so tomorrow

Monkey Banana (Tune: Baby Shark) Adapted from this YouTube Video
Baby monkey, banana-na-nas. Baby monkey, banana-na-nas. Baby monkey, banana-na-nas. Bananas!
Repeat with Mommy monkey, daddy monkey. Also can use either of the next two stanzas to end:
Yum-yum-yum, banana-na-na-nas. Yum-yum-yum, banana-na-na-nas. Yum-yum-yum, banana-na-na-nas. Bananas!
It’s the end, banana-na-na-nas. It’s the end, banana-na-na-nas. It’s the end, banana-na-na-nas. Bananas!

Prop source: Zippy Paws Zoo Friends Monkey 'n Banana

A few years ago, I found this felt play set at Target in the dollar spot and thought it would be a great pre-made option for Where Do This Go? a game both Melissa and Mary have posted before.

There's no rhyme to remember, you just simply have a conversation with the kids at an age-appropriate level.

Does a boat fly? No, planes fly! etc.

Or put the bulldozer and space and let the kids correct you.

So many possibilities!

Recently I was at Target and spotted two felt role play sets in the dollar spot area. One was a pizza themed set and another was holiday cookie themed. They were $3 each so I got both with the plan to combine the appropriate pieces from both to adapt one of my favorite early readers, The Pizza that We Made by Joan Holub, for storytime.

I also want to add some plastic props to this set to better match the details from the story, which I will do but wanted to share the incomplete idea while the felt pieces may still be available in stores near you. I don't believe Target lists their dollar spot items online so I can't link them to you, unfortunately.

The flour, oven, and spoon pieces are from the cookie set and the pizza from the pizza set. The kits include "bonus" cookie and pizza trays respectively, but they are just the thin cardboard from the kit packaging and won't hold up for my purposes. I plan to buy real counterparts from a dollar or thrift store instead.

…

Another flannel board I made for our Forest Friends storytime theme is Where is Baby Raccoon, inspired by Amy at One Little Librarian. 

I changed the words around a bit for our version:

Where is Baby Raccoon? 
Baby Raccoon, Baby Raccoon
Are you hiding under the ___color___ balloon?
Let's take a look--- 1 2 3!
Is he there? Can you see?

I made the balloons out of felt using the Ellison hot air balloon (I cut the basket part of the design off the bottom), hot glued string to the back, and made the raccoon out of clip art printed onto milk filters.

Here's another fun project I put together for the Forest Friends storytime we are debuting in the winter. This one was inspired by Tara's super cute flannel board from a few years ago.

Instructions:
Before storytime, layer the pairs of sock. I put a novelty sock on first (in this case a pizza print) so that it would be the last pair revealed, some plain colors in the middle, and then black on the outside (suggested by a coworker) to hide the game.

During storytime, have the kids pat the rhythm on their legs.

A-Hunting We Will Go
A-hunting we will go,
A-hunting we will go,
We'll catch a fox
With _____COLOR_____ socks
And then we'll let him go!

The socks are from a 10 pack of toddler girls' low cuts by Fruit of the Loom (size S, 6-18 months) from Meijer. The pizza socks are from Dollar Tree. Both are easily stretchy enough to accomodate layering them on a fox puppet (this one is Folkmanis's red fox.)

Where Are the Baby Mice? 
Where are the baby mice? Squeak, squeak, squeak
I cannot see them
Peek, peek, peek
Here they come out of their hole! 
One, two, three, and that is all! 

Words: Adapted from the traditional finger play Prop source: Amazon (dog toy, has squeaker)