Flannel Friday: Five Delicious Cupcakes

"Happy Birthday"

Traditional Song

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday, dear children,

Happy birthday to you.

How old are you now?

How old are you now?

How old are you, children?

How old are you, now?

Each child can bring up a cherry and attach it to the cupcake with their age. This works great with a mixed age group. It's fun to share with a new group to get to know everyone. You can also use the flannel as a counting game as shown above. Use with a birthday theme, counting theme, or baking theme!

Library Quine is hosting this week's Flannel Friday Round-up.

Flannel Friday: Five Royal Penguins

Penguins by Miss Meredith

Five Royal Penguins

From: PUBYAC Digest, Vol 13, Issue 7

One royal penguin with nothing much to do,

Called for his brother and then there were two.

Two royal penguins happy as could be,

Called for their sister and then there were three.

Three royal penguins wished there were more,

Called for their mother and then there were four.

Four royal penguins learning how to dive,

Called for their father and then there were five.

One, two, three, four, five!

Each penguin has different color eyes, so I showed all of them before starting out the rhyme and asked the children to call out each character. After saying the rhyme once, I took down the penguins and had the children recall the colors as we said it again.

I also made a penguin guessing game to introduce the theme of the day that was inspired by our craft.

What do you get when you take a circle,

and you cut it in half,

and cut it in half again?

Hmmm, what can it be? Add a mouth and eyes to see... That's right, a penguin.

Sharing with the Kids Co-op and For the Kid's Friday

Tot School (Age Four)

Beginning sounds alphabet puzzle. We worked on it together practicing the sounds.

Memory match game. The illustrations in this game remind me of Sandra Boynton books.

Rhythm instruments. Bobo's been showing interest in Daddy's band practice, so this tray was a favorite.

Power Ranger Trouble. Great activity for counting and fine motor skills.

Create a snowman sticker set. The sheets came with several options and said re-usable, but I'm not sure they will come off easily. 

Letter Fish lacing. This tray was used least. Bobo used the rope for imaginative play with his figures more than anything.

Storytime has been on break for a month, so we brought home a kit for Jungle Animals from the library. The directions say to read the books, listen to the music and make a paper-chain snake.

I share with Tot School and Tuesday Tots.

Tot School: Counting

Bobo is working his way through his magnet set's experiments. I set out magnets of different size and strength. He thought the blue one would pick up the most chips and so did Daddy. I went with the yellow wand.

Textures tray. I put out Glow-in-the-dark slime and silly putty. The silly putty has mysteriously disappeared, which is why I do not have a photo. I better check the seats of all our pants!

Balloons and spooky foam stickers. We each made one balloon and played lots of large motor games that Bobo made up.

Scholastic's Let's Count Critters and counting cards.

Pumpkin observation with a mini pumpkin from 2 Teaching Mommies.

Bobo is still in love with Ladybug Girl. This year's read for the record book was Ladybug Girl and the Bug Squad. These Ladybug Dominoes are adorable. We've matched them and played a domino game. I've been reassured in the past week that Bobo does indeed know how to count.

I shared this at TGIF, Read, Learn, Explore and Tot School.

Tot School: Rainbow Trays

Roll and Dot pot of gold from 2 Teaching Mommies:

Build a Rainbow with beads and styrofoam base: (found floating down my street, I looked out the window and said, "I need that!" Bobo thought I was nuts, LOL.)

Color Mixing with Spray Bottles:

Rainbow Play-Doh: (We are slowly making Kool-Aid play dough, but have only made orange at this point)

Counting Rainbow Rings: (Discount School Supply)

Magnet Board Rainbow Sticks: (idea from Teach Preschool)

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Colorful Caterpillar Dice Game: (make a head for each child)

A very merry UN-birthday to you!

Each year we hold a Spring Fling, which is basically a big literacy-based party. This year, I suggested we have an Un-Birthday party based on Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. I had lots of ideas and I didn't get to use them all, but everyone had a blast. I dressed up like the Mad Hatter for the occassion. Pictured Below: Miss Courtney and Bobo, age 2



Down the Rabbit Hole
I started off the event by decorating the treehouse across from the program room. I hung signs saying This Way, That Way, White Rabbit Went That Way, Wrong Way all around and from the ceiling. I hid a Cheshire Cat in the tree for the children to find while they were waiting. I used our die-cut machine to make White Rabbit paw prints out of white cardstock. I taped those to the floor to lead the children to the "rabbit hole," which was just a large box covered in green paper with a tunnel cut out. They had to crawl through the rabbit hole to get to Wonderland where the stories and Mad Hatter Tea Party would be held.



A Very Merry Un-Birthday to you, to you!
I started off by singing "The Un-Birthday Song" by Robert Sherman. You can find a copy on the Alice in Wonderland soundtrack. I sang it through a couple of times until the children could join. Then, I read Alice in Wonderland adapted by Deborah Hautzig. It is an Easy Reader 3rd level, so I read the first 10 or so pages. I wanted to be sure everyone knew where the activities and songs were coming from in case they hadn't heard the story or watched the movie.



Hokey Pokey
I also added some traditional birthday party activities to the mix during our story time. We all got in a great big circle around the mats and sang the Hokey Pokey. Then, Linda and I acted out A Birthday for Cow by Jan Thomas. Linda held the book while using a mouse finger puppet for the actions. I played the parts of the Pig and the Duck. I used a felt turnip and other props from the book. You can really ham this up by being super silly.

