Yellow!

This was the third color in my daycare storytime cycle: yellow! (Orange is here. Red is here.)

Since my group tends to be a little rowdy at they settle in, I sang two songs to get them calmed down this week — our welcome song and “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.”

After a brief recap of what colors we had already done, I showed all the books to the kids and asked what color they thought was next. Unanimously, they proclaimed it to be yellow and I opened up “Banana” by Ed Vere to start.

I think this is a great book to start off storytime with because it warms kids up by creating a lot of discussion moments. With only two words in the book (banana and please), it also gives the reader opportunities to play with tone of voice and I really appreciated that! The kids had a good time telling the book to me as well. This led us into a very silly song…

Song: “Apples and Bananas”
I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas
I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas
I like to ate, ate, ate ay-ples and ba-nay-nays
I like to ate, ate, ate ay-ples and ba-nay-nays
I like to eat, eat, eat ee-ples and bee-nee-nees
I like to eat, eat, eat ee-ples and bee-nee-nees
I like to ite, ite, ite i-ples and bi-ni-nis
I like to ite, ite, ite i-ples and bi-ni-nis
I like to ote, ote, ote oh-ples and bo-no-nos
I like to ote, ote, ote oh-ples and bo-no-nos
Credit: Childhood

Followed by another book about a yellow fruit, “Lemons Are Not Red” by Laura Vaccaro Seeger.

This worked much better in daycare storytime than in regular storytime this week, and I think it was just because my daycare kids were much more talkative than my regular storytime kids. After the book, I went straight into our flannelboard game:

Flannelboard Game: “Can We Find?” (Tune: Muffin Man)
Can we find a yellow cat, yellow cat, yellow cat?
Can we find a yellow cat? We want to say hello.

Last week, the daycare teacher told me that the daycare was learning about the color pink and the letter “P” this week, so I did put a pink heart behind one of the houses. The kids were SO surprised when we uncovered a pink heart! I might try hiding a different color item every week.

Next up, “Little Quack” by Lauren Thompson.

I knew that this would be a hit, because it is one of those books that seems to capture their attention every single time I read it. Anyways the book has great repetition, lots of great counting, and a sweet story. The kids in this session were very eager to cheer Little Quack on as he prepared to jump. That led us to our duck action rhyme:

Action Rhyme: “Little Duck”
I saw a little duck go hop, hop, hop (hop three times)
I told the little duck to stop, stop, stop (hold up hand for stop)
I went to the window to say, ‘How do you do?’ (handshake)
He wagged his little tail and away he flew! (shake tail and fly away)
Credit: Childhood

And then, I introduced our next yellow object — school bus — by doing my “Seals on the Bus” flannelboard. Whenever I do this flannel, the kids and I always wind up singing the book which is part of the fun. After our first bus, the kids were ready for a book about buses, “School Bus” by Donald Crews.

As with all Donald Crews books — this is a great way to introduce transportation to kids! Short words on each page; bright illustrations; engaging storylines. I love that these books have stood up over the years!

Next, I introduced our last yellow item with a puppet — bumblebee! I buzzed him around the room for a few and the kids were very excited to meet him. I promised that they could all come up and pet the bee after we finished storytime if there was good behavior!

First up, another flannelboard: “Six Little Bumblebees!” (I couldn’t resist using two in this storytime — they were both so perfect for the theme.)

Six little bumblebees sitting on a hive
One flew away and then there were five
Bumblebee, bumblebee fly away!
Bumblebee, bumblebee happy all day!
Five little bumblebees sitting on the floor
One flew away and then there were four
Bumblebee, bumblebee fly away!
Bumblebee, bumblebee happy all day!
Four little bumblebees sitting in the tree
One flew away and then there were three
Bumblebee, bumblebee fly away!
Bumblebee, bumblebee happy all day!
Three little bumblebees looking at you
One flew away and then there were two
Bumblebee, bumblebee fly away!
Bumblebee, bumblebee happy all day!
Two little bumblebees sitting in the sun
One flew away and then there was one
Bumblebee, bumblebee fly away!
Bumblebee, bumblebee happy all day!
One little bumblebee left all alone
He flew away, safe to his home
Credit: Modified from Monkey Business Creative

And then the last book for storytime, “Little Bea” by Daniel Roone.

This book JUST came out last week, but when I read the review ahead of time I pre-ordered it for our storytime collection. This is an adorable story about a bee who visits all her friends in one day. There’s great rhyming text, sounds, and even knock-knock jokes! I’ll be using this one again in “Bugs” storytime later on this spring.

One last song…

Song: “I’m Bringing Home a Baby Bumblebee”
I’m bringing home a baby bumblebee
Won’t my mommy be so proud of me?
I’m bringing home a baby bumblebee
Ouch, it stung me!
(Squishing, what a mess; Washing up, now I’m all clean!)
Credit: Childhood

(And yes, I did cut out the licking and barfing parts. Not for storytime!)

Our craft was a bee finger puppet that the kids colored, printing off from KidsSoup. My teens once again cut and glued everything — the kids just colored!