Flannel Friday: My Mommy Is Special!

Happy Flannel Friday!

AND...

to all the Moms and Grandmothers, too!

My contribution this week is Flannel Friday-inspired by Mollie at What Happens in Storytime... and also by these lovely felt "Moms" and "Daughters" made by Shelia at Note Songs.

Watch for the surprise!

M - O - M - M - Y

Sung to: "BINGO"

I have a very special friend 

And Mommy is her name-o!

M - O - M - M - Y

M - O - M - M - Y

M - O - M - M - Y

And Mommy is her name-o!

Here comes the surprise!

Each flower has a different Mommy on the other side!
So as you sing the song, each time you will turn a flower over to reveal a new Mommy.
For each new Mommy, you will add a kiss instead of singing the letter.


For example, the 2nd verse would be:

I have a very special friend 

And Mommy is her name-o!

(Kiss) - O - M - M - Y

(Kiss) - O - M - M - Y

(Kiss) - O - M - M - Y

And Mommy is her name-o!

At the end, there will be 5 kisses and 5 Mommies ready for the next song. :o)

Five Pretty Mommies

Sung to: "Five Little Ducks"

Five pretty mommies I once knew.

Cute ones, busy ones, happy ones, too.

But the one in the middle, pretty as can be.

I love her and she loves me!

Down to the grocery store we did go,

Skippety-hop, skippety-hop, to and fro.

But the one in the middle, pretty as can be,

I love her and she loves me!

Here is another song for our lovely Mommies:

Mommy Is Special

Sung to: "Frere Jacques"

Mommy is special.

Mommy is special.

~ If you look ~

~ You will see ~

Someone very special.

Someone very special.

~ It is Mommy! ~

~ It is Mommy! ~

I hope everyone enjoys a delightful Mother's Day with their families! 

If you are looking for a quick, simple, last-minute gift for your children to make for the special lady in their lives, here is the one we made at our Family Storytime last night. 

(Click on the picture for directions on how-to make it.)

"Don't Forget ~ I Love You!"

Magnetic Note Holder

And one last song to go with this special Mother's Day gift:

Hugs and Kisses

Sung to; "Frere Jacques"

Hugs and kisses,

Hugs and Kisses,

Just for you!

Just for you!

Just to tell you Mommy,

Just to tell you Mommy,

I love you!

I love you!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

And, as always,

HAPPY READING TOGETHER!

Storytime Craft: "Don't Forget ~ I Love You!" Note Holder

With Mother's Day fast approaching, I want to share one of my most popular Storytime Crafts. It is a simple, yet loving gift for any special lady in your children's lives. 

It is a Magnetic Note Holder with "Hugs and Kisses" Coupons!

I started making these note holders years ago when I came across this adorable book, Mommy Hugs, and its equally adorable companion, Daddy Kisses. (You will probably want to check back in June for the Father's Day craft based on Daddy Kisses. It is a fun one, too.)

The note holder is magnetic so that it can hang on the refrigerator or a file cabinet to hold the "Hugs and Kisses" Coupons until they are all used up ~ which never takes long! Then it can hold that grocery store list that needs to be filled or that reminder to keep the Doctor's appointment on Thursday.

Over the years, I have changed the "Hugs and Kisses" Coupons but each set has always featured special kinds of animal hugs and kisses such as a "monkey tickle" or a "kitty cuddle" or a "hen peck". 


The only one I never change is the "bear hug". That one is my all-time favorite! And is always included!

The little ones delight in the names for the animal hugs and kisses. :o) They enjoy talking about each animal as they color and decorate their coupons. Many of them like to add their own embellishments to the coupons ~ like free-hand hearts or their names or "Mom". (Great fine motor activity!)

Another thing they enjoy is discussing the reason for the bow on the finger. I always explain that some people like to tie a string on their finger to help them remember something. With our bow, we are reminding our Moms that we love them. 


"Don't forget ~ I love you!" is the message we are giving our Moms. 

Let's get started with our Magnetic Note Holder:

Supplies Needed:

Card stock 

(skin colors)

Pattern for the "I Love You" hand

Pencil

Scissors

Tacky glue

Heart sticker

Ribbon

Clothespin

Magnetic pieces

Copies on coupon 

(pictured below)

Crayons 

(pictured below)

I always buy card stock in different shades so that the children can choose what color they want their hand to be.  I found this pack at Michael's yesterday. It contains the 3 shades that I used for my storytime today. Or if you already have white card stock or construction paper, you can let your child color the hand.