Ten Little Candles
Next, we acted out my favorite birthday fingerplay, which as far as I can find is a traditional one without a source to quote:

Ten little candles on a birthday cake. (hold up ten fingers)
Wh! Wh! Now there are eight. (blow each thumb in turn and fold down)
Eight little candles in candle sticks. (hold up eight fingers)
Wh! Wh! Now there are six. (blow each pinky and fold down)
Six little candles, not one more. (hold up six fingers)
Wh! Wh! Now there are four. (blow each ring finger and fold down)
Four little candles, red and blue. (hold up four fingers)
Wh! Wh! Now there are two. (blow each middle finger and fold down)
Two little candles, one by one. (hold up two fingers)
Wh! Wh! Now there are none. (blow each forefinger and fold down)

Happy Un-Birthday, Itsy Bitsy Spider!
Of course, the itsy bitsy spider had to make an appearance. I think this is every child's favorite song. Jo Kay found a great version of the original to sing and make into a prop story. She had already made a large cake out of styrofoam rings. My favorite part about the song is the traditional one is worked in at the end, so the children can start singing with you.

The itsy bitsy spider crawled up the UN-birthday cake,
he ate up all the frosting,
and got a tummy ache,
and when they brought the ice cream,
he ate even more,
and the itsy bitsy spider fell sick upon the floor.
They took him to the doctor because he felt so bad,
it was the worst tummy ache that he ever had,
and when they brought the medicine it was WAY TOO SWEET,
just a drink of water would be a great big treat,
so the itsy bitsy spider crawled up the water spout,
down came the rain and washed the spider out
Out came the sun and dried up all the rain.
And the itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again.

Sing Merry Un-Birthday
This song is an adaptation of an adaptation. I believe I got the original adaptation from Rob Reid's Family Storytime. It is sung to the tune of "She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain."

Sing merry un-birthday, shout hooray! (hooray)
Sing merry un-birthday, shout hooray! (hooray)
Sing merry un-birthday, sing merry un-birthday, merry un-birthday, shout hooray!

Light all the candles and then blow (whew, whew)
Light all the candles and then blow (whew, whew)
Light all the candles, light all the candles, oh light all the candles and then blow.

Eat cake and ice cream till we’re full (yum, yum)
Eat cake and ice cream till we’re full (yum,yum)
Eat cake and ice cream, eat cake and ice cream, eat cake and ice cream till we’re full.

Shake Your Shakers
I passed out all the musical instruments and let the children play them to the Un-Birthday Song. They love playing rhythm sticks, bells, rattles, shakers and anything I've made to make noise. I try to do something with instruments every program as it is a great crowd pleaser.

If You're a Mad Hatter Say
What birthday party is complete without singing "If You're Happy and You Know It"? Or what program for that matter? I added a verse to this traditional favorite "If you're a mad hatter, say A Very Merry Un-birthday to you." Then, I ended the story session with a reprise of the "Un-Birthday Song."

Mad Hatter Tea Party



I originally planned to have one really long table like the Mad Hatter. We had so many guests, I had to split them in two. So, we had two really long tables set up for 40 children. I used a lime green table cloth with two teapots with balloons tied to them for the center pieces of one table and dyed coffee filter flowers in Queen of Hearts baskets for the other table.




The tables were set with aqua and purple plates (in different sizes), yellow cups, and pink napkins. On top of that were either orange or pink treat bags. The treat bags had a scented bookmark with a cupcake on it and said, "Celebrate with Books!" a Skittls pack with a white rabbit on it, mini bubbles, pencil with balloons on it and Wiki Stix. All the crazy colors set the stage.

You May Now Eat Your Craft

I thought it would be fun, and let's face it--MESSY, to let the children decorate their own cupcake. I got chocolate and vanilla cupcakes from Kroger un-iced. I got regular vanilla icing from the store and used food coloring to match the colors of the party. I also had 6 bottles of different sprinkles to put on top. It was so fun to see all the different versions of cupcakes. Some of the little ones ate their cupcake as soon as they got their hot little hands on them. I also served popcorn and pink lemonade. Pictured above: Ethan, age 5 Pictured below: Best Dressed Winners



Jolly Caucus Race

After the snack and craft, it was time for the games to begin. We played Pin the Caterpillar on the Mushroom. Linda made the mushroom out of pink and white polka dot felt I found at Hobby Lobby. I used the die-cut machine to cut different colors of caterpillars. We used a colored scarf for a blind fold, so the children could decide how much they wanted to see. The little ones had fun just sticking the caterpillars on the board.


One Lump or Two Toss was a huge hit. I found large stryofoam cubes at Hobby Lobby and made a large tea cup out of poster board to tape on a box. The children had to toss the "sugar cubes" into the tea cup. All ages liked this one.



Instead of having traditional musical chairs, I used our floor mats for a safer option. After each round, I took out a section of the floor mats to make the area smaller and smaller. I think we ended up fitting 15 children on 3 mats. Don't ask me how. Then, they all got a treat for being winners. It was so funny to see them all piled up.

Paint the Roses Red. I didn't want to use paint for this game because I wanted to be able to use it over and over. Children love to play the same games repetitively. I used the die-cut machine to punch out 20 white hearts and laminated them. Then, I hung up a green poster board with a brown trunk and tacked the hearts on there. I set out red washable markers for a relay race. Each person from the team had to completely color in a heart. After the race was over, we could spray the hearts and wipe them off for the next teams.



As you can see, we had a wonderful program. The only thing I would change would have been to have a longer party. We didn't have time for two crafts and the children would have played the games for much longer. I'll keep that in mind for next year! Pictured below: Isaiah, age 3. Special thanks to Linda Palmer, South Branch and Jo Kay Biesecker, Main Library for helping make this Spring Fling so special.