I know that sunflowers normally bloom mid to late summer but I'm so tired of winter I just needed to play with these happy flowers! I have done several sunflower storytimes and I just LOVE the books and rhymes that go with this theme! I used
Sunflower by Miela Ford,
Sunflower House by Eve Bunting and
This Is The Sunflower by Lola Schaefer. I also used the flannelboard rhyme, 'Five Little Sunflowers' with a Sunshine/Daytime theme I did 2 years ago with two wonderful books;
Hello Day by Anita Lobel and
All In a Day by Cynthia Rylant.
I used Dr. Jean's sweet song, '
The African Village Song' from her CD,
Dr. Jean Sings Silly Songs. Another fun song is
When I'm Feeling Up by Rick Hubbard from his CD,
Rick Hubbard And His All Kid Kazoo Band.
I used a sweet fingerplay. Sorry, but I can't remember where I found it.
Sunflowers In My Garden
Here is my garden (extend one hand forward, palm up)
I'll rake it with care (raking motion on palm with 3 fingers of other hand)
And plant some sunflower seeds in there (planting motion)
The sun will shine (make circle with hands up above head)
The rain will fall (fingers flutter down to lap)
My sunflowers will blossom (cup hands together; extend upward slowly)
And grow straight and tall (arms up high with hands and fingers spread out)
Here's another rhyme I can't remember where I found it or if I adapted from another similar rhyme because I've had it such a long time.
Five Little Sunflowers
Five little sunflowers growing by my door,
I picked one for Grandma, now there are four.
Four little sunflowers, the prettiest I've seen,
I picked one for Grandpa, now there are three.
Three little sunflowers, just a lovely few,
I picked one for Mommy, now there are two.
Two little sunflowers reaching for the sun,
I picked one for Daddy, now there is one.
One little sunflower, a colorful little hero,
I picked it just for you! Now there is zero!
And of course there's the simple counting to 10 song:
One little, two little, three little sunflowers,
Four little, five little, six little sunflowers,
Seven little, eight little, nine little sunflowers,
Ten sunflowers growing tall!
You can see the craft above that I did with this theme too. My craft with my Sunshine/Daytime theme was very simple. I cut the edge of paper plates into points.The caregivers put a blob each of yellow and red paint in the middle of the plate and the children painted the plates to be the sun. They enjoyed seeing the colors blend and become a bright orange as they paint. All in all, the Sunflower theme has to be one of my favorites!! The bright, happy yellow flower brings a lot of fun to Storytime!
I'm sharing this post as a celebration of collaboration with other generous storytime presenters that love books and little children and fun and bigger kids and singing and grandparents and games and sharing with one another! I so appreciate the community of Flannel Friday! It's always
Fun with Friends at Storytime!
For our beach/ocean creature theme we recently did, I made a set of 5 Little Jellyfish. You'd think I had plenty of ocean/beach/sea creature/fishy flannels but I needed another! HA! These are super easy. I folded my flannel to cut 2 identical pieces of each color to sandwich the ribbons between. I decided on these colors because I had sequins for their mouths. I used the cheap ribbon that you can get at Michael's for a $1 a roll. When they put it on sale I always just buy a lot! I used my rhyme, '5 Little Jellyfish' and then we played 'Which One is Missing?' We also offered the pieces for a jellyfish Home Extension. This was easy quick prep! Jellyfish are a lot of wiggly 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!
This picture book is great for several reasons! There are nice clear pictures, adorable ducklings, a big problem and then a wonderful resolution! We really enjoyed this picture book this week at all of our storytimes. The younger ones enjoyed quacking and the older ones enjoyed the suspense and rescue. Harvey had to pretend to be a duck and there was a lot of laughing and quacking going on! I wanted to use the cute ducks I saw at Mel's desk but I wanted 10 ducks, that were different colors to play a "Which One is Missing Game". I tweaked a previous rhyme ("Turtle Fun") and came up with a counting by 2's rhyme with 10 different colored ducks. I outlined my ducks with slick, black fabric paint and used google eyes. Here's the link for the rhyme:Ducks on the Pond. 
April showers are here! We've had a lot of rain and even bad storms lately. This is a chance to do some fun Rainy Weather themes. I have used several really fun 'rain' books. I'm sure you can find many others! Check out the Flannel Friday Weather Pinterest board.
I also offered a craft. This is an easy prep. I did have an Ellison diecut for the raindrop shapes but if you don't they are a quick easy shape to cut several at a time. I used shiny curling ribbon but you could use mono filament or even thread and tape or a dab of glue. I had the paper plates cut, the holes punched and the curling ribbon threaded through, including the hanging one. The kids could tape or glue on the raindrop shapes and color the rainbow with markers. Ta da! Now they have a mobile to hang in the window or on the doorknob of their room! 
Everyone loves birthday cake and candles! This is a fun and easy theme for storytime. I have links for 2 different counting candle rhymes: Five Candles and Ten Birthday Candles. I have a cake shape made from pellon with white ric-rac trim and a red 'platter' to use with both rhymes. I made 2 different sets of birthday candles. One set is based on the number shaped candles that you can buy for birthday cakes. The other set is a basic candle shape with added glitter! There are some really great birthday ideas on the Flannel Friday Pinterest board. Birthdays are so much Fun with Friends at Storytime!
Birthdays are so much fun for preschoolers. This is a great theme that offers lots of opportunities for fun flannel sets. I've got a not-a-flannel set of balloons to share. I made my set from laminated paper with pipe cleaner 'strings' and a small piece of velcro on the back. I like the shiny look from the lamination, plus the last balloon can be programmed with the colorful words that say, "Happy Birthday". You could also play, "Which One is Missing?" with this set. This could be a cute file folder set. Here's the link for the rhyme - Birthday Balloons.
When my children's librarian mentioned doing a baby theme, of course I was happy to help plan that!! Everyone loves babies! I had a previous post about emotions that involved a set of babies that we're using with our baby theme. Then, I found an adorable clipart baby to use to make a set of 5 babies. I made up a counting rhyme, 'Sweet Babies' to use with the felt babies. I cut out the whole body (including the head minus the ears) I cut out a second head that I glued on with the features and a separate diaper. The bottles are from a baby shower confetti set that I had. There is a black slick fabric paint bellybutton too! These little guys are so cute! 
Five Little Sunflowers
