I find the best story board templates on www.kizclub.com! I printed the black and white pattern on different colored paper–I enhanced the pigs and the wolf with marker. The pieces were glued on cardstock and a piece of velcro was placed on the back. The story pattern is also available in color. Check out my piggy storytime theme for more ideas!
B&W pattern: http://kizclub.com/storypatterns/folktales/threepigs.pdf
Color pattern: http://kizclub.com/storypatterns/folktales/threepigs(C).pdf
Busy planning Summer Reading 2012! I have seven weeks of Summer Reading. So far I have come up with the following storytime themes:
CRAFTS
I have started planning craft ideas for each theme. This is what I have so far…
Wishes and Dreams…
A shooting star
I used a pattern I found in one of my resource books Big Book of Patterns (excellent book). I had to draw on the face because the pattern did not have it on there, but I thought the face was cute! Attached to a stick it makes a nice shooting star the kids can fly around and make a wish on!
Owls
Flying Owl
Made this owl based on a great pattern by Sunflower Storytime!
Friendly Monsters
I am still working out a craft for this theme. Will be posting my storytime plan soon!
Blast Off to Outer Space
Rocket hand puppet
The back of this rocket is actually an envelope we sealed and then cut in half. We glued it to the rocket. The kids can put their hands in the envelope and fly their rockets around! I will post another description soon that goes into more detail.
Bears and Caves
Bear Mask (picture coming soon)
Pajamas and Bedtime
Still looking for an idea!
Fairy Tales
What Fairy Tale storytime is complete without a magic wand?!
Star pattern is from Storytime Magic.
FLANNEL BOARDS
I am still working on these so keep in mind some look undone!
Wishes and Dreams
There Was a Bold Lady Who Wanted a Star (based on the book by Charise Mericle Harper).
I found the pattern through Storytime Magic. Some of the pieces are colored and some are made out of poster board.
Owls
A Home for Mr. Owl
The flannel is based on the story is actually A House for Birdie by Stuart J. Murphy, but I thought I could adapt the flannel for an Owls theme. I got this great idea from Cate at Storytiming. I actually used this originally for a “Homes” theme, but it can be used for Birds and of course, Owls. Cate at Storytiming narrowed her version down to three birds, which worked really well for the length of the storytelling.
Friendly Monsters
Check out my flannel board Go to Bed Monster! based on the book Go to Bed Monster! by Natasha Wing.
Blast Off to Outer Space
Five Rockets In Space
Rhyme coming soon!
Bears and Caves
Going on a Bear Hunt (picture coming soon)
Three Little Bears Puppet Show (coming soon)
Pajamas and Bedtime
Fairy Tales
Rapunzel Puppet Show (coming soon)
Frog Prince Puppet Show (coming soon)
One of the best resources I have found for planning Summer Reading 2012 is the resource book Storytime Magic. It has great patterns and ideas for crafts and flannel boards that work well with the Dream Big…Read! theme and are quick to put together–a good thing when you are short on time!
I am working on creating and performing more puppet shows in my story times. The kids love puppets and it is a great way to really bring a book to life. This week we celebrated St. Patrick’s Day, rainbows and all things green! I came across There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Clover! by Lucille Colandro and just knew I had to bring it to the puppet theater.
Way up high in the apple tree (put arms up)
Two little apples smiled at me (hold up two fingers)
I shook that tree as hard as I could (pretend to shake tree trunk)
Down came the apples (wave fingers down)
Ummmm….they were good! (rub tummy)
A little red apple (form circle with hands)
hung high in a tree. (reach up high)
I looked up at it (look up)
and it looked down at me. (look down)
Come down please, I called! (cup hands to mouth)
And what do you suppose? (shrug shoulders)
That little red apple (form circle with hands)
dropped right on my nose! (point to nose)
Pickin’ up apples and puttin’ em in your bucket. (pretend to pick up apples)
Pickin’ up apples an puttin’ em in your bucket. (pretend to pick up apples)
Pickin’ up apples and puttin’ em in your bucket. (pretend to pick up apples)
Way down yonder by the apple tree.
Come on kids, let’s go find em. (have kids skip around the circle)
Come on kids, let’s go find em. (have kids skip around the circle)
Come on kids, let’s go find em. (have kids skip around the circle)
Way down yonder by the apple tree.
Repeat verse a few times until all “apples” are picked up!
