At today’s storytime we started by creating a lovely garden out of shapes–hearts, diamonds, triangles, rectangles, ovals and circles came together to make flowers and a butterfly:
We also played with some beautiful Folkmanis bug puppets and sang a rhyme about butterflies, ladybugs and bees:
Butterfly, butterfly,
Fly up high,
Flash your colors
against the sky.
Bzzz, bzzz,
Fuzzy bee
bringing home nectar
to your hive in a tree.
Ladybug, ladybug
come to land
on my quiet
outstretched hand.
Ladybug, butterfly,
Fuzzy bee,
Time to fly back home to me!
We learned a tickle song about a ladybug:
Ladybug, Ladybug
(“fly” hand around and land on area)
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.
And another tickle called “Round and round the Garden”:
Round and round the garden (Circle baby’s belly button.)
Goes the teddy bear.
One step . . . two steps . . . (Walk your fingers up baby’s torso.)
Tickle you under there! (Tickle your baby under her chin.)
We read a beautiful board book called A Seed Needs Sun, written by Kate Riggs and illustrated by Fiammetta Dogi. We spotted lots of animals that you might find in a garden, such as moles, blue jays, and earthworms.
We sang “Bumpin’ Up and Down in my Little Red Wagon,” the traditional version this time:
Bumpin’ up and down in my little red wagon. (bounce)
Bumpin’ up and down in my little red wagon.
Bumpin’ up and down in my little red wagon,
Won’t you be my darlin’?
One wheel’s off and the axle’s broken. (lean side to side)
One wheel’s off and the axle’s broken.
One wheel’s off and the axle’s broken,
Won’t you be my darlin’?
We played a counting game adding spots to a felt ladybug on the flannel board and learning our numbers (actually I forgot to use the numerals! Sorry)
We read another cute board book with flaps to lift, called Buzz, Buzz Baby by Karen Katz:
And we sang another tickle about a bee:
Bumble Bee was in the barn (Circle your finger in the air.)
Carrying his dinner under his arm (Circle closer to baby.)
Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz! (Tickle your baby. )
Today’s storytime was so much fun! I look forward to every week!