Spring Time Song with Finger Puppets

 Spring is upon us and summer is fast approaching. In our neck of the woods, everyone is planting their gardens and the roses are starting to bloom. Here is a fun spring time song with finger puppets for the kids to play along while you sing. 

It is titled In the Leafy Tree Tops. It is from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints children's songbook. The song can be listened to or downloaded at lds.org. Or you can go directly to the song here.

When we sing this each child has a flower on a popsicle stick and a bird finger puppet. Cut out the circles where the beak should be and their thumb and pointer finger become the beak. My holes are a little small, so you might have to cut a little bigger than what is drawn. I printed the bird to be about 5 inches tall.

In the Leafy Tree Tops

 In the leafy treetops, the birds sing "Good morning."

They're first to see the sun.

They must tell ev'ryone.

In the leafy treetops, the birds sing "Good morning."

In my pretty garden, the flowers are nodding.

"How do you do?" they say.

"How do you do today?"

In my pretty garden, the flowers are nodding.

I hope you have a great spring and that the birds sing and flowers bloom in your garden!

N is for . . .

. . .  nose! Can you name that smell with your eyes closed?

. . . number book! Check back later for a post on how to make these awesome, foldable books. No tape, glue, or staples!

. . . noodles!

Spring Trees

 Here in Utah spring has come early. I know it means we will get a crazy frost in May that is going to kill all our fruit buds, but I am trying to be positive and enjoy the beautiful weather while we can. This is the view out my front window. It's amazing and it smells just as pretty as it looks.

In our church we have a time during church where the kids have music time and sing songs. One song is called Popcorn Popping by Georgia Bello and it is a song about spring time. 

1. I looked out the window, and what did I see?
   Popcorn popping on the apricot tree!
   Spring had brought me such a nice surprise,
   Blossoms popping right before my eyes.
   I could take an armful and make a treat,
   A popcorn ball that would smell so sweet.
   It wasn't really so, but it seemed to be
   Popcorn popping on the apricot tree.

(Here's a link to the music and a free mp3.) 

Our neighbor has a "popcorn" tree so we sang the song and then went outside to look at it. Then we decided to make our own spring trees like the fall and winter trees we made earlier in the year.

 

I popped some popcorn without oil or butter so it wouldn't make grease marks on the paper. It was so simple. Put about 1/3 c popcorn kernels in the bottom of an opened paper bag. Fold over the top two or three times. Put it in the microwave and cook until there is a 1 - 2 second delay between pops. (Mine took about 2 minutes) Then take it out and enjoy your healthy, air popped popcorn. Easy peasy!

Then the kids glued the popcorn onto their colored tree. Make sure they do a pretty good puddle of glue so that the popcorn sticks since it isn't flat.