Flannel Friday: Firefly Fun!

HAPPY

FRIDAY!

I hope everyone is enjoying a bright and sunny Summer day!

This week in our storytimes, we decided to celebrate Summer by reading the book:

Mouse's First Summer

written by Lauren Thompson

This series of books is a favorite for my storytime friends and for me! If you have been following this blog then you may remember Mouse from our Springtime Celebration here.

In the Mouse's First Summer, Mouse and Minka, his sister, explore Summer after hitching a ride inside a picnic basket. They experience lemonade and grape jelly and lots of other treats for the first time throughout the Summer day. When it starts to get dark, they experience their first glimpse of ***FIREFLIES!***

I LOVE ***FIREFLIES!***, don't you? My storytime friends sure did!

I made colorful fireflies from construction paper using the cut paper technique that I like so well. :o) It is just so easy and fast for me! Oh, and I used a little glitter glue, too. Fireflies need their sparkle!

My inspiration for these fireflies came from a recent Flannel Friday post that you can find here. Thank you to Amy for sharing it with us and for linking to another Flannel Friday post  ~ where I found the inspiration for my firefly pattern and for the rhyme that I tweaked for my storytime purposes. You can find that post here. Thank you, Alison!

I actually decided to use 6 fireflies because I wanted to bring in a chance for my friends to practice recognizing and naming colors verbally and with ASL signs. As we began the rhyme, we counted out the fireflies and talked about what was the same about them and what was different.

Once we decided that they were different colors, we named and signed each color. Then as I said the rhyme, each firefly's colroful light "disappeared".

Six Little Fireflies

(Adapted from "Five Little Fireflies")

Six little fireflies blinking in the night

Looking at the glow of each other's light.

Whoosh went the wind.

And whistle went the breeze.

Then out went a red light 

With a great big sneeze!

Aaaaaachoooooo!

Five little fireflies blinking in the night

Looking at the glow of each other's light.

Whoosh went the wind.

And whistle went the breeze.

Then out went an orange light 

With a great big sneeze!

Aaaaaachoooooo!

Four little fireflies blinking in the night

Looking at the glow of each other's light.

Whoosh went the wind.

And whistle went the breeze.

Then out went a yellow light 

With a great big sneeze!

Aaaaaachoooooo!

Continue with: three/green and two/blue. 

Then with:

One little firefly blinking in the night

Looking at the glow of his very own light.

Whoosh went the wind.

And whistle went the breeze.

Then out went his purple light 

With a great big sneeze!

Aaaaaachoooooo!

Six little fireflies no longer blinking in the night

Flew off with each other in the pale moon light.

1-2-3-4-5-6

Bye, fireflies!

After cutting out the pieces to each firefly and gluing them together, I add white glitter glue to their wings and the matching glitter glue to each colorful body. Once laminated, the fireflies were ready to "blink on and off" by using double-sided tape. When the firefly is lit up, the colorful body is taped to him. When he is not lit-up, the colorful body is removed. So simple and fun!

I always like to include a craft for the end of our storytime or for take-home on our Pajama Party nights. Last night was our monthly Pajama Party for June so it was a take-home craft.

I also like to do a Library Search on Pajama Party nights so that any family who can not stay for a short children's video can easily leave from storytime without too much fuss. I combined the Search and the Take-home Craft in this way:

I informed my storytime friends that they each would be taking home six fireflies so they could do the rhyme at home. I brought out the take-home bag and we looked at what was inside. 

There were six firefly bodies ~ one in each color of the rainbow. 

But when we counted the fireflies there were only four. 

What?!!?? Only four?? 

How many did we need? That's right six. 

But where are they? Maybe they are flying around inside the Library.  :o)

We better go search for them and catch them! 

How many do we each need to find? That's right ~ 2 ~ one for each hand. 

Into the Library we go!

