Last week’s storytime was all about bugs and creepy crawlers, from butterflies to ladybugs, from worms to bees!


Books We Shared

Butterfly, Butterfly by Petr Horacek is a lovely book about a girl exploring all the bugs in her backyard, and it finishes with a beautiful pop-up butterfly that was a big hit!

Tiny Little Fly is a fun book with lots of action prompts, by the same preschool kidlit genius that brought us We’re Going On a Bear Hunt–Michael Rosen, with fun and large illustrations by Kevin Waldron. Little Fly lands on all kinds of safari animals and they try to catch him, but he’s too fast!


Flannel Boards We Shared

Ladybug Counting

(to the tune of “Peter Hammers”)

Ladybug has one spot,
one spot, one spot,
Ladybug has one spot
on her back.

(add spots and count higher numbers)

There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly

Songs that build on a repeated phrase or phrases are great for infants and toddlers. They hear certain words and learn to anticipate certain things. My Polish great-grandmother learned this song to sing to her grandchildren, and my dad sang it to me, and whenever I sang it to my crying baby daughter, she always cheered up and anticipated the tickles that accompany the words about the spider! It’s a long song because it repeats so many words, but we actually did quite well with it in storytime and kids stayed engaged. I highly recommend keeping this one in your back pocket to start singing it and entertain your child when you’re in a pinch. 🙂

There was an old lady who swallowed a fly
I don’t know why she swallowed a fly – I think she’ll die!

There was an old lady who swallowed a spider,
That wiggled and jiggled and tickled inside her;
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly;
I don’t know why she swallowed a fly – I think she’ll die!

There was an old lady who swallowed a bird;
How absurd to swallow a bird.
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,

That wiggled and jiggled and tickled inside her;
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly;
I don’t know why she swallowed a fly – I think she’ll die!

There was an old lady who swallowed a cat;
Imagine that – she swallowed a cat!
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,

That wiggled and jiggled and tickled inside her;
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly;
I don’t know why  she swallowed a fly – I think she’ll die!

There was an old lady that swallowed a dog;
What a hog, to swallow a dog;
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat,
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,

That wiggled and jiggled and tickled inside her;
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly;
I don’t know why she swallowed a fly – I think she’ll die!

There was an old lady who swallowed a goat;
She just opened her throat and swallowed a goat!
She swallowed the goat to catch the dog,
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat,
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,

That wiggled and jiggled and tickled inside her;
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly;
I don’t know why she swallowed a fly – I think she’ll die!

There was an old lady who swallowed a cow,
I don’t know how she swallowed a cow;
She swallowed the cow to catch the goat,
She swallowed the goat to catch the dog,
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat,
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,

That wiggled and jiggled and tickled inside her;
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly;
I don’t know why she swallowed a fly – I think she’ll die!

There was an old lady who swallowed a horse…
She died, of course!


Action Songs & Bounces We Shared

Flea

On my toe there is a flea
Now he’s climbing on my knee
Past my tummy, past my nose
On my head where my hair grows
On my head there is a flea
Now he’s climbing down on me
Past my tummy, past my knee
On my toe… Take that, you flea!

These next few rhymes were first introduced with puppets, which I brought out of my “I Spy” Box:

Ladybug, ladybug

Ladybug ladybug fly out of the farm
And land right on my baby’s arm
Ladybug ladybug fly out of the tree
And land right on my baby’s knee
Ladybug ladybug fly out of your bed
And land right on my baby’s head
Ladybug ladybug fly out of the rose
And land right on my baby’s nose

Bumblebee was in the barn

Bumblebee was in the farm
Carrying his dinner under his arm
Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz! (tickle)

Here is a Beehive

Here is the beehive, (make a fist)
but where are the bees?
They’re hidden inside where nobody sees
Watch and see them come out of their hive
1, 2, 3, 4, 5… (open fingers one by one)
Bzzzzzzzzzzz! (tickle)

Open Shut Them

Open shut them, open shut them.
Give a little clap, clap, clap.
Open shut them, open shut them.
Place them on your lap, lap, lap.
Creep them, crawl them
Creep them, crawl them
Right up to your chin, chin, chin
Open up your little mouth… Buuuuuuuuuuut…
Do not let them in!

Peekaboo

Peekaboo, where are you
hiding in your… PLACE! PEEKABOO!
Peekaboo, I see you
and your smiling… FACE! PEEKABOO!

I’m a Little Wiggleworm

(tune: I’m a Little Teapot)

I’m a little wiggleworm, watch me go
I wiggle, wiggle fast (wiggle fast)
and very, very slow (wiggle slow)
I wiggle, wiggle all around, then I go (turn around)
back underground to the home I know (squat and touch the ground)

(Video: http://pasadena-library.net/kids/fingerplay-ppl/#littlewiggleworm)

Goodbye Friends (song in sign)

Click here for video:  Goodbye Babies (Friends) 

Goodbye friends, goodbye friends
Goodbye friends, it’s time to say goodbye.


Bubbles

I did something a bit abstract, but whether the kids got it or not, I know they had fun. I talked about fireflies and turned on a bubble machine to pretend we were catching fireflies. Kids don’t really need an excuse to pop bubbles though. 🙂 The only thing is that it got a little crazy and is probably safest without a power cord. There were some small spills, nothing major. I’ll use batteries next time.

I did get to capture the kids having fun:


Music from CDs We Shared

Children love to sing and dance to music.  Here are some of the songs/bounces on CD that we used in storytime.

“Clap Everybody and Say Hello” from Sally Go Round the Sun by Kathy Reid-Naiman

“Firefly” from Bon Voyage by Jazzy Ash


Video We Shared

We watched “Frogs and Worms and Butterflies” from our DVD Peppa Pig: My Birthday Party. In it, Peppa sees and learns about butterflies. She wants to pretend she’s a butterfly, but she insists that George has to be something else. Can Grandpa Pig find something else for George to pretend to be?


Continue the Fun

Here are some more books about bugs to check out at your Pasadena Public Library Branch: