Fun in the Mud

We decided to add a new program this summer at our branch - toddler story time!  Yay!  I was worried about it some.  We got rid of a baby time to have a spot for the toddler time which meant that the only baby time is now in the evening.  But, the 'babies' that were coming to the morning baby time we replaced were mostly 2 year olds anyway.

Thankfully, it seems that the toddlers in this area were looking for something to do, we had 12 kids the first week and 22 by the third!

Our first week of toddler time featured Mud to go along with the summer reading program Dig into Reading.

We read Stuck in the mud by Jane Clarke.  This is a cute story about a chick who is 'stuck' in some mud.  Mother hen tries to pull him out to no avail.  Despite the icky mud other animals around the farm jump in to help and they all end up getting stuck as well.  This is a fun rhyming story with a surprise ending.  You could use this with an older group and have then act out some of the parts as the animals are repeatedly pushing and pulling.

The second book that we read was Mud by Wendy Cheyette Lewison.  This book is technically a reader, so it is a smaller size than I prefer to use, but the illustrations are big so they were not hard for the kids to see.  What I really enjoyed about this book is that in the story there is mud on various parts of the kid in the story so the kids could point to themselves to show where mud was.  One phrase 'mud everywhere' was repeated a few times, so when we got to that point we waved our arms around in the air.


Our last story was a flannel version of Emma Dodd's Dog's colorful day.  As dog goes through his day he gets various spots of color on him until he is so dirty that he needs a bath.  This is a good book for both color recognition and counting.  I like to have the kids call out the color as I put it on dog.  Then before his bath we count all of the spots.

Because you can't have mud without a little bit of rain first we sang Carole Peterson's Singing in the rain.  This is a fun song with added motions at each verse.  In between the motions you 'sing in the rain' so we put our hands up and dance.

I found a great idea for a song about mud puddles with Tara of Storytime with Miss Tara and friends.  She gave all the kids yarn to make a mud puddle to dance in as they sang Mud puddle jump by Kindermusik.  This was a lot of fun, though some of the younger 2 year olds just kind of watched the rest of us.  They were really excited when they found out that they got to take the brown yarn circles (aka mud puddles) home with them.

Because I like to use shakers or scarves with every program we sang The Learning Groove's Hip hop body rock.  It really had nothing to do with mud, but has the kids shaking a shaker by various body parts.  It tied in well with the book mud and is great for working on body parts as well as following direction.

Our craft was 'mud painting' where the kids get to finger paint with chocolate pudding.  They LOVED this.  I am not sure the parents were so keen on it (most of the crafts were left behind) but I think this is one of those activities where the experience is more fun than the end result.  Some of the kids were happy to just sit and smear the pudding around.  One little guy kept at it for 30 minutes and was covered up to his elbows.  Luckily we have a sink just off of the program room, so washing up was really easy.

Flannel Friday: Construction Trucks

Next week story times will have a construction theme.  I had lots of ideas for things to do, but I ran a bit short on time, so... for a quick and easy flannel board I made a few extra pieces to go with my vehicles set.  This is the set that I had already:

Last time I used it we sang the song 'Little Red Wagon' and after the first round where we bounced up and down in the wagon I brought out different vehicles to bounce in.  To go better with the construction theme I added a bulldozer and a cement mixer.  So, with the dump truck and pick up truck I could do the song again and have 4 verses.  I could also use it with the 'Brown bear' version (like the book Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see? by Bill Martin Jr.) where you say 'blue truck, blue truck, what do you see,' then put up the next one and have the kids yell out the color or type of truck.

If I happen to get ambitious I may try to add a steam roller, bucket truck, or excavator, but we will see what kind of time there is.  I always enjoy when I have something on hand that can be adapted a little to fit a new theme.  And, I like being able to add to sets instead of making whole new ones.  Multi-purpose flannel boards are kind of awesome.

You can find this week's flannel round-up with Jane at Piper Loves the Library.  All things Flannel Friday can be found at the BLOG and you can see all flannel posts past and present on the Pinterest boards.

Flannel Friday: Pop-up Flannel Boards

I am sure that by now you have seen my worm flannel - you know, 'cause I've posted it twice :)  Well, since I did all that work making the foam core board for the wormies to slide along I decided I needed to find other uses for it - and so we have POP-UP flannel boards!  I have actually done something similar before with my butterfly board.  But unlike that one these can be easily changed for whatever you have made to go along with it.

If you want to know how the board itself was made you can read about it here.  To modify the board I made a 'shelf' out of cardboard and toilet paper rolls.  I decorated a cardboard strip with some flannel grass...

I put some grass on the back and the front to add a little 'depth.'

Next I cut some toilet paper rolls in half and taped them on with some heavy duty tape.  I realized after the fact that a paper towel roll would have done nicely, but I did not have one on hand and I am kind of impatient.  Anyway, I line the half rolls up along the back to make a little shelf.

Then I needed something to push it out from the board so I would have room for the flannels in the shelf.  So, more tp rolls were cut and pieces were added to each end.

I added some Velcro dots to each round piece on the end as well as to a few spots along the shelf where it will touch the board.  I forgot to take a picture with the Velcro, but it seems to do its job.

It does wobble a little, I think it will be ok for story time, but I may end up reinforcing it with some binder clips 'just in case.'

