Melting Popsicles

I love Flannel Fridays and all the wonderful ideas that I have found there.  I find many things I can use as is and others that I can easily adapt to fit my needs.

This spring we did a fun storytime on sticks.  One of the flannel boards I used at that time is also great for summer--Three Melting Popsicles which I found on Story Time Secrets (it was a Flannel Friday post).  She just did three popsicles but you can see that I expanded that number. I read that along with early literacy, early math skills have been found to impact how well young children do in school.  I'll sometimes take away multiples and then ask how many are left.  I also sometimes change colors out for flavors.

MELTING POPSICLES

Eight melting popsicles

Sticky and sweet

Mark and Jan ate green ones

What a yummy treat!

(Rub stomach and say "Yum! Yum!)

(Repeat removing 1-3 each time until...)

No more popsicles

Sticky and sweet.

I guess I'll have to find

Something else to eat.

I use this with the picture book, WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH A PALETA by Carmen Taffola.

Katie at Story Time Secrets is the host for this week's Flannel Friday.  Please visit her page to see what others have shared this week.

Fruits & Vegetables

I love all the sharing that goes on with Flannel Fridays and how ideas will move & morph between storytellers.  Since June is National Fresh Fruits & Vegetables Month, I decided to use that as my storytime theme this week.  I found "Picking Up the Fruit" at Mollie's blog--What Happens In Storytime and decided to adapt it for my groups.  She did it as a flannelboard (which is how we'll present it in Toddler Time), but I wanted to do a prop song for my preschoolers.  I used Melissa & Doug plastic fruit and vegetable sets as my props.  I wasn't able to get a picture up yet of my basket of fruit, but I hope to post it later.

 

Rather than doing just one fruit/vegetable at a time, I used three different ones for each refrain and changed the location to what fit my choices best  (farmer's market for items found there or grocery store for shipped in items)  The song can also be arranged to fit an orchard, a garden or a fruit stand.

PICKIN' UP FRUITS & VEGETABLES

(sing to "The Paw Paw Patch")

 

 

Pickin' up apples and puttin' 'em in my basket

Pickin' up carrots and puttin' 'em in my basket

Pickin' up pears and puttin' 'em in my basket

Way down yonder at the farmer's market.

 



 

 

 

 

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For resources on Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Month, visit the USDA's website.  I found links to some great fact sheets and bulletin board materials. 

This week's Flannel Friday is being hosted by Amy at Catch the Possibilities 

 

Fruits & Vegetables--Flannel Friday

Several years ago my library purchased a flannel board set of fruits, vegetables, and nuts.  There were no rhymes or stories to go with it.  I took some of the most familiar pieces and wrote a piggyback song to use with them.

While the song can get a big long if you use all the pieces what has worked well is when I choose the ones that work for a specific theme:  just the fruits, just items from the garden, sweet treats, etc.

The title came about because I first used it with a theme of "Big Eaters" with books like THE GLERP by David McPhail.

The Big Eater's Song

(Tune:  "Mulberry Bush")

Chorus:

These are the things we like to eat,                                       

Like to eat, like to eat.                                                        

These are the things we like to eat,                                     

'cause we are big eaters.                                                      

                                                                                            

                                                                                            

Strawberries so ripe and red,

Ripe and red, ripe and red.                                                  

Strawberries so ripe and red,                                               

Will satisfy our tummies.                                                    

Chorus                                                                                

                                                                                            

Watermelon so sweet and wet,

Sweet and wet, sweet and wet.                                           

Watermelon so sweet and wet,

Will satisfy our sweet tooth.

Chorus

Pears that are plump and ripe,

Plump and ripe, plump and ripe.

Pears that are plump and ripe,

Picked from the tree.

Chorus

Oranges so big and juicy,

Big and juicy, big and juicy.

Oranges so big and juicy,

Make us wipe our chins.

Chorus

Pineapples from far away,

Far away, far away.

Pineapples from far away,

Are always such a treat.

Chorus

Peas that are green and round,

Green and round, green and round.

Peas that are green and round

Make us use a spoon.

Chorus

Pumpkins that are big and fat,

Big and fat, big and fat.

Pumpkins that are big and fat

Go in a pumpkin pie.

Chorus

Carrots that are long and orange,

Long and orange, long and orange.

Carrots that are long and orange,

That we love to crunch.

Chorus

Green beans so long and thin,

Long and thin, long and thin.

Green beans so long and thin,

From our veggie garden.

Chorus

Nuts with shells we like to crack,

Like to crack, like to crack.

Nuts with shells we like to crack,

For the nuts inside.

Chorus

If I was writing this today, I would probably change the last line of the chorus to " 'Cause they're good for us." or something along that line.  As I said, I adapt this to my theme & I encourage you to do the same.  Our set also had an eggplant, onion, peach, beets, and a few others in it and verses could be added for those or other fruits, berries, or nuts you might have.  This would also work with props such as plastic fruits and vegetables. 

Erin at Falling Flannelboards is our hostess this week.  If you'd like more information on Flannel Friday, visit their website and learn how you can get involved.