Saturday, August 23, 2025

Farmer's Market -- Farms & Food

 

Bedminster Farmer's Market
(basically had 2 groups of kids with some overlap - total of one hour of programming)

Open with: You’ll Sing A Song by Ella Jenkins (Song on: Raffi’s “The Corner Grocery Store”)

You’ll sing a song and I’ll sing a song
And we’ll sing a song together.
You’ll sing a song and I’ll sing a song
In warm or wintry weather.
Continue with: clap your hands, stomp your feet, dance a jig, flap your arms, etc.
To settle the crowd, close with: sit right down


Singable Book: Sitting on the Farm by Bob King (A fun book with great repeating lines, kids love finding the unusual locations for the telephones. Can also act it out with puppets.) 
A musical version is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vJyfzWrsxo (I use a slightly different tune.)



Book : A Squash and a Squeeze by Julia Donaldson (variation of the old folktale, a woman complains that her house is too small until a wise old man suggests she bring in her chicken, goat, pig and cow! – great refrain to do with the kids, acted this out with the kids holding puppets).  I chant this with the kids but there is also a musical version available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tI0bQ-A-H0

image


Speaking of old ladies: Prop/Song: There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly

I Know An Old Lady (volunteer kids held the animals to be "eaten")

clip_image003Lyrics by Rose Bonne, tune by Alan Mills

Song on “Peter, Paul, and  Mommy, Too”

 

I know an old lady who swallowed a fly,

I don't know why she swallowed the fly,

Perhaps she'll die.

 

I know an old lady who swallowed a spider,

That wiggled and jiggled and tiggled inside her.

She swallowed the spider to catch the fly,

I don't know why…

…bird / How absurd to swallow a bird

…cat / Imagine that -- to swallow a cat!

…dog / What a hog, to swallow a dog!…

…goat / She opened her throat and in walked that goat…

…cow / I don't know how she swallowed a cow

I know an old lady who swallowed a horse--(pause)  (spoken)  She's dead, of course!



Singable Book: Mary Had a Little Lamb (Bruce McMillan's photo-illustrated version is my favorite) Also shared Iza Trapani's version with additional verses.

Song/Puppets: “Cluck Cluck Red Hen”  (mentioned puppets not quite the right colors!)

Lyrics by Raffi, Tune:  "Baa Baa Black Sheep" Song on Raffi's album "The Corner Grocery Store"

 

Baa, Baa, Black Sheep, have you any wool?

Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full.

One for your sweater and one for your rug,

And one for your blanket to keep you warm and snug.

(repeat first two lines)

 

Cluck, Cluck, Red Hen, have you any eggs?

Yes sir, yes sir, as many as your legs.

One for your breakfast and one for your lunch,

Come back tomorrow, I'll have another bunch.

(repeat first two lines)

 

Moo, Moo, Brown Cow, have you milk for me?

Yes sir, yes sir, as tasty as can be.                   

Churn it into butter, make it into cheese,

Freeze it into ice-cream or drink it if you please.

(repeat first two lines)

 

Buzz, Buzz, Busy Bee, is your honey sweet?

Yes sir, yes sir, sweet enough to eat.

Honey on your muffin, honey on your cake,

Honey by the spoonful, as much as I can make.

(repeat first two lines) 


Action Song: The Squishy-Squooshy  Sung to: “The Hokey-Pokey”

Pretend that you are a pig and there is a big mud puddle in front of you. Oooo-ooo glorious mud!

 

You put your                                        in.

You take your                                      out.

You put your                                        in and you moosh it all about.

You do the squishy-squooshy and you turn your self around.

That’s what it’s all about!

 

1) left hoof            2) right hoof          3) pig foot 4) piggy snout  5) pig belly            6) curly tail

7) whole piggy self


Read: The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear by Don & Audrey Wood

Sing: Apples and Bananas  “I Like to Eat Apples and Bananas” (Raffi)  Song on Raffi’s “One Light One Sun”

I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas

I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas.

Continue, changing the vowel sounds:

I like to Ate, Ate, Ate Aypples and BANAYNAYS (2x)

I like to Ete, Ete, Ete Eepples and BENEENEES (2x)

I like to Ite, Ite, Ite Iiples and BININIS (2x)

I like to ote, ote, ote opples and BINOENOES (2x)

I like to ute, ute, ute uuples and BINUUNUUS (2x)

But I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas

I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas!





B
ook: The Little Red Hen by Mary Finch (acted out with puppets) 

Song: "Mulberry Bush" - This is the way we plant the seeds etc.



