"Not a Flannel" Friday: Penguins, Penguins, Everywhere!

It is finally time for some Penguin Fun at my Family Storytime so I thought I would share some of the fun with you, too.

I actually have several penguin activities to share.
Let's start with a playful rhyme that allows you to use ordinal numbers with your little ones, as well as counting up and counting down with a little help from our cute black and white friends.

Five Little Penguins 



Five little penguins,

As happy as could be,

Standing on a rock, 

Looking out at sea.

Crash! Went the waves,

Oh, what a din!

Said the first little penguin,

"Shall we all jump in?"

Said the second little penguin,

"The water's like ice."

Said the third little penguin,

"That's not so nice."

Said the fourth little penguin,

"Let's bask in the sun."

Said the fifth little penguin,

"Hey, that's no fun!"

So the five little penguins

Take a leap and dive 

And splash into the water,

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5.

Three seconds later, 

Out they all pop.

And stand once again

Atop the big rock.

5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1.

Yay!

Our second activity is a good one to use with a simple penguin puppet. It is easy to make a puppet for each child by photocopying a small penguin, cutting it out, and taping it to a popsicle stick. 

Or if you have a Ellison diecut machine and a penguin diecut, it is even easier to make a puppet for each storytime friend. ;-)

This activity allows you to demonstrate positional words with even the youngest storytime participants ~ just have the adult do the motions with the puppet for their child.

The Penguins

The penguins are here; the penguins are there.

The penguins, the penguins are everywhere.

The penguins are up; the penguins are down.

The penguins, the penguins are all around.

The penguins are in; the penguins are out.

The penguins, the penguins are all about.

The penguins are low; the penguins are high.

The penguins, the penguins all say "goodbye"!

Another activity that I use with my Penguins, Penguins, Everywhere storytime is the flannel set that I shared a few weeks ago: 

There Was a Little Penguin
(Click on the title for a link to my post.)

For our craft, we made Adorable Penguin Hats so that the children could pretend to be penguins and waddle around in our last two activities.

Adorable Penguin

I'm a little penguin

Black and white,

Short and wobbly,

An adorable sight!

I can't fly at all,

But I love to swim.

So I'll waddle to the water 

And dive right in!

For this rhyme, I teach the sign for penguin, black, and white. We also do motions for "short and wobbly", "fly", "swim", "waddle", and "dive". This particular activity gets numerous requests for repeating it. I usually plan to do it 2 to 3 times. The repetition will help the little ones remember the rhyme so that they can continue to "be penguins" at home. I also send home a flyer with the words and I post them on my library's Facebook page for easy accessibility.

Our last rhyme was also fun to do together with lots more waddling and diving.

Penguin Cheer

I like fishies.
Yes, I do!
When I want fishies,
Here's what I do.
One, two, three...
SPLASH!

And finally, here is a picture of one of my storytime friends in her Adorable Penguin Hat. 

She is so precious!

HAPPY READING TOGETHER!

Here’s Flannel Friday information for this week:

This week’s Flannel Friday roundup is hosted by Katie.

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. Be sure to checkout my Flannel Friday Comment Challenge on the facebook page. This is the fourth week and I am offering an incentitive!

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!

Flannel Friday: Valentine Race

Wow! Is it Friday again already?

This week has been CrAzY! But I have a feeling next week will be even crazier ~ especially since Tuesday is Valentine's Day and we have 3 storytimes scheduled for that morning! Whew!

Well, let's get down to business. Since it is Friday ~ that means it is time for Flannel Friday!

My contribution this week is a simple version of a very OLD but extremely FUN fingerplay:

VALENTINE RACE

Five little Valentines were having a race.

The first Valentine was frilly with lace.



The second Valentine had a silly face.

The third Valentine said, "I love you!"

The fourth Valentine said, "I do, too!"

The fifth Valentine was as sly as a Fox.

'Cause he ran the fastest to your Valentine box!

Yay!

The Valentines were easily made from felt. In fact, it was such an easy project that I decided to make a second set out of fun foam for the magnetic board...



I am not sure which I like better. I had fun making both sets. Which set do you like best?

Here is a list of supplies and quick directions to make the felt set.

Supplies Needed:

White felt

Purple felt

Red felt

Pink felt

Yellow felt

Orange felt

Black felt

Pink ribbon

Sticker eyes or wiggly eyes

Black Sharpie

Fuschia Sharpie

Tacky Glue

Sharp scissors

Directions:

1. Cut the lacy heart out of white felt and a regular heart-shape out of purple felt. Glue the purple onto the center of the lacy heart. Make a small bow out of the pink ribbon and glue onto the lacy heart.

2. Cut a regular heart-shape out of pink felt. Add sticker eyes or wiggly eyes using the glue. Draw on the eyebrows, nose and silly mouth with the black Sharpie.

3. Cut a regular heart-shape out of red felt. Cut a small heart-shape out of pink felt. Glue the small heart in the middle of the large heart. Add the letters and punctuation with the black Sharpie.

4. Cut a regular heart-shape out of yellow felt. Add the letters and punctuation using a fushcia Sharpie. I love this heart because it looks like a candy heart to me. :-)

5. Cut a regular heart-shape out of orange felt. Cut the upper part of the heart shape out of black felt and glue to the top of the orange heart. Cut "cheek" shapes from white felt and glue on. Cut eyes and nose out of black felt and glue on.

Now you have five little Valentines ready for a race!

Have fun!

***I just want to mention my inspiration for the fox heart. This week our storytimes have featured Michael Hall's book, My Heart is Like a Zoo. In his book, there is a "crafty" fox. I thought he was adorable and silly ~ just perfect for our race! What do you think? 



The top fox is made from felt and the fox to the right is made from fun foam.



I really love when I can tie our featured book in with our songs, learning activities like fingerplays and creative movement, and our crafts ~ when possible. These tie-ins help young children stay focused a little longer and help make more connections in their brains so that the children will be able to recall more about the storytime later in the day or week. I believe anything I can do that helps to make those connections possible is well worth the effort. :-)

This week, I was delightfully reminded of how these types of tie-ins were important to one particular storytime friend. One of our regular storytime Moms took this picture of her daughter creating her Lion Puppet at home. They proudly shared the picture with family and friends ~ and ME! ~ on Facebook. It was a sweet surprise because I am usually the one sharing storytime pictures with the families. ;-)



I am hoping to see an increase in the circulation of My Heart is Like a Zoo due to this family's enthusiastic sharing.  I am also hoping to see new families attend the library storytime next week. You just never know... I have already been contacted by a Mom asking for craft directions and the words to the song we sang with the puppet. What an awesome result for such a simple take-home craft!

HAPPY READING TOGETHER!

By the way, here’s Flannel Friday information for this week:

Library Quine has the round up at her blog, Loons and Quines @ Librarytime.

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. Be sure to checkout my Flannel Friday Comment Challenge on the facebook page. This is the third week and I am offering an incentitive!

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!



Activity: Five Little Snowflakes

This particular activity is one that I have been doing at Snow Storytimes for many years and the children love it!


It actually combines 2 fun fingerplays about snowflakes. One is a count-up fingerplay and the other is a count-down fingerplay so the children get the benefit of seeing items increase and then decrease in the same activity.

 I usually start off by placing one item on the magnetic board and asking the children what it is. We name it and describe it: 



"What is this?"

"It is a snowflake."

"It is white and sparkly."

"It has 6 points. Let's count them. 1-2-3-4-5-6."

"Where does a snowflake come from? The sky?"

"What else comes from the sky?"

"Is a snowflake wet like the rain?"

"Is a snowflake hot or cold?"

 "Cold like ice?"

"What happens when a snowflake gets warm?"

"Does it melt like ice?'

These are just a few examples of the types of questions and comments we might explore when talking about a snowflake. The length and depth of the exchange always depends on the interest level of the children.  Sometimes we might only be able to say that the snowflake is "white and sparkly" before we have to move on to the actual activity. That is okay! Whatever keeps the children engaged!

***As you say the fingerplay, add or take away a snowflake as indicated by the words.

FIVE LITTLE SNOWFLAKES

(Count-up Fingerplay)

One little snowflake with nothing to do,

Along came another and

Then there were two.

1-2.

Two little snowflakes laughing with me,

Along came another and 

Then there were three.

1-2-3.

Three little snowflakes looking for some more,

Along came another and 

Then there were four.

1-2-3-4.

Four little snowflakes dancing a jive,

Along came another and 

Then there were five.

1-2-3-4-5.

Five little snowflakes having so much fun.

Out came the sun and

Then there were none.

I use this last verse when I do the count-up fingerplay as a stand alone activity. I skip it when I do both the count-up and count-down fingerplays together. You will see why I skip this verse as you read on...

FIVE LITTLE SNOWFLAKES

(Count-down Fingerplay)

Five little snowflakes

(Hold up 5 fingers.)

Floating by my door, 

(Move hand in a floating motion.)

One blew away.

WHOOSH!

(Dramatically move both hands from one side to the other.)

And then there were four.

(Hold up 4 fingers.)

Four little snowflakes

Falling down on me,

(Wiggle fingers down to the floor then point to self.) 

One blew away.

WHOOSH!

(Dramatically move both hands from one side to the other.)

And then there were three.

(Hold up 3 fingers.)

Three little snowflakes

Falling down on you, 

(Wiggle fingers down to the floor then point to children.) 

One blew away.

WHOOSH!

(Dramatically move both hands from one side to the other.)

And then there were two.

(Hold up 2 fingers.)

Two little snowflakes

Having lots of fun, 

(Make ASL sign for "play".)

One blew away.

WHOOSH!

(Dramatically move both hands from one side to the other.)

And then there were one.

(Hold up 1 finger.)

One little snowflake

Lying in the sun, 

(Form a large circle over your head with your arms.)

It melted away.

SPLOOSH!

(Clap hands together.)

And then there were none.

(Hold up closed fist.)

There you have it! A fun count-up/count-down activity for snowflakes. 

Depending on the storytime, I might follow this activity with a well-known Raffi song, Mr. Sun, from his CD, Singable Songs for the Very Young, and talk about the snow melting when the sun comes out and makes it too hot for the snowflakes.

I hope you enjoyed this activity post!

Before I end it, I would like to acknowledge a special group of ladies who inpired me to finally take a chance and start my own Storytime blog. That group is Flannel Friday. (When I figure out how to link to them, I will be back to do that!)

I would especially like to acknowledge Library Quine who has a wonderful blog here: http://loonsandquines.blogspot.com/

I encourage you to visit her blog!

She inspired me with her Flannel Friday: Five Little Snowflakes post! I finally gave up my old magentic board snowflakes which had become dull and were all the same design. (See below.)

And, by providing the templates for 5 very beautiful and very different snowflakes, she inspired me to make my wonderful new magnetic board snowflakes. They even glitter and shine!

Thank you, Library Quine!

If you too would like to make 5 different snowflakes for your Snow Storytime, be sure to visit Library Quine and print off her awesome templates by clicking here. (Yay! I think I made a link! LOL)

I know my Storytime friends are going to LOVE these tonight!



Well, that is my first activity post. I hope you enjoyed it!

Please feel free to share any comments or suggestions with me below. 

Also, please feel free to share my blog with any friends who might be interested in activities, books, and crafts for little ones.

HAPPY READING TOGETHER!