I made each child a “Walter” stick puppet and we danced our worms to the music. When the music stopped, we hid Walter behind our backs or just made him freeze. This was a lot of fun! I got all of the worms back at the end of story time by bringing out a large brown box which was the “dirt”. Walter the Worm lives in the ground so it was time to go back…I had trouble with the kids returning Walter to the box and now those worms can be used again!
The kids enjoyed making their own apple tree. They glued everything together–very simple, but fun!
A young joey is trying to learn how to jump. His friends try to show him how it is done. It isn’t until he empties out his pockets that he can finally go BOING! For more information on this flannel board, see my Boing! Boing! A Kangaroo Jumping Story Flannel Friday post.
I made this one up to help get the wiggles out and get the kids ready for the next story. There are a ton of versions of this type of wiggler out there.
Put your hands up
Put your hands down
Give yourself a turn around
Shake your hands to the left
Shake your hands to the right
Hug yourself nice and tight
Cross your legs and sit right down
Another story is starting now
Shhhh…..
Five little frogs sitting by a pool (put five fingers up and then cup hands)
One went splash in the water that was so cool (raise one finger and jump once)
Froggies splash high (raise hands and wave above while you jump)
Froggies splash low (put your hands close to the floor while you jump)
Froggies splash everywhere, to and fro. (wave arms and jump all around)
Five Green and Speckled Frogs
Five green and speckled frogs
sat on a speckled log.
Eating the most delicious bugs…
Yum! Yum!
One jumped into the pool
where it was nice and cool.
Then there were___
Green Speckled Frogs.
For more information on this flannel/song see my Five Green and Speckled Frogs post.
I put a bunch of different animals in a box. I described an animal before I took it out. The kids had to tell which animal/insect it was and whether it could jump and leap. This is a good break between stories.
“Silly Dance Contest” from CD Jim Gill sings The Sneezing Song and Other Contagious Tunes
We colored our own Kangaroo necklaces!
We had a lot of fun singing this one! I made my frogs out of paper and put velcro pieces on the back. My flannel board background is blue so that made the perfect “water” for the frogs to jump down into. I jumped them below the log and into the water. If your flannel board is a different color, you could create a pond out of blue paper, etc. for the frogs to leap into!
I made my frog from a coloring page/template I found at http://www.animal-coloring-pages.com/. They have great coloring pages!!
The specific one I used is: http://www.animal-coloring-pages.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/frog-coloring-pages.gif.
Flannel Story/Puppet Show
Ok, so it is after Valentine’s Day, but I finally had the time to post this after a very busy week. Better late than never! And, kisses are good for other days than just Valentine’s Day, right?
Seven Kisses
I have seven kisses that I want to give away.
Who should I kiss this Valentine’s Day?
I think I’ll kiss my________!
I put my kisses on the flannel board and also used puppets in the puppet theater as I said the rhyme. Sallie (the best library volunteer!) was in charge of the puppets and I gave the puppets a Valentine’s Day kiss.
I had to kiss a spider, wolf, bee, duck, Mr. Mouse and then I blew kisses to the kids! This was a great success as the kids got a real kick out of seeing who popped out of the theater next. I extended my kisses to seven instead of five to make things go a bit longer.
I drew the “kiss” and printed it off of colored stock paper.
This rhyme came from Storytime Secrets blog. She put her kisses on a flannel board and put pictures of family members (mommy, daddy, etc.) on the board as she said the rhyme. Check out her site for more great Valentine’s Day ideas!
Opening “If You’re Happy and You Know It”
Mr. Mouse had a valentine for me! And, he asked me to be his valentine…of course, I said yes! This got everyone excited to read books about Valentine’s Day.
Book
Flannel Story
Eddie the Elephant’s Valentine’s Day Card
This story was adapted from a Valentine’s Day story on Notes from the Story Room blog.
Eddie the Elephant is so excited for Valentine’s Day. He makes a beautiful card to give to one of his friends at the Valentine’s Day party. But, when he gets to the party, he can’t decide which friend to give his card to. He has only one card and five friends. Eddie comes up with a great solution. He cuts his card into five hearts and then has a valentine for each of his friends! All of his friends were so happy!
Activity
“Heart Song”
Sing to the tune of “Mulberry Bush”
Here we go ______ around the room
Around the room, around the room
Here we go ______ around the room
On St. Valentine’s Day!
