Wiggly Worms Dig into Reading, Summer 2013

Wiggly Worms Dig into Reading

A rainbow of worms came out of their tunnels when the rain began to fall. 
Earthworms breathe through their skin - they have no lungs!
(Or arms or legs or eyes, for that matter)  But they have plenty of heart:  five to be exact!
Idea for rhymes and flannel board came from:
http://librarystorytimeabcs.blogspot.com/2013/04/flannel-friday-where-can-they-be.html

The Big Fat Worm, by Nancy Van Laan
These finger puppets will help the children retell the story of The Big Fat Worm,
by Nancy Van Laan, thus enhancing their narrative and sequencing abilities.
Craft designed by Eve Parker,  Avondale Regional Library Tot Time,
Birmingham Public Library System.

Earthworm Math and Science Link
Meet Anna, Anna Lid!
 An earthworm is an annelid, or a segmented worm.
 We strung beads to make segmented worms and named them all Anna Lid!
They sure did wiggle and squirm!  This worm can also be used to retell the story
of Hermie the Worm, a Girl Scout camp story.
Craft designed by Eve Parker,  Avondale Regional Library Tot Time,
Birmingham Public Library System.

Gross Motor Skills and Teamwork!
We worked together to try and help the "earthworms",
or balls, tunnel back through the center hole of the parachute.

Dotty for Dogs

Bark George, by Jules Feiffer
The cat, duck, pig and cow beanie babies are hidden behind
the felt board so they can be pulled from George's 'mouth'
at the appropriate time.  Our lit link was the song of 'og',
for Dog, Frog, Bog...

After singing Rags, we tossed bean bag dogs into the parachute
and 'washed' them while listening to bath time songs.

Dot markers are a huge hit, and very easy to control.

The dog puppets are also a great craft for the story,
Dog's Colorful Day, by Emma Dodd.

Dig into Reading, Summer Fun Has Only Just Begun!

Today's Tot Time was all about animals that burrow.

The feature story was "Ouch!", by Ragnhild Scamell.  I drew and painted the props on foam core from the Dollar Tree  and used toothpicks for hedgehog's quills.

This is my peek-a-boo bag.  For this year's theme of Dig into Reading, I created burrows from felt on my bag, which I call my hole in the ground.  Today we played a guessing game to guess what mammals were hiding in the 'hole' and shared amazing facts about each one.  Bird thought that was a worm peeking out of the side!  Poor mouse!  If only his tail weren't as long as his body!   Bunny was nibbling a carrot so her front teeth wouldn't be so big.  Pee Yew,  I stuck my head in the skunk hole, and scared the stink right out of him!  Last,  I reached in and "Ouch", it was a hedgehog!  Which led us into the story.  "Ouch" is a wonderful story, reminding us that when we are in trouble, there are always those around who will help!

We had lots of fun burrowing through the tunnel while listening to songs about groundhogs, rabbits, mice and other such critters.  Our craft was a hedgehog mask on tag board.  The children colored, then glued ten spikes on their hedgehog.


Hope you'll be able to join us next Monday morning at 10:30 at the Avondale Regional Library, Birmingham, AL.  Call 226-4003 to register!  Tot Time is for children ages 2-4 with a caregiver.