Directions:

          ***Trace and cut out hand. (You can actually use your child's hand to make it more personal. Just cut out a regular hand shape and then fold down the two middle fingers and glue them in place to represent the "I love you" sign. Or if you want the template for the one I used, you can contact me at storytimeabcs(at)gmail(dot)com.)

          ***Cut and tie ribbon.

          ***Cut magnetic strip into two small pieces to fit on the clothespin.

          ***Glue heart sticker, and ribbon to the hand. Glue the hand on one side of the clothespin and the two magnets to the other side.

Front and back of Note Holder:

          ***Color and decorate the coupons. Add embellishments such as child's name or hearts.

And there you have it! Simple and fun!


 I hope you get a chance to share these sweet books with your child/ren and that you enjoy making a "Don't Forget ~ I Love You" Magnetic Note Holder for the special ladies in their lives. They will love them! I guarantee it!

If you make the craft, please stop back by and share a picture. I would love to see a picture of your child's version and the person s/he gave it to. :o)

Have a

And, as always, 

HAPPY READING TOGETHER!

Activity: We're Going on a Bug Hunt

This past Friday, I shared some colorful and sparkly bugs for the Flannel Friday Round-up. I used them for several activities and songs during my Family Storytime on Thursday night and the little ones really loved them.

Here is one of the fun activities we did with them:

We're Going on a Bug Hunt!

Chorus:

We're going on a bug hunt!

We're going to catch a big one!

What a sunny day!

Are you ready? 

Okay!

Verses:

Oh, my! A ladybug!

A red and black ladybug

Crawling on a leaf.

Crawl, crawl, crawl!

Repeat chorus.

Oh, my! A firefly!

A brown and yellow firefly

Flickering in the sky.

Flicker, flicker, flicker! 

Repeat chorus.

Oh, my! A bumblebee!

A black and yellow bumblebee

Buzzing through the air.

Buzz, buzz, buzz!

Repeat chorus.

Oh, my! A grasshopper! 

A big, green grasshopper

Hopping through the grass.

Hop, hop, hop!

Repeat chorus.

Oh, my! A dragonfly!

A shimmery, purple dragonfly

Darting across the sky.

Dart, dart, dart!

Repeat chorus.

Oh, my! A butterfly!

A beautiful, orange butterfly

Fluttering through the air.

Flutter, flutter, flutter!

Repeat chorus.

Oh, my! A spider!

A huge, black spider

Spinning on its web!

Spin, spin, spin!

I think it is time to go home now!

Bye, huge, black spider!

Bye, beautiful, orange butterfly!

Bye, shimmery, purple dragonfly!

Bye, big, green grasshopper!

Bye, black and yellow bumblebee!

Bye, brown and yellow firefly!

Bye, red and black ladybug!

See you on our next bug hunt!

I hope you enjoy going on a Bug Hunt with your child/ren! For more learning with Bugs, be sure to check out the Bugs ABC'S Blog Hop. 

You'll find suggestions for Activities, Books, Crafts, and Snacks that are all about creepy-crawling BUGS and flying-through-the-sky BUGS!

Enjoy! And, as always,

HAPPY READING TOGETHER!

Flannel Friday: EXCITING NEWS!

Good mornng, everyone!

Yes, you read the blog title right. And, yes, I know it is Monday, not Friday. ;o) LOL

I am just so EXCITED about the news that I HAD to share it this morning! So drumroll, please!

Introducing the Flannel Friday website!

 

As many of you know, Anne at So Tomorrow has been an amazing manager and archiver of Flannel Friday information for the past year. Anne and her husband are expecting their first baby in June. (Congratulations Anne!) So we wanted to give her a break from Flannel Friday during her maternity leave. This spring, Anne and Mel from Mel’s Desk and a small group of old and new Flannel Friday-ers worked to create a new web home for Flannel Friday.

Here’s the link! http://flannelfridaystorytime.blogspot.com

The new site will be the home of the Round Up Schedule, the archives, FAQs about Flannel Friday, information about how to get involved with Flannel Friday, and links to help new members get started with social networking and blogging. 

There will also be a link to the week’s Round Up, but the Round Up will continue to be hosted on individual blogs. 

We’ll just point to each Round Up from the site.

Refining the Round Up Procedure:

The Flannel Friday community has grown continuously over the year, with new bloggers, new Round Up Hosts, and new members every week on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. We are building an amazing community and are grateful to each and every one of you for your participation and enthusiasm.

As the group has grown, you’ve probably noticed that so have the Round Ups!

We’ve seen an inevitable increase in missed links and general confusion as the Round Ups are compiled. We thought that the launch of the new site was a great opportunity to take a page from other round ups in the blogosphere and establish one single method for building the Round Up each week.

