Alphabet!

My first storytime this fall — and I was so excited to do my first alphabet storytime. There are some fantastic alphabet books and crafts, but I had the hardest time finding songs and fingerplays.

I started off storytime by reading my new favorite alphabet book, “LMNO Peas” by Keith Baker.

This is such a great rhyming story all about peas and who they are. Astronauts, voters, and tons more — these little peas are everything imaginable under the sun. And a quick heads-up to all of my friends expecting babies — you will be getting this book from me!

Together, we stood up and learned “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” for the first time. I introduced this rhyme by having everyone find their heads, shoulders, knees, and toes before I started singing. And I did have some kids working through the song, just a step behind me.

Next up, I did “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom” by Bill Martin.

This is our Chicka tree, and the letters are Velcro that stick to the tree. I really wanted to do the activity tree as I read the story, but I had very young kids at this storytime, so I left the tree out with all the letters on top of it while I read the book. If this had been preschool storytime, I would have ditched the book and just used the tree to tell the story.

I found this great action rhyme and just modified it a bit to work in my storytime:

Action Rhyme: “Alphabet Beat”
First clap your hands. Then stomp your feet.
Everybody do the alphabet beat.
Apple, Apple, Apple – a – a – a,
Apple, Apple, Apple – a – a – a,
Wave your arms high. Swing your arms low.
The alphabet beat is the way to go.
Blue, Blue, Blue – b – b – b
Blue, Blue, Blue – b – b – b
Move to the left. Move to the right.
The alphabet beat is way out of sight.
Car, Car, Car – c – c – c
Car, Car, Car – c – c – c
Now give a high five to a nearby friend.
The alphabet beat has come to the end!
Credit: Preschool Storytime Outlines

I read “Alligator Alphabet” by Stella Blackstone and Stephanie Bauer next.

The bright colors really caught the eyes of the kids, and they really enjoyed this title. Next, I lined up the alphabet on the flannelboard and pointed to the letters as I said them. And then, I went to A again and asked what starts with A. I was hoping for apple, and thankfully a mom jumped in to give me a segue to the fingerplay:

“Way Up High In the Apple Tree”
Way up high in the apple tree (stretch arm up high)
Two red apples smiled at me (hold up 2 fingers)
I shook that tree as hard as I could (make a shaking motion)
Down came the apples, (make a downward motion)
Mmmm–were they good! (smile and rub stomach)

I finished up alphabet storytime with “The Sleepy Little Alphabet” by Judy Sierra.

A great, quiet read to cap the storytime, but we weren’t finished yet — what alphabet storytime would be complete without singing the “ABCs?”

Our craft for this week was a simple alphabet caterpillar from DLTK’s Kids.

(Well, it was simple for the kids and parents — not so simple for my teen volunteer who had to painstakingly cut out enough for each child to spell out their name! My teens are really awesome at cutting stuff out for storytime.)