bunnies...

A bunny-focused storytime seemed appropriate for this week. :) I tried not to mention Easter at all as it's not necessarily a holiday that everyone celebrates, but it tended to come up organically. I definitely acknowledged it but kept our focus on the hoppy, floppy bunnies in our stories.

Here's the setlist*:

'Hello, Everybody'

Welcome: If you're a frequent 'psof' reader, you know that I like to ask what we already know about a theme... so we knew that bunnies have long ears, fluffy tails, live in holes, eat carrots/veggies, hop, wiggle their noses and can be silly!

Wiggles




Five Funny Bunnies: Three Bouncing Tales by Jean Van Leeuwen
Three quick bunny stories housed in one book? Yes, please! The five bunnies have an delicious adventure on the way to see Grandma, learn what they each do best, and play 'house' complete with storytime! The illustrations reminded me a little of Richard Scarry and were a little too busy for storytime, but the kids seemed to enjoy the tales. :)

What Does Bunny See? A Book of Colors and Flowers by Linda Sue Park
I really liked this book and think it could have done double duty in our Spring storytime as well. A short rhyming story of garden colors, it was fun to use our rhyming skills to guess what was coming next!

Little White Rabbit by Kevin Henkes
This is a picture book in the truest sense of the word. The illustrations are soft and beautiful and Rabbit's "wondering" takes us all sorts of places - but reassures us that there are some things we don't have to wonder about.

Wee Little Bunny by Lauren Thompson
Another beautifully illustrated book (albeit in a completely different fashion), Bunny has a busy day and a warms and cozy place to share that story.

Tippy-Tippy-Tippy, Hide! by Candace Fleming
Definitely the hit of storytime, this book is a sequel to Muncha, Muncha, Muncha! - which I hadn't read! It stands on its own okay, but I think I should have done a bit more research. In any event, it was a fun read-aloud as the kids were able to whisper the title each time the bunnies made it inside the house. And what Mr. McGreely wakes up to in place of his teddy was a definite hoot!

Bunny Rhymes!

#1.
Here is a bunny with ears so funny [hold up two fingers and wiggle them]
and here is his hole in the ground. [make a 'c' shaped hole with your other hand]
At the first sound he hears, he pricks up his ears [hold two fingers straight up]
and jumps in his hole in the ground! [jump bunny hand inside hole hand]

#2.
There was a rabbit in the wood [hold up two fingers on one hand to make bunny]
Who wiggled his ears like a good bunny should. [wiggle two fingers]
He hopped past a squirrel, [hop bunny hand to the left]
he hopped past a tree,[hop bunny hand to the right]
he hopped past a duck, [hop bunny hand to the left]
and he hopped past me.

He stared at the squirrel, [stare to the left]
and he stared at the tree. [stare to the right]
He stared at the duck, [stare to the left]
but he made faces at me! [make faces at the kids]

Song: 'If You're a Bunny and You Know It'
If you're a bunny and you know it, wiggle your ears [two hands on head for ears]...
... wiggle your nose [scrunch up your nose]
... stomp your feet
... do all three

Craft: Decorating Eggs (Oriental Trading)
I decided to order the craft for this week and sorta sneak in a little bit of Easter. :) The kits I bought included self-adhesive parts that you could stick to a plastic Easter egg to turn it into a bunny, a chick, or a lamb. They were cute - but pretty difficult for my littlest storytimers.

it's spring...

Well, it was spring when I was reading these stories! We had a week and a half of very unusual weather for March in this part of the Midwest - several days we had temperatures in the 80's! This morning, however, it was less than 40... back to reality!

I decided to do spring stories because the first day of spring fell during that week of storytime - but I kept the theme pretty loose... we read a spring book, a flower book, and two "green" books. Our flower craft (one to take home and one to display in the storytime room) tied it all together and we had fun springing into spring.

Here's the setlist*:

'Hello, Everybody'

Welcome: I asked the children if they knew what season it was? This was hard because the 'season' concept is difficult for 2-3 year olds. So I asked, 'Is it winter?'... 'Is it fall?'... what season brings all the flowers out? With some help, we arrived at spring. I pointed out how our clothes are changing (we're wearing shorts, short-sleeves, sandals) and how our world is changing (we see leaves on trees and flowers on the ground). I told them it was like everything wakes up!

Wiggles

Hurray for Spring! by Patricia Hubbell
This book is more of a poem than it is a proper story, but it highlights a lot of what children will notice around them as spring arrives. Our narrator (the little boy in the picture) sees ants and flowers, puddles and geese. A nice way to ease ourselves into the season.

Bumblebee, Bumblebee Do You Know Me?: A Garden Guessing Game by Anne Rockwell
As I was emphasizing flowers and their association with spring, this book seemed very fitting. Each page asks a different garden insect if it recognizes the flower being described - lilies, irises, zinneas, daffodils, roses - until we ask the children if they recognize a flower... the guessing is fun. I had the children repeat the names of the flowers for added participation.

Where is Tippy Toes? by Betsy Lewin
This book was a bit of a stretch and would have probably fit better with last week's "green" theme, but I did like the neat pages and I think the kids did, too. "Everyone knows where Tippy Toes is when the sun is up and the day is his..." but where does Tippy Toes go when evening comes? We had a good time finding out.

Where is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox
Okay, this one *definitely* belonged in last week's storytime, but it arrived (interlibrary loan) too late to use - but I couldn't NOT share it with the kids! It was by far the BEST book we used this week - we all had a ball. Since it repeats throughout the book, I had the kids asking with me, "But where is the green sheep?" In one storytime, they repeated each and every line - it was so fun!

Flannel: Five Little Bunnies
(I used five brown and white bunnies made from our bunny Ellison die for this counting rhyme)

One little bunny, wondering what to do?
Along came another - and then there were two!
Two little bunnies, hopping near a tree...
Along came another - and then there were three!
Three little bunnies, playing outdoors...
Along came another - and then there were four!
Four little bunnies, so fluffy and alive...
Along came another - and then there were five!
Five little bunnies in the warm spring sun...
they all hopped away and then there were none.

Rhyme: This is My Garden

This is my garden. (one palm up)
I rake it with care (use three fingers from opposite hand)
And then I plant little seeds in there. (pinch fingers and plant in palm)
The sun with shine (arms above head)
and the rain will fall. (fingers sprinkling down)
My flowers will bloom (cup two hands)
and grow straight and tall. (reach up high and stretch)

Craft: Flower Pictures/Blooms for Storytime Tree
We have a three piece Ellison die for building flowers - a large petal piece, a medium petal piece, and a small center. I cut these out in red, orange, yellow, blue, pink, and purple and mixed and matched them around the table. I asked children to make one for themselves - to glue onto a half sheet of blue construction paper with a pre-cut stem and circle "bumblebee". They also made grass with a sixth of a sheet of green construction paper and scissors - great practice for fine motor skills. The other flower was for the tree on our bulletin board.

It's beginning to look a lot like spring around here - even if it doesn't feel like it today! :)