Families: Frogs/Turtles

For more information on how I plan and prepare my family storytimes, check out this introduction post. I starred the materials used in the plan. Some activities go unstarred because I only do this program once a week.

The Plan

Books

Big Frog Can’t Fit In by Mo Willems
The Big Wide-Mouthed Frog by Ana Martín Larrañaga
Scoot! by Cathryn Falwell
Turtle Island by Kevin Sherry

Early Literacy Tip
Singing to your children is very important. It helps to trigger speech development and children love being sung to by their parents/caregivers.

Theme Extension Activities

Featured CD: Best of the Laurie Berkner Band

Featured Track: #8 Fast and Slow

Flannelboard: Five Turtles (Turtle Fun)

Puppets: Five Green & Speckled Frogs

Puppets: “I Have a Little Turtle”
I have a little turtle (put hands on top of one another)
He lives in a box (make box)
He swims in a puddle (swimming motion)
He climbs on the rocks (climbing motion)
He snapped at a mosquito (clap)
He snapped at a flea (clap)
He snapped at a minnow (clap)
And he snapped at me (clap)
He caught the mosquito (cup hands together)
He caught the flea (cup hands together)
He caught the minnow (cup hands together)
But he didn’t catch me! (shake finger “no”)
Credit: Childhood

Action Rhyme/Paper Frogs: “Froggies Are Cool”
Little pink froggies, if you want to be cool,
Come right up and jump into the pool!
(also green and blue)
Credit: Fun With Friends at Storytime

Repeating Extension Activities

I had lots of back-up activities in case I needed them for time. I starred which ones I used in this storytime:

• Dance Your Fingers Up
• Hands Are Clapping
• Head, Shoulders, Knees, & Toes
• Itsy Bitsy Spider*
• Mister Sun*
• Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear
• Thumbkin
• Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
• Wheels on the Bus

How It Went

“Scoot” was a great book to practice starting and stopping; it led to a great parent tip for everyone to work on at home (if they wanted to)! The first verse of “Five Green and Speckled Frogs” was pretty quiet — I don’t think that song is as well-known here as it was at my last library. But by the end, everyone was singing along with me! I passed out paper frog puppets to the kids (made with our discontinued Ellison die-cut) to use during “Fast and Slow” and then used “Froggies Are Cool” to have them return them to the pond (a real child’s wading pool). It was EXCELLENT.