Early Literacy Center: Colors!

This month I decided to tackle colors in the early literacy center!

I found inspiration for this activity over at Confessions of a Homeschooler. While I liked the paintbrush idea, I thought I would try it with crayons instead.

These were very simple to make. I simply made a crayon shape in publisher and then copied it in a variety of colors. I printed them all on cardstock, along with the corresponding word, and laminated them.

Then, I taped the words down and added magnets to the crayons.

I included a "Crayon Box" for children to put the crayons when they're done.

I also included a parent tip and directions for the activity.

I love sharing literacy center ideas that are inexpensive. Not every library has a huge budget, or one at all, and I want to show that you don't need to buy the $1,000 furniture to have a great space for little ones. What is your favorite inexpensive or free literacy activity?

Baby Storytime-Flowers

Check out what my typical storytime looks like here. All the words to my songs and rhymes can be found here.

Opening Song
Welcome Song

Opening Rhyme/Movement
Hands are Clapping

Early Literacy Tip
I have a list of all of the songs printed out in the back today. Feel free to grab a sheet on your way out. Singing is a great way to develop your little one's vocabulary and it's a great way to distract them when they get upset.

Shape Game!

Today, I hid a flower under the star. You can find out about this game here.

Rhyme/Movement
Row, Row, Row, Your Boat

Book
Big Yellow Sunflower by Frances Barry
This book is excellent! Even though the title gives away the surprise at the end, the babies loved how big and bright it was. Definitely practice holding this book before you use it in storytime.

Rhyme/Movement
Itsy-Bitsy Spider


Rhyme/Movement
Where is Thumkin?

Book
One Little Seed by Elaine Greenstein
This is a short book with some great vocabulary. Little ones can also play along as you are reading the book. (dig a hole, plant the seed, etc)


Rhyme/Movement
Giddy-up, Giddy-up

Rhyme/Movement
Pat-A-Cake

Nursery Rhyme
Little Bo Peep
My babies love the flannel rhymes now! All of the little ones who could walk, came up to me as I was doing it today. The majority of the parents are now repeating the rhymes with me too. I even heard parents saying nursery rhymes before storytime this week!

** I found this wonderful pattern at Jen in the Library who shared the great resource Mother Goose's playhouse :  toddler tales and nursery rhymes, with patterns for puppets and feltboards by Judy Sierra. My library had a copy! It's a great resource to find flannel pieces and get inspiration.**

Choral Reading
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. 
The babies have figured out the sequence of events in storytime and know when this is coming. I usually walk around the circle to hand out the books, but this week I had over half of the babies run up to me to get their book first. I also had multiple parents tell me they sing this every night to their baby.

Egg Shakers
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Baa, Baa, Black Sheep 

Rhyme/Movement
Zoom, Zoom, Zoom

Playtime!
As I went to grab the toys this week, I had to push the flannel nursery rhyme pieces to the side. Two babies screamed and clapped when I touched the sheep. So of course, I did the nursery rhyme about 5 more times.

This was our last storytime for the session. I'm sad to see them go, but it has been a fabulous storytime session. I love seeing how much they've grown and matured in the short 5 weeks they've been coming to storytime. Whether it's doing the motions to Roly-Poly or simply holding a board books and turning the pages, I always point out to parents how proud they should be of their babies and themselves for being such fabulous parents!

I'm already excited for my Fall storytime sessions!

Baby Storytime – Flying

Check out what my typical storytime looks like here. All the words to my songs and rhymes can be found here

Opening Song
Welcome Song

Opening Rhyme/Movement
Hands are Clapping

Early Literacy Tip
Talking during stories is so important with little ones. If your baby loves a certain page on a book, then stay on that page. Talk about what you see on the page, what is happening, the colors you see, or anything you want to talk about. You want your baby to have fun reading!

Shape Game!

Today, I hid a bird under the triangle. Originally I had two bird books, but I decided I wanted to use Higher, Higher at the last minute. You can find out about this game here.

Rhyme/Movement
Roly Poly

Book
Flip, Flap, Fly by Phyllis Root
This book is a little long, so I clipped quite a bit. The babies were really interested in the flannel board today and kept rubbing their hands, faces, and heads all over it while I was reading.

Rhyme/Movement
Row, Row, Row Your Boat 

Rhyme/Movement
Where is Thumkin?

Book
Higher, Higher by Leslie Patricelli
This author definitely knows how to write a baby book. My little ones were in love with this and the parents read the words with me. We stopped on each page to talk about what our friend could see in her swing. The alien high-five was definitely the crowd favorite.

Rhyme/Movement
Giddy-up, Giddy-up

Rhyme/Movement
Pat-A-Cake

Nursery Rhyme
Little Bo Peep
My parents have definitely bought into this now. Everyone said the rhyme with me and some even played peek-a-boo with their little ones. Plus, I had little kids sitting in front of the flannel board waiting to feel the sheep.