When all the friends return from the search, we have the video ready to go and a snack ready for them. This is the easiest way that I have found to transition into the movie portion of our evening. It helps those parents who do not wish to stay for the movie. They get their child's snack as they leave the room and there are no tears since they just don't return to the storytime room after they do the search. ;o)

For anyone who is curious, we did watch a video about fireflies. It was the Night Lights episode on a The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That! video:

Well, that is my Flannel Friday contribution for this week. If you want to learn more about Flannel Friday, you can visit the website here. 

I hope you have a lovely weekend!

And, as always, 

HAPPY READING TOGETHER!

Mr. Linky: Fun Blogs for Sharing Children's Books

~~~ Mr. Linky ~~~

This is a list of blogs that are written by creative men and women who enjoy sharing their love of books with young children and their families.

If you have a blog that you would like to add to this list, please enter your information below.

***I am testing several linky tools on my site over the next week or so. If you want to help test these tools, please click on the other posts (listed below) and enter your information into these lists, too.

I would appreciate any comments about your experience using one or all of these linky tools. I would love to hear what you think about things like ease of use, visual appeal, or any problems encountered while using these linky tools ~ whether you are entering your blog on the list or just visiting the blogs by way of the links.

Any and all comments are welcome! Thank you so much for helping me test these tools!

Here are the links to the other tools being tested:

Simply Linked

Linkytools

InLinkz



And here is the link up using:

 ~ Mr. Linky ~
(Click "Mr. Linky" to be taken to their website.)

InLinkZ: Fun Blogs for Sharing Children's Books

~~~ InLinkz ~~~

This is a list of blogs that are written by creative men and women who enjoy sharing their love of books with young children and their families.

If you have a blog that you would like to add to this list, please enter your information below.

***I am testing several linky tools on my site over the next week or so. If you want to help test these tools, please click on the other posts (listed below) and enter your information into these lists, too.

I would appreciate any comments about your experience using one or all of these linky tools. I would love to hear what you think about things like ease of use, visual appeal, or any problems encountered while using these linky tools ~ whether you are entering your blog on the list or just visiting the blogs by way of the links.

Any and all comments are welcome! Thank you so much for helping me test these tools!

Here are the links to the other tools being tested:

Simply Linked

Linkytools

Mr. Linky


And here is the link up using:

 ~ InLinkz ~
(click "InLinkz" to be taken to their website)

Linkytools: Fun Blogs for Sharing Children's Books

~~~ Linkytools ~~~

This is a list of blogs that are written by creative men and women who enjoy sharing their love of books with young children and their families.

If you have a blog that you would like to add to this list, please enter your information below.

***I am testing several linky tools on my site over the next week or so. If you want to help test these tools, please click on the other posts (listed below) and enter your information into these lists, too.

I would appreciate any comments about your experience using one or all of these linky tools. I would love to hear what you think about things like ease of use, visual appeal, or any problems encountered while using these linky tools ~ whether you are entering your blog on the list or just visiting the blogs by way of the links.

Any and all comments are welcome! Thank you so much for helping me test these tools!

Here are the links to the other tools being tested:

Simply Linked

InLinkz

Mr. Linky


And here is the link up using:

 ~ Linkytools ~
(Click on "Linkytools" above to be taken to their site)

*** I should quickly mention that you can choose to use the Linkytool that does not have a thumbnail picture. It has a text only link and it is a FREE option. I have chosen to use Linkytools on my site for all of my Blog Hops so I have the option to choose the thumbnail picture tool. If you are interested in using the thumbnail picture option, I can help you on your week to host. Just contact me at storytimeabcs@gmail.com and we can discuss it.

Simply Linked: Fun Blogs for Sharing Children's Books

~~~ Simply Linked ~~~

This is a list of blogs that are written by creative men and women who enjoy sharing their love of books with young children and their families.

If you have a blog that you would like to add to this list, please enter your information below.

***I am testing several linky tools on my site over the next week or so. If you want to help test these tools, please click on the other posts (listed below) and enter your information into these lists, too.

I would appreciate any comments about your experience using one or all of these linky tools. I would love to hear what you think about things like ease of use, visual appeal, or any problems encountered while using these linky tools ~ whether you are entering your blog on the list or just visiting the blogs by way of the links.

