Storytime: Bugs

Opening Song: Hello, Friends

Hello, friends x3
It’s time to say hello

from Jbrary

Rhyme: Find the Caterpillar

Knock, knock, knock
Little caterpillar, little caterpillar
Are you behind the (color) butterfly?

from Literacious

So this rhyme is 100% possible to do as a flannelboard, and I have done it as a flannelboard, but I just didn’t want to. So, I edited the rhyme to end in “Are you behind the (color) door?” and brought back out our Critter Clinic toy with the six doors, which I also used for the Clifford storytime. I hid a toy caterpillar behind one of the doors and various other plastic toys behind the others, including a butterfly, turtle, and frog. When someone found an animal, I asked them “how does that animal move? can you show me?” and as a group we did the movement of that animal, like flapping our arms, “swimming” on the floor, or hopping.

Song: The Ants Go Marching

The ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching one by one,
The little one stops to suck his thumb,
And they all go marching down, to the ground, to get out of the rain.

Other verses:
Two by two…the little one stops to tie his shoe
Three by three…the little one stops to climb a tree
Four by four…the little one stops to shut the door
Five by five…the little one stops to take a dive

from Storytime Katie

Book: Bug in a Vacuum by Melanie Watt

So, I love this book, but it definitely does not work for every audience. I mean, it’s 96 pages, which can be a lot even if they’re pretty sparse in text. So, I had a back-up book, in case I judged that the group was not a Bug in a Vacuum group when they arrived.

Back-Up Book: Bugs on the Bus by Paul Orshoski and D.J. Panec

Movement Activity: Balance Beam Relay: Put masking tape in a line on the floor. At one end of the tape put a teddy bear in a chair. The child must walk on the tape line to the chair, pick up the teddy bear, come back, and hand it off to the next child. The child who has the teddy bear has to walk to the end of the line, put the teddy bear on the chair, come back, and high-five the next child. Try to give each child a chance to walk the line retrieving and replacing the teddy bear. (from The Joy of Movement)

Song: Can You Move Like Me?

Can you wiggle like a worm?
Can you squiggle, can you squirm?
Can you flutter, can you fly,
Like a gentle butterfly?
Can you crawl upon the ground
Like a beetle that is round?
Can you move like me?

Can you flip? Can you flop?
Can you give a little hop?
Can you slither like a snake?
Can you give a little shake?
Can you dance like a bee
That is buzzing ’round the tree?
Can you move like me?

from Adventures in Storytime

Rhyme: Bumblebee

Bumblebee, bumblebee, landing on my nose.
Bumblebee, bumblebee, now he’s on my toes.
On my arms, on my legs, on my elbows.
Bumblebee, bumblebee he lands and then he goes

from Storytime Katie

Activity: Build a Bug