This information will be in the FAQs on the new site, but here’s our new strategy in a nutshell:

Every week the Round Up Host will publish a “placeholder” post for the Round Up on the host blog at 10pm EST on Thursday.

Each blogger who wants to participate in the Round Up will make a comment to the Round Up post with the link back to their Flannel Friday post by 10pm EST on Friday.

This will be the only place to post links for the Round Up! 

This way the Host won’t have to worry about checking Facebook or Twitter as well.

If a blogger can’t make the 10pm EST deadline on Friday, we’ll ask that the post be held for the next week’s Round Up.

The Round Up Host will gather links from the Round Up post comments throughout the day, and publish the Round Up at the end of the day.

We hope this will make the Round Ups easier to create and easier to contribute to!

We’ll look forward to your feedback over the next few weeks. Sharon / @ReadingChick at Rain Makes Applesauce has the Round Up this week, 5/11, so she’s going to try out the new procedure with us and see how it goes!

If you have questions or comments, don’t hesitate to share them via the new Flannel Friday email: flannelboardfriday [at] gmail [dot] com

Thanks for all you do to to make Flannel Friday more than a blog event–but a great community too.

Here’s to the next great year of Flannel Friday!

And, as always,

HAPPY READING TOGETHER!

Bug ABC'S Blog Hop

It is time to start a new Blog Hop! 

 It's a 

Bugs ABC'S Blog Hop

Eeeeeeeeew!

Did I just hear someone say, "Eeeeeew!"?!??!!

Well, it must have been one of you grown-ups because most kids LOVE any and all kinds of bugs! :o) 

 

They love looking at them, reading about them, touching them, and sometimes even trying to eat them!

Now that is an "Eeeeeew!" moment if I ever heard one! 

LOL!

But, even with that in mind, this Blog Hop is going to be lots of fun to explore with your little ones! So let's getting buzzing and check out all the exciting and creative bug ideas!

Quick note:

My first Blog Hop ~ Frog ABC'S Blog Hop ~ and my second Blog Hop ~ Eggs and Chicks ABC'S Blog Hop ~ have been well received and we have lots of links on both now. Whoo hoo! I have had several people contact me about wanting to link up to them but not having the time to do it yet. The time was extended. :o)

 Also, I can always add after the deadline has passed.  So if anyone writes a post about frogs or eggs and chicks or comes across a cool idea about any of the topics of my blog hops after the deadlines, please send me a message and I'll add the links. I can be contacted at storytimeabcs(at)gmail(dot)com for any questions or issues.

For my new visitors, ABC'S (Activity, Books, Crafts, and Snacks) Blog Hops are an excellent way to "resource-build" whether you are:

•    a parent looking for something fun to do w/ your child as you spend quality time together
•    a preschool teacher looking for exciting new learning activities for your classroom
•    a children's librarian looking for creative ideas to add to your storytime repertoire
•    a leader of a Mom's group looking for simple easy ideas to share with your group
•    actually anyone interested in Early Literacy and Early Childhood Education

And besides being a good resource, Blog Hops are just plain FUN!

So, let's get hopping:

Bugs ABC'S Blog Hop

Creating a Blog Hop means we will be collecting all kinds of resources that are about bugs and insects, such as ants, bumblebees, caterpillars, dragonflies, grasshoppers, ladybugs, and even spiders! And any other bug you can think of ~ real or imaginary!

To get us started, I am going to share a few resources from the different areas that my blog covers.

Activities:

(Includes: Learning Games, Creative Movement Activities, Songs, Dances, and so much more!)

This is a game called "Pass the Bumblebee".

This particular game is based on "Pass the Beanbag" and can be tweaked for all kinds of fun!

I will be sharing more information about it in the Blog Hop once I have the post ready. It is lots of fun so you will want to keep and eye out for it!

Books:

(Please feel free to include any recommendations for Children's books 

~ new and classic and in-between ~ 

I love learning about new versions of an old classic, don't you?)

This is a bright, colorful book about all kinds of bugs!

Crafts:

(Can be anything crafty that we can use our hands to create. 
We love anything colorful and recycle-able ~ and messy, too!)

Fun, interactive Story Craft based on the Caterpillar~Butterfly Lifecycle.

Snacks:

(Some might be healthy and good for you! 

But, I guarantee, some of my contributions will be 

ooey, gooey and chocolatey! LOL! )

Delicious Ladybug Cookies! Directions to be posted soon.

