Spring!

Another round of afternoon storytime was last week, on Tuesday. Our theme was spring which was perfect because the weather had been so nice and kind to us last weekend (we hit the 80s on Sunday), and the kids are definitely hitting spring fever. [Unlike this week, where it SNOWED this morning. Oh, Chicago, why do you hate me so?]

Our first book for today was “Mouse’s First Spring” by Lauren Thompson.

I’ve used the Mouse books as a way to introduce a lot of the seasons in other storytimes, but I really enjoyed the spring edition because it’s a guessing game of objects and animals in the springtime. My kids really this as a warm-up activity. By the end of the book, everyone was shouting guesses! Next, we did the “Itsy Bitsy Spider” three different ways, which is always a crowd-pleaser.

Next, I introduced our next book by first doing a fingerplay:

Fingerplay: “Here is a Bunny”
Here is a bunny with ears so funny (hold up index and middle fingers for ears)
And here is his hole in the ground (make a circle with the other hand)
At the first sound he hears, he pricks up his ears (extend two fingers)
And hops in the hole in the ground (fingers jump into the hole)
Credit: Early Literature

And that brought us to the next book, “What Does Bunny See?” by Linda Sue Park.

This is another book that my group had a lot of fun, in this book they got to guess the colors of flowers. I have some color masters in storytime — they always know every color! And naming the flowers was a good way to increase vocab and also get them prepped for our craft later on. And that also led us into a quick song:

Song: “Ten Little Flowers” (Tune: Ten Little Indians)
One little, two little, three little flowers
Four little, five little, six little flowers
Seven little, eight little, nine little flowers
Ten flowers in the spring.
Give them rain and lots of sunshine
Give them rain and lots of sunshine
Give them rain and lots of sunshine
So they’ll grow up tall
Credit: Modified from The Holiday Zone

Our next book was “Hurray for Spring!” by Patricia Hubbell.

This book has a lot of different spring activities which is a nice contrast to objects or animals or weather. I asked this kids after each spread if they had done the activity shown. It will not surprise you at all to know that everyone has done everything…even if they really haven’t.

I loved this fingerplay, and we repeated this one four or five times, the kids giggling the whole time.

Fingerplay: “During the Spring”
During the spring, it often showers (flutter fingers down)
Or the sun shines for many hours (form circle in the air with arms)
Both are good for the flowers! (cup hands and extend arms like flowers)
Credit: SurLaLune Storytime

And then, I led the kids in singing our flannelboard: “Five Little Ducks.”

Followed by our next book, “Dimity Duck” by Jane Yolen and Sebastien Braun.

This is one of my favorites. I love the wonderful alliteration and sounds from saying names like Dimity Duck and Frumity Frog. Last but not least (I mean I’m doing a whole bugs only theme in May), I wanted to talk a bit about spring bugs. First with a butterfly…

Song & Puppet: “Flutter, Flutter, Butterfly”
Flutter, flutter butterfly
Floating in the spring sky
Floating by for all to see
Floating by so merrily
Flutter, flutter butterfly
Floating in the spring sky
Credit: Best Kids Book Site

And then with a lot of different bug in “Bumblebee, Bumblebee, Do You Know Me?” by Anne Rockwell.

This book was one of those books that should have gone over really well, but I had one little boy act out during the whole time. One of my kids asked, “Miss Katie, why can’t he sit down and listen?” Needless to say, since this book isn’t a linear story, I did skip a few page spreads to get us to the end of storytime and our craft. For craft, we made felt and foam flower bouquets, which came in a kit from Oriental Trading.

This kit was a huge hit! Some of the kids required some parental help, but most of the kids figured it out themselves.