Clowning Around

The circus is in town where I live!  Even though I've pretty much outgrown the circus, I enjoy presenting a circus themed storytime every year.  The circus theme is an opportunity to do clown flannel board rhymes and monkey rhymes and seal rhymes and tiger rhymes and elephant rhymes... Whoa! I can get carried away in a hurry!  I have a couple of clown ideas to share today.  The first is the flannel board story, Clancy the Clown. The story I've been using was given to me by a coworker.  I have found several versions online but I can't find an original source. I found one version here, but the one closest to my version is here. I made Clancy's hair with variegated color yarn and a LOT of Aleen's Tacky glue.  I also couldn't resist adding some glitter to Clancy's big red nose!  He's always a big hit!

I also have a song/activity that I use with shapes. I hand out felt shapes and tell the children to listen for the shape that they are holding in their hand. Then they come up and add it to the board.  They love this activity. The younger children get help from their caregiver or sometimes from the preschooler sitting beside them!

♫Send in the Clowns

tune of "This Old Man"

The circus clown

Came to town,

Wearing (circles*) all around..

There were (circles) on his head

And (circles) on his toes...

He wears (circles) wherever he goes! 

Change the *shape each time you sing the song as the children bring up their shape and add it to the clown's funny costume.  I did find it here with some other really great ideas! I made my clown out of pellon and added felt hair and painted his nose with shiny fabric paint. Don't ya just love the multicolored pom pom on his hat!  I also added velcro to the back under the pom pom, and under the hands and shoes. He gets handled a lot by the children and I wanted him to stay on the board while we were playing.  We all celebrate his cuteness when he's covered in shapes!
*UPDATE* 1-8-2017 -  I was going through my felt sets and found this cute clown craft that is a Home Extension. He's made of shapes that are easily recognized by the kiddos. This is an opportunity for caregivers to talk (ECRR) with their kiddo about shapes and spatial concepts of middle, over, under, above, and below as they assemble Mr. Clown.

So much Storytime Fun!