Showing posts with label Tacky the Penguin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tacky the Penguin. Show all posts

Thursday, February 16, 2012

"Not a Flannel" Friday: Penguins, Penguins, Everywhere!

It is finally time for some Penguin Fun at my Family Storytime so I thought I would share some of the fun with you, too.


I actually have several penguin activities to share.
Let's start with a playful rhyme that allows you to use ordinal numbers with your little ones, as well as counting up and counting down with a little help from our cute black and white friends.


Five Little Penguins 


Five little penguins,
As happy as could be,
Standing on a rock, 
Looking out at sea.

Crash! Went the waves,
Oh, what a din!
Said the first little penguin,
"Shall we all jump in?"

Said the second little penguin,
"The water's like ice."
Said the third little penguin,
"That's not so nice."

Said the fourth little penguin,
"Let's bask in the sun."
Said the fifth little penguin,
"Hey, that's no fun!"

So the five little penguins
Take a leap and dive 
And splash into the water,
1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5.

Three seconds later, 
Out they all pop.
And stand once again
Atop the big rock.
5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1.
Yay!


Our second activity is a good one to use with a simple penguin puppet. It is easy to make a puppet for each child by photocopying a small penguin, cutting it out, and taping it to a popsicle stick. 


Or if you have a Ellison diecut machine and a penguin diecut, it is even easier to make a puppet for each storytime friend. ;-)

This activity allows you to demonstrate positional words with even the youngest storytime participants ~ just have the adult do the motions with the puppet for their child.

The Penguins

The penguins are here; the penguins are there.
The penguins, the penguins are everywhere.

The penguins are up; the penguins are down.
The penguins, the penguins are all around.

The penguins are in; the penguins are out.
The penguins, the penguins are all about.

The penguins are low; the penguins are high.
The penguins, the penguins all say "goodbye"!


Another activity that I use with my Penguins, Penguins, Everywhere storytime is the flannel set that I shared a few weeks ago: 



There Was a Little Penguin
(Click on the title for a link to my post.)



For our craft, we made Adorable Penguin Hats so that the children could pretend to be penguins and waddle around in our last two activities.


I'm a little penguin
Black and white,
Short and wobbly,
An adorable sight!

I can't fly at all,
But I love to swim.
So I'll waddle to the water 
And dive right in!

For this rhyme, I teach the sign for penguin, black, and white. We also do motions for "short and wobbly", "fly", "swim", "waddle", and "dive". This particular activity gets numerous requests for repeating it. I usually plan to do it 2 to 3 times. The repetition will help the little ones remember the rhyme so that they can continue to "be penguins" at home. I also send home a flyer with the words and I post them on my library's Facebook page for easy accessibility.

Our last rhyme was also fun to do together with lots more waddling and diving.


Penguin Cheer

I like fishies.
Yes, I do!
When I want fishies,
Here's what I do.
One, two, three...
SPLASH!

And finally, here is a picture of one of my storytime friends in her Adorable Penguin Hat. 

She is so precious!
HAPPY READING TOGETHER!

Here’s Flannel Friday information for this week:

This week’s Flannel Friday roundup is hosted by Katie.




Talk about storytime and flannelboards at the Flannel Friday Facebook Page. Be sure to checkout my Flannel Friday Comment Challenge on the facebook page. This is the fourth week and I am offering an incentitive!

Follow Flannel Friday on Twitter with the #flannelfriday hashtag. (You don’t have to be on Twitter to check this out.)

And, last but not least, if you’re a contributor, there is an awesome blog button from Melissa and you can grab it from the right hand menu at Mel’s Desk!

Friday, January 27, 2012

Flannel Friday: There Was a Little Penguin

My love affair with penguins began  years ago when I was teaching my very first preschool classes. I used to visit my local library every week  to collect new books (on our weekly themes) for my class to enjoy. 


This particular day, I was looking for books on individuality. 

Boy, did I find the perfect one! 
It was:


I was IN LOVE from the very first page! Tacky was AWESOME! He was cute and cuddly but, best of all, he was DIFFERENT! 

I took Tacky to my classroom and he soon became everyone's favorite. We read about Tacky and then we read about real penguins. We pretended to be Tacky ~ waddling all around the playground and singing our own made-up songs. We counted our penguin friends; we played in the "snow" at the water table; and we even made our very own Tacky to take home ~ each one delightfully different from all the others!

It was a glorious week of learning about penguins but also about learning to be happy with being ourselves ~ just like Tacky!

Ever since I first read those final words on the last page of the book ~ "Tacky was an ... " ~  Oh, wait! If you haven't read the book, I don't want to spoil it for you. Just take my word for it! Tacky the Penguin is a true one-of-a-kind, there-is-noone-else-like-him kind of friend! 

I hope you will check him out at your library and share him with your own budding individualist(s).

In the meantime, I would like to share a fun flannel board activity with you: 

(A penguin version of "There was a Little Turtle")

(Click on the title above for the words without pictures.)

There was a little penguin
Who waddled when she walked.
She swam in the ocean,
And she climbed on some rocks.

(Before placing the penguin on the board, make her waddle, swim, and climb.) 

She snapped at seagull.

(After placing the seagull on the board, snap hands together one time.)

She snapped at a seal.

 (After placing the seal on the board, snap hands together one time.)

She snapped at a fish.

 (After placing the fish on the board, snap hands together one time.)

Mmmmm, what a meal! 

(After moving the fish over to the penguin, rub your tummy.) 

(I am thinking about making my fish smaller but for now he is one ENORMOUS, yummy meal. ;-)


Since my first meeting with my wonderful friend, Tacky, there are been several more books written about him. They are all fun, silly adventures that I wholeheartedly recommend sharing with friends...





But MY favorite will always be the original,

Tacky the Penguin!



  

**This post is brought to you in celebration of Flannel Friday! 

It is being hosted this week by Anne at So Tomorrow. Thank you, Anne! 

Be sure to visit the beautiful Flannel Friday Pinterest account. So Tomorrow has past roundups and future hosting schedule, as well.

HAPPY READING TOGETHER!