Five Green and Speckled Frogs (Flannel Friday)

Okay, so the post for my *first* Flannel Friday isn't really a flannel, but a manipulative that you can use for story time. It's great for on-the-go, if you're traveling to a classroom or center, and fun for kids to play with in the car. It's just so stinking easy, I have to share it!

This is a super simple prop you can use for the traditional favorite, Five Green & Speckled Frogs. I've used it for years now in story time, with a blue cloth draped over my lap, and I plop the frogs onto the floor as we sing the song together.

We make a craft together each week in my preschool story time group, and I've given children paper towel tubes and frog cutouts to make their own frogs on a log to take home and practice.

Hope you enjoy it!

The adorable printable can be found here:
http://picklebums.com/2011/03/29/five-green-frogs-printable/

Materials needed are:
5 frog cutouts, preferably on card stock or sturdy paper or laminated
a paper towel tube
razor knife or scissors, to cut the paper towel tube log

Using the razor knife or scissors, make one long slit along the middle of the tube, about an inch from each end, keeping the line as straight as you can. When cutting out the frogs, make sure to leave a longish tab along the bottom of each so that you have plenty of room to push the cutout into the slit. Line them up, and you're ready to go!



Here's Miss Nina's wonderfully fun version of Five Green and Speckled Frogs, in case you need a refresher:

Happy day,
Miss Lisa

Counting

A quick counting puppet skit for toddlers.

Puppets:
One puppet, two of the same puppets, three of the same puppets
Props:
None

I told the children I had puppets in my bag:
"I have puppets in my bag, wanna see?
They will help us count to three!
Can you help me count to three?
1,2,3!"

I used one pink pig.
Then, pulled out two green frogs.
Finally, three red birds.

Crockett Crocodile Brushes His Teeth

Puppet:
crocodile (or alligator) puppet

Props:
small pieces of faux food
paintbrush
hairbrush
toilet brush

toothbrush

(Before bringing Crockett out, hide a few small pieces of food in his mouth. Flat pieces work well. Keep his mouth clamped closed so the children can't see into his mouth.) Introduce Crockett. Ask him if he's brushed his teeth this morning. He nods his head. "Well, it's a good thing you brushed this morning, Crockett, so you'll be nice and minty fresh for us to count your teeth. Boys and girls, how many teeth do you think Crockett has? Let's count, shall we?" Open Crockett's mouth and act shocked. "Crockett! You have a whole orange in your mouth, and an entire strawberry . . . There is NO way you brushed your teeth this morning. Sorry, boys and girls, before we can count Crockett's teeth, he has to go brush. Crockett, go get your toothbrush!"

Crockett disappears into the storytime bag and returns with a paintbrush, then a hairbrush, then a toilet brush, and finally, his toothbrush. (You could continue as long as children are interested.) "That's your toothbrush, Crockett. Good job! Boys and girls, do you know the tooth brushing song? Let's learn it together:

"Brush, brush brush your teeth
brush them everyday
Up and down
and round and round
brush the germs away."

Once we sing this through a couple of times, I brush Crockett's teeth as we sing it to him. He's learning! Finally, we can count his teeth.

Berries! A Puppet Feeding Song

(Potentially, a song for when hibernating bear is preparing to sleep in Fall or just waking up in Spring.)

One berry, two berries
three berries, four!
Five berries, six berries
Seven berries more!
Eight berries, nine berries,
Ten berries, then . . .
We count them all over again!

(or let's do it again!)

Hooray for Hen!

Puppet: 
hen

Props:
plastic egg
storytime bag

Introduce Henrietta Hen. Since it was a New Year's storytime, we talked a little about "resolutions." I explained that Henrietta's resolution was to lay more eggs in the new year. She wanted to get started, but was having trouble. Would the children be able to help Henrietta lay an egg? I explained the way to help was to sing "The Hen on the Nest."

Hen on the Nest
[tune: Wheels on the Bus]
The hen on the nest goes
cluck, cluck, cluck,
cluck, cluck, cluck,
cluck, cluck, cluck,
the hen on the nest goes
cluck, cluck, cluck
when she lays an egg

We sang it three times, louder each time. Henrietta could not lay an egg. So I thought maybe we should try counting down, like you do on New Year's Eve. We counted 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1! And yelled "You can do it, Henrietta!" It worked. She laid an egg in the storytime bag.