Pigs!

Last week was the last week of regular storytime! I’m now on a three-week break until our summer session starts. I am using the time to prepare the whole eight weeks of storytimes, as well as get the summer reading program launched.

But enough of that, this week’s theme was pigs — my favorite barnyard animal!

First book up, “Cornelius P. Mud, Are You Ready for Bed?” by Barney Saltzberg.

The book had the kids laughing pretty hard at all the silly ways Cornelius tries to get ready for bed! I think their favorite page spread was when he fed cookies to his fish. This book always has the moms awww-ing at the end of the book when Cornelius needs his hug before bed.

I used one of our purchased flannelboards to tell “The Three Little Pigs.” I was mildly worried that the kids would be freaked about the wolf, so I made him less scary and didn’t deepen my voice or anything. Also, our set ends with the wolf getting burned in the chimney pot and he runs away. The kids were HYSTERICAL at this point. I did not need to worry, obviously.

Next up, “If You Give a Pig a Pancake” by Laura Numeroff.

I know I say this a lot, but there are reasons why some books are classics — they just work in storytime. And this series is one of them.

Then, we did a sing-a-long of “Old MacDonald” with my Manhattan Toy finger puppets. The kids always love a good puppet show, even if it’s small!

Time for another series book with “Little Oink” by Amy Krouse Rosenthal.

Another series that I think is just amazing to use in storytime. I just wish that the books were bigger!

After, it was time for a counting rhyme!

Fingerplay: “Five Little Piggies”
“It’s time for my piggies to go to bed,” the great big mother piggy said.
“So I will count them first to see if all my piggies came back to me.
One little piggy, two little piggies, three little piggies dear
Four little piggies, five little piggies, — yes, they’re all here!”
Credit: Preschool Rainbow

And then I got to use my new flannelboard:

Flannelboard: Five Clean and Squeaky Pigs
Five pigs so squeaky clean
Cleanest that you’ve ever seen
Wanted to outside and play (IN THE MUD)
One jumped into the mud
Landed with a great big thud
Then there were four clean squeaky pigs (Oink, oink!)
Credit: Mel’s Desk / Miss Mary Liberry

The next book was “Pepo and Lolo Are Friends” by Ana Martín Larrañaga.

This is a great story that I’ve used several times before in storytime. I love that it is so simple, and brightly colored, and that the kids really respond to the storyline.

Then it was on to “Who Said Coo?” by Deborah Ruddell.

This was a first time using this book for me! I read it several years ago, and we purchased it for our in-house storytime collection. This is the first storytime that I pulled it out for — and the kids loved it! Animal noises are the most popular participation aspect for my kids.

Then it was on to my favorite fingerplay of the day:

Fingerplay: “Two Mother Pigs”
Two mother pigs lived in a pen (show thumbs)
Each had four babies, and that made ten (show fingers & thumbs)
These four babies were black as night (thumb in palm, wiggle fingers)
These four babies were black and white (switch hands, repeat)
But all eight babies loved to play
And they rolled and rolled in the mud all day (roll hands)
At night, with their mother, they curled up in a heap (clasp hands)
And squealed and squealed till they fell fast asleep.
Credit: SurLaLune Storytime

And then we ended storytime with a rousing chorus of “This Little Piggy.”

Then, it was on to the craft portion!

Dirty pigs! I thought I found this in a Snapshot Day picture, but after seriously going through all the pictures tagged on Flickr, I couldn’t find it again. Sorry! My pig template came KidsSoup though.