14 Literacy Activities About Flowers

Last month's April showers inspired a post about Rainy Day Literacy Activities. Now that it's May, let's think about activities that will help welcome those May flowers!

Action Songs & Rhymes

These five activities are some of my story time favorites for the month of May. Each one encourages movement - either of the hands, or of the entire body.

• Flowers Tall, Flowers Small 
  This rhyme can be done as a fingerplay, using your middle three fingers as the tall flowers and pinky and thumb as the small ones, or you can have a group of children pretend to be the flowers, making themselves tall and small, and then counting themselves off out loud. 
• One Seed 
  The chorus of this song makes a perfect story time extension activity. Follow the motions suggested by Laurie Berkner in the music video (linked above), and watch how quickly kids and parents begin to act them out along with you! 
• Sunny Day
  This soothing song by Elizabeth Mitchell is a good calming down song for the end of story time, or perhaps before naptime at home. The lyrics lend themselves to simple motions, which you can easily invent to suit your needs. 
• There's a Little Flower Growing...
  Take the tune for There's a Little Wheel a-Turnin' in My Heart, and using paper, foam, or tissue paper flowers, have your kids pretend there is a flower growing on their heads, arms, legs, toes, elbows, and anywhere else that will make them giggle. (This activity would pair well with a silly book like Daisy Head Mayzie.) 
• I'm a Little Daisy
  Sung to the tune of I'm a Little Teapot, this song gives kids the chance to stand like daisies, showing off their stems, leaves, and petals. 

Flannel Boards

These activities are best used on a flannel or magnet board.

• Five Little Flowers 
  Any five flowers will suit this simple rhyme, which is about picking flowers in a garden. For Mother's Day, add in the final stanza (included in the link above), which talks about collecting the flowers to give to mom. 
• Oh, Yellow Flower
  This folk song recorded by The Carter Family (and later, by Elizabeth Mitchell) has a simple tune that is very easy to learn, and with a few lyrical adjustments it lends itself very well to flannel board use. See more in my Flannel Friday post about the song. 
• My Garden 
  I wrote this rhyme about flowers growing in a garden when I needed a rhyme for use with a specific set of felt flowers I bought at a craft store. The colors you need are pink, blue, orange, yellow, and green - but orange and pink can be changed to other colors if necessary, as the rhyme scheme does not depend on them. 
• My May Garden 
  This piggyback song by Jean Warren based on Skip To My Lou provides a simple lesson on what is needed - seeds, sun, and rain - to grow a garden. Though the title refers to May, there is no mention of the month in the song itself, so it can really be used any time!
• Five Little Seeds
  I have never used this rhyme myself, but it was featured as a guest post on Storytime ABCs a few years ago, and it's a slightly different take on the "five little flowers" idea. In this garden, three seeds become flowers, but the other two become weeds! This rhyme appears in a few places around the Internet, including Can Teach.

Games & More

Here are some more great ideas from around the blogs that will make great activities to celebrate flowers at home, in the library, or at school. 

• Flower Letter Sorting Cups 
  The Childcareland Blog has a great idea for practicing letter recognition. Print out some flowers labeled with letters, then sort them by letter using plastic cups. Though the free printable has expired, the idea itself would be so easy to recreate using homemade flowers. The template is also available through the blog's Members Area, but there is a fee. 
• Flowers in a Row 
  This game idea from Mailbox Magazine is similar to the sorting cups above, but it allows kids to pretend to "plant" each letter flower in a box of sand or soil. 
• Spring Tulip Name Puzzle
  Last Spring, Sarah from How Wee Learn shared this great idea for teaching kids to spell their names - a flower-themed puzzle! Though Sarah's flower of choice was a tulip, you could use any flower you like. (I'm thinking a chrysanthemum, to accompany a certain Kevin Henkes mouse book, which is all about names...) 
• Flowers in the Garden
  This coloring sheet from Crayola gives kids the opportunity to imagine their own wacky flowers. Provide some crayons or markers, then stand back and see where their imaginations take them!

12 Picture Books About Spots & Dots

I recently received a review copy of Spectacular Spots by Susan Stockdale, which got me thinking about all the many picture books which talk about spots and dots. This list includes 12 titles which are perfect for story time, preschool and elementary classrooms, and/or one-on-one reading at home.

Spectacular Spots by Susan Stockdale
In rhyming text, the author shares information about the function of various animals' spots. This book is newly published by Peachtree Publishers and is great for STEM story times. 

Lots of Spots by Lois Ehlert
In this collection, Lois Ehlert describes the features of many animals in very short, pithy poems and accompanies them with illustrations in her signature collage style. (Link is to my review.)

