The Plan
Books
And the Train Goes by William Bee
Freight Train by Donald Crews
I Love Trains! by Philemon Sturges
A Train Goes Clickety-Clack by Jonathan London
Extension Activities
Flannelboard: “Clickety-Clack”
Flannelboard: “This Little Train” (tune of This Old Man)
Action Rhyme: “This Is a Choo-Choo Train”
This is a choo choo train
Puffing down the track
Now it’s going forward,
Now it’s going back,
Now the bell is ringing
Now the whistle blows
What a lot of noise it makes
Everything it goes.
Credit: SurLaLune Storytime
Fingerplay: “This Little Train”
The little train ran up the track (run fingers up arm)
Toot, toot, toot (make train noises)
And then it came toot-tooting back (run fingers down arm)
Toot, toot, toot (make train noises)
Credit: SurLaLune Storytime
Song: “Down By the Station”
Credit: Childhood
Crafts
I bought this craft from Oriental Trading and the kids used glue dots to attach all of the foam pieces. The parents liked this one a lot because it was a picture frame and a magnet craft all in one! The kids liked it because they got to drive their train around once it was done!
How It Went
This was the largest parent/child storytime I have ever done. We had nearly fifty bodies in the room and it was crowded, loud, and energetic. The best books were “I Love Trains” and “A Train Goes Clickety-Clack.” This is the first group that didn’t really respond to “Freight Train,” which surprised me because they are normally a huge fan of any books with colors. (Next week’s theme was “art” which made me super nervous, but I am pleased to say they regained their love of color books between sessions.) After storytime, I had a mom ask me about where she could buy the flannel pieces, and I got the BEST compliments ever when I told her I had made them!
storytime katie 
Thanks for the suggestions, Katie! I already had a train storytime in the pipeline, which I did today. I did A TRAIN GOES CLICKETY-CLACK (at your suggestion), Hillenbrand’s version of DOWN BY THE STATION, and the hot-off-the-presses / just-arrived-at-my-library I’M FAST. All three went over well. I also did your “Clickety-Clack” flannel and a “Wheels on the Train” adaptation.