Any and all comments are welcome! Thank you so much for helping me test these tools!

Here are the links to the other tools being tested:

Linkytools

InLinkz

Mr. Linky


And here is the link up using:

 ~ Simply Linked ~
(Click on "Simply Linked" above to be taken to their site.)

Flannel Friday: The Crayon Box that Talked

Are you ready for a nice relaxing weekend? 

I know I am!

It is a cloudy day here in Florida ~ a little gloomy.


I hope it is sunny wherever you are! 


But, if not, then the book I am sharing this week will help to brighten your day with lots of colors. The illustrations are bright and bold which is perfect for a book about a box of crayons! 

Have you ever wondered what your crayons might say to each other when you aren't around? I know I have! LOL! 


This delightful book is about just that idea ~ a box of crayons talking to each other.


 Why don't we take a peek inside and see what the crayons have to say in:

The Crayon Box that Talked

written by Shane DeRolf

illustrated by Michael Letzig

The story starts with a little girl walking through a toy store when she overhears a a box of crayons that has "many things to say".

I begin the story with a plain white page on the magnetic board. It is framed in black because my magnetic board is also white and I wanted it to stand out from the board. It is also lamintaed so that I can add pieces using double-sided tape.

As the little girl listens, she hears the crayons complaining and talking badly about each other:

"I don't like red!" said Yellow.

And Green said, "Nor do I!

And no one here likes Orange,

But no one knows just why."

"We are a box of crayons

That doesn't get along."

Said Blue to all the others, 

"Something here is wrong!"

I take each crayon from "my box" as it talks. And then I put it back into the box.

Each color does not talk in the beginning of the book but they will be used soon ~ keep watching. I promise we will use all of the colors! ;o)

The little girl buys the crayons and takes them home. Then she lays them all out so they can see what she is doing.

This is where I add each crayon to the magnetic board ~ as we name the color and make the ASL sign for it.

The crayons watched as "Green became the grass"

"And Blue became the sky."

"The Yellow sun was shining bright 

On White clouds drifting by."

"Colors changing as they touched,

Becoming something new."

I know my photos aren't the best quality (I'm still learning!) but, hopefully, you can see that each new item is separate and added to the picture using double-sided tape. The illustrations are as similar to the book as I could make them. (I am no artist  but since it is supposed to be a child's drawing. I think I did pretty good. *Shrug*)

Here is the page from the book that I used as my example:

The ending to this book is hard for me not to share with you! But, in the hopes that you will seek out this book to share with the child(ren) in your life, I will just say that it touches your heart and makes it smile. :o)

On that note, I am going to share a couple of ideas to extend this book. I have to move on quickly before my fingers start typing the words at the end of the book...

Aaaaa! It is so hard not to share the ending. Hold on a minute while I put my book away. Be right back!

Okay ~ as long as I don't start typing it from memory, we will be fine. Hmmmmm....

Suggestions for extending the book:

***Let your child draw their own picture with crayons ~ using all of the different colors. As your child is drawing, discuss what the colors might be saying to each other as they work together to create a beautiful picture.

***Cut out your own paper crayons and use them to sing this song:

Little Red Crayon

(Sung to: "Skip to My Lou")

Little red crayon, I love you.

Little red crayon, I love you.

Little red crayon, I love you.

Orange one says ~ "I do, too!"

Little orange crayon, I love you.

Little orange crayon, I love you.

Little orange crayon, I love you.

Yellow one says ~ "I do, too!"

Continue singing through all of the colors that you choose. 

You can have your child(ren) hold up the correct paper crayon as you sing about its color.

Final verse:

Little purple crayon, I love you.

Little purple crayon, I love you.

Little purple crayon, I love you.

Everyone says ~ "We do, too!"

I used our Ellison diecuts to create all of my crayons and the envelope in the pictures above. My storytime friends decorated the envelope to make it look like their very own crayon box. It was fun to see how different each "box" was and the children were adorable carrying their crayons out the door! So cute!

I hope you have a COLOR-filled weekend! 

And, as always,

HAPPY READING TOGETHER!

