Cats!

The Plan

Books

Kitten’s First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes
Kitty Cat, Kitty Cat Are You Waking Up? by Bill Martin Jr.
Pete the Cat and the Four Groovy Buttons by Eric Litwin
Posy by Linda Newberry and Catherine Rayner

Extension Activities

Flannelboard: “The Three Little Kittens”

Action Rhyme & Puppets: “Five Little Kittens”
Five little kittens standing in a row
They nod their heads to the children so
They run to the left, they run to the right
They stand up and stretch in the bright sunlight
Along comes a dog, who’s in for some fun
M-e-oooow, see those kittens run!
Credit: Los Angeles Public Library

Fingerplay: “Little Kittens”
Five little kittens (hand in a fist)
All black and white
Sleeping very soundly
All through the night
Meow, meow, meow, meow, meow (raise each finger individually)
It’s time to get up now.
Credit: Pierce County Library

Song: “Soft Kitty”
Soft kitty, warm kitty
Little ball of fur
Happy kitty, sleepy kitty
Purr, purr, purr
Credit: My sister, who is a giant “Big Bang Theory” fan

Craft

This adorable stand up cat craft came from All Kids Network. My teen volunteers cut out the body and the head. Kids colored in their cats and glued the pieces together.

How It Went

I was so excited to do this storytime since I really felt like all of the elements that I had chosen were SO AWESOME. And I have to admit that I was very excited to debut the cat puppets and to read some of my favorite books. The kids, as always, LOVED “Pete the Cat” and some of them didn’t even know about his four groovy buttons! “Kitten’s First Full Moon” is a favorite for everyone — a lot of the parents wind up laughing when the kids chime in with me, “Poor Kitten!” Craft time was spent seeing all the very creatively colored cats and touching base with all of the parents after the fall storytime break.