Five Little Monkeys Swingin' in the Tree

One of my most used flannels this week, a super simple set for "5 Little Monkeys Swinging in the Tree."

Simple

Cheeky Monkeys!

"Five little monkeys swinging' in the tree" (hold up five fingers, swing hand)
"Teasin' Mr. Alligator, 'Can't catch me.'" (taunting/finger pointing) (some people repeat 'Can't catch me 2x)
"When along comes Mr. Alligator, quiet as can be..." (hushed, palms together 'swimming' back and forth like a 'gator').
"And he SNAPPED that monkey right OUT of the tree!" (clap)
Then I pull one monkey off and make a spitting out noise, "Blech! that monkey tastes like________"

Repeat until monkeys are gone.

"No little monkeys swinging in the tree, old Mr. Alligator is hungry as can be!"

I totally love Mr. Alligator!

So these are very simple basic cutouts, but what makes them lively is the 3D eyes.  The eyes are pom-poms, and the mouths and pupils are drawn on with sharpies. The monkeys snouts are a little larger than a nickel, if you're curious about scale.

Pretty easy, and it makes the song a little more appealing.

Add me to the chorus!

I'm also singing the praises of Lego Club at the library!



We've never done a lego club here before, but I know the local Boys and Girls club had/has one. Still, I thought it was worth a try at the library. One of the things that made want to try it is the audience it attracts--elementary school boys and their dads are a hard group to reach! My hope was that it would be successful during summer, and I could continue to offer it through the school year--maybe once a month on Saturdays.

Since I really didn't know how this would go in my community (and since Legos are expensive) I invited kids to bring a gallon bag of Legos from home to complete the secret challenge. I invited kids grade 3+ alone, and younger with an adult.

I was feeling kind of anxious this morning, like I should be doing more work for this program! But aside from advertising there just wasn't much for me to do--refreshing. I made some signs to reveal the secret building challenge and printed some photos to inspire the kids and "set the mood." And that was it!

I had a dozen kids happily building and chatting away for nearly an hour and a half! I made sure to photograph their creations, and handed out Jolly Ranchers as a little treat at the end.

Now that I think this could really take off, I'll put out flyers and a notice on our website asking for Lego donations so we can build (no pun intended!) our own collection for kids who may not have their own.



I'm so thankful it is so easy for librarians to share great programs like this!

posted from Bloggeroid

Overheard in Storytime

Man, just when I think storytime kids can't get cuter I find out from two unrelated adults that the kids they bring to storytime love to play storytime at home and take turns being Miss Anna (and yes, one of them is a boy).