** I found this wonderful pattern at Jen in the Library who shared the great resource Mother Goose's playhouse :  toddler tales and nursery rhymes, with patterns for puppets and feltboards by Judy Sierra. My library had a copy! It's a great resource to find flannel pieces and get inspiration.**

Choral Reading
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. 
I noticed quite a few parents stayed on certain pages rather than following along. It was great to see them talking to their child about the duck, sheep, etc. It was also nice to see that they really were listening to the tip!

Egg Shakers
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Baa, Baa, Black Sheep 

Rhyme/Movement
Zoom, Zoom, Zoom

Playtime!

Flannel Friday Round Up (August 10th, 2013)

Hello all! I hope everyone is celebrating the end of their Summer Reading Program, or are very close to doing so. Enjoy these wonderful submissions as you are recovering from all of the craziness!

First, Kathryn from Fun with Friends at Storytime shares an awesome activity for any picnic or food themed storytime.

Lisa at Libraryland shares her flannel of A Hole in the Bottom of the Sea adapted by Jessica Law. It involves number practice, and she included a shark to celebrate Shark Week. Double bonus points!

We have two wonderful Five Green and Speckled Frogs contributions this week. Both seem to be inspired by the lovely Mel over at Mel's desk. A big welcome to a first time poster–Simple Story Time with Puppetry! She shares how to make your own Five Green and Speckled Frogs manipulative for outreach storytimes.

Then, Ms. Anna over at Future Librarian Superhero shows us how to make a super-sized Five Green and Speckled Frogs– and adds numbers!

Thrive After Three shares an original story called Squirel! Swan! It is a hilarious play on Amy Krouse Rosenthal's Duck! Rabbit!

Over at Storytime with Miss Tara and Friends, we learn a new way to use your "Five Little Ducks" flannel with a duck puppet.

Falling Flannelboards is sharing a fabulous resource she found online. She then shows how she plans to incorporate her new count and clip cards in storytime.

Miss Kristie at Let the Wild Rumpus Start shares an amazing flannel rendition of Hey Diddle Diddle. I plan on making this immediately!

Katie over at Story Time Secrets shares an adaptation of A Perfect Nose for Ralph by Jane Zalben. The possibilities with this one are endless.

Piper Loves the Library shares what looks like a wonderful time making mustaches! I think Mustache Mania will definitely be trending soon.

Anne at So Tomorrow shared "Going to the Pet Store". This is a spectacular way to use all of those random puppets you have in your storytime collection.

Wrapping up this week is the fabulous Storytime ABC's blog with another shout out to Shark Week! She shares a great shark finger puppet and even includes her favorite shark song.


What a wonderful week of contributions! Don't forget to check out the Flannel Friday website, Facebook, and Pinterest page.

Linda at Notes from the Story Room is the host next week. Thank you all for visiting and have a good week!

Flannel Friday Placeholder

In case you didn't know– it's Shark Week! To help get you in the mood I've included a hilariously awful clip from the 2002, straight to video, Shark Attack 3: Megladon. Anytime there is a 3 in the movie title, you know you're going to get something awesome.

This is my first time ever hosting Flannel Friday. So I'm very excited to see all of your amazing contributions.

Please leave your Flannel Friday submission in the comments below. Include the url for your post and anything else you want to say. I will have everything up on Friday!

Have a fabulous day!!!

Brooke

Baby Storytime– Baby Chicks

Check out what my typical storytime looks like here. All the words to my songs and rhymes can be found here

Opening Song
Welcome Song

Opening Rhyme/Movement
Hands are Clapping

Early Literacy Tip
Explore different types of books to find what your baby enjoys. Some babies like looking at pictures of real babies. Others really enjoy touch and feel board books. Today, we'll be using a pop-up book and a lift-the-flap book. Your babies preferences will change frequently, so make sure you're stocking up on different books each week!

**During playtime, I always make sure to have a variety of board books for check out and for the babies to play with. This week I pointed out some different types of board books and all of them were gone at the end of the session!**

Shape Game
Today, I hid Charlie Chick under the red circle. You can find out about this game here.

Rhyme/Movement
Itsy-Bitsy Spider

Book
Charlie Chick by Nick Denchfield
This is a great pop-up book to use with little ones. The parents always have a great reaction to the ending too.

Rhyme/Movement
Where is Thumbkin?

Rhyme/Movement
Roly-Poly

Book
Here a Chick, Where a Chick by Suse Macdonald

This is a lift-the-flap book that has a wonderful rhythm to it. The parents started chanting this with me as we got closer to the end.

Rhyme/Movement
Giddy-up, Giddy-up

Rhyme/Movement
Row, Row, Row, Your Boat

Nursery Rhyme
Humpty Dumpty
I decided to repeat my nursery rhymes for 2 weeks in a row. The parents responded a bit more enthusiastically this week so I think I made the right decision. I found this fabulous idea at Storytimes with Moxie. She sadly does not blog anymore, but she has some great flannel pieces posted.

Choral Reading
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr.

Egg Shakers
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Baa, Baa, Black Sheep 

Rhyme/Movement
Zoom, Zoom, Zoom

Playtime!