Burnham Bunch: Birds

February is National Bird-Feeding Month

Read: Wild Birds by Joanne Ryder and Will You Be My Friend by Nancy Tafuri

Flannel Board: Fly Away Birds! inspired by My Storytime Life

Two little dickey birds sitting on a cloud

one named soft

the other named loud!

fly away soft

fly away loud!

come back soft

come back loud!

Oh, and P.S. they LOVED singing this song. We sang it five times!!!!

Craft: Bird Feeder found via Pinterest posted by the blog Hodgepodge

• Need: SunButter (If you haven't heard of SunButter -- it is a spread made with sunflower seeds. Perfect for those with nut allergies!), bird seed, toilet paper tubes, paper plates, paper cups, popsicle sticks, yarn and hole punch.
• Prior to storytime, punch holes at the top of the tube and tie on the yarn. Secure to the inside of the tube with a small piece of tape (hopefully, this protects the yarn from getting all gooped-up with SunButter)
• Set up each craft seat with a plate and tube, and a small cup of SunButter (i would use something disposable!!)
• Instruct the kiddos to spread the SunButter all over the tube.
• When they have completed that step. Pour the bird seed onto the plate. Have them roll it around the plate, until the whole tube is covered.
• For travel purposes, place in a paper cup!!

Take Your Child to the Library Day!

Family Fun Day!

We celebrated our first Take Your Child to the Library Day, this past Saturday. I always feel like a put in a lot of effort and get a small result in attendance. Again, this was the case. But, because I have a case of OCD, I just can't do something half-hearted. We often have a total of 25 - 40 patrons on our "party" days. We totalled about 35 (adults, babies, and kiddos between Kindergarten and Grade 5). All and all, we had rave reviews. I guess that is all that matters!

Burnham Bunch: Valentine's Day

Hearts a Plenty

Read: Big Hugs, Little Hugs by Felicia Bond and Guess Who? By Lola Schaefer

Flannel Board: Little Red Valentine! Inspired by Storytime ABC's

Craft: "I think you are tweet" ... a  birdy Valentine

• Need: Craft paper in various Valentiney colors: purple, pink and red. Glue sticks. And a white paper for the base. Sticker eye and heart stickers (optional).
• Prior to storytime, cut out seven different size hearts: 1 large - body, 2 medium - wing and tail-feather, 1 smaller - head-feather, 2 smallest - beak and feet (we used a heart sticker for the beak). Using Microsoft Word, I made a text-box saying "I Think You Are Tweet."
• I also drew two legs onto a piece of white construction paper. This will be the foundation to "build" their bird.

My birdy's legs

• I told the kiddos that their are a lot of steps, so they have to use their "listening" ears!
• As the kiddos constructed their bird, I asked them to find the largest heart ... it is __________ (the color) this is the body,  next find the __________(color) heart, this will make our wing .... etc. You get the picture.
• After they completed the bird, they glued their Valentine saying onto their card and then signed their name.
• And this is our finished product.

Burnham Bunch: Groundhog's Day

More winter?????

So, it is already Groundhog Day and we have had snow maybe three times!! I am not sure if I wish our dear friend Punxsutawney Phil to see his shadow or not? Every year I try to incorporate Groundhog Day into our storytime. It is often difficult, because there aren't any books geared toward the preschool crowd. I usually make it a winter/spring/sun type of theme and it usually works out. This year I found a flannel board story on Pinterest from Miss Sarah at her storytime blog Read It Again! She, too, has noticed the scarcity of appropriate books .... so she made up her own story. Thanks for the inspiration Miss Sarah. I shall be "borrowing" your great idea!

Flannel Board: Groundhog's Shadow: Inspired by Miss Sarah at Read It Again!

Craft: Pop-up Groundhog

• Need: Paper plate, glue sticks, brown and green crayons, popsicle stick and cut out one of each: groundhog, sun and cloud. And cut a hole in the middle of the plate for the Popsicle stick to be inserted.
• Have child colorthe groundhog brown.
• Then have them glue groundhog to Popsicle stick, then the sun and cloud to the back of the plate (I put to X marks where they should be glued)
• Then color the plate green or brown -- many chose both colors.
• Have the children fold the plate at the line (also marked this with ---- lines).
• Carefully insert groundhog's stick into pre-cut hole.
• Have parent staple closed. And..... that is about it!