Burnham Bunch: A Bit of Silly = Underpants

Underpants!

Read: Alien's Love Underpants by Claire Freedman and Ben Cort and Underpants Zoo by Brian Sendelbech.

Check out the author's site at http://www.aliensloveunderpants.com/

Flannelboard: What Color is Your Underwear? Found on Miss Sarah's Storytime

Craft: Color Your own Alien
Need: Alien template and crayons.

• Prior to storytime, I traced (and made a few changes) to an alien that I found here. I also created a pair of pants for the alien. We cut the pants out and taped them onto the Alien ... on top of his undewear.

•  At storytime, the kiddos colored their alien (and underpants!)

Burnham Bunch: Birds

Come fly with me!

Read: Birds by Kevin Henke and No Two Alike by Keith Baker

Flannel board: Two Little Birds reused again because it was so popular inspired by My Storytime Life

Craft: Cheerio bird feeders

Need: Pipe cleaners and cheerios. Yup, just two things!

• So, easy ... just have the kiddos thread Cheerios onto a pipe cleaner. I let the kids decide how many they wanted to make. When they were tired of it all, I closed up the ends to make a circle. If they made several of the circles, I threaded them together.
• THE END!

Burnham Bunch: Valentine's Day

XO XO

Read: A Kiss Like This by Mary Murphy, Big Hugs, Little Hugs by Felicia Bond and Ten Things I Love About You by Daniel Kirk

Flannelboard: Six Little Valentine's find it on Pinterest from Flannel Friday

Six Little Valentines were sent to my house,
The first one said, "I love you, From Mouse."
Five little Valentines in my mailbox,
The second one said, "Be mine, Love Fox."
Four little Valentines full of love,
the third one said, "you are sweet, From Dove."
Three little Valentines just for me,
The fourth one said, "Be my honey, Love Bee."
Two little Valentines mailed with care,
The fifth one said, "Here's a hug, From Bear."
The last little Valentine, from my friend Jay,
This one said, "Happy Valentine's Day!"

Need: Construction paper in red, pink and white. Pipe cleaners, glue sticks and pencil.

• Prior to storytime, my assistant cut out hearts of various shapes and colors:
• Large = red
• Medium = white
• Small = pink
• Super-small = pink
• She also cut out a butterfly body shape with a 2 slits for the pencil to fit in. 
• She trimmed the pipe cleaners and hot glued the super-small pink hearts onto the tips.
• At storytime, I had the kiddos glue together their Love Bugs ...
• At the end we slipped a pencil into the body.

Burnham Bunch: The Mitten

The Mitten

Read: The Mitten by James Aylesworth and One Mitten by Kristine O'Connell George

Story-extender: I found this swell idea via Pinterest from Teach Preschool.

Instead of using our flannel board, I recreated a "mitten" on the carpet using masking tape. I have more kiddos than animal characters, so I made a few character cards of each animal: squirrel, rabbit, fox, bear and a mouse. As the story progresses, the "animals" climbed into our "mitten." At the end, when the mouse sneezes ... all the children hopped out! So, FUN! Thank you Teach Preschool!

Craft: Icy Painting found via Pinterest from Hands On: As We Grow

Need: Epsom salt, white glue, sturdy blue paper, popsicle sticks.

• At each craft seat, I laid out a tray with a piece of blue paper, a cup of glue, a popsicle stick, and a cup of Epsom salt.
• I asked the kiddos to load up their stick with glue and let it just drip all over the paper -- encouraging them to make big blobs and lines.
• Then the magic! The kiddos then sprinkled the salt on to the glue. Voila! And icy masterpiece!
• Helpful hint: I have these great trays that I use for messy projects. Using these will help with the clean-up of the salt -- especially because you know that A BUNCH of salt will be overused.