- Hi, friends!

My name is Darlene Thomas and I'm so excited to share a story with you today.

The title of today's book is called "Seasonal Adventures."

Written by Johnny Ray Moore, and illustrated by Cbabi Bayoc.

Stick around after the story, and I'll show you how you can make your very own seasonal collage at home.

Are you ready to hear the story?

[children cheering] Let's get started.

"Welcome to spring!"

"Tireless tadpoles swim with ease.

"North wind gently combs the trees.

"Green grass growing on a hill.

"Newborn, chirping, Whippoorwills.

"Ravens cawing in the wind.

"Dogwoods dressed with leaves, again.

"Quails astir about the fields.

"Amongst the shrubs are daffodils.

"April showers somewhat soon.

"Cloudless skies again by noon.

"Life's anew with sounds unheard, "all because spring has occurred.

"Welcome to spring!

"Welcome to summer!

"Sun rays dancing, ponies prancing, "kittens on their mother's back.

"Frogs all hoppy, puddles sloppy.

"Ducks are going quack, quack, quack!

"Thunder crashing, lightning flashing, "raindrops cooling thirsty Earth.

"People cheering, dusk appearing, "runners racing to be first.

"Daisies blooming, cats assuming, "dogs are sleeping on the lawn.

"Daylight fading, cows parading "back to shelter at the barn.

"Welcome to summer!

"Welcome to fall!

"Mornings with a bit of chill, "Jack Frost sprinkled down the hill.

"Stacks of hay all turning brown, "lined so neatly on the ground.

"Farmers plowing fields now bare, "leaves all scattered here and there.

"Acorns from the mighty oak.

"Chimneys coughing puffs of smoke.

"Supper at the brink of dusk, "plates all filled with just enough.

"Twinkling stars at evening's end "let us know fall now begins.

"Welcome to fall!

"Welcome to winter.

"Snow is falling, plop, plop, plop!

"Covering trees and mountain tops.

"Mice are searching in the earth.

"Lone wolf howls for all it's worth.

"Furry bunnies near a cave "watching chipmunks misbehave.

"Reindeer nosy with their stares.

"Snoring, fuzzy wuzzy bears.

"Leaves of color scattered 'round "covering tracks upon the ground.

"Gliding geese against the sun.

"Another season's just begun.

"Welcome to winter!"

The end.

I hope you enjoyed the story, "Seasonal Adventures."

Now stick around, for our activity today we're going to make seasonal collages.

All you will need for this activity is some white glue, a base to stick your seasonal materials on, and you can use any flat surface, you can use paper or cardboard, or maybe even a shoebox top.

It's up to you.

But today I'm going to use paper.

You can use white paper or blue paper.

If you white paper is the only color that you have and you want to use a different color, you can always use crayons or markers to color your paper before adding your materials.

Today, I'm going to use this blue paper to represent the sky.

And now I'm going to show you some seasonal materials that I found around my home.

And I'm gonna be using some of these materials to represent the seasons in my collage.

So I know many of you have seen these in your neighborhood.

They come in all different shapes, colors, and sizes, and these are leaves.

And these leaves fall from the trees in the fall season.

And I think it will just add fresh leaf color and texture to my collage.

Next I have a recycled cover from some products that I use around the house, and I was thinking that I could use either the orange or the yellow to represent the summer sun.

What do you think?

I think I'll go with the yellow today.

Next I have some beautiful tissue paper that I've saved from a party that I went to.

I just thought the flowers were so gorgeous.

But if you don't have tissue like this at home, you can always grab a piece of facial tissue or any other kind of soft tissue you have at home and you can use markers to color your own flowers onto the paper.

And I'm sure it will come out beautiful.

And the next item I have is some recycled tin foil, and it's so shiny and shimmery, it reminds me of the glistening rain drops that fall during spring time.

Finally, for the last season of winter, I have these cotton balls that I found in my bathroom.

And if you don't have cotton balls at home, you can definitely ball up a piece of facial tissue into a circle in your hand to make a snowball for winter.

I'm going to tear up little tiny pieces of this tin foil, and start making my rain drops for my collage.

And when I'm all done, I'll show you my seasonal collage.

I am all done.

Can you find the four seasons in my collage?

Let's find them together.

I see many different colored leaves that you might find in the fall season.

I see green leaves and red leaves and yellow leaves and orange leaves, and my favorite thing to do is to step on the really crunchy ones and listen to them go crunch, crunch, crunch.

I see the big, hot sun that shines down on us in the summer time.

And one of my favorite thing to do in the summer is to go to the beach.

I see the shimmering raindrops watering the beautiful flowers that grow in the spring time.

I love to pick them and smell them.

They smell so beautiful.

And I see the cold, wet snowballs that you can barely hold in your hands that I love to make in the winter season.

That's four seasons in all, winter, spring, summer, and fall.

Remember, friends, when you're making your own collage, you do not have to use these same materials, you can use anything that you find around your home that reminds you of the four seasons.

Just ask a trusted adult to help you find those items.

And don't forget to ask friends or family members to try to guess which materials match each season.

I had a really fun time reading the story "Seasonal Adventures" for you today.

And I hope you enjoy making your seasonal collage as much as I enjoyed making mine.

I also hope wherever you are, you are enjoying the weather.

Goodbye.