Buggy Bugs

Today at storytime was all about BUGS -- not insects, mind you, because included were stories about spiders, centipedes, snails and worms.

I love doing a bug-themed storytime because I always do the following repeat-after-me chant, learned years ago at Girl Scout Camp :
Flea!
Flea, fly!
Flea, fly, flow,Mos-qui-to!
Calamine, calamine, calamine lotion
Oh, no more calamine lotion!Itchy, itchy, scratchy, scratchy got one on my back-y, back-y,
Owie, owie, zowie, zowie, wish he'd go away!
Quick! Get the bug spray!I think he went that-a-way!Sh ... sh ... sh ... sh ... shhhhhhh .......

We also read the following "buggy" books :
Sitting in my box by Dee Lillegard
(one of my favorites, now sadly out of print)
I love bugs! by Emma Dodd
Gotcha! by Gail Jorgensen
Big rig bugs by Kurt Cyrus

I then shared the book prop for "Sam's Sandwich" by David Pelham

Finally, I created this flannel for today's storytime. The idea was "borrowed" from Miss Mary Liberry and worked just absolutely fantastically with my enormous summer crowd :

Five little caterpillars and not one more,
One spun a cocoon and now there are four.

Four little caterpillars sitting on a tree,
One spun a cocoon and now there are three.

Three little caterpillars with a big job to do,
One spun a cocoon and now there are two.

Two little caterpillars basking in the sun,
One spun a cocoon and now there is just one.

One little caterpillar knew her work was almost done,
She spun a cocoon ... and now there are none.

 BUT ...

One cocoon opened up underneath the sun.
Now there's a beautiful butterfly - that makes one!

Another cocoon opened up with the morning dew,
There's another beautiful butterfly and that makes two!


                                                       Yet another cocoon opened up in the shade of the tree,
                                                       That makes another butterfly - now there are three!

                                                       One more cocoon opened up spreading her wings galore,
                                                       There's another butterfly -- that makes four!

                                                       The last little cocoon opened up, feeling so alive,
                                                       That makes another butterfly -- at last there are five.