Animal Shapes (Preschool and Two's)

Preschool Storytime:

Opening: Big Books

Book: Shapes

*If you don't have this book, then I highly recommend purchasing it!  Our copy is office-use only, just because the book is filled with delightful flaps on every page.  I'm not sure the book would last beyond a few checkouts.  I only read the first two pages, but the preschoolers loved guess what was behind each shape.  It's a wonderful book to help teach your preschoolers shapes and how to recognize them in the world around them.

Book: Hidden Animals

*This is a new book that came out last year, and it's fabulous! I've included the first page below, so that you can see just how amazing this book really is! If you look real close, you can see part of the animal, but what is it? Hhmm....you guess it! A yellow bird! When you flip the page over, you reveal the animal! The preschoolers really enjoyed telling me the color and shape on the first page. Then, they were amazed to see the jumble of shapes turn into an animal before their eyes!

Fingerplay/Flannel: Shape Guessing Game

*For this flannel, I have an assortment of shapes up on my flannelboard. For example, I have an octagon, and on the other side of it is a stop sign. I give clues as to what my shapes could be, we all try to guess, then I flip them over! After we guessed all my shapes, I decided we needed to get some wiggles out! I took my stop sign, and we all spelled out what it said. Then, we jumped up and down until I flipped over my shape to show the side that said, STOP!

Fingerplay/Flannel: Kangaroo, kangaroo, behind which shape are you?

Credit: Falling Flannelboards

Book: Shapes, Reshape!

*This is my favorite shape book to use, and I hope that you like it too!  You start out each page with all the shapes jumbled up together.  There will be a small clue to help you guess what each shape will reshape into.  When you turn the page....presto!  The shapes reshape into an exciting animal!  My volunteer was behind me so that our animals could visit us during this book.

Fingerplay/Flannel: Baa Baa Black Sheep

*The preschoolers love bringing things up to me and sticking them onto my flannel. This activity is perfect to help teach them to listen and recognize shapes. Each sheep on my board has a shape on their belly. Next I hand out little bags with shapes on them. I was pleasantly surprised how well the preschoolers listened for their shape. If you click on the website below, you can read the adorable rhyme to use with this great activity!

Credit: Read Rabbit Read

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Our craft today was a shape butterfly!

Credit: Teachers Pay Teachers

Extra Books:

Time for Two’s Storytime:

Opening: Big Books

Fingerplay: “If You Want to Hear a Story”

Book: Shapes, Reshape! (with puppets)

*Each page of this book starts out with all the shapes jumbled up together.  There will be a small clue to help you guess what each shape will reshape into.  When you turn the page....presto!  The shapes reshape into an exciting animal!  My volunteer was behind me so that our animals could visit us during this book.  The two's adore puppets, so I always try to work them into storytime somehow.

Fingerplay: Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed

Book: Hidden Animals by Agnese Baruzzi

*This is another wonderful guessing book, with peek-a-boo pages. The two's really liked guessing what animal would be revealed to them.

Fingerplay/Flannel: “Baby Kangaroo, Baby Kangaroo”
Credit: Falling Flannelboards

Fingerplay: Five Little Cookies
*For this, I did doughnuts instead of cookies. I put all my doughnuts up on the flannelboard, and I fed them to my puppets.
Credit: Miss Mary Liberry

Fingerplay/Flannel: Baa Baa Black Sheep

*The two's love bringing things up to me and sticking them onto my flannel. Each sheep on my board has a shape on their belly. Next I hand out little bags with shapes on them. If you click on the website below, you can read the adorable rhyme to use with this great activity!

Credit: Read Rabbit Read

Our craft today was a shape butterfly!

Credit: Teachers Pay Teachers

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March New Books 2019

I just adore this enthusiastic little chick!  She comes out of her eggs cheering!  But nobody on the farm will help her. Or will they?  I definitely will use this book for my dancing theme.  Why?  Because we all can get up right along with the cute little chick, cheer and dance together!




This is perfect for  a silly or space storytime!  The little girl in the story can't get her song right and she's keeps confusing the lamb with the song twinkle twinkle little star!  Does she ever get it right?  Maybe!  This is perfect for our SRP theme this year!

Building Blocks (Preschool and Two's)

Preschool Storytime:

Opening: Big Books

Book: Huff and Puff

*I adore this story, and our craft today was the three little pigs! How could I not read this book, right? I've already got props made for it, which you can view from a previous post by clicking here. That made some of the prep work for this storytime easier, at least a little bit. The preschoolers loved helping me "blow" down the houses of the pigs!

Fingerplay/Flannel: Tool Hiding Game

Bruno needs his hammer lots and lots.

Is it hiding in the (say color) toolbox?
Credit: Roving Fiddlehead Kidlit

Book: Moving Blocks by Yonezu

*I was worried about using this book with the preschoolers, since it's a board book.  I am so glad that I did!  It's a guessing book, so you can't see what each page of blocks will turn into until you turn the page.  The preschoolers went wild guessing and telling me what each page would turn out to be!  At the end of the book, the blocks turn into a rocket.  After that, we all crouched down on the floor, counted down from 5 to 1, and blasted up into the air like rockets.

