Mouse storytime – Thrive After Three

Category: Mouse storytime

Little Mouse’s Big Secret

Posted on August 2, 2013May 4, 2014 by mrsshaia

This is one of my favorite fall stories. Unfortunately the illustrations are too small to use in storytime. So I worked up a way to use this story with puppets and a special handmade prop. You can dazzle your kids with this story. Here’s what you’ll need:

Puppets (you can always substitute with what you have):

mouse
squirrel
bird
turtle
hedgehog
bunny
frog

Props:

mailing tube
red led lights (battery-powered)
dried bouquet
craft wire and floral tape (optional depending on the bouquet you buy)
apple

If you buy a bouquet that is made of wire you won’t have to do this step. If you purchase the Ikea bouquet, you’ll need to cut off the bottom of the bouquet and replace it with craft wire for flexibility.

Wrap it with floral tape.

Feed the bouquet through the mailing tube, keeping the battery end on the bottom to hide in your lap when you tell the story.

You can begin the story with the bouquet hidden in the tube. Each time an animal comes to mouse you can feed the bouquet up a little bit.

By the end of the story, the whole bouquet should be sticking out of the tube. (That’s when you dazzle them by turning on the lights!)

And voila! The apple tree. The kids will be astonished!

For more storytime ideas Storytime ABCs, she’s hosting Flannel Friday this week.

Lunch

Posted on July 19, 2013May 4, 2014 by mrsshaia

I love Denise Fleming’s Lunch for so many reasons. The text is so simple you can read it as is for younger crowds, or elaborate and turn it into a mystery for older crowds. For the older children, I ask them what colored food Mouse could be eating next. “What could Mouse eat that is white?” Potatoes, macaroni, bread. chips, cereal, rice, etc. Here’s a little chart you can use:

Color	Food
white	cauliflower, tofu, coconut, onion, turnip
orange	nectarines, papayas, cantaloupe, mango, carrots
yellow	spaghetti, squash, honey, corn, lemongrass, pineapple
green	asparagus, avocado, celery, bok choy, broccoli, cucumber, edamame, fennel, honeydew, kale, spinach
blue	berries, potatoes
purple	eggplant, cabbage, plum, blackberries
pink	watermelon, rhubarb, grapefruit
red	berries, apple, cherries, cranberries

I like to pass out the food pieces to each child, and use my lapboard and a Mouse puppet. When the children bring up all the white colored food, Mouse “eats” all the food. (I swipe the pieces using Mouse’s mouth into my lap and they disappear.) The kids laugh aloud and say, “AGAIN” every time.

Here’s a video:

For more flannel ideas check out Miss Meg’s Storytime, or Flannel Friday.

(Fill-in-the-Blank)’s Colorful Day

Posted on June 26, 2013 by mrsshaia

These stories are inspired by Read It Again and The Wielded Pen. These stories are variations of Dog’s Colorful Day by Emma Dodd.

I’ll be using Dino’s Colorful Day for the Dig Into Reading theme this summer. You can tell the children that brachiosaurus were plant eaters. Choose a color and ask them what kinds of foods the dinosaur could eat that was that color. (I’ve included a list of colored foods below.) Here’s a little rhyme you can use as you place each color on him:

I’m a great big dinosaur
I eat plants, I’m an herbivore.
I love food, but I have none,
So step right up and give me some.

You can cut out Mouse and do a “Lunch by Denise Fleming” type of story using the same colorful circles.

I’m a little mousie, light and furry.
I’m always in such a hurry.
Look at the clock it’s time for lunch.
Now give me something that I can munch.

Or, you can use Bunny’s Colorful Day and use spring flowers. This is a great vocabulary-building exercise.

I’m a little bunny and I love to hop.
When I start, it’s hard to stop.
But when it comes to flowers I like to dwell.
So bring me something that I can smell.

What is Bridget Reading? featured a similar story in last week’s Flannel Friday roundup of I Know a Wee Piggy. For more flannel ideas check out Bridget’s blog or Flannel Friday.

Color	Food	Plant
red	berries, apple, cherries, cranberries	barberry, rose, poppy
blue	berries, potatoes	wild indigo
gray	oysters, mushrooms	wormwood
yellow	spaghetti, squash, honey, corn, lemongrass, pineapple	daisy, sunflower, daffodil
pink	watermelon, rhubarb, grapefruit	magnolia, peony
purple	eggplant, cabbage, plum, blackberries	violet, lavender, hyacinth
black	sesame seeds, beans, seaweed	black swan, iris, queen of night tulips
brown	whole wheat pasta, toast, almonds	sycamore “helicopter” seeds
orange	nectarines, papayas, cantaloupe, mango, carrots	lion’s tail, aloe, day lily, Chinese lanterns
green	asparagus, avocado, celery, bok choy, broccoli, cucumber, edamame, fennel, honeydew, kale, spinach	fern, gingko
white	cauliflower, tofu, coconut, onion, turnip	magnolia, laurel