Spots, Feathers, and Curly Tails by Nancy Tafuri

In her bold style, Nancy Tafuri celebrates the features that make animals unique - including spots. Children get the chance to guess on every page who belongs to which feather, tail, spot, etc.

The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds
Young Vashti feels that she is not an artist, but when she takes her teacher's advice to "just make a mark and see where it takes you," she discovers the hidden depths of her creativity.

Lots of Dots by Craig Frazier
This colorful book shows kids all the places in the world they can find lots and lots of dots!

Little Blue and Little Yellow by Leo Lionni 

Two little spots - one blue, and one yellow - are best friends. But what happens when they hug each other so hard they turn green? Will they ever be Little Blue and Little Yellow again? This classic picture book published in 1959 is still a favorite for many kids today.

Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion, illusrated by Margaret Bloy Graham

In this perennial favorite, a spotted dog names Harry runs away to escape from the bath only to return so covered in dirt that he has changed from a white dog with black spots, to a black dog with white spots. Betty White recorded a charming reading of this story for Storyline Online.

Press Here by Herve Tullet 

This unique picture book invites kids to interact with it by instructing them to press, blow, clap, and engage in other actions which appear to have a direct impact on what happens in the illustrations.

Ten Black Dots by Donald Crews
This counting book shows what can be made using one black dot, two black dots, three black dots, etc. First published in 1968, this picture book was revised slightly in 1995 to make it easier to share at story time, and more appealing to young readers.

Dotty by Erica Perl
On the first day of school, Ida brings along everything she needs - including a giant, spotted imaginary friend named Dotty. At first, Dotty isn't the only imaginary friend in class, but over time their numbers begin to dwindle until Ida wonders whether she should start leaving Dotty at home.

Dog’s Colorful Day by Emma Dodd
As Dog travels through town during the day, he finds himself marked by spots of different colors. By the time he gets into the bath at night, he has ten spots to wash away!

Yoo-Hoo, Ladybug! by Mem Fox
A ladybug is hiding on each page of this book, and the reader is challenged to find her! The detailed illustrations make this a poor story time choice, but it's excellent for one-on-one sharing with toddlers.

Reading with Little Miss Muffet: April 2015

New Book Behavior

• Distractions. One of the things librarians know best about toddlers is that their attention spans are very, very short. Up until now, Little Miss Muffet has been fairly content to sit for a whole book almost any time, but as she becomes more interested in exploring the rest of the world, her patience for books is beginning to dwindle. I have been prepared for this, having done so many toddler story times, so I'm being careful not to let it discourage me from continuing to read with her. Sometimes I find myself finishing a book while she runs a lap around the living room or wanders off to check on a stuffed animal. Other times, we abandon a book mid-story because Miss Muffet decides she would rather climb the stairs or dig through the kitchen garbage, or do dangerous somersaults, than sit and listen. It's definitely easier to read to a child who will sit in one place and listen, but it's also fun to see her developing other skills, and I know it won't be long before she comes back around to being able to sit still again. 

Current Favorites

• Things That Are Small
  I received a batch of review copies (all board books) from Little Bee Books recently, and I will be doing a review of them in a few weeks, but until then, I just want to mention this tiny little book that came as part of this set. Miss Muffet absolutely loves that the book fits so perfectly into her little hands, and she has been carrying it all around the house with her - sometimes even to bed! It is a very simple board book, with just one word and one image on each page, but she asks to have it read over and over again, and she especially loves trying to say the word "fish" and identifying the ball and bug. 
• Stanley the Builder, Stanley's Garage, and Stanley the Farmer by William Bee
  I originally learned about these books from Jennifer's reviews at Jean Little Library, and they have turned out to be some of Miss Muffet's favorites. We own a copy of Stanley the Farmer (which was sent to me by the publisher - review coming soon!) and have had both Stanley's Garage and Stanley the Builder out of the library. Miss Muffet loves to wave to Stanley at the beginning and end of each story, and she is just fascinated by the names of the different machines and tools he uses. We have already asked Grandma for a copy of Stanley's Diner (due out in September) for Miss Muffet's birthday this Fall. 
• From Head to Toe by Eric Carle
  This is one of my favorite books to perform, and Miss Muffet is happy to let me make a fool of myself acting out all the animals' movements. Her favorites - and the ones she will actually imitate herself - are the buffalo, who raises his shoulders, and the gorilla who thumps his chest. I especially like this book as an alternative to the many, many toddler books out there about making animal sounds. And it helps a lot that Miss Muffet thinks it is funny - few things are cuter than a toddler belly laugh. 