Not-a-Flannel Friday: My Daddy

Happy Flannel Friday!

and

I have been sad to miss the Flannel Friday Round-Up the past couple of weeks. :o(

But I am excited to be back just in time to share some fun activities to celebrate the wonderful Dads in our lives!

While searching for some NEW-to-me ideas for a Father's Day storytime, I had a bit of difficulty finding very much at all.  ( I may have to improve my searching skills because I am pretty sure there are some fun ideas out there somewhere! I just wasn't able to find them.)

After an extensive search that provided me with maybe two new ideas, I decided to share some of the things that I have used in the past. I'm pretty sure if I am looking for ideas then others are, too! ;o) 

My recent post, Books: My Daddy is Special!, provides a list of books ~ some tried-and-true and some brand-new ~ and also a few songs, rhymes, and fingerplays to help you celebrate that special person in your child's life. I hope you will take a quick look at the post. I enjoyed putting it together. :o)

This Flannel Friday post is an extension of my Dads post. I made a couple of magnetic board sets that can be used in a Father's Day or a Family storytime. I hope you enjoy them!

The first one is a tweaked version of "B-I-N-G-O". My similar version for M-O-M-M-Y can be found here. It was Flannel Friday-inspired by Mollie at What Happens in Storytime... so you could say that this D-A-D-D-Y version was also inspired by Mollie! ;o)

Here is the new version with cookies for Dad:

D-A-D-D-Y!

(Sung to: "B-I-N-G-O")

Watch for the surprise!

I have a very special friend 

And Daddy is his name-o!

D-A-D-D-Y

D-A-D-D-Y

D-A-D-D-Y

And Daddy is his name-o!

Here comes the surprise!

Each cookie has a different Daddy on the other side!

So as you sing the song, each verse you will turn a cookie over to reveal a new Daddy.

For each new Daddy, you can add a kissing sound instead of singing the letter name.

For example, the 2nd verse would be:

I have a very special friend 

And Daddy is his name-o!

(Kiss)-A-D-D-Y

(Kiss)-A-D-D-Y

(Kiss)-A-D-D-Y

And Daddy is his name-o!

At the end, there will be 5 kisses and 5 Daddy faces ~ ready for the next activity. :o)

At this point when you have 5 faces, I ask my storytime friends, "How many Daddies do we have? 1-2-3-4-5." Then I suggest, "Why don't we wave goodbye to Kaleb's Daddy? Bye, Kaleb's Daddy!" The friends wave bye as I turn the cookie side up again. "Now how many Daddies do we have? 1-2-3-4." We continue saying goodbye to "So and so's Daddy" until there are no Daddies but we are back to 5 cookies. 1-2-3-4-5. Yum! Yum! 

And we are ready to do another song...

Down Around the Corner

(Sung to: "Five Little Ducks Went Out to Play")

Down around the corner at the bakery shop

Were five little cookies with a letter on top

Along came (Child's name) with a nickel to pay

He bought one for Daddy and took it away.

I found the song on a past Flannel Friday Round-Up and tweaked it for our Daddy celebration. As you sing the last line, it is a little rushed but it does work. :o)

Be sure and check out the cookie post at Mel's Desk where I got my inspiration for this song.

These magnetic board pieces were created out of colorful construction paper and glue. Each cookie was glued to the back of a circle with a Daddy on it and then laminated. Once they were all laminated, I added double-sided tape to each side so that they would stick to the board without detracting from the cookie or from Dad's handsome face. So easy and the children think it is magical since there is no magnet on either side. LOL!

The Daddy faces were inspired by Todd Parr's artwork in this book:

Aren't the Dads AWESOME?!!??!! I especially love the blue hair and glasses!! Ha ha!

Books: My Daddy Is Special!

While searching for new books and activities for my upcoming Father's Day storytime, I found that there just really aren't that many helpful posts out there. 


Either that or I am really not very good at searching them out!  ;o}

That's when I decided to write this post. 

I'll share a few children's books about Dad and also include some songs and fingerplays, too. Sound good?

