Saturday Share: A Baby WHAT?!??!!!

I hope that each of you will be able to enjoy a nice long 
weekend with your families and friends.
Stay safe!

I missed posting this for the Flannel Friday Round-up because we have had a super busy week with record numbers at our weekly storytimes. I have been extremely busy cutting out more and more and more dinosaurs! :oP 

Besides all the cutting though ~ I have been creating lots of fun learning activities with dinosaurs. I can't wait to share these Dino ideas with you. I have a couple of Fun Finds, several cute, yummy snack ideas, and even a few simple, inexpensive crafts to encourage your child/ren to use their imagination(s) as they explore the prehistoric world of the Dinosaurs. 

I always enjoy doing Dinosaur storytimes! Being the Mom of four boys, I had to learn about these awesome creatures over the years ~ each of my boys was obsessed with them at one time or another! But, apparently, they were not alone in this obsession! Over the years, I have notice that my boys are not the only ones who LOVE these strange creatures who just seem to never lose their popularity! 

Both boys and girls adore Dinosaurs!

Since I missed the FFRU, I am going to go ahead and do a Saturday Share this week. Here is a quick idea for some silly singing and puppet play. It is an easy, inexpensive craft to make and it is tons of fun to show the little ones. 

It is an egg puppet that hatches into a... 

Hmmm, I think I'll make you wait  for the BIG reveal in the song. (Yes, it is a dinosaur but can you guess which kind?!??!!)

The little ones think it is magical when the egg begins to hatch! 

Here is the song that I use with my puppet:

I'm Bringing Home a…

(Sung to: “I’m Bringing Home a Baby Bumblebee”)

Look what I found!
(The words in green are spoken.)

I'm bringing home a round, gigantic egg.
Won’t my mommy jump up on the bed?
I'm bringing home a round, gigantic egg.
Crack! Crack! Crack!

Uh, oh! It’s hatching!
 (Open the egg slowly)

And it’s a baby dinosaur!

I'm bringing home a baby dinosaur.
Won’t my mommy hide behind the door?
I'm bringing home a baby dinosaur.
"Roar! Roar! Roar!"

Oh, look!
 (Take the dinosaur out of the egg.)

It’s a Book-a-saurus!

(Did you guess?) 

I'm reading lots of books to my dinosaur.
Won’t my mommy love that more and more?

I'm reading lots of books to my dinosaur.

"More! More! More!"

We love books!

Yay!

My inspiration for the baby dinosaur once again came from a sticker. The sticker set is so old that I have no idea where I bought them ~ probably a teacher store or catalog ~ years and years ago. The Stegosaurus sticker was always my favorite so it became my "Book-a-saurus" for this craft.

As you can see from the picture below, I enlarged the baby dinosaur quite a bit! I enlarged it on the copier. Then I traced the outline to use with my cut-paper technique. It is a simple and effective technique! All you need to do it for yourself is ~ construction paper in different colors, a pattern, scissors, and glue. Add a popsicle stick and ~ viola!  ~ you have a puppet!

The egg part of the craft is a little more involved. It is simple enough to do but it does have a few steps involved. Contact me at storytimeabcs@gmail.com if you are interested in the directions.

At the end of our storytime, I had my storytime friends go on a Dinosaur Hunt in the library. They each found a smaller black and white copy of the Book-a-saurus to take home and color. I also provided them with a completely put-together egg to be decorated any way they wanted and a popsicle stick to make their dinosaur into a puppet.

Besides being a fun puppet to sing and play with, I told the families that each "Book-a-saurus" needed to be read to every day. I gave them 7 star stickers each and told them to add a sticker to the egg each day that they read to their new friend. Once they have added 5 to 7 stars, they can bring the egg back to the library and receive a special dinosaur prize! The adults loved this idea. It is a great way to encourage the families to read each day! ;o)

Well, that's it for my Saturday Share. If you make your own "Book-a-sarus", I would love to hear about it and see a picture or two. 

Have fun!

And, as always,

HAPPY READING TOGETHER!