One Tip from Mom 

• Read poetry! I have had poetry on the brain this month, because it was National Poetry Month and I have been sharing poems on my Facebook page. But even when it's not April, poetry is a great way to share language with kids who have very short attention spans. Generally, poems are pretty short, so your toddler only has to listen for a brief moment, and they often use rhymes, vocabulary, and interesting sentence structures that kids don't usually hear in everyday conversation or regular prose. My go-to poetry books for the one-year-old crowd are Here's a Little Poem, Read-Aloud Rhymes for the  Very Young, and Good For You: Toddler Rhymes for Toddler Times. I also make it a point to recite nursery rhymes throughout the day and to memorize a few poems to break out whenever there is a free, quiet moment. 

Every Hero Has a Story: Chapter Book Reading List

In my final list for this year's summer reading theme, I have recommendations for those kids in the transitional phase between easy readers and middle grade novels. Kids who love these books will be in luck, because all but one are part of a series.

• Agent Amelia: Ghost Diamond by Michael Broad
  Amelia Kidd, a child secret agent, must fight evil and ego-maniacal villains who want to take over the world. 
• Gloria Rising by Ann Cameron
  When Gloria meets her hero, astronaut Grace Street, at the grocery store, she is thrilled, but when she writes about the experience for a school assignment, she is disappointed to find that her teacher doesn't believe it really happened. 
• Jake Drake, Bully Buster by Andrew Clements
  Jake Drake is frustrated that no one ever seems to be able to curtail bullying at his school, so he decides to find a way to end it himself. 
• Mercy Watson to the Rescue by Kate DiCamillo
  When Mr. and Mrs. Watson's bed crashes through their bedroom floor in the middle of the night, they assume their pet pig Mercy is going to alert the authorities, but Mercy's heroic mission is interrupted by her intense love for buttered toast. 
• The Princess in Black by Shannon Hale
  When monsters attack, Princess Magnolia becomes the Princess in Black, but she must do her best to keep her alter ego secret from the prim and proper Duchess Wigtower. 
• Superduper Teddy by Johanna Hurwitz
  Teddy is a shy little boy who clings to his superhero cape as a security blanket. As his story unfolds, life experiences slowly bring him out of his shell. 
• Andy Shane, Hero at Last by Jennifer Richard Jacobson
  Andy Shane wants to be a hero, but he isn't sure how to make that happen until he enters a bike parade and sees something wrong that he can fix. 
• Zapato Power: Freddie Ramos Takes Off by Jacqueline Jules
  Freddie Ramos's whole life changes when he comes to own a pair of super-fast shoes that give him Zapato power! 
• Captain Awesome to the Rescue by Stan Kirby
  Eugene McGillicudy, also known as Captain Awesome, uses his superhero alter ego to cope with his move to a new school. 
• Kung Pow Chicken: Let's Get Cracking! by Cyndi Marko
  When trouble strikes in Fowladelphia, Kung Pow Chicken, a second grade superhero, and his sidekick, Benedict, who is only partially hatched, are on the case.  
• Roxie and the Hooligans by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
  Roxie Warbler wishes she could be brave like her adventurous Uncle Dangerfoot, but whenever she comes up against Helvetia's Hooligans, she runs scared. When she and the hooligans are stranded on an island together, however, it is Roxie's resourcefulness that saves the entire group. (Note: This is the only book on this list that is not part of a series.) 
• Calvin Coconut, Hero of Hawaii by Graham Salisbury
  When a tropical storm hits, one of Calvin's friends is swept out to sea, and he must act quickly to save his life. 
• Jinxed, A Topps League Book by Kurtis Scaletta
  In his job as a bat boy for the Pine City Porcupines, Chad meets his hero, Mike Stammer, who is convinced he is jinxed until Chad finds a way to make him feel confident again. 
• The Quirks: Welcome to Normal by Erin Soderberg
  Every member of the Quirks family wants their newest town, Normal, to become their permanent home, but if that means having to control their strange magical quirks, which range from invisibility to bending time,  they’re sure it’s just a matter of time before they’ll be forced to move again. 
• Melvin Beederman, Superhero: The Curse of the Bologna Sandwich by Greg Trine
  Though Melvin Beederman graduated at the top of his class in superhero school, he has some trouble flying and a sensitivity to bologna that keeps him out of delis. He finds himself with a real problem when his superpowers suddenly fade away. 
• Ellray Jakes, the Dragon Slayer by Sally Warner
  EllRay Jakes doesn’t like bullies, so he is naturally very upset when he learns that his little sister Alfie is being bossed around by a friend at her day care center. While he works on a plan to rescue Alfie from her unhappiness, he must also fight off an accusation that he has been bullying one of his own classmates during recess.