Storytime April 29th 2014

It started out as a bad day for little yellow bird, little white dog, little orange fox, and little brown squirrel. Until . . .

A discovery, and love, and luck and persistence, and a different point of view changed all that. What can turn a bad day into a good day? You decide.

A delightful exploration of the incredibly variety of nests birds build for their babies, illustrated by a Caldecott Honoree.

Mama built a little nest
inside a sturdy trunk.
She used her beak to tap-tap-tap
the perfect place to bunk.

There are so many different kinds of birds—and those birds build so many different kinds of nests to keep their babies cozy. With playful, bouncy rhyme, Jennifer Ward explores nests large and small, silky and cottony, muddy and twiggy—and all the birds that call them home!

Literacy Extenders:

• Look at first title and go through each page and ask your child what went wrong with each animal that they had a bad day, ask them what would make it better?
• Read through Mama Built a Little Nest and read the side paragraphs to learn more about each bird featured on each page.
• Go Bird watching! See how many different birds you can see while out for a walk or playing
• Gather grass, sticks, and other items from the ground to try and build your own nest.

Craft: Paper Plate Birds

For this craft you will need: orange construction paper, a large paper plate, crayons, scissors, and a glue stick.

• First take your paper plate and fold it half, then fold it once more again, so it is a pie type shape. Take the scissors and cut a quarter sized hole in the middle of it.
• Unfold it and let the plate stay folded in half but standing on the round side (almost rocking)
• Take the orange piece of construction paper and fold it horizontally accordion style. Take the folded paper and place it through the holes on the plate. These will be the wings or feathers of the bird.
• Next cut two small triangles from orange paper glue one on each end of the plate, from the inside. These two pieces will be the tail and beak. 
• After it is assembled let your child color and make an eye on each side of the paper plate.