The Plan
Books
Bubble Bath Pirates by Jarrett J. Krosoczka
If You Were a Penguin by Wendell and Florence Minor
Piggies in the Pumpkin Patch by Mary Peterson and Jennifer Rofe
Pizza at Sally’s by Monica Wellington
Polly’s Pink Pajamas by Vivian French
Extension Activities
Flannelboard: “Five Pigs So Squeaky Clean”
Flannelboard: “The Pirate Wore a Red Patch”
Flannelboard Puzzle: “Letter P”
Fingerplay: “Two Mother Pigs”
Two mother pigs lived in a pen (show thumbs)
Each had four babies, and that made ten (show fingers & thumbs)
These four babies were black as night (thumb in palm, wiggle fingers)
These four babies were black and white (switch hands, repeat)
But all eight babies loved to play
And they rolled and rolled in the mud all day (roll hands)
At night, with their mother, they curled up in a heap (clasp hands)
And squealed and squealed till they