Mice!

I have a lot of posts to catch up on, but I am now on a four-week storytime break! Plenty of time to prepare for the next session of storytimes, and plenty of time to write-up the posts I’ve been remiss on.

I opened up storytime with “Busy, Busy Mouse” by Virginia Kroll.

I really enjoyed the storyline in this book — and so did the kids! I thought it was very clever to have the mouse and people each sleeping and being awake at different times. And the pictures are so warm and welcoming, too.

Next up, I improvised a quick “Where is Mousie?” (Where Is Thumbkin?) with two of the fingerpuppets from the Hickory Dickory Dock set from Manhattan Toy. (It came with a boy mouse and a girl mouse and it is positively adorable.) I’ve been doing a lot of adaptations of Thumbkin over this storytime session, and the kids are definitely recognizing it and humming along!

Next up, “Back to Bed, Ed!” by Sebastien Braun.

I wasn’t sure how this story was going to go because it’s a bit longer than my usual pick for a second book, but the kids were absolute angels during this one. I am going to have to try to pick longer books to mix things up if the kids continue to sit for them!

I really wanted to do my “Mouse Paint” flannel, but I didn’t have enough to make it for storytime, so I pulled out my “Where is Maisy Mouse?” game for a second go-round instead. Immediately, I went into one of our fingerplays:

Fingerplay: “Baby Mice”
Where are the baby mice?
Squeak, squeak, squeak
I cannot see them
Peek, peek, peek
Here they come out of their hole! (bring your fist forward)
One, two, three, four, five, and that is all! (open your fingers one at a time)
Credit: Perry Public Library Storytime

And then I read “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” by Laura Numeroff.

I am so happy when I get to share books that *I* read as a child with my storytime kids. And both this one, and “Squeak-A-Lot” are classics from my childhood. The kids loved guessing what would happened next, and I had a lot of kids who said, “He’ll want another cookie” to almost every question. So adorable.

Next, another book from Miss Katie’s childhood: “Squeak-a-Lot” by Martin Waddell.

When you read this book, encourage them to make the animal noises with you. Your storytime will be so much fun, and the kids will be really involved with the book. This next fingerplay/rhyme, I used for my Maisy Mouse program and I knew that I had to use it again, because the kids love boinging and squeaking.

Rhyme & Fingerplay: “Boing, Boing, Squeak”
Boing, boing, squeak
Boing, boing, squeak
A bouncing mouse is in my house
He’s been there for a week
He came from out of nowhere
He quickly settled in
I’m thankful that he came alone
I heard he had a twin
He bounces in the kitchen
He bounces in the den
He bounces in the living room
Look, there he goes again
The mouse just keeps on bouncing
Every minute of the day
He bounce, bounce, bounces
But he does not bounce away
Credit: SurLaLune Storytime

Last up, “Cat and Mouse” by Ian Schoenherr.

What really sold me on choosing this book was the chance to use “Hickory Dickory Dock” without having the long-drawn extra verses. I also loved the addition of “Eeeny Meeny Miney Mo.” A great combination!

To close up, we sang “Hickory Dickory Dock” together before our goodbye song.

And as for craft, we made little mice finger puppets from KidsSoup.

A great way to close out the winter storytime session! I am looking forward to planning new storytimes for the first of two spring sessions during my break.