Here’s what we did for Fun Friday on July 23

The Story

The book was What Makes a Rainbow? by Betty Ann Schwartz

The Song: Great Big Rainbows

Sung to: “I’m a Little Teapot”

There’s a great, big rainbow
In the sky,
With pretty colors
Way up high.
When it starts to rain
And the sun comes out-
A beautiful rainbow
Will pop out!

The Craft: Rainbow Streamers

What you’ll need:

• Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple crepe paper or ribbon streamers
• A small paper plate for each child
• Scissors
• Stapler

How to make it:

STEP 1: Cut the center out of a paper plate.

STEP 2: Cut long pieces of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple crepe paper or ribbon streamers. Each streamer should be 20 – 24 inches long.

STEP 3: Staple a rainbow of streamers or tie ribbon streamers onto the paper plate.

Here’s what we did for Fun Friday on July 9

The Story

The book was Ten Little Fish By Audrey Wood

The Song: Five Little Fish

From Jack Hartmann’s I’ve Got Music In Me CD

One little fish swimming in the sea
Splishing and a splashing rockin to the beat
Here comes another fish, whoops say “hello”
Two little fish swimming in a row

Two little fish swimming in the sea
Splishing and a splashing rockin to the beat
Here comes another fish, whoops say “hello”
Three little fish swimming in a row

Three little fish swimming in the sea
Splishing and a splashing rockin to the beat
Here comes another fish, whoops say “hello”
Four little fish swimming in a row

Four little fish swimming in the sea
Splishing and a splashing rockin to the beat
Here comes another fish, whoops say “hello”
Five little fish swimming in a row

Five little fish swimming in the sea
Splishing and a splashing rockin to the beat
Five little fish swimming in a row
Let’s wave good-bye cause whoops there they go
Let’s wave good-bye cause whoops there they go

The Craft: Paper Plate Aquarium

What you’ll need:

• 2 white or blue paper plates
• A roughly 6 inch diameter circle of clear plastic cut from discarded packaging material (or clear plastic wrap for food)
• Colored construction paper or tempera paint
• Scissors and a craft knife (optional)
• Glue, tape, and stapler
• Crayons, or markers
• Thread or yarn (about a foot total)

How to make it:

STEP 1 – Cut a Viewing Window: Turn one paper plate upside down and draw a circle around the base of the plate (you will cut out the entire bottom of the plate, the part of plate that you would normally put food on). This plate will become the viewing window of the aquarium.
Cut along the circle you drew (have an adult start the cut with a pointy scissors or a craft knife; the child can finish the cutting using a blunt scissors).

STEP 2 – Cover the Viewing Area With Plastic: Cut a circle of clear plastic slightly larger than the hole in the front plate (the plastic should be about 1/4 inch larger than the hole). You can use the thick plastic that is used as packing material on many of the things we buy (the thicker plastic is easier to work with than thin plastic film that can tear and stick to itself). Tape the plastic to the inside of the plate.

STEP 3 – On The Second Plate Make a Blue Background (if you’re using a blue plate, omit this step): You can either color the background blue or cut out a circle of blue construction paper and glue it in place. If you opt to use paper, use the circle you cut out as a template to cut out a blue construction-paper circle for the background of your aquarium. Glue the blue circle to the plate (glue it to the surface where the food would normally go).

STEP 4 – Plants and Animals : The plants and animals can be cut out of construction paper or you can use stickers or pictures from magazines. Glue some of the creatures to the background. Others creatures can hang from threads so they look like they’re swimming. For each hanging creature, cut a short length of thread. Tape one end of the thread to the back of a fish; tape the other end of the thread to the top of the plate.

STEP 5 – Finish the Aquarium: Tape or staple the top plate to the back plate. Now you have a cute paper plate aquarium.

Here’s what we did for Fun Friday on July 16

The Story

The book was The Right Number of Elephants. Written by Jeff Sheppard, illustrated by Felicia Bond.

The Song: Going to the Zoo by Tom Paxton

Daddy’s taking us to the zoo tomorrow, zoo tomorrow, zoo tomorrow.
Daddy’s taking us to the zoo tomorrow.  We can stay all day.

Chorus: We’re going to the zoo, zoo, zoo.  How about you, you, you.
You can come too, too, too.  We’re going to the zoo, zoo, zoo.

See the elephants with the long trunks swinging, great big ears and long trunks swinging.
Sniffing up peanuts with the long trunks swinging.  We can stay all day.

Chorus:

See all the monkeys scritch, scritch, scratching, jumping all around and scritch, scritch, scratching,
Hanging by their long tails, scritch, scritch, scratching.  We can stay all day.

Chorus:

Big black bear is a huff, huff, puffing, coat’s too heavy, he’s a huff, huff, puffing.
Don’t get too near the huff, huff, a puffing, or you won’t stay all day.

Chorus:

Seals in the pond all honk, honk, honking, catching fish and honk, honk, honking,
Little seals are honk, honk, honking.  And we can stay all day.

We stayed all day and we’re getting sleepy, sitting in the car and we’re sleep, sleep, sleepy,
Home already and we’re sleep, sleep, sleepy.  We have stayed all day.

We’ve been to the zoo, zoo, zoo.  So have you, you, you.
You came too, too, too.  We’ve been to the zoo, zoo, zoo.

Momma’s taking us to the zoo tomorrow!  Zoo tomorrow!  Zoo tomorrow!
Momma’s taking us to the zoo tomorrow!  We can stay all day!

Chorus: repeat twice

The Craft: Elephant Puppet

What you’ll need:

• Paper Plate
• Gray Paint
• Gary Construction Paper
• Wiggle Eyes
• Craft Glue
• Paint Brush
• Scissors

How to make it:

Paint a paper plate gray. Let it dry.

Cut two large ear shapes out of the construction paper and glue them into place. Glue on two wiggle eyes. Let the glue dry.

Finally, cut out a big circle in the center of the plate where the nose would be. To use your puppet, simply slip your arm through the hole. It will look like the elephant’s trunk!

Here’s what we did for Fun Friday on July 2

The Story

The book was Fourth of July Mice! By Bethany Roberts

The Song

(To the tune of I’m a Little Teapot)

I’m a little firework
Up in the sky.
I dance and I shimmer
Way up, up high.

Sometimes I’m red.
Sometimes I’m blue.
But I always sparkle
Just for you.

I’m a little firework
Up in the sky.
I dance and I shimmer
Way up, up high

The Craft: Sparklers

What you’ll need:

• Wooden dowel  or craft stick
• 2 gold chenille stems
• Gold foil-type garland
• Scissors

How to make it: Cut garland into six inch pieces. Gather all the pieces of garland together like a bouquet, with the wooden dowel at the center. Use both hands. (You may have to help your kids with this part.)

Wrap a chenille stem around the “bouquet” to secure it. .
Continue wrapping chenille stem tightly around the garland and the dowel. Repeat with second chenille stem.

Position the garland pieces so that it looks like a sparkler.