Flannel Friday: Six Bouncing Bunnies

Another Friday has arrived!

And along with it comes another

Since Spring has also arrived, I have been doing lots of Springtime programs which always seem to include some bunny fun, of course! Are you ready for lots of hopping and bouncing?!??! Well, ready or not, here we go!

I love these sweet little bunnies and so did my storytime friends! 

They wanted to play with them over and over again after storytime ~ bouncy, bouncy, bouncy!

Six Bouncing Bunnies

Six bouncing bunnies happy to be alive,
One hopped away and then there were five.

Five bouncing bunnies hopping past my door,
One hopped away and then there were four.

Four bouncing bunnies hiding eggs beneath a tree,
One hopped away and then there were three.

Three bouncing bunnies painting eggs a bright blue,
One hopped away and then there were two.

Two bouncing bunnies chasing butterflies in the sun.
One hopped away and then there was one.

One bouncing bunny looking for some fun,
He bounced and shouted,
"Happy Easter, everyone!"

I tweak this rhyme when I want to do a little color recognition with my storytime friends. For this tweaked version, we first count the bunnies onto the flannel board. Then I ask, "Are they all the same?" 

We discuss how the bunnies all have two long ears, a twitchy nose, and white, fluffy fur. 

"But! they are not all the same! How are they different?"

Once someone points out that each bunny has a different colored tail and tummy, we name each color and make the ASL sign for each color.

 I say, "the purple one hopped away" instead of "one hopped away" and change to a different color for each stanza.

If you have an exceptionally active group of storytime friends, you can encourage them to stand up and hop with each bunny. Soon they will be tuckered out and ready for a sit-down activity. Little tricks like this ~ when deliberately used at certain times ~ will allow you to guide even the youngest and the most active children towards having a longer attention span and towards being able to focus on specific learning experiences during storytime or circletime

You can also do some more hopping with this cute rhyme based on the ever-popular Five Little Monkeys fingerplay.

(The bunnies pictured below are an old set that have been well-loved and often-used. You can tell by the "crazy" look on some of their faces! ;o) They would be simple enough to create with pompoms, felt, and wiggly eyes.)

When starting this rhyme, I have the little ones help me count the bunnies as I add them to the glove. Then I ask them to hold up five fingers and we count again. Once everyone has five fingers held up, we practice bouncing them up and down. Now, everyone is ready to start.

Five Little Bunnies

Five little bunnies hopping down the trail,
One fell down and bumped her tail.
Momma called the Doctor and what did he say?
"No more bunnies hopping today!"

Additional verses:
Four little bunnies...
Three little bunnies...
Two little bunnies...

One little bunny hopping down the trail,
He fell down and bumped his tail.
Momma called the Doctor and what did he shout?
"No more bunnies hopping about!"

Another way to share this rhyme is to make bunny ears and choose 5 children to wear them and be the hopping bunnies. As you count down, just take the bunny ears from one child at a time and have that child sit down. Always a fun way to engage the children!

I have several more "hopping bunny" songs and rhymes but I think I'll stop here to day. If you are interested in the other ones, just email me at storytimeabcs@gmail

Before I leave you, I did want to share our snack, our library search/ take-home item, and the video we watched at last night's Easter Storytime and Pajama Party.

The snack was delicious! It was cheddar bunnies and pretzel bunnies and carrots.Yum! Yum!

Our library search/take-home was a set of rainbow-colored bunnies. Each child had to find a red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple bunny in the stacks. These colorful bunnies could be taken home so that each child could practice the rhymes and play the "Bunny Search" at home with family and friends.

The video we watched was an Easter episode of Wow Wow Wubzy which my storytime families really enjoy!

Happy Easter!

And, as always,

HAPPY READING TOGETHER!

The Flannel Friday Round-Up for this week is being hosted by Miss Mollie Kay on her blog, What Happens in Storytime... If you aren't too tired from all our bouncing, I recommend that you hop on over there for a collection of creative ideas for lots of Early Learning fun!