Missed a week, but I'm back. Happy Tuesday! It's a blanket storytime!

Happy Tuesday everyone! Remember those long gone days where all you needed was a cup of juice, your thumb, and your blanket? It seems that everyone has some sort of special blanket or animal that is used for security during the scariest moments or as our steadfast companion in our early years. There are some great books all about blankets out there and I wanted to talk to our little kiddos about theirs.

The Books:
Blankie by: Leslie Patricelli
Small Bunny's Blue Blanket by: Tatyana Feeney
Flora's Blanket by: Debi Gliori

What we did:

1.) Guessing/Rhyming game: I once had a blanket (Jen in the Library)
Jen used this as a flannelboard game, but I didn't put any colors out, but had them listen to the clues and see if they could pick out the color that rhymed. Only a few could actually guess, but it's still good for the kiddos to listen to other kids rhyming. It gets the idea planted.
I once had a blanket
So soft and so new.
I once had a blanket
and the color was ________!
(Repeat for red, green, yellow)

2.) Action song: Bananas Unite! (Jbrary.com)
I get so many song ideas from the two outstanding librarians at Jbrary. They work well for both toddler age groups and preschool groups two! This one is just fun, bouncy, and short.
Bananas Unite! (circle arms like a barrel and then shoot them up in the air like a V)
Peel bananas! Peel, peel bananas! x2 (Pretend to peel a banana!)
Chop bananas! Chop, chop bananas! x2 (Pretend to chop bananas!)
Smash bananas! Smash, smash bananas! x2 (Pretend to smash bananas!)
Eat bananas! Eat, eat bananas! x2 (Pretend to eat bananas)
Goooooooooooo bananas! (circle arms, throw them in the air, and jump as high as you can!)

3.) Flannelboard-Ten little bears (Storytime Katie)
I made a reasonable facsimile of this flannelboard done by Katie. Her skills are infinitely better than mine, but it really worked out. This was one of the few times, my kids want to play with the flannel pieces after storytime is over. It was fun.

4.) www.gonoodle.com Brain breaks and body movement
MORE PROBLEMS WITH TECHNOLOGY! Live by tech, die by tech. Today, the wireless couldn't keep up with gonoodle.com and the video froze every 30 seconds or so. I tried to finish it a capella, but the kids just stared at me confused as all get out. We only did that one and then said goodbye. Oh well, hopefully next week will run smoother.

5.) Playtime: I veered back toward process art this week. We also did some more fine motor building and gross motor play.
a.) Fun brush painting- Process art really unlocks unbridled creativity in preschool children. Every picture should be different. Each child can express their own vision when provided with materials and little to no instruction outside of how to appropriately use them.

b.) Pla-Doh- A favorite, but this time, fairly overshadowed by...

c.) Tube play- Gross motor and social skill development together as they play, laugh, crawl, and hide in the tubes!

Well, the formatting of this page is starting to drive me just a LITTLE bit crazy, so I will leave you with that. Have a great week!