Burnham Bunch: St. Patrick's Day

The Luck of the Irish!

Read: There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Clover by Lucille Colandro

Flannel board: There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Clover

Craft: Shamrock
Need: Fingerpaint paper, yellow and blue paint, paper plates and paint brush.

• Prior to storytime, cut out a shamrock shape out of the paper. 
• At each craft seat, place one cut shamrock. Squeeze a dollop of yellow and blue paint onto a plate. 
• Explain to each child that when you mix the two colors a magically surprise awaits them.
• That's about it ....

Burnham Bunch: Dr. Seuss

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

Read: Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You? and 10 Apples Up On Top! (writing at Theo. LeSieg)

Flannel board: Using 10 Apples Up On Top, I placed numbered apples (1-10) on the board ... prompting kiddos to count as we read along.

Craft: 10 Apples Up On Top!
Need: White and red craft paper, a "head," and glue sticks.

• Prior to storytime, I cut white craft paper in half ... to make two narrow sheets. I also cut-out apples (10 per kiddo) using our Silhouette cutting machine. AND, I printed out a head image for the apples to sit upon.
• At each craft seat, I placed white paper, 10 apples, 1 head and a glue stick.
• I instructed the kiddos to glue down their head and the 10 apples.
• For the older kiddos, I asked them to mark each apples from 1 to 10.
• Easy peasy, lemon breezy!

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. 

Burnham Bunch: On Hiatus

Why? Oh, why?

For the last whatever-many years, I have planned a storytime for January. In one form or another, I have offered something for the preschoolers and their parents/caregivers. I have organized the traditional sign-up storytime, a drop-in storytime, a kid and parent meet 'n greet and a few more.... and you know what no one shows up.

January is hard. Either the kiddos, their parents, or siblings are sick. Maybe the moms' just want to stay inside on a cold day or wind-down after the hub-bub of the holidays? Perhaps, there is lots of wintry weather, which causes us to either cancel or makes it difficult for parents to get out and to the library on-time. So, this year I decided not to offer anything and take the time to plan the next few months of storytime. I also intend to make a large dent in planning Summer reading.

Last week I received a phone call from one of the twenty parents whose kiddo comes to storytime. She was very upset and angry -- basically disgruntled over the lack of storytime for January. I can see her point, it is cold out and they are in want for an activity and time for her child to socialize with other children her age. I tried to explain that statistically nobody comes out to storytime in January and stated all the reasons that I mentioned above. She was NOT happy! I could mention all the things that she said, but I will just get upset again!!

In the end, I have to wonder why ONE disgruntled person can make me feel this upset. While the other TWENTY parents are so wonderfully-kind and supportive. Why? Oh, why? Oh, why?