Manual Main Page | Toddlers

Texas Skies

Books to Share

• Bunny's Rainbow Day by Monica Wellington.
• I Want To Be An Astronaut by Bryon Barton.
• It Looked Like Split Milk by Charles G. Shaw.
• Moonbear's Skyfire by Frank Asch.
• Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star illustrated by Jeanette Winter.
• What Next, Baby Bear! by Jill Murphy.

Books to Display and Booktalk

• A Rainbow of My Own by Don Freeman.
• Sol a Sol: Bilingual Poems by Lori Marie Carlson.
• Zoom! Zoom! I'm Off to the Moon by Dan Yaccarino.

Bulletin Board

The Stars at Night

Attach die-cut white stars on a dark blue or black background. Display book titles, authors, and call numbers of books about the night, stars, and space.

Display

To the Moon!

Create a display of picture books and non-fiction books about space. Use toy or model rockets as the centerpiece.

Decorations

Hang stars and space shapes on string from ceiling. You may use the shapes from the collage craft in this program.

Nametag and Stamps

As the children enter the storytime room, give them a nametag made from a die-cut of a star, and stamp their hands with the Kidstamps' "Star" by Tomie DePaola or "Rainbow" by Maryann Coca-Leffler.

Fingerplay

Johnny's Ride

(From Listen! And Help Tell the Story by Bernice Wells Carlson)

Johnny looked at the moon, (Stretch arms overhead in shape of moon)
Johnny looked at the stars, (Wiggle fingers with arms above head)
Johnny got in a rocket, (Lower arms, place hands in the shape of rocket)
Johnny went up to Mars. (Move rocket above head)

return to top

Rhymes

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

Twinkle, twinkle little star,
How I wonder what you are.
Up above the world so high
Like a diamond in the sky.
Twinkle, twinkle little star
How I wonder what you are.

Flannel Board

It Looked Like Spilt Milk

Using the illustrations from It Looked Like Split Milk as patterns, create white flannel cloud shapes. Tell the story on flannel board, pausing so children can call out the shape as you add them to the flannel board. Add green grass across bottom edge to turn the shapes into clouds floating in the sky.

Crafts

Cloud Shapes

(Use with It Looked Like Split Milk by Charles G. Shaw)

Materials

• Blue construction paper
• Poster board
• Cotton balls
• Glue

Directions

Put glue on a small piece of poster board. Children place a sheet of construction paper on the poster board, pat it to collect some glue, and place cotton balls on the paper to create cloud shapes.

Space Collage

Materials

• Black or dark blue construction paper
• Paper in various colors
• Space shape patterns
• Glue sticks

Directions

Precut the space shape patterns from various colors of paper. The children will attach the space shapes to the black or dark blue construction paper using the glue sticks.

Rainbow Streamer

Materials

• Tissue or crepe paper in assorted colors cut in 8" to 12" strips
• Large craft sticks
• Masking tape cut into 3-inch pieces

Directions

Precut strips of tissue paper. (It is also helpful to precut pieces of masking tape and stick them around craft table.) Children tape the crepe paper to one end of a craft stick to create a rainbow streamer.

Games and Activities

Rainbow Dance

Play a recording of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and have the children sing and dance and wave the rainbow streamers as made in the craft above.

Twinkle, Twinkle

Play a recording or sing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" while presenting Jeanette Winter's board book.

Audio Recordings

"Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" on One Light, One Sun by Raffi.

Video

Rainbow of My Own. (5 minutes)

Web Site

Kididdles
www.kididdles.com
Lyrics to children's songs organized alphabetically and by category.

Professional Resources

Listen! And Help Tell the Story by Bernice Wells Carlson.

Table of Contents | We Are Texans: Me!

return to top