Grow Grow Grow

Our theme for the beginning of May was Gardening!  The beginning of May is usually all flowers and tulips and grass (and if you’re like me, ALLERGIES!), but for us Minnesotans, it was raaaaaaaaaainnnnny!

BOOKS:

My Garden by Kevin Henkes, Muncha Muncha Muncha by Candace Fleming, and Up, Down, and Around by Katherine Ayres

We didn’t read three books – sorry for the false advertising.  One day I read Up, Down and Around and the other day I read  My Garden.  The clear favorite was Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! The kids like the sound effects of the rabbits and hearing about what Mr. McGreely was going to do to solve the problem.

FINGERPLAY:

I found via Sur La Lune Storytime the fingerplay/rhyme “There’s Something in my Garden.”  This was awesome.  I bought a pack of seven (I think…) fingerpuppets at IKEA the last time I was there and there happened to be a frog, a mouse, and a rabbit in there, so I used those for this (no crow though).

There’s something in my garden,
Now what can it be?
There’s something in my garden
That I can’t really see.
Hear its funny sound….
RIBBIT/THUMP/SQUEAK – RIBBIT/THUMP/SQUEAK – RIBBIT/THUMP/SQUEAK.
A FROG/RABBIT/MOUSE is what I found!
RIBBIT/THUMP/SQUEAK –RIBBIT/THUMP/SQUEAK – RIBBIT/THUMP/SQUEAK.

CRAFT:

The craft was my favorite of the year.  We got clear plastic cups and put some stickers on them to fancy them up, and then put in dirt (old dry potting soil) and grass seeds!  It really smelled good in the storytime room – like fresh earth and the kids LOVE getting messy so everyone was excited for this one.  I am happy to admit that I have ONE blade of grass so far growing in my cup – I checked this morning.  I will definitely repeat some sort of planting craft.  It was a lot of fun and not as messy as I thought it would be.