Bugs!
Storytime theme: Bugs
Books used:
I Love Bugs! by Philemon Sturges, illustrated by Shari Halpern
The perfect length for children two years old and under. I love the big bright illustrations, which make them easy to see, even in a big storytime group.
Bugs! Bugs! Bugs! by Bob Barner
I love the picture books of Bob Barner for toddlers, and Bugs! Bugs! Bugs! is no exception. We get to see all kinds of interesting bugs that exist in the world. The bugs are illustrated beautifully by Barner, and are larger than life on each page. My only critique of the book is that it is a little small, so it might be hard for those in the back during storytime to see. There is a interesting bug chart at the end of the book with lots of facts about bugs to satisfy the most curious of kids.
Activities:
Ukulele song: Wake Up
This is a Woody Guthrie folk song, originally recorded for a children's album called Songs to Grow On: Nursery Days. It is not one of his more well known tunes, but it works perfectly for any morning storytime session. The chords I used for this song are from April over at Storytime Ukulele. I highly recommend Storytime Ukulele if you are a beginner ukulele player like me, and looking for good songs to play during your storytimes. It has truly been an invaluable resource to me in the past year. Full lyrics to the song can be found Woody Guthrie's website here (I play a shortened version).
Here is a quick recording I made of the song:
Action Rhyme: Roll Roll Sugar Babies
This a fun action song that I learned from Jbrary. I didn't do all the verses they suggest because I felt like it made the song slightly too long for my storytime groups.
Faux-flannelboard: Itsy Bitsy Spider
Since I don't have as much time to make multiple flannelboards for storytime anymore, I have been making a lot of what I call "faux flannelboards". Basically, I find clipart online to go along with songs or rhymes. Not every song/rhyme will work with this method, I find simple rhymes with just a few key components work best. After I print the clipart, I laminate them so the pieces can be reused, and I stick velcro circles on the back so that they will adhere to the flannelboard during storytime.
This song works great for this method because there are just a few key parts, and art is easy to find. I sing a version where I include the great big spider and the eensy weensy spider, so I printed 3 different sized spiders, a water spout, a rain cloud, and a sun. There is also lots of nice clipart available on Etsy for cheap, and the time it saves from making a traditional flannelboard is worth it!
Bounce song: Bumpin' Up and Down in My Little Red Wagon
I've used this song in my baby storytime which is smaller so we can sit in a big circle and walk around in a circle along during it. This storytime usually has 70 people attending and is aimed towards toddlers 24 months and younger, so a circle isn't possible in our room, but it still works well. The song is originally by Raffi, but works well as an adapted bounce song for babies and toddlers. You can find a plethora of recorded versions including those from Champaign Library, Jbrary, and King County Library's Tell Me a Story (amazing resource!).
Fingerplay/Tickle: Little Arabella Miller
Another classic children's fingerplay that is perfect for babies through preschoolers. I like to end this song with a little fuzzy caterpillar tickle. Recordings for the song can be found at Jbrary, and KCLS.
Flannelboard: 5 Little Fireflies (featuring real light up bottoms!)
I recently saw Roving Fiddlehead's paper circuit folder story for 5 Little Fireflies. I'm also on the Maker team at work, but I haven't really had much experience working with circuits. I don't really like the look of folder stories and they won't work with my big storytime audiences, but the post did inspire me to create flannelboard fireflies that feature LED light bottoms that actually light up. These are different than the one's made by Roving Fiddlehead because I wanted each firefly to be it's own piece, meaning it would contain it's own circuit.
I decided to use paper circuits as the basis of my circuitry because: 1) paper is lightweight and cheap, 2) the materials for paper circuits are relatively inexpensive and are easy to find, and 3) there are lots of tutorials online on how to make paper circuits. I wanted my paper circuits to be able to hold a battery and I found this fabulous tutorial and battery holder template on Chibitronics. Basically everything you need to get an LED lit up is explained there, and there is also an accompanying Youtube video tutorial, which I had to consult a few times when tinkering.
Before getting started with the circuits, the first thing I did was make my felt firefly pieces. These consist of 3 parts- a bug body, a pair of wings, and a yellow bottom. My goal was to make the fireflies look like ordinary flannelboard pieces until the lights are secretly turned on. To make these I just googled winged bug images, traced them on freezer paper, ironed them on felt and cut them out. I freehanded the yellow bottoms to a shape that I thought would look good when lit up. Choose a lighter felt color because while the LED lights are bright, they won't glow the same way. A completed firefly looks like this (Note: Don't assemble the parts of the fireflies yet until you make the paper circuits):
After you have your fireflies ready, create your circuits. What you will need:
paper- I used some scratch printer paper.
paper battery holder- printable template and assembly instructions available here. I also printed the template on thicker cardstock, but printer paper will probably work if you don't have any.
1/4" copper tape- I bought mine on Amazon, there are lots available.
surface mount LEDs- I used these that I bought on Amazon. They are tiny, but don't be deceived by their size, they are very bright! These are flat, unlike regular LED diodes, and work especially well for paper circuits because they don't stick out.
3V button batteries. I tried the circuits with two different sizes CR-1220 and CR-2032. The 1220's are thinner and smaller, which I ended up using for my fireflies to reduce their weight. They will be smaller than the paper battery holders, but they still work fine.
regular scotch tape
A few things I discovered while tinkering and trying to figure out how to make my idea a reality:
You want to make sure you don't have too much space between the positive and negative leads. The surface mount LEDs are pretty tiny and both edges of the LED need to be able to reach/touch the positive and negative leads, otherwise they won't be powered on. When I started my leads looked like this, which was way too much space between the two:
The copper tape relatively easy to reposition if needed, and is also pliable so you can kind of bend them on the paper to be closer to each other. In this picture you can see I moved the leads closer together and so the taped on LED can touch both leads:
The LEDs are tiny! The 100 pack I bought was really small. They come packaged in a strip like this so they don't get lost (the tiny white thing is the LED).
The best way to handle and keep track of the LED when it is out of the packing is to stick it to a piece of scotch tape. You will use the same piece of tape to the circuit leads. The completed circuit will look like this (let there be light!):
In order to make the light face the portion of the fireflies bottom, but while keeping the battery facing the back, I discovered that I could fold the copper tape leads while still maintaining the circuit connection. The folded result looks like this:
A side view of the folded circuit. As you can see I used a yellow colored LED for this project:
Now to attach the circuit to the previously created flannel pieces. Because I have a feeling these circuits might not last forever, I didn't want to attach them too permanently to the fireflies. I ended up stapling the paper (avoid the copper tape circuits) to the flannel bug body. The staples ended up being concealed by the wings of the firefly, which I hot glued on after I stapled the paper.
Here are some images of what the circuit attached to the firefly looks like. The backside of the firefly. Note the velcro circle I attached to help the piece stick to a flannelboard. With the addition of the attached paper circuit the piece is too heavy to stick to it like it traditionally would:
Concealed staples under the wings:
View of the folded LED portion under the firefly's yellow bottom:
And here are some pictures of the completed fireflies with their lights on:
Slightly better view of the glow of the lights:
Five little fireflies flashing in the night, Looking at the glow of each other's light.
Then whoosh went the wind whistle went the breeze, And out went one light with a great big sneeze... AAAACCCCHHHHOOOOO!!!! The repeat with 4,3,2 and finish with One lonely firefly flashing in the night. He couldn't see the glow of the others' lights.
Then whoosh went the wind and whistle went the breeze, And out went his light with a great big sneeze... AAAACCCCHHHHOOOOO!!!!
These were a blast to use in storytime. I left the LEDs off during storytime by using the flap of the battery holder to separate the negative lead from the battery. When it was time to use, them I showed everyone the unlit firefly, and said, "today we are going to learn a rhyme about a special bug called a firefly." I then asked if anyone knew why fireflies were so special? After a few responses, I removed the paper battery holder flap and the LED was turned on and I said, "that's right the firefly has a bottom that lights up, just like a lightbulb!"
Thanks to everyone over on the Storytime Underground facebook group for the positive feedback about this adventurous flannelboard creation!
