Saturday, June 2, 2012

Storytime Crafts: Reversible FUN!

This week has been incredibly busy and incredibly difficult!

I have a special friend and co-worker whose husband is gravely ill. My family has been close to her, her husband, and their son over the past 11 years. It has been very emotional this week as we have tried to support them through this difficult time. So besides the emotional ups and downs with their family, I have been covering her duties at the library ~ that means I was extra busy with my own end-of-school/beginning-of-summer activities and hers, too. But I sure didn't mind helping her out. She is such a sweet lady!

All that to say ~ please offer a prayer or send positive thoughts to my friends. I know they will appreciate it all!

It also explains why I missed my Flannel Friday post. :o/ 

So... I am once again doing a Saturday Share ~ that way I don't miss doing at least one post this week. (If I am lucky, I will post something else this weekend, too ~ I have so many things waiting to be shared!) 

 I should start doing a Sharing Saturday post about Storytime Crafts each weekend!??!!? Hmmmm... what do you think?

Okay, enough jibber-jabber! Let's share some Reversible FUN!

I actually have a few reversible ideas to share with you from our Farm Storytimes but the idea of Reversible FUN can be used for just about any storytime theme. Just use your imagination and I am sure you will come up with some cool ideas!

My first share is an Eggs and Chicks idea so you can find it in the Eggs and Chicks ABC'S Blog Hop.


Eggs and Chicks ABC'S Blog Hop




Here is my reversible Eggs and Chicks Storytime Craft:


 Hmmm... I see a nest, a Mother Hen, and 10 eggs but where are the chicks? Do you see them yet?


Oh! There they are!
So cute!

This craft was created to go with the rhyme, Five Eggs and Five Eggs. I tweaked the rhyme a little from the original to make it easier to add some ASL signs as we say it at our storytimes. I found that many young families enjoy teaching their little ones some signs and storytimes are the perfect place to introduce new signs for such words as nest, egg, mother, numbers, yellow, etc.

Here is the rhyme:

Five eggs and five eggs,
That makes ten.
Sitting on top is the Mother Hen.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
What do we see?
Ten yellow chicks as fluffy as can be!


This reversible craft is actually a hen puppet, a nest with a pocket (for the eggs and chicks) and, as you can see, reversible eggs and chicks! 

It is such a cool craft to share with little ones!

***Be sure to watch for that cute little "Oh!" face when you share it with your little one(s) for the first time.

Now, before we move on to the next reversible craft, I need to mention that the idea for this Eggs and Chicks Storytime Craft is a Flannel Friday post by one of the awesome and creative librarians from the Flannel Friday group. You can learn more about the inspiring post and the instructions for making your own Eggs and Chicks Storytime Craft here. (As soon as I get it posted ~ I'm working on it and it will post soon! I promise!)

On to the next reversible craft! It is also Flannel Friday inspired. :o) 

Of course, I had to tweak it a little. :o} But only because I love taking an idea and putting my own spin on it ~ even if it is just a change of a few words or adding another opportunity to count at the end. You'll see what I mean...

It's time for some Fun on the Farm with Five Pigs So Squeaky Clean!


Sing it to “Five Green and Speckled Frogs”

Five pink pigs so squeaky clean
Cleanest you’ve ever seen
Wanted to go outside and play
Oink! Oink!
One jumped into the mud
Landed with a great big thud
Then there were four clean squeaky pigs. 

Continue until all the pigs have joined in the muddy fun:


And now there are NO clean squeaky pigs!
Oink! Oink!

But there are five muddy pigs!
Let's count them.
1-2-3-4-5. 

Making this Storytime Craft is simple but FUN! AND a little MESSY ~ if you want it to be. The instructions will be here along with the links to the post that inspired it.

The last reversible craft that I am sharing today is based on my own Flannel Friday post from last week. The one about Mrs. Wishy Washy and her silly farm animals.

Mrs. Wishy Washy loves to have a nice clean farm ~ even her animals have to be bright and shiny clean. But... the animals have their own ideas about that!


You can see in the above picture that the Cow and Pig are dirty and the Duck is clean. All three animals are reversible for this Storytime Craft. This is done by making mirror images of each animal:


Then gluing them together back-to-back and adding the "mud" to one side of each animal:


Here is what I sent home with each family to make their own Storytime Craft last week:


Again, the directions for this craft will be posted here soon but you can email me with any questions or requests until then. Oh, by the way, I will be posting a cute song with this craft post.

I hope you have enjoyed a Sharing Saturday post about Reversible Storytime Crafts for Fun on the Farm. We have had a blast with these crafts at my library this past few weeks. I think they will become some of my most requested crafts if the response over the past few weeks is any indication. Even families who missed a storytime have requested the craft that they missed because other families were talking about them so much! :o) I love it!

Thanks for stopping by this weekend. I hope to see you again soon!

And, as always,

HAPPY READING TOGETHER!


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