Bugs!

Two weeks ago, I did my afternoon storytime for 3-7 year olds. I really love this storytime, but in particular this week was amazing. The amazing theme of bugs was a gigantic thumbs-up across the board.

Started off storytime with “Little Bea” by Daniel Roode.

As promised, I used this one again for bugs storytime. This one was a great way to open up storytime and my favorite part this time was the knock-knock joke page because my 1st graders cracked up. After the story was done, I brought out our bee puppet to do this rhyme:

Puppet Rhyme: “Bumble Bee”
Bumblebee, bumblebee, landing on my nose.
Bumblebee, bumblebee, now he’s on my toes.
On my arms, on my legs, on my elbows.
Bumblebee, bumblebee he lands and then he goes.
Credit: Mrs. Jones – Insects

I did the rhyme with the bee, and I asked the kids to pretend they had bees too. Bee buzzed away after the rhyme and then, I picked up “I Love Bugs!” by Emma Dodd.

Dodd’s book are just perfect storytime gems. And I love reading them! This is the second time I’ve been able to read “I Love Bugs!” this year, and it just gets better each time I use it.

Time for my favorite bug though — butterflies!

I started off with my “Very Hungry Caterpillar” flannelboard. This is the third time I’ve used the flannel since making it last April and every time it is a HUGE hit with parents and kids. Kids who know the story love seeing it come to life on my “magic” board. (One of my little boys calls it the magic board. I love that.)

Then it was on to a song:

Song & Puppet: “Flutter, Flutter”
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

I used the song and puppet in my Orange Storytime this spring, and have this memorized as one of my go-to activities if I have more wiggling than listening. It was an easy fit into this theme!

Next, I read “Butterfly, Butterfly” by Petr Horacek.

This was such a great book. It had great cut-outs and a lovely pop-up spread at the end of the book, and doesn’t just focus on butterflies. Since it’s not as well-known as some other books I love sharing it with a new audience if only for the delighted gasps when Lucy finally finds her butterfly again.

But it was time to get up and move! So, I did “The Ants Go Marching.”

Song: “The Ants Go Marching”
The ants go marching one by one, hurrah! Hurrah!
The ants go marching one by one, hurrah! Hurrah!
The ants go marching one by one,
The little one stops to suck his thumb,
And they all go marching down, to the ground, to get out of the rain.
(two, tie his shoe; three, climb a tree; four, shut the door; five, take a dive)
Credit: Childhood

While I know all the verses to ten, I only went to five so that no one got bored with the song. Three of my little boys stopped marching in place and started marching in a circle on the rug. It was absolutely precious.

My next book was a choice recommended by Sarah and Kelly, “Can You Make a Scary Face?” by Jan Thomas.

Talk about an instant hit! This book had every single person in the room laughing and playing along. I’m so glad that I added it to the storytime this week! It was on to a quick song to settle the crowd back down:

Song: “Insects All Around”
Lady bugs and butterflies
Buzzing bees up in the sky
Teeny, tiny little ants
Crawling up and down the plants
Many insects can be found
In the sky and on the ground
Credit: Preschool Rainbow

And then onto a book that I distinctly remember reading in 1st grade as a unit week, “The Very Busy Spider” by Eric Carle.

It was very hard choosing just one Eric Carle bug book, but since this one was the one from my childhood, I really wanted to share it with my storytime kids. And it has the bonus of having animal noises in it, which we all know is a clear storytime winner.

And what bug storytime would be complete without “Itsy Bitsy Spider?”

Once we were done sharing stories, the kids went on to the table to make our craft from Oriental Trading.

The best part of this craft was that it came with glowsticks for the kids to put inside their firefly jars to make them glow. Another great storytime day!