Circle Time Celebrations- Squirrels and Nuts

This week we are celebrating squirrels and nuts!  We will be reading these books along with some squirrel and nut inspired art, play, baking in the kitchen, and of course, singing, poetry, and movement games during our Circle Time.  We will top it all off with our annual "Nutting Party".   Here is what our Circle Time includes this week...

Invitation
 
Come to the circle where dreams are found,
Take my hand let’s dance around,
Halla, halla, halla, hello,
Round and round the circle we go.
 
 
Opening
 
Winter is white.
Springtime is green.
Summer is golden.
Autumn aflame.
Four lovely seasons to have in a year. 
Sing them by color.  Sing them by name.
 
 
In the Autumn garden, scarlet evening glow.
Apples ripening, brightening, ripening, brown the hazels grow.
(Autumn, Wynstones Press)

 Whisky, Frisky
Whisky, frisky, hoppity hop,
Up he goes to the treetop. 
Whirly, twirly, round and round,
Down he scampers to the ground.
Furly, curly, what a tail!
Tall as a feather, broad as a sail!
Where’s his supper?  In the shell.
Snappity, crackity, out it fell.

• Move around like squirrels for this one.   
• When the poem/chant says "up" pretend to climb up a tree.
• "Whirly, twirly" twirl around
• "down he scampers" pretend to scamper down a tree
• "Furly, curly" move your pretend tail around and around
• "Tall as a feather" stand up tall and raise arms up high
• "broad as a sail" move arms down and out
• "Where's his supper?" put hands out like you do not know
• "In the shell" cup hands around each other like a nut
  
• "Snapity, crackity..." open your hands up

 
 Gray Squirrel
Gray squirrel, gray squirrel,
Swish your bushy tail.
Gray squirrel, gray squirrel,
Swish your bushy tail.
Wrinkle up your little nose,
Hold a nut between your toes.
Gray squirrel, gray squirrel,
Swish your bushy tail.

• "swish your bushy tail" pretend to swish your tail
• "wrinkle up..." wrinkle up your nose
• "Hold a nut between your toes"  I give my children a few nuts to try and hold with their toes.  They think this is so silly!

The Squirrel*
These are the brown leaves tumbling down,
And this is the tall tree bare and brown.
This is the squirrel with eyes so bright,
Hunting for nuts with all her might.
This is the hole where day by day,
Nut after nut she stores away.
When winter comes with its cold and storm,
She’ll sleep curled up all snug and warm.

• (Sing a Song of Seasons by Mary Thienes Schunemann)
• "brown leaves tumbling down" hands fall down slowly like leaves
• 'this is the tall tree..." stand up tall like a tree
• "This is the squirrel" pretend you are a squirrel
  
• "with eyes so bright" put hands in circle around eyes
• "Hunting" look around excitedly
• "This is the hole" make a hole with your arms in a big open circle
• "Nut after nut" pretend to put nuts in your hole
• "Winter comes..."  shiver and rub arms like you are cold
• "sleep curled up..."  curl up in a ball
• This is a good song to end on for Circle Time because everyone is curled up and calm, ready to hear the story.

 


*All of the *starred* segments are songs and can be sung to their proper tunes.  Most of the songs I use during Circle Time are from Sing a Song of Seasons by Mary Thienes-Schunemann.  I highly recommend purchasing this Songbook and CD (all in one nicely bound spiral book).  I got mine from Bella Luna Toys for $24.99.   
 
*All other segments are to be used as poems, finger plays, or movement games.  Most of these come from A Child's Seasonal Treasury by Betty Jones and Wynstones Press books: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, Spindrift, and Gateway.

​*I have tried to give simple ideas of how to move to many of them, but feel free to create your own motions.