Books of the Week

Here are the two books both M and I loved this week (the ones in the carousel above are really good too!):

Little Bear’s Friend, by Else Minarik
I remember this book from my own childhood and so enjoyed sharing it with M!  He is allowed to watch Little Bear on TV once in a while and just loves it – and now that he’s able to sit for a longer book I was anxious to introduce these to him.  I know some of you have mentioned these books in your weekly posts, so thank you for reminding me of them!  The simple illustrations in this book and the sweet story of friendship make it one that any child will love.  It is separated into 4 chapters or stories, but M insists on reading the entire thing every time.  And I am happy to oblige. ;)


Wilfred to the Rescue,by Alan MacDonald
This is part of a series called “Stories from Brambly Hedge”, and it’s the first one we’ve read.  It’s very good, and just adventurous enough without being frightening.  It teaches a bit about being brave and helping others as Wilfred the mouse helps rescues a small vole named Sissy who has drifted out into floodwaters during a game of “hide-and-squeak”.  It’s a great book for my adventurous, brave little guy to act out again and again.  
As usual, I’m linking this up to Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns, and to a new (to me) linky at The Adventure of Motherhood, called Feed Me Books Friday.
Have a beautiful day! :)

Music Time – Songs about Birds

There are so many great bird songs out there, I really could make this an extremely loooong post.  Don’t worry. :)  I’m just going to tell you some of our favorite new songs that we’ve been learning this past week.  And I want to share some wonderful websites to use when looking for songs.

I always go to Little Fingers That Play first.  Deborah has so many good, original, and fun songs that I’m always sure to find something M will love.  We’ve been singing “Three Little Birds” a lot.  I even drew some little birds and a nest for a quick flannel board set to go with it: It is such a catchy tune, I have to admit I sing it a lot even when M isn’t around. ;)

Next, Kididdles is another great place to go for songs.  They have a huge list, and if you sign up (totally free) you can print out song sheets as well as activity sheets to go along with some of the songs.  Many songs also have audio files of the tunes.  I added “Kookaburra”, “Robin in the Rain”, and “The Robin” to our little homemade song and poem book, and we’ve been singing these while we play a variety of instruments.

If you don’t have your own homemade songbook, and are interested in books of songs, Vanessa at Silly Eagle Books has this great list of 100 children’s song books.  We’ve been checking these out at our library – one or two a week – and love them.  Thank you, Vanessa, for putting this list together! :)

One more place where I’ve had good luck in looking for songs is childfun.  The site is a bit awkward to maneuver around in (in my opinion), but they have songs listed for every theme you can imagine.  They also have craft ideas, food ideas, and other activity suggestions too!  We found this cute little action poem/song there:

The Chickadee Song
(Fly your fingers away one by one as you sing this song)

Chorus:
Chickadee, chickadee, happy and gay
Chickadee, chickadee, fly away.

Five little chickadees, no room for more,
One flew away, and then there were four.

         Four little chickadees, sitting in a tree,
         One flew away, and then there were three.

         Three little chickadees, don't know what to do,
         One flew away, and then there were two.

         Two little chickadees, sitting in the sun,
         One flew away, then there was one.

         One little chickadee, can't have any fun.
          He flew away, and then there were none.


Of course there are a ton of other great songs and poems that go with a bird theme… 5 little Ducks, Little White Duck, 2 Little Blackbirds, Robin Redbreast…. etc.
If you have a favorite song about birds, I’d love to hear it!

Have a beautiful day! :)