Song: "I Am A Pizza" (tune on Linda Arnold's  "Peppermint Wings"  (echo & response song -- you sing then audience repeats line)  If you don't have the album, feel free to give me a call and I'll sing it for you.) 

I am a pizza  … (audience echo) I am a pizza  (place flannel “tomato/cheese pizza” on board)
With extra cheese… with extra cheese   
From tomatoes… From tomatoes…
Sauce is squeezed… Sauce is squeezed…
Onions and Mushrooms… Onions and Mushrooms…  (add flannel onions/mushrooms)
Oregano…Oregano.
I am a pizza … I am a pizza
Ready to go!

I am a pizza… I am a pizza…
Pepperoni… Pepperoni…  (add flannel “pepperoni”)
No Anchovies… No Anchovies…
Or phony balogna… Or phony balogna…
I am a pizza… I am a pizza…
Order by phone… Order by phone…  (flannel phone receiver or just use hand motion)
I am a pizza… I am a pizza…
Please take me home.

I am a pizza… I am a pizza…
Peppers on the top… Peppers on the top… (add flannel “peppers”)
Out of the oven… Out of the oven…
And into a box… And into a box…      (cover with square flannel “pizza box” )
Into the car… Into the car…

Upside down… Upside down… (groan)
I am a pizza… I am a pizza…
Dropped on the ground.  
I was a pizza… I was a pizza…
I was the BEST… I was the BEST…
I was a pizza… I was a pizza…
NOW I’M A MESS!   (flip over “pizza box” to reveal a flannel “scrambled up pizza”!)



Singable Book: What a Wonderful World illustrated by Ashley Bryan  celebrating the wonderful world we live in and the plants, animals, and people of so many colors we share it with… 

Close with: Sing  (Everyone joins hands in a circle – on the La, La’s – join hands in a circle and bring everyone to the center and then out again.  –then repeat the whole song…louder and stronger!)

Song by Joe Raposo,--  on “Sesame Street Platinum”

(Start singing quietly:)

Sing, Sing a song --

Sing out loud --

Sing out strong --

Sing of good things, not bad --

Sing of happy, not sad --

 

Sing, Sing a song --

Make it simple to last your whole life long --

Don't worry that it’s not good enough --

For anyone else to hear --

Just Sing, Sing a song!

 

La, La, La, La, La

La, La, La, La, La

La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La


More farm ideas: https://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/search/label/Farms
More food ideas: https://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/search/label/Food

8/23/25

Friday, June 6, 2025

Preschool Storytime: Flutterby Butterfly!


Preschool Storytime: Flutterby Butterfly
A celebration of individual differences, life-cycle, nature and change. Includes fiction and non-fiction and sign language songs.  More books, lyrics, and craft ideas at
  
https://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/search/label/Caterpillars%20%26%20Butterflies


Bob and Otto – Robert & Nick Bruel  (Otto the worm is saddened when his friend Bob the caterpillar becomes a butterfly until Bob reassures him that his role in digging through the earth is critical in this story which beautifully combines earth science and the power of friendship.) 



Sign Language Song: "Look up Look Down"  -from Pick Me Up: Fun Songs for Learning Signs – Robert Berg, et. all 




From Caterpillar to Butterfly -- Deborah Heligman (describes the metamorphosis through the eyes of a classroom hatching butterflies)

Flannel: Color Butterflies (color IDs) - text (and lyrics to songs that follow) at: https://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2013/12/preschool-storytime-flutterby-butterfly.html

Song: Roly-Poly Caterpillar




The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Eric Carle (reinforcing days of the week and counting, talked about how Eric Carle used colored tissue paper to make his collage papers)

Song: Life of a Butterfly 


image
If at First You Do Not See - Ruth Brown (kids practiced close observation with this clever  book -- vegetation becomes faces when the pages are turned upside down...possibly inspired by the works of the 16th c. Italian painter Guiseppe Arcimboldo)

Sign Language Song: "Let's Take a Little Walk") -from Pick Me Up: Fun Songs for Learning Signs 

image

Waiting for Wings -- Lois Ehlert (different sized pages and beautiful collage illustrations reinforce the butterfly life cycle. A musical version is on the Scholastic DVD Singalong Stories, great to act out with scarves).

Art idea: have the children make nature collages inspired by the books "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" and "Waiting for Wings"



6/5/2025 The Children's Corner Preschool

School Age S.T.E.A.M.: Flutterby Butterfly!


