Kevin Discovers Spring by Liesbet Slegers. The illustrations are perfect for this age group with all the black outlining, and really expressive faces. The book size is also ideal because it is a bit bigger than the traditional board book and not as large as a regular picture book. The text is a bit longer but the kids all seemed to enjoy Kevin's spring day. I decided to use the finger play "My Garden" since the majority of the kids were a bit older and could do all the motions with help. We did a couple of rounds of "April Trickery" and pointed to flowers on our flannel board. I decided to do "Planting a Rainbow" on the flannel board and let the kids touch the different elements (bulbs, stems, leaves, and flowers). It turned to be a fun activity. I then did a quick finger play "Flowers Tall & Small" and "Round and Round the Garden". The group started to get a bit restless so I decided to play "The Wheels on the Bus"- it was handy and they all know the song followed by "Open, Shut Them" . For my last book I went with
Up, Down, and Around by Katherine Ayres. The kids enjoyed the big pictures and pointed out every little thing around. It worked out okay because it was a small group with older kids- except one little guy- plus you really don't have to read much so it became more interactive. We finished with our usual closing song "We Wave Goodbye Like This".
