Fun with Friends at Storytime

Back during Shark Week, I saw the cutest variation of 2 Little Blackbirds @ sunflowerstorytime.com! Her 2 little sharks were adorable. I made me a set and then I saw a really cute octopus @ storytime ABC's and I wanted 2 of them! After I had them I decided I needed, at least, 5 different creatures so I'd have a total of 10 (the magic preschool number!). After some research and fiddling with several pictures to make patterns, here are my Jellyfish, Seahorse and Crab.  Now, I need to make up rhymes for all but the sharks and I'm set!! I decided that I can use these as finger puppets or on the flannel board. I used combinations of Google images to design my patterns and then I used ribbons, sequins and glitter glue or glitter fabric paint to embellish them. I especially love the little crowns on the seahorses. I cut up a fancy sequin to get the parts for those and the cheeks for the jellyfish. They all turned out better than I had hoped! It's funny how that works sometimes! *Update: Here's the link for the rhymes for each set of sea creatures Two Little Sharks.

Here's another post about getting ready for summer.  I found this rhyme that I made up a couple of years ago when our summer theme was a beach theme.  I made the rhyme work with seahorses and starfish. I really love the seahorses!  I used an organza ribbon to make the ruffled fin down the back of the starfish.  The eyes are flower and circle sequins.
Here you go:
Ten Swimming Seahorses (*Starfish)
by Kathryn Roach

Let's count 10 seahorses* swimming by
All different colors, my, oh my!
The first is red
the next light blue
Here is orange
And purple too.
I see one that's green
We're not done
I see a white one;
This is fun!
Now, yellow, then blue
pink is last
10 Seahorses* swimming fast!
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10


*Update*  This could also be done with a laminated file folder cutout and colored paper.**


Here's the craft we did. I used a strip of yellow crepe paper sandwiched between 2 seahorse shapes. The children spongepainted the seahorse shapes with a small sponge and blue paint and added a stick-on eye.  They were pretty pleased with these!  I had some teen volunteers help cut out the shapes.







Of course, I couldn't leave the starfish shapes alone! Notice the shiny glitter? LOL!










Happy swimmy summertime to come!!