Not a Flannel Friday: RAINBOW Dancers!

Happy Flannel Friday, everyone!


Here in Florida, it is a beautiful Springtime day ~ which means a quick afternoon rainshower or two just might be in our future.


I love the rain! I love the smell of it! I love the sound of it! I even love the feel of it... as long as I don't have to stay at work in soaking wet clothes. :-/


But, most of all, I love what follows the rainshower.

               A GORGEOUS RAINBOW!

One of my all-time favorite things!

So in honor of Spring, rainshowers, and RAINBOWS, I have decided to share one of my favorite  RAINBOW activities for storytimes. If you have read any of my other Flannel Friday posts and Not a Flannel Friday posts then you have probably noticed a recurring theme of colors and even RAINBOWS.

(I did just say that RAINBOWS are my favorite, didn't I?)


Over the years, I have searched out books, songs, fingerplays, crafts, snacks, and even creative movement activities to help me share the colors of the RAINBOW with my storytime friends. In this post, I want to share one song ~ but believe me, I will be sharing more RAINBOW activities in the future! This is just one of many...


It is a song with fun movements as well as opportunities to dance freely to the music. It is my MOST requested storytime activity ~ no matter what the theme or season!

RAINBOW DANCERS

(Sung to the tune of: "Where, Oh, Where Is Sweet Little Susie?")

RAINBOW dancers let’s get ready
Hold your ribbons nice and steady.
You’ll hear the colors of the RAINBOW.
Listen for your time to go.

  

Shake red…

Shake orange…
Shake yellow…
Shake green…
Shake blue…
Shake purple…

Red ribbons turn around,
Orange ribbons up and down.
Yellow ribbons reach up high,
Green ribbons fly, fly, fly.

Everybody dance!

RAINBOW dancers, dance around,
Ribbons swirl up and down.
Overhead and on the ground,
RAINBOWS flying all around.

Shake purple…
Shake blue…
Shake green…
Shake yellow…
Shake orange…
Shake red…

Blue ribbons tickle your nose,
Purple ribbons touch your toes.
Everybody dance around,
Swirl your ribbons up and down.

RAINBOW dancers dance around,
Ribbons swirl up and down.
RAINBOW dancers hug a friend,
Our colorful dance is at an end.

***For this song, I have either streamers, curly ribbon, or regular ribbon cut into 12" or longer strips.



I always make more sets of the RAINBOW colors than I think I will need. That way I have plenty of each color and each child can choose their favorite.

Sometimes I don't have time for them to choose their color ~ sometimes they just get the color that is next in my hand.

***Switching things up now and again is a good learning experience ~ because, as grown-ups, we all know that sometimes you don't always get what you want. What a hard lesson for little ones to learn! But they do need to experience this lesson ~ hopefully, in a fun situation so that they are ready to accept it more easily in a not-so fun situation.

Before starting the song, I go over the ASL sign for each color. When I make a color sign, I ask the children with that color to wave their ribbon in the air. The parents and children who do not have the chosen color are asked to make the sign with me. We go through all the colors and then we are ready to start the song. Everyone holds their color out in front of them ~ ready to start.

This song and dance is an extremely fun way to teach color recognition and following directions. Even the older siblings and parents enjoy doing this dance ~ especially when we change it up and each person gets two colors! Having two colors is, of course, more difficult and requires even better listening.

I found this song on the Start Smart Songs for 2's and 3's CD.

Here is a description of this CD from the website:

"Music and movement can provide crucial experiences for building early brain activity.  This CD contains action activity songs that are fun, short, and simple for toddlers and preschoolers.  Each song has been carefully designed and selected to reinforce important early skills development from one of four crucial areas of early brain development wiring: physical, social-emotional, cognitive and language learning."



Click here for a link to the website for the creator of this CD and several other CDs that you might find helpful when planning a storytime full of active learning experiences.

Do YOU have any RAINBOW activities, books, or crafts to share? How about snacks or songs? I would love to hear about them! Just leave a message in the comment section below. Let's have a colorful discussion about our ideas!


I have one last picture to share with you:

This little one had such a blast during the "RAINBOW Dancers" portion of our storytime that she asked for all the colors of streamers so she could dance with each color at home. She even said "please"! How could I resist such a sweet request and such an adorable face?

EVERYBODY DANCE! 

Here’s Flannel Friday information for this week:


Our host from Canada is Angela at Valley Storytime

Round up archives and host schedule is at So Tomorrow.

Visually scan all the Flannel Friday posts at Pinterest.

Talk about storytime and flannelboards at the Flannel Friday Facebook Page.

Follow Flannel Friday on Twitter with the #flannelfriday hashtag. (You don’t have to be on Twitter to check this out.)

And, last but not least, if you’re a contributor, there is an awesome blog button from Melissa and you can grab it from the right hand menu at Mel’s Desk!



HAPPY READING TOGETHER!