In a few weeks I am doing a gardening theme, so I came up with a rhyme about planting seeds and then various things will grow.

One little seed planted in the ground,
Give it lots of sun, and water all around.
Now we have to wait and see,
For a sprout to pop up,
What will it be?

A tree!

We will repeat with 2, 3, 4, and 5 seeds.

Wait a minute... that last guy is a worm (well, looking at it right now he's first, but whatever).  Worms don't grow from seeds!  No, worms do not grow from seeds, but they are very good for the soil and help plants grow by making food that plants can use.  And, sometimes, not all seeds grow.  Every once in awhile you get a dud. 

This week's flannel round-up can be found with Kathryn at Fun with Friends at Storytime.  All things Flannel Friday related can be found at the blog and all Flannel Friday contributions, both past and present can be seen at Pinterest. 

Flannel Round-Up 5.31.13

Happy Friday!  Hopefully most of you are ready for those Summer Reading Programs - ours starts next week!  If you are still looking for some last minute flannel boards (as I often am - or I see a better idea from you wonderful people and scramble to make a new flannel board) there are several options that would work with the Dig into Reading theme and others that are just plain fun.

This week we have:

Bridget from What is Bridget Reading shares with us her beautifully crocheted flowers to go along with the many 5 little flowers rhymes.

Jane at Piper Loves the Library is trying not to stress over sharks in the ocean.  She alleviates some of it with her adorable and not-too-menacing SHARK!

Kathryn of Fun with Friends at Storytime is cooling off and having a hopping good time with her colorful frogs and a pool.

Kay at Storytime ABC's left me wanting more with her unfinished Pigeon post.  What can't Pigoen do?!  The answer to that question is coming  The final version will be up Saturday afternoon (6.1.13) so check back for more fun with Kay and Pigeon.

Leah from Time for Storytime has a colorful version of 5 little rockets.  While most of us are 'digging in' for summer reading, Leah is headed Up, Up and Away.

l.thacker of with kiddos @ the library shares a bright and colorful a version of Down by the bay based on Raffi's rendition of the song.

Lisa in Libraryland is growing a Blooming Garden as she shares her find from the Mailbox, a magazine that is made for teachers and often used by those of us in libraryland.

Lucy from In the Children's Room reminds us that the Cicadas are coming and makes a cicada that is far cuter than the real thing to help explain the upcoming barage our young friends.  Plus, she sends him away, which would be handy when the real ones drop by. 

Meagan at Miss Meg's Storytime is teasing Mr. Alligator this week with her adorably colorful monkeys.

Ms. Shaia from Thrive after Three is singing with the dinosaurs as she asks Red brontosaurus, red brontosaurus, what do you see?

Now that this is done I better get to work on those last minute flannels!  Be sure to check the Pinterest boards for all of these and a gazillion past flannel boards.  If you have questions or are just looking for more information about Flannel Friday you can check the official blog.  And, you can always look for us on facebook (the picture is the colorful Flannel Friday logo) to join in conversations about flannel and other library and early literacy stuff.

Next week's host is Lisa at Storytime with the Library Lady, so be sure to tune in there next Friday.  Have a great week!

Flannel Friday place holder for 5.31

It's almost Friday and that means Flannel Time!  If you have a flannel board or related post to share this week please leave a link in the comments below.  I will compile them and post the final draft either late Friday evening or on Saturday morning.
Enjoy!

Worms re-visited

A few months ago I posted a worm flannel board to go along with the Dig into Reading Summer theme.  You can read about that here and you will see that I still had a few kinks to work out on the last post.  I finally had time to go back to this flannel board and fix the problems so that the worms will easily slide up and down the foam core board.

Originally I was trying to slide the worms along with a brad, but that did not really give a good enough grip to easily move the worms.  I figured out that a unwound paper clip would work.  It slides well and has a nice long 'handle' for moving worms.  So, I made some more exciting worms...

I took a small piece of foam (same color as the worm but smaller that its head) and poked the paper clip through the middle.  I left about a inch sticking out the back and bent that around and down on the top for a better hold.

I glued the foam/paper clip 'handle' to the back of he worm.  I made sure that the little 'hook' where the paper clip wrapped around was at the bottom so that it was less likely to pull out when moving the worms up.

Once all the worms were done I popped them into the board and moved them up and down several times to loosen the grooves.  I may add a little piece of Velcro to ensure they stay where the need to (it should unstick when pushing out on the handle and re- stick when pulling in),but the worms seem to stay put fairly well.  So, now they are just waiting for a story time debut!

Flannel Friday: Two Greedy Ants

This week I have a guest making her Flannel Friday debut.  Here is Kathy Ross King with 2 Greedy Ants:

My sister, Lee Audlin, actually made this up for me because I love her work and I have lots of others to get done. I think it is adorable. I wrote the summer reading chapter with the story, the 2 Greedy Ants so I definitely wanted to do it! It has patterns for the felt board at the end of the chapter and these figures are loosely based on them. I think they may be a bit bigger, because I want the kids to be able to see the pieces. I just draped a very cheap piece of picnic cloth over my magnet board and added a magnet strip to the back of each piece.  The pickle jar and candy dish are made from blister packs. If you do this be sure to make the prop for the sneezing ant in the same section. It is so easy and a real “kid pleaser”! 

-Kathy Ross King