Few things are more heart-warming than a child enjoying a good book with someone they love!


To encourage this important connection, here are a few book suggestions for Dads and their little ones to share together. These books are all about that special relationship between a Dad and his child ~ whether they are human Dads and children or animal Dads and children. 

Let's start with some hugs and kisses for Dad:

HEY!

Hugs and Kisses

Sung to; "Frere Jacques"

Hugs and kisses,

Hugs and Kisses,

Just for you!

Just for you!

Just to tell you, Daddy,

Just to tell you, Daddy,

I love you!

I love you!

Daddy Hug 

written by Tim Warnes 

 Daddy Hugs

written by Karen Katz

 Daddy Kisses

written by Anne Gutman and Georg Hallensleben

Daddy Cuddles 
written by Anne Gutman and Georg Hallensleben

Daddy's Lap  

(Fingerplay)

This is the baby ready for a nap. 

(Hold up index finger.)

Lay her down in her Daddy's lap. 

(Lay index finger on the open palm of your other hand.)

Cover her up so she doesn't make a peep. 

(Wrap your fingers of other hand around your index finger.)

And rock her til she goes to sleep. 

(Rock hands back and forth together.)

~ Repeat using "him" for a baby boy ~

Everyone's Dad is special and that is why we love our Dads so much! 
Here are some fun songs and books to celebrate our Dads and their differences!

Daddy Is Special

Sung to: "Frere Jacques"

Daddy is special.

Daddy is special.

~ If you look ~

~ You will see ~

Someone very special.

Someone very special.

~ It is Daddy! ~

~ It is Daddy! ~

The Daddy Book

written by Todd Parr

 

The Daddy Book

The World's Family Series

written by Ann Morris

Daddies Do It Different

written by Alan Lawrence Sitomer 

Daddy Takes Good Care of Me

Sung to "Mary Had a Little Lamb"

Daddy takes good care of me, 

Care of me, 

Care of me.

Daddy takes good care of me

Because he loves me so.

Additional verses:

Daddy likes to play with me

Daddy feeds me yummy food

Daddy gives me lots of hugs

Daddy gives me lots of kisses

Daddy tucks me into bed

Daddy likes to read to me

As if we don't already have enough reasons to love our Dads, here are a few more in these books:

I Love My Daddy Because...

written by Laurel Porter-Gaylord

A Wild Father's Day

written by Sean Callahan

The Night Before Father's Day

written by Natasha Wing

 

And a few more songs to sing and rhymes to share with Daddy:

 

In Daddy's Lap

I love to snuggle in Daddy's lap

And squeeze him tight like this.

(hug self)

I love to tell him, "I love you!" 

And give him a great big kiss.

(blow kiss)

   

Big Kisses and Hugs for Daddy

 (sung to: "Ten Little Indians")

1 big, 2 big, 3 big kisses,

4 big, 5 big, 6 big kisses,

7 big, 8 big, 9 big kisses,

10 big kisses for Daddy!

~ repeat with "hugs" for Daddy ~ 

Let's end with more kisses and hugs for Dad!

I Have a Little Heart

I have a little heart that goes

Thump! Thump! Thump!

It goes right on beating when I 

Jump! Jump! Jump!

I get a special feeling when I look at you.

It makes me want to give you a kiss or two!

I have a little heart that goes
Thump! Thump! Thump!
It goes right on beating when I 
Jump! Jump! Jump!
I get a special feeling when I look at you.
It makes me want to give you a hug or two!

Kisses for Daddy

written by Frances Watts

Quick note: I will be back sometime in the next few days to share a delicious, but simple gift for Dad and a couple of fun activities to add to your celebration of Dad's Special Day this year. I hope you will bookmark this post and check back again soon. If you like crafts and flannel/magnetic board activities, then I guarantee you will want to see my next post! ;o) 


In the meantime, you can check out my Mother's Day post here and maybe get a few ideas to tweak for Dad!

I hope you enjoy these Dad books and songs and I also hope you enjoy your Monday! 

As always,

HAPPY READING TOGETHER!