleaner was pinched together in the clothespin to make the 'butterfly'.  Instead of cereal you could use shredded tissue paper or sequins. (This is a craft from many years ago ... librarians/preschool teachers don't throw anything away LOL!)   Butterflies are a lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime!

Bridget @ What is Bridget Reading? has the rest of this week's roundup.Have questions about Flannel Friday? Check out the Flannel Friday official blog.  Be sure to  join us on the Flannel Friday Facebook page and enjoy the great Flannel Friday Pinterest boards too!

That 'Bugs' Me!

Springtime is upon us! at last!! This year I'm even glad to see the bugs that come with it. LOL!  As part of our emphasis on ECRR, I made a set of letters to introduce our buggy theme. There are so many great picture books to use with a bug theme; I Love Bugs! by Emma Dodd; and another good one is Philemon Sturges' I Love Bugs!; or In the Tall, Tall Grass by Denise Fleming. For the toddler/2 yr. old set we are using a popup book, Big Bug, Little Bug by Paul Stickland. 
I have a file folder rhyming riddle to use that I posted last year, The Lovely Ladybug. I have another set that was inspired by Mrs. Andre's Library blog. It's a cute little rhyme by Jean Warren @ Preschool Express; 'Four Little Bugs'. I tweaked the ending a little. Instead of the last 2 lines "They got stuck, all in a bunch. And along came spider, in time for lunch!"  I changed it to "then came a spider with berries to munch, So they all sat down and had some lunch!"   I used Google images for all the pieces, laminated them and added a small piece of velcro to the back and the center front of the web for the fruit. I put the velcro at the tail end of the bugs so that it would look as if they were on the web.  Bugs are a lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime!    

The Flannel Friday Roundup is hosted this week by Lisa at Thrive After 
Three!  Have questions about Flannel Friday? Check out the Flannel Friday official blog.  Be sure to  join us on the Flannel Friday Facebook page and enjoy the great Flannel Friday Pinterest boards too!

Ladybug, Ladybug!

We're beginning to plan for the summer and, of course, we're planning to present a bug storytime.  I'm not sure that I'll be using ladybugs but I found this not-flannel prop and rhyming game that I made last year and thought I'd share it.  

The Lovely Ladybug

(by Kathryn Roach)

Let’s play a ladybug color game

I’ll give you rhyming clues

If you know it, say the name

Of each color that I use!

The first color for our buggy fellow

Is the color of sunshine

It’s the color yellow.

Frogs in the pond and a fresh snap bean

Did you guess the color green?

The sky above and the ocean too

Such a beautiful color, it's the color blue.

Strawberry ice cream, come on now, think.

You are right! It’s the color pink!

Grapes for jelly on a P B & J,

Purple is the color we say!

Pumpkins or basketballs rolling by

Orange is the color that we now spy.

Fluffy clouds and the moon at night

Did you say the color white?

Roses that grow in a garden bed

Are this beautiful color, the color red.

Ladybug, ladybug up in the sky

Thanks for the fun

and now we say, “Goodbye!”

I traced the large circle and cut it out and glued the partial circle black construction paper head on the file folder and ran the folder through the laminator. Then, I attached the black construction paper circles to the film on the large circle with a teensy bit of double sided tape and ran the file folder through the laminator again.  I hot glued the google eyes and black pipe cleaner antennae on and stacked my colored paper (trimmed to fit) in the file folder with black to start and end with the red.
Now that's a lot of buggy fun at Storytime!