Marble Valentines

I've had this idea pinned for a long time from the Chocolate Muffin Tree. We used Super Foam from the Dollar Tree and food color mixed with a little water.

Spray lots of shaving cream on a tray and smooth it out. Bobo used a clay tool.

Use a dropper to put colors all over the shaving cream.

Then, cover yourself with the colorful shaving cream. What? Wait a minute, first cut out a heart from white paper and place it flat on the shaving cream. Scrape off the shaving cream and let dry.

After they are dry, you can glue them to anything. Bobo chose red paper. We've been reading lots of Valentine books the past couple of weeks. This activity goes great with any of them.

Shared with Read.Learn.Explore and TGIF.

ABC Review

In January, Bobo learned letters A, B and C. The last week of the month will be a review week. 

I set up his white board for letter recognition review.

He used his Leapfrog flashcards to help identify the beginning sounds of his figures. He did insist on putting Captain America with the Avengers instead of the letter C like I expected. He said Cap has an A on his mask, so he should go with the letter A. I couldn't argue with that logic.

A for Avengers craft

We played a game with the exercise ABC flashcards. Bobo rolled the large cloth alphabet block with the letters A, B, C and the numeral 1. He identified the symbol, then did an action associated with it.

B is for Batman craft

I finally put together some letter crafts. I want to make sure the letters are bold and easily identifiable. The cutesy ones where the letter becomes a shape, like animals, are not what I'm looking for at the moment. I think those will come later when we go through the alphabet again. 

C is for Captain America (real shield)

The C craft is missing the letter because Bobo did not want to "ruin" his "real" shield. He modeled the colors of the shield from his Captain America costume. I still haven't come up with an alternate letter C craft. Maybe he can decorate the letter C with star stickers?

Leaves Storytime

Opening

Fall Leaves Fall! is a great introduction to the facts of changing leaves. The story follows two brothers playing with their dog in the falling leaves.

"One Little Leaf" from alplchildrens.wordpress.com
One little leaf, (count on fingers)
Two little leaves,
Three little leaves today.
Four little leaves,
Five little leaves,
Blow them all away! (blow fingers and flutter them)

"Little Mouse and the Big Leaf" flannel story by Miss Courtney

"Leaves are Falling" sung to the tune of "Frere Jacques" from A Box Full of Tales by Kathy MacMillan.
Leaves are falling, leaves are falling,
On the ground, on the ground.
Rake them in a pile, rake them in a pile,
Jump right in! Jump right in!

I love books to be sung. They make the book inviting and encourage children and parents to sing along. The Leaves on the Trees by Thom Wiley can be sung to the tune of "The Wheels on the Bus." It is a nice book to grab attention toward the end of a program.

Matching Activity: Flannel Leaves

Musical Instruments Activity: Egg Shakers
"Shake Together" from Mother Goose on the Loose by Betsy Diamant-Cohen.
We shake our shakers together,
Shake our shakers together,
Shake our shakers together, because it's fun to do.

"Leaves are Falling" sung to the tune of "Jingle Bells" adapted by Miss Courtney.
Leaves are falling, leaves are falling,
One fell on my nose.
Leaves are falling, leaves are falling,

Some fell on my toes.
Leaves are falling, leaves are falling,
One fell on my head.
Leaves are falling, leaves are falling,
Yellow, orange and red.

Parade Song: "Take a Hike" from Celebrate Seasons by Sara Jordan.

Lull-a-bye: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

Closing Routine

Craft: Fingerpaint leaves. Children cut out tree trunks from brown construction paper. Use yellow, red, orange and green fingerpaints to decorate tree. Add stickers for flair.

Leaf lacing. Cut out a leaf shape of green construction paper and paste to cardboard piece. Punch large holes around the edge. Give each child a long piece of yarn to lace through the holes.

Fall Storytime

I'm finally sharing my 2- and 3-year-old storytimes! As the storytime sessions have ended until next year, I have a few weeks to catch up with posting. I present to you Fall...

Storytime Opening

People in Fall by Martha Rustad has simple text accompanied by photographs of children. It includes activities people do in the Fall because of the changing weather. It is an excellent series to use with toddlers as it shows items and actions they may be familiar with while also describing new things and vocabulary.

"The Floppy Scarecrow" action rhyme from preschooleducation.com.