That is an example of the types of things we will be sharing on  the Bugs ABC'S Blog Hop. 

When you share your ideas, please don't limit yourselves to just these categories though. Anything you post yourself or you find on the internet that is related to learning about Bugs is fine to link up. 

I am really looking forward to exploring what is shared!

I'll mention one more type of post that I personally LOVE!

 I call them:

Fun Funds:

(Any awesome purchase that can be turned into a learning activity, craft, or snack 

or just any item that can be re-purposed for a little fun with your child!)

This is a "bug catcher" that I found for at least 1/2 off after Easter.

I love finding cool items that I can make into learning games or use for an unusual craft or giveaway at my library programs and birthday parties!

Okay, enough of me sharing already! We need to get to the nitty gritty of the Blog Hop so you can share, too.

Here's what to do:

• Write a blog post showcasing any activity, book, craft, snack, or other idea about Bugs or link to one that is already posted on your blog. You can share a flannel or magnetic board set that you created for a song or fingerplay about Bugs. You can share an old classic children's book about Bugs that you love sharing at storytime or bedtime with your child or that brand new book about Bugs that you are adding to your "must read" list. You can share your latest craft that you created last week or a yummy snack that you found on Pinterest and decided to try yesterday when it was rainy outside. You can even share a website that shows a real ant colony or bee hive, if you like! Anything about Bugs will do! It is all up to you!
• Next, add your link to this post by clicking on the "Click here to enter" link at the bottom of the page and following the instructions. Make sure you link to your specific blog post, not to your homepage, and choose a picture and give it a caption.
• And the final step to making this a successful Blog Hop that benefits everyone ~ please click on "Get the code here" and follow the steps to adding the Blog Hop to your post. This step is what actually creates the links between all of the participating blogs so that a visitor to one blog will be able to visit any of the other blogs with just a click. Please don't forget to link-up! Another benefit to this step is that you will quickly see from your blog when another blog has linked up and you will be able to check out their contribution. That means less time blindly searching for new Bugs ideas for your next storytime at your library or circle time in your preschool class or playdate with your Mom's Group or your child's best friend.

And it is as simple as that!

Have fun!

 Be sure to grab the Bugs ABC'S Blog Hop button if you link up.
Just grab the code from the sidebar on the right.

Cute bugs, aren't they? 

Oh, and I added a Bugs ABC'S Blog Hop board on Pinterest. Check it out here.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my blog!

And, as always,

HAPPY READING TOGETHER!

Enjoy!

Flannel Friday: Let's Go on a Bug Hunt!

Happy Flannel Friday, everyone!

I hope your day has been better than mine! I have a poor sick puppy dog and, once again, we were very short-handed at the library. I think that makes 3 weeks now! Uuugh! :o{

I almost decided to skip sharing this week but ~ since I already have the pictures taken ~ why waste'em? Right? LOL!

I'll go ahead and post the pictures and then I'll be back later to share the music and rhymes we enjoyed last at our Family Storytime and Game Night.

Our theme was:

BUGS!

Lots of colorful bugs joined us for storytime!

You can't tell too well from these pictures but each insect had a little ***sparkle*** added due to a touch of glitter. My storytime friends loved the ***sparkle***!

These four bugs were featured in one of my favorite "bug" songs entitled, "Butterfly, Fly". The ladybug, bumblebee, firefly, and butterfly enticed us all to "fly up into the bright blue sky" and "in and out of the leaves on the trees"! 

It is a beautifully done song!

Then I added a few more ***sparkly*** insects to the four above for our "Bug Hunt". (Words to be added here in the very near future.) Here they are! The words to "We're Going on a Bug Hunt!" Just click here.

The books I shared were:

I Love Bugs 

by Emma Dodd

and

Snappy Little Bugs

a pop-up book 

Since it was also Family Game Night, we played a few games with our bug friends!

We danced with our colorful Rainbow Butterflies.

We played "Pass the Ladybug".

Which soon became "Pass the Ladybug and the Bee"! 

And then the Caterpillar and the Butterfly and even the Spider joined in the fun!

Finally, we ended the night with our last game and our yummy snack:

We pretended to be Bees and Butterflies as we went "Flower Hopping".

Delicious Ladybug Cookies!

I promise to be back tomorrow to flesh out the details of this post. Sorry it is so sketchy! 

I'll also be adding links for more about our Family Game Nights since several readers have asked for more information on what we do for them.

Have a lovely evening! (I am going to go check on my poor sick puppy dog and give her a little loving!

As always,

HAPPY READING TOGETHER!

Caterpillar and Butterflies ABC'S Blog Hop