Actions we used were hopping, clapping, stomping, sliding, blowing kisses, hugging and at the end…sitting down so we could read the next story!
Book
Flannel Story/Puppet Show
Seven Kisses
I have seven kisses that I want to give away.
Who should I kiss this Valentine’s Day?
I think I’ll kiss my________!
I had to kiss a spider, wolf, bee, duck, Mr. Mouse and then I blew kisses to the kids! This was a great success as the kids got a real kick out of seeing who popped out of the theater next. I extended my kisses to seven instead of five to make things go a bit longer.
I put my kisses on the flannel board and also used puppets in the puppet theater as I said the rhyme. Sallie was in charge of the puppets and I gave the puppets a Valentine’s Day kiss.
This rhyme came from Storytime Secrets blog. She put her kisses on a flannel board and put pictures of family members (mommy, daddy, etc.) on the board as she said the rhyme. Check out her site for more great Valentine’s Day ideas!
Closing
Skipped our normal “Silly Dance Contest” song and instead went with a Valentine’s Day themed…
“If You Love Your Friends and You Know It”
If you love your friends and you know it, clap your hands.
If you love your friends and you know it, clap your hands.
If you love your friends and you know it, and you really want to show it
If you love your friends and you know it, clap your hands!
Actions we used were blow a kiss, jump up and down, said “I love you” and then we gave a hug!
Great Valentine’s Day Books
The Best Kind of Kiss by Margaret Allum
Big Hugs, Little Hugs by Felicia Bond
Where’s My Hug? by James Mayhew
If You’ll Be My Valentine by Cynthia Rylant
How About a Kiss for Me? By Todd Tarpley
Mouse’s First Valentine by Lauren Thompson
Craft
We made a lion magnet out of hearts like the one in the book we read:
My Heart Is Like a Zoo by Michael Hall
Idea also came from Story Time ABC’s. She made her lion craft into a lion stick puppet. We used different shapes of hearts to create the craft. I had leftover hearts that our volunteer had cut out for decoration in the library so it worked out perfect!
We actually did this last year for our rain themed story time and it was a lot of fun. The kids enjoyed counting down the raindrops as they went bye, bye, bye! Check back for more ideas as I am planning on posting the entire rain theme!
“Oh What A Miracle” Walter the Waltzing Worm
Mr. Mouse was hiding in a blanket. He was just so comfy and cuddly that all he wanted to do was read books about cuddles, snuggles and blankets!
One More Hug for Madison by Carolina Jayne ChurchMadison keeps asking her mother for just one more thing before she goes to bed. Will she ever be able to go to sleep? The kids LOVED this book!
Sewing a Quilt
I have a needle (pretend to hold a needle)
And I have some thread (pull thread off a spool)
And I have a pair of scissors (pretend fingers are scissors)
To sew a quilt for my bed (pretend to sew)
Each piece of fabric I’ll cut into a square (pretend to cut)
Then I’ll sew them together (pretend to sew)
To make a quilt for my teddy bear! (hug self like a bear)
I found this rhyme from Perry Public Library though I changed the last line to make a quilt for my teddy bear instead of make a quilt for the fair. I just thought the kids would relate to making a quilt for their teddy bear a little bit better than a quilt for the fair.
Snuggle Up, Sleepy Ones by Claire FreedmanThe illustrations in this book are beautiful! We said “goodnight” to the animals on each page.
Teddy Bear, teddy bear, turn around
Teddy bear, teddy bear, touch the ground
Teddy bear, teddy bear, go upstairs
Teddy bear, teddy bear, comb your hair
Teddy bear, teddy bear, turn out the light
Teddy bear, teddy bear, say goodnight!
“Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”
How I wonder what you are
Up above the world so high
Like a diamond in the sky
Twinkle, twinkle little star
How I wonder what you are.
**I have also been doing another story time at one of our other locations. At the other location I read:
Flora’s Blanket by Debi GlioriSuch a cute story! Flora just can’t sleep until she finds her special blanket. Her whole family tries to help. Where is her blanket hiding?
Piggies by Audrey Wood and Don Wood
This book worked well for the younger crowd I had at this location. They loved seeing what the little piggies were doing, and at the end we kissed our piggies goodnight!
“Silly Dance Contest” Jim Gil . This is a hit with the kids every time!
We created a cute paper quilt. Please see my Quilt Craft post for specific details.