The floppy, floppy scarecrow

Guards his fields all day.

He waves his floppy, floppy hands

To scare the crows away!

Additional verses: arms, toes, head, legs

Image from Storytime Secrets

"Five Brown Acorns" sung to the tune of "10 Green Bottles" from A Box Full of Tales by Kathy MacMillan.

Five brown acorns hanging on the tree,

Five brown acorns hanging on the tree,

And if one brown acorn should fall down to me,

There'll be four brown acorns hanging on the tree.

Repeat: 4, 3, 2, 1

"The Pumpkin Song" from A Box Full of Tales by Kathy MacMillan.

I had a little pumpkin,

I put it down just so, (squat)

And then I waved my magic wand

And it began to grow...and grow... (raise up)

And grow... and grow... and grow! (stretch arms overhead)

Additional verses: giant pumpkin and as quick as you can blink/shrink

Tiny pumpkin and put it down just so/grow/stop

Mouse's First Fall by Lauren Thompson follows Mouse through all of his first Fall activities. The Mouse series is another great option for toddlers. The illustrations are colorful and the text large. Mouse is an recognizable character with whom they can relate.

Squirrel and Nut matching game. I put up different color squirrels on the flannel board and hand out several color of nuts to each child. When I put up the color that matches the one they have, they can bring it up to the board and receive applause.

Musical Instruments/Scarves Activity: Scarves

"Wave Together" from Mother Goose on the Loose by Betsy Diamant-Cohen.

We wave our scarves together,

Wave our scarves together,

Wave our scarves together because it's fun to do.

"Owl in a Tree" sung to the tune of "Skip to My Lou" and I've lost the source for this one as I've used it for so many years. 

Owl in a tree says hoo, hoo, hoo.

Owl in a tree says hoo, hoo, hoo.

Owl in a tree says hoo, hoo, hoo.

Owl in a tree says peek-a-boo. (hold scarf in front of face)

"I'm a Little Scarecrow" sung to the tune of "I'm a Little Teapot" by Miss Courtney.

I'm a little scarecrow stuffed with hay.

Here I stand in the field all day.

When I see the crows, I like to say,

"All you crows, go away!"

Parade Song: "I Love the Mountains" from Music Time for All Four Seasons by Robin Dupuis. 

"Away, Away" from Mother Goose on the Loose

Away, away, put our scarves away today.

Repeat until all scarves are collected.

Lull-a-bye: "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star"

Closing Routine

Cinnamon-scented Acorn Craft. 

Pre-cut acorn shapes from brown construction paper. Mix brown tempera paint with cinnamon until it smells strongly. The acorns smell of cinnamon even after weeks of being dry! Mmmm, smells like Fall.

Pin and Win: Drip Paint Pumpkin

Bobo's drip painted pumpkin!

After observing a large orange pumpkin, we had fun squirting paint to drip down it creating a rainbow effect. 

The set-up was simple!

I tore up an old cereal box to lay on the floor. It did leak through the cardboard, so if you're worried about the floor (we are not) it may be less stress to paint outside. I put several colors of paint in an egg carton and two "squirters", one for each of us. It took two days to dry.

The Pin

Bubble Wrap Stamping

I always get the funniest looks when the mail comes at my library. Who wouldn't be excited to see a box full of bubble wrap? Who wouldn't run to it and wrap it around themselves like a shawl? Then, throw it on the ground and happily stomp on it?

All that bubble wrap got me thinking about using it with crafts. First, I cut squares and we used it with stamp pads for a farm scene. Then, we wrapped it around the ends of a wrapping paper roll (cut small for little hands) and dipped it in liquid water colors to make a corn cob. I'm planning on using regular paint for a messy learning center in December.

What do you do with bubble wrap?

Shared on Tuesday Tots.

Monster Door

The Pin

I saw this pin on Play Dr Mom's pinterest board a few weeks ago. It's so cute and simple, so we did it!

Our version of the monster door

What they used(I think):

Streamers (green)

Masking tape (thick)

Paper plates (white)

Construction paper (black)

I say "I think" because the pin doesn't link back directly to the post about the door. Bobo wasn't willing to wait for me to scroll through all the posts until I found it, so we improvised.

Help, the monster is eating my brains!

