Um, oops? This is a left-over from summer that I never wrote up! (And what’s worse is I found more drafts that I never finished saved in WordPress. Prepare yourselves for a blast from the past!)
The Plan
Books
The Animal Bop Won’t Stop by Jan Ormerod
Brontorina by James Howe
Color Dance by Ann Jonas
Dancing Feet by Lindsey Craig
Hilda Must Be Dancing by Karma Wilson
Extension Activities
Flannelboard: “Five Dancing Ballerinas”
Five dancing ballerinas, prancing on their toes
The twirl and spin and jump; then off the stage she goes (count down)
Credit: Storytimes Online
Fingerplay: “Dance Your Fingers Up”
Dance your fingers up, dance your fingers down
Dance your fingers to the side, dance them all around
Dance them on your shoulders, dance them on you head
Dance them on your tummy, and put them all to bed
Credit: Best Kids Book Site
Song, Shakers, and Scarves: “Hokey Pokey” and “If You’re Happy and You Know It”
Action Rhyme: “We Can Jump”
We can jump, jump, jump
We can hop, hop, hop
We can clap, clap, clap
We can stop, stop, stop
We can nod our heads for yes
We can shake our heads for no
We can bend our knees a little bit
And we can sit down really slow
Credit: 1234 More Storytimes
Craft
Because this was the last storytime of the summer session, I went all out and bought these foam star shapes. Then, my sister and I hot-glued them to the wooden dowels and tied the ribbon around them. The kids just put foam shapes on their “dance wands.”
How It Went
Thursday morning
This was a really great way to end the storytime session. The kids had been attending for six weeks now and were pretty comfortable with me and their storytime friends, so participation was not an issue. They hopped and bopped all over the place, but settled down for the stories. I do not think this would be a good theme to open up a storytime session with. This group’s favorite book was “Dancing Feet.”
Friday morning
This storytime was PACKED with kids. I think I had around thirty, which is a lot of kids for our small space. There were a lot of reminders about making sure to have personal space before doing the activities. This group really enjoyed “Hilda Must Be Dancing,” as did I. Also, this group was just AMAZED with the dance wands. Afterwards, we had a brief little dance party on the rug before their teachers rounded them up to go home.
storytime katie 
Love this! I have done a dance storytime before (I called it Twinkletoes!), but this gave me some new ideas! I think I will bring back Twinkletoes storytime in our spring storytime series… 😀
I love Hilda Must Be Dancing and was looking for ideas for a fun time for both boys and girls. Thanks for the fingerplays. I used scarves the last time I did Hilda Must Be Dancing. But I may try your star wand. I think slow motion music would be a blast for Hilda to dance to.
You’re very welcome! I hope your event went well!