Frogs!

Continuing with our summer theme of “Make a Splash,” I did a frog storytime!

Started off by reading “One Frog Sang” by Shirley Parenteau.

Parenteau has got to be one of my favorite storytime authors — but she’s only written two books that I know of! This is a great counting book, large and brightly illustrated. We added it to our in-house storytime collection because I love it so much.

Next up, “Where Are You, Little Frog?” by Kayleigh Rhatigan.

This is a short, sweet story about a little frog who doesn’t know where he is. Clues are given throughout the story, and the kids were very happy to guess where little frog was! After they figured out that little frog was on a farm, I moved on to the flannelboard for the week:

Flannelboard: “Five Green and Speckled Frogs”
Five green and speckled frogs
Sitting on a hollow log
Eating the most delicious bugs – YUM YUM
One jumped into the pool
Where it was nice and cool
Now there are only four speckled frogs – RIBBIT RIBBIT
(count down from there)

After a rousing rendition of singing the flannel with the story, I moved on to “The Big Wide-Mouthed Frog” by Ana Martín Larrañaga.

This is my favorite version of this classic story, and I was so happy to share it with my storytime kids. What makes this version my favorite are the illustrations. I generally prefer simple illustrations as opposed to intricate ones in storytime. As for the story, I was a little worried that they might get a little scared, but instead — they laughed! I’m glad that I was able to avoid fear, and instead got amusement.

Next up, a cute action rhyme:

Croak said the frog, (make croaking sound)
With his golden eyes. (fists up to eyes)
Sitting on a lily pad, (crouch on the ground)
Catching flies. (grab air with hand)
I have a sticky tongue, (stick out tongue)
It’s as fast as can be…
And I catch the mosquitoes (catch bugs again),
1-2-3. (count on three fingers)
Credit: Child Fun

Followed by a modified fingerplay!

Fingerplay: “Two Little Frogs”
Two little frogs sitting on a hill,
One named Jack and one named Jill.
“Jump,” said Jack. “Jump,” said Jill.
And the both jumped down the great hill.
Come back, Jack. Come back, Jill.
And the both jumped up the great big hill.

And I ended storytime with the best frog book in the world: “Big Frog Can’t Fit In” by Mo Willems.

I practiced this book until I could recite it and just concentrate on the movable pieces. The hardest part was honestly that I was working with a brand-new book (our library does not purchase pop-ups because they get torn apart within one check-out), that I had purchased for myself, and it took a long time for the pieces to move freely and easily.

But, the pay-off was AMAZING. I have never heard more “ooh-ing” and “ahh-ing” in storytime before!

And the craft for this week was just a simple paper frog. The kids assembled lily pad, frog body, frog head, and then decorated with googly eyes and some foam shapes.

I don’t remember where I found the template though. I saved it to a Publisher file and had my teens cut it out, but have somehow misplaced where I got it. My guess is just through Google.