What we used:

Streamers (red and yellow)

Paper plates (black- iris and eyebrow)

Styrofoam plates (white)

Wall tape (I think you use it for the corners of walls)

Band-aids (neon green, orange and purple)

Bobo loves the monster door. It reminds him of one of his favorite spooky movies, Monster House, which is on our Not-so-Scary movie marathon list. Check!

Feather Paint Brush Art

The Invitation

Long Feathers

Colorations Liquid Watercolors

Spill-proof cups (yes, they really work!)

Paper (thick)

After a Birds theme storytime, I set up this art table for two classes with ages ranging from 2- to 6-year-olds. It was a new experience for all of them to use feathers instead of paintbrushes. Every child's artwork was unique with different brush strokes and colors. Bobo made a monochromatic piece in yellow.

Miss Courtney's on the left, Child work on right

Shared with It's Playtime!

Read & Learn Fireflies

Glow in the Dark Firefly prop

"Firefly Fly" sung to the tune of "Three Blind Mice" by Miss Meredith.

Fly, fly, fly,

Fireflies fly.

Fly over here.

Fly over there.

They fly up high, and they fly down low.

Around and around and around they go.

They fly fast, and they fly slow.

Fireflies fly.

The theme of the week was fireflies and crickets, but I love fireflies too much to split the attention. I read Ten Flashing Fireflies by Philemon Sturges and The Very Lonely Firefly by Eric Carle. We sang "Firefly Fly" with the light on a couple of times flying around the firefly props.

Glow in the Dark Firefly prop

Then, I slowly turned out the lights, so the children could see each firefly magically light up.


 "Little Firefly" sung to the tune of "This Little Light of Mine" adapted by Miss Courtney.

See a little firefly,

Flying in the midnight sky.

See a little firefly

Flying in the midnight sky.

See a little firefly

Flying in the midnight sky.

With a light, oh so bright, oh so bright.

For the craft, we made the band-aid firefly. We used stickers for the glow part.

Squish Painting

The Invitation:

Paint

Spoons

Paper

Rolling Pen

The idea is to put blobs of paint onto the paper using spoons. Put another layer of paper on top and use the rolling pin to squish the paint in between.

Squish Painting

Bobo blobbed the paint, then smeared it all around to make a rainbow. The red blur is his spider-man hand.

I'm sharing at the Weekly Kids Co-op.

Catch a Falling Star

Stars by Mary Lyn Ray and Marla Frazee is my favorite book of the past few weeks. We've been learning all about outer space, but this book brings the stars to Earth. According to the book, stars are how you know night is coming. You can't catch a star, not really, but you can make a star and keep it in your pocket. You can pin a star to your shirt and become a sheriff or tape it to a stick and become a fairy. Stars are for wishes and friends. You can find them almost anywhere, like on a tree or in a field.

My favorite illustration is bright yellow with a boy blowing a dandelion. "Blow a ball of dandelion and you blow a thousand stars into the sky."

Star Sun Catcher

Bobo made a beautiful turquoise sun catcher of the night sky. He mixed school glue with blue food coloring in a margarine lid. Then, he sprinkled star confetti from another project and glitter onto the sky. I tied a piece of yarn and placed it at the top to make a loop. We waited and waited for it to dry. Last, we popped it out of the lid. Now, it's hanging in our window and catching the sun's rays.

Cute Crafts: Alligators

Handprint alligator. Paint child's hand with green paint and make a print on one side of the paper. Let the child paint a body and teeth. Use sticker or googly eyes.

Letter A alligator. We use our Ellison die-cut to make letters, but you can print one out in Word and cut it out of green paper. Set out green and white paper for children to cut out triangles. Add a sticker or googly eye.

I presented an alligator and crocodile storytime about a month ago with these crafts. We read the following books:

The Wide-Mouthed Frog is probably one of my favorite books to share with a group. When I open up that page with the alligator mouth popping out, everyone in the room leans back. The little ones don't get the punch-line most of the time, but I like to think the parents explain it later.

I presented my version of "Five Little Monkeys Swinging in the Trees," which becomes five little froggies sticking to a tree. A co-worker said I should make a tree, so that is on my list of projects.

Finally, I shared the circular story of When the Elephant Walks. I love the end when the animals are all piled up. One day, we'll act this one out...

Come Together Kids is hosting a linky party for all things fun with children's books.