Action: Stack the Blocks (Tune: The Ants Go Marching In)

We stack the blocks one-by-one Hurrah! Hurrah!

We stack the blocks one-by-one Hurrah! Hurrah!

We stack the blocks one-by-one

We are having so much fun

Then they all go tumbling down – to the ground

Boom, Boom, Boom!
*This was one of the best moments of storytime for me! I took some long soda boxes that we have been saving and covered them in construction paper. Then I had the preschoolers stand up. While I sang the lines above, we all marched together while my volunteer and I stacked the boxes. The first time we did this, the preschoolers didn't know what to expect when my volunteer knocked over the boxes. They were ecstatic! When I asked them if they wanted to do it again, they started to rush forward to help me. Unfortunately I had four boxes and about 33 kids, so this wouldn't work. I asked them to jump up and down while my volunteer and I stacked the boxes so this worked out very well. For our games at the end of this month, I hope to cover many more of my soda boxes, so that the kids can build and stack as many of the boxes as they'd like.

Credit: Teach Preschool

Book: Rex Wrecks It!

*I love being able to make props for the stories and make them come to life for the preschoolers. For this story, I made all the shapes in the book out of paper blocks. Then I laminated them, and taped them to boxes. Why? Because Rex, the dinosaur, knocks over all the creations of his friends! So, I would take each creation and prop up the box. After Rex "wrecks" the creation, I knock the box over I have standing up. Then I will throw out onto the kids tiny little paper blocks that are cut up out of construction paper. The best part of the book to me is that at the end, Rex and his friends work together to make a creation and then "wreck" it together. I love that the book teaches the kids not to tear down each others towers and to work together and share. I hope this all of my explanations make sense, I've included pics below of what I've made as props.

Our craft today was the three little pigs! We got so many happy compliments from parents on our craft, which was wonderful. We did have the popsicle sticks glued down already, since they wouldn't stay with gluesticks. There are many versions of this craft online, so we just did our take on it.

Extra Books:

Time for Two’s Storytime

Opening: Big Books

Book: Huff and Puff

*I adore this story, and our craft today was the three little pigs! How could I not read this book, right? I've already got props made for it, which you can view from a previous post by clicking here. The two's were utterly quiet during this book, which is highly unusual. They seemed spellbound while I took the pig out of each house and put him into the next one! So precious!

Fingerplay/Flannel: Tool Hiding Game

Bruno needs his hammer lots and lots.

Is it hiding in the (say colour) toolbox?

Credit: Roving Fiddlehead Kidlit

Fingerplay: Five Little Dump Trucks

Five little dump trucks rolling down the road,

Five little dump trucks rolling down the road,

One pulls off to unload, then there are…

Four little dump trucks rolling down the road,

Four little dump trucks rolling down the road,

One pulls off to unload, then there are…

(Repeat with three, two, one…until there are none)

Credit: http://pasadena-library.net/kids/2018/building-toddler-storytime/

Book: Moving Blocks by Yonezu

*Normally the two's adore guessing books like this one. Today they were so energetic that by this book they were just ready to go! When I Did reveal what each block turned into, they were very happy to tell me what it was and for us to act like that vehicle.

Fingerplay:

I have 5 little hammers to give away.

Who wants to help me build today?

Here’s a tool to help me!  Hooray!

*The two's love seeing puppets and today we gave each puppet a hammer to help us build! By the last hammer a few enthusiastic two's wanted the hammer themselves. Thankfully this was the last thing we did, so I showed them their craft which they were very excited to build a house for the pigs.

Our craft today was the three little pigs! We got so many happy compliments from parents on our craft, which was wonderful. We did have the popsicle sticks glued down already, since they wouldn't stay with gluesticks. There are many versions of this craft online, so we just did our take on it.

Happy Birthday, Dr. Suess! (Preschool and Two's)

Preschool Storytime:

Opening: Big Books

Action: Real vs. Silly Cake Ingredient Sort

*I was so excited to do this activity for the preschoolers! I used a cute little flannel oven I had, and brought real flour and sugar to sprinkle into my bowl. Then I put my "dough" into my flannel oven and pulled out my birthday cake! Usually when I do something like this the preschoolers are so happy, but for whatever reason they weren't as thrilled this time. But that's okay, it's still such a cute idea to use silly ingredients!

Credit: Storytime in the Stacks

Book: Wolf’s Coming (Special guest doing ASL)

*This is my go-to book for a birthday or pizza storytime. I was afriad the preschoolers would be tired of this book, but thankfully they still loved it!

Fingerplay/Flannel: Cat in the Hat

*For this wonderful idea, I put up Cat in the Hat, but without his hat.  Then I asked the preschoolers to help me find his hat! Of course, I put up many things that aren't correct, until I find the one that fits just right!  I couldn't link the website, because it isn't secure, but I'm sure you can find it!

Credit: Storytime Thoughts

Book: Hop on Pop (Read two pages where we jump up and down)

*I am trying to add more elements from my recent storytime training, and this presented the perfect opportunity. I made a "stop" and "go" sign. Before I read the two pages out of our book, I held up the two signs and asked the preschoolers if they could tell me what my signs said. Quite a few of them could tell me, which was great! After that, I pointed to each letter and we all said the letters of each word together. Then I told them that I would hold up the go sign and we would all jump! When I held up the stop sign, that would me stop! We ended up doing this three times before we stopped.

Book: Pete the Cat and the Missing Cupcakes

*I have to read my favorite book about cupcakes this time of year and Pete the Cat is the best!  For this book, I have ten cupcakes set up behind me on the puppet stage.  As I'm reading, my volunteer will pull the cupcakes down behind me, much to the preschoolers delight!

Book: The Mixed-Up Truck

*I am so happy that I used this book with props! I decided to bring actual flour with me, to show the preschoolers what the mixed-up truck was using. I took some of the flour, put it in the palm of my hand and blew on it so that it would fly through the air. In no way did I expect the reaction of the preschoolers! They begged me to do it over and over! Next time I will bring powdered sugar, just because it's easier to handle. The best part of this book was the ending. Why? Because the adorable truck causes bubbles to happen! Of course, I had to do this too! We have to fabulous hand-held bubble machines, that run on batteries. You literally just fill them with solution, turn them on, and instantly bubbles will come pouring out of them. On two tables I had both machines prepped and ready to go, but I covered them up so that none of the preschoolers would know about them. All I told them was that there would be a surprise at the end of the book. When I showed the page of the book where mixed-up truck created bubbles, my volunteer and I turned on the bubble machines. POOF! Bubbles went flying everywhere and the preschoolers loved it! I was afraid instant chaos would have ensued, but everyone was very courteous to each other. I think the biggest factor in this was because we had two machines. I don't break out the bubbles very often, but they are beneficial. Kids of all ages can get a lot out of bubbles because they help develop fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination.

Today we played games! Click here to check out what all we did.

Our craft today was a birthday cake! I don't know why, but the preschoolers love making any craft that has to do with food.

I never pass up an opportunity to dress up for the preschoolers, so today I had to be the Cat in the Hat!

Extra Read-Alouds:

Time for Two’s Storytime:

Opening: Big Books

Fingerplay: If You Want to Hear a Story

Book: Pete the cat and the Missing Cupcakes

Fingerplay/Flannel: Cat Guessing Game

Cat in the hat, all white and black?  Behind which colored hat are you at?

http://strongstart.blogspot.com/2012/03/cat-in-hat-felt-game.html?m=0l

Book: Hop on Pop (Read two pages where we jump up and down)

*I am trying to add more elements from my recent storytime training, and this presented the perfect opportunity. I made a "stop" and "go" sign. Before I read the two pages out of our book, I held up the two signs and asked the two's if they could tell me what my signs said. A few of them could tell me, which was really good! After that, I pointed to each letter and we all said the letters of each word together. Then I told them that I would hold up the go sign and we would all jump! When I held up the stop sign, that would me stop! We ended up doing this three times before we stopped

Book: Where Is Baby’s Birthday Cake?

Fingerplay: Five Little Cupcakes in the Bakery Shop

Down around the corner at the bakery shop

Were five yummy cupcakes with sprinkles on top

Along came ________ with a dollar to pay

He/she bought a cupcake,  and took it away!

Credit: Flannelboard Fun

Today we played games! Normally the two's stick around and play games, but for whatever reason many of them left. But you can still check out what all we did here.

Extra Read-Alouds:

Our craft today was a birthday cake! I don't know why, but the preschoolers love making any craft that has to do with food.

February Games and Sensory Bins 2019

1.)  Cupcake Counting and Matching
I've seen many variations of this game online, so I had two versions of this.  The preschoolers could choose to count out the correct number of candles for each cupcake or just match the correct candle to each cupcake.  For the two's, I just flipped the cupcakes over and they matched the candles.

2.)  Snowman Sponge Ball Push
Pretty much every month I have some kind of game where the kids get to push the sponge balls through my box.  The main reason? They adore it!  Truthfully, this is a wonderful way to help teach them so many things, depending on what you decide to onto your box.  The kids just love getting to grasp the squishy sponge balls and squeeze them.  They don't realize that they are learning to match colors, or developing their fine motor skills too!  This month we matched the correct ball to the ears on our snowmen.  I got the idea for this from a website that had a similar idea.
Credit: Teachers Pay Teachers





3.)  Penguin Letter Matching (Preschool Only)
I apologize, I have no idea where I found this adorable game.  If it's your fabulous idea, then please let me know!




4.)  Feed the Frog Kisses
The only aggravating part about this game was that the kisses I had made kept sinking to the bottom of the bin.  I had paper kisses cut out and mixed them in with flower petals.  The kids matched the kisses to the crowns on the frogs.