Goldilocks and the 3 Bears

The Little One was excited to see a new story set up for her to play with.

Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

 I painted peg dolls to look like the characters in the story.

An old door knob works for the table with 3 bowls painted on it.

Wooden spools are their chairs and I used foam for the beds.

Everything can be packed away into the little suitcase.

Goldilocks walking through the forest.

Two of the trees are hand painted and the other three were simply made by hot gluing a dowel between two pieces of felt and stuck in a spool.

After reading the story to her she went through it herself.

Then started to use the props to tell a story.

The bears getting the porridge ready and sitting on their chairs. 

Then they went to bed.

Love that she created her own way.

There Was an Old Lady Part 2

Last week I shared a video of a story version I wrote on There Was an Old Lady that Swallowed a…Bear.  After I posted about it a local family day care provider that follows my blog decided to make it into a felt board story.  I had to buy a copy.
               
      I love it and had to tell the story to the families this week at school.
             
It was a hit but I realized how much I enjoy someone else saying it while I hold up the pieces.  I guess I’m going to have remember the words better for next time.
                 
For any one local you can buy a variety of felt stories and fingerplays from Janis.  She has her own facebook page.

Another StoryWalk at a Picnic

Today was our annual Picnic at the Gardens.  It was a beautiful day to be out meeting friends and enjoying many activities that were spread throughout the gardens.

One activity was a StoryWalk with the book The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry and The Big Hungry Bear by Don and Audrey Wood.
              
I set it up all around the outside of the garden so they could see what is in every
                                         part of the garden.
  
             
         Colleen, another facilitator, suggested we add props to this walk.

   
  I made scratch and sniff strawberries to add to the page that read,
   “The big hungry bear can smell a red, ripe strawberry a mile away.”

 
          Tin cans and sticks were placed with the page that read,
“BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The bear will tromp through the forest on big, hungry feet.”

     
Colleen brought locks and keys to be with the page that read, “or who is guarding it.”

            
       
A basket of silly glasses were put with the page that read, “or how it is disguised.”

 
Beside the page that reads, “share half with me.” I placed strawberry cards that
                            I had cut in half and they had to match.

And finally they looked for the Big Hungry Bear at the end of the story.
                
 Adding props to the story brought it further to life and the children more involved.
                       I’ll do more like this next school year.

Bear Hunt Sound Walk

   
Today was our annual Picnic at the Gardens.  Here is this year’s version of Going on a Bear Hunt.

I cut up a book and laminated the pages for the families to read as they walked from spot to spot. 
   
 
          Ribbons to go swishy, swashy as the long grass.
      
 
Bottles of water for the splish, splash of walking through the river.
        
    
        Slinkys for squelch, squerch of walking through mud.
         
   
    Rhythm sticks for walking and tripping through the forest.
         
    
        Bubbles to make the Hooo wooo for the snow storm.
        
 
          Finally leading to a cave where you’ll find a BEAR!

Play Trays this Past Week

                
      
A venn diagram made from felt comparing where Arctic animals live, on snow,
                               in the water or both.


                                     Counting penguins. 
      I printed the numbered penguins from Children’s Learning Activities.

            
 
                            A scale with jewels and tongs. 
These tongs work opposite then our other tongs or tweezers.  Instead of squeezing them together you have to use two hands to pull them apart, pick up the jewel and close.

        
 
                                    Little bears, die and grid. 
The child rolls the die, counts the dots then places that many bears on to the grid.

After the first day I modified it by cutting the grid down to show six squares.