April Showers Story Time

There was no rainy day this week in New Jersey since I jinxed it with my April Showers Story Time theme. We even did a RAIN DANCE! It didn't work, but by the end of the book, the kids all wanted it to rain.

The Books:

 

Kipper's Rainy Day based on the books by Mick Inkpen

One Rainy Day by M. Christina Butler

Floop's New Umbrella by Carole Tremblay

Rain Dance by Kathi Appelt

The Favorite: Rain Dance was the last book I read because I had the kids get up and act out all the animal parts to make our "rain dance" and it is always tough to get them to sit back down on their mats for another story after movement!

Flannelboard:  Five Little Raindrops
I LOVE LOVE LOVE this rhyme from thestorytimelady! It was

Five little raindrops 
dancing on a walk.
Pitter, patter, pitter, patter
That's the way they talk.
Out comes the yellow sun
Shining in the sky,
And away goes one raindrop
Bye, bye bye!

The kids really loved making a "rainstorm" with all the "pitter-pattering" on their knees/the floor. I'll definitely be using this rhyme again soon!



What's in the Memory Box?
I used my felt rain again from when I did a Robot theme. The kids all thought a cat would be in the box because they remembered the cat hiding in a tree in Kipper's Rainy Day. I don't know if they will ever guess right, but its fun watching them try every week!

The Craft: Grumpy Rain Clouds
I was the only one who made a Grumpy Cloud. Everyone else made one with a happy face, flowers or the biggest hit: RAINBOWS! I'm happy with my grumpy cloud though. I just gave them clouds cut from white construction paper, raindrops cut from blue construction paper and blue streamers. I was going to have them glue cotton balls on the clouds, but they were more interested in coloring and making faces with crayons instead. I'm happy about that since whenever we do crafts with cotton balls, half of the cotton balls always end up on the glue sticks!

Bunnies Story Time

This week's theme was bunnies so I could get away with doing an "Easter" story time without actually doing it. This way, if the parents want to incorporate the "Easter Bunny" while they do the craft, that's up to them. However, I'm playing it safe by just calling them bunnies!

The Books:

You're Finally Here! by Mélanie Watt

Little Bunny Foo Foo by Cori Doerrfeld

Squish Rabbit by Katherine Battersby

The Favorite: Little Bunny Foo Foo was the favorite, which I was surprised since they are all equally my favorite bunny stories! I wasn't sure how the parents/kids would react to Little Bunny Foo Foo eating the Good Fairy at the end of the book, but it went over okay as far as I could tell. I had the kids do the finger play motions as I read the book.


Flannelboard: 5 Little Bunnies Rhyme found on storytimekatie.com

Hippety hop and hippety hay,
Five little bunnies went out to play.
Hippety hop and hippety hay,
One little bunny hopped away.
(Repeat until there are no bunnies left)
No more bunnies are playing today,
I hope they come back another day.


The best part about this rhyme is having the kids repeat "Hippety hop and hippety hay" over and over before I started the rhyme to "make sure they could say it" and they were really excited to say it with me and kept them from grabbing the bunnies down from the flannelboard.


What's in the Memory Box? 
I put a tiny felt mouse in the box this time for the field mice that Little Bunny Foo Foo was bopping on the head. I wish I had put one of my felt cupcakes in there instead since that's what the mice stole from Foo Foo to make her chase them. I'll have to remember for next time.

The Craft: Bunny Finger Puppet
This craft was so simple! I remembered seeing a finger puppet paper dog on Pinterest some time ago and thought I could use that idea and make it into a bunny. Some of the kids didn't want holes and just covered them up with another white bunny head.

This is my first pattern-turned-PDF to share!