It happened, again! The Summer Reading Club is a force of its own. One that demands all of my attention and focus. Now, I'm going to play catch up and finish posting the activities we did this summer.
There are spiders in Africa?!
One of the most famous characters from African folklore is Anansi the spider. Even though I was pretty sure I would have some frightened children on my hands, I still told stories about this trickster.
2s & 3s
Although many children start developing a fear of bugs, especially spiders, at this age, they will always sing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider." After I read
Anansi and the Magic Stick by Eric Kimmel, we sang this classic tune. Next, I told the story of
The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle with beautiful watercolor laminated figures made by Jo Kay. The children chanted with me, "She was too busy making her web." After sitting for so long, the little ones were ready with some wiggles and giggles. I taught them Criss-Cross Applesauce and partnered them with their caregiver.
Criss-Cross Applesauce
Criss-cross applesauce
(parent traces an X on child's back)
Spiders crawling up your back
(parent climbs fingers up and down child's back)
Cool breeze
(parent blows on child's neck)
Tight squeeze
(parent gives child a hug)
Now you've got the shivers!
(parent tickles child)
Once all the wiggles and giggles were out, we read
The Not So Itsy-Bitsy Spider by Dawn Bentley. I loved this book, but the children were anxious for the next activity. I can't tell if they are always looking forward to the musical instrument/scarf time, or I'm making poor choices in books.
We matched flannel spiders in different colors for the matching game. I used the Ellison die-cut to make 5 different colors of spiders for the children to put on the board. Some of them were even scared to touch the flannel spiders, which I hadn't anticipated. Instead of musical instruments this week, we used the color scarves. I'm always surprised by how much the children enjoy playing with these. We sang our "Wave Our Scarves" together song, which is adapted each week for the activity. Then, we sang "The Spider in the Web" adapted by Miss Angela.
The Spider in the Web
(tune of Farmer in the Dell)
The spider in the web,
The spider in the web,
Spin, spin, oh watch it spin,
The spider in the web.
The spider gets a fly,
The spider gets a fly,
Spin, spin, oh watch it spin,
The spider gets a fly.
The spider gets a _____ (insect name)
The spider gets a ______,
Spin, spin, oh watch it spin,
The spider gets a ____.
Continue naming other insects.
We spun our scarves in circles, then used them to catch the insects flying around (imaginary of course). Last, we listened to Raffi's "Spider on the Foor" and put the scarves on our body parts as he named them. The craft was my favorite part, which doesn't happen very often. We used school glue to draw a spider web on black construction paper. Then, we twisted 4 black pipe cleaners together to form a spider and stuck him on the web. It was very simple and fun with little mess.
Anansi the Spider Story Box Prepared by Angela Garrett, Main Library
4 to 8-year-old Story Time
We learned the word a-HAL-an. This is how they say "hello" in Egypt. I told another frog story. After we were all done for the summer, I was kicking myself for not finding frog stories from all over the world. I really do LOVE frogs!
I told the draw and tell story "Who Saved the Animals" from
World Folktales by Jerry Mallett. It was a riddle, but the picture became the animal who was the answer. The older children enjoyed this method of telling. The other story I told was my version of
The Leopard's Drum. I made headbands out of leftover bulletin board border by laminating them and sticking Velcro on the ends. Then, I had laminated clipart animals to tape on for the characters. The best part of the story was when I had the "leopard" climb into the "drum." I need a full-time photographer for my programs. Something funny always happens!
For our game, we played "Mummy Wrap" by getting into pairs and wrapping one child with a roll of toilet paper. The first team with one child completely wrapped was the winner. They had a great time with this activity, especially un-wrapping the mummy. The craft was also lots of fun. I found some jungle animal foam stampers. We used paintbrushes to paint the stamper, then stamped paper.
You can't seperate best friends. Alexis and Grace, both age 4, demanded to be wrapped together.