School Age: Flutterby Butterfly A celebration of individual differences, life-cycle, nature and change. Combines fiction and non-fiction, and sign language songs. More ideas at https://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/search/label/Caterpillars%20%26%20Butterflies


Bob and Otto – Robert & Nick Bruel  (Otto the worm is saddened when his friend Bob the caterpillar becomes a butterfly until Bob reassures him that his role in digging through the earth is critical in this story which beautifully combines earth science and the power of friendship.) Booktalked: Bubba & Trixie – Lisa Campbell Ernst – (An adventuresome ladybug with a damaged wing who cannot fly befriends an apprehensive caterpillar and helps him learn to enjoy life and be happy with what he is and what he becomes.)


Sign Language Song: "Look up Look Down"  -from Pick Me Up: Fun Songs for Learning Signs – Robert Berg, et. all 






The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Eric Carle (reinforcing days of the week and counting, talked about how Eric Carle used colored tissue paper to make his collage papers)



image
If at First You Do Not See - Ruth Brown (kids practiced close observation with this clever  book -- vegetation becomes faces when the pages are turned upside down...possibly inspired by the works of the 16th c. Italian painter Guiseppe Arcimboldo)


Sign Language Song: "Let's Take a Little Walk") -from Pick Me Up: Fun Songs for Learning Signs 


A Butterfly is Patient 595.789 AST (wonderful book in the An Egg is Quiet and A Seed is Sleepy series) Because this group today was on the younger side, we skipped a lot of the detailed info here but there is a lot of great info. – e.g. the difference between a chrysalis and a cocoon - the latter is spun of silk, the former is a kind of exoskeleton formed from the caterpillar's skin; also that butterflies can fly a mile in 3 minutes (faster than a human can run)

image

DVD: Waiting for Wings -- Lois Ehlert A musical version is on the Scholastic DVD Singalong Stories, we acted out with scarves).

Did some of the art projects featured here. https://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2013/12/art-science-flutterby-butterfly.html

Additional art idea: have the children make nature collages inspired by the books "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" and "Waiting for Wings"

5/28/2025 Clarence Dillon Library


Wednesday, April 16, 2025

School Age S.T.E.A.M. Storytime & Craft: Earth Day & Arbor Day

Clarence Dillon Public Library
STEAM Story Time wit
STEAM Story Time & Craft with Miss Carol Levin

Wednesday, Apr. 16, 4:30 pm
        Wednesday, April 16th @ 4:30 pm
This month's theme:  Arbor Day & Earth Day

Join us as we share stories about Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math (STEAM)!

 Ages 5-9 (siblings welcomed)
 


I Love Our Earth - Bill Martin Jr. - photographic celebration (or could use Mother Earth - Nancy Luenn instead)

Song (earth ball, optional puppets): We’ve Got the Whole World in our Hands – traditional
We've got the whole world in our hands
We've got the whole wide world in our hands
We've got the whole world in our hands
We've got the whole world in our hands
We've got our mamas and our daddies…
We've got our brothers and our sisters…
We've got a little bitty baby…
We've got the birds in the air…
We've got whales in the sea…
We’ve got you and we’ve got me…


Spring is Here
- Taro Gomi  "Spring is here. / The snow melts. / The earth is fresh. / The grass sprouts." Taro Gomi's clever picture book about the change of seasons couldn't be simpler. The first spread shows a white calf against a hot-pink background. "Spring is here," it says. In the next spread "the snow melts." And indeed, the once snow-white calf is now spotted black and white! 

Song (action) This is the way... tune "Mulberry Bush": This is the way we plant a seed, plant a seed, plant a seed. This is the way we plant a seed so early in the morning...This is the way the sun will shine... This is the way the rain will fall...This is the way the seed will grow... This is the way the flower will bloom...


Living Sunlight: How Plants Bring the Earth to Life - Molly Bang & Penny Chisholm  (572.46 BANG) -- this creative and memorable explanation of photosynthesis will stick with kids for a long time.

Song: And the Green Grass Grew all Around (flannel) – lyrics here: http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2015/04/sing-springhappy-earthday.html 



The Great Kapok Tree  - Lynne Cherry -- The many different animals that live in a great kapok tree in the Brazilian rainforest try to convince a man with an ax of the importance of not cutting down their home.



Action Book: Earth Dance by Joanne Ryder


Didn't get in time: 



Singable book: What a Wonderful World - Ashley Bryan  E Thiele

Mother Earth - Nancy Luenn Gorgeous watercolors accompany this extended metaphorical exploration of our planet (could use instead of  I Love Our Earth

This pretty Planet

skipped Sign Language Song: “Walk the World Now Children”


Craft – construction & tissue paper collages – trees, earth, environmental, spring scenes 








Optional:  music from Tom Chapin’s album This Pretty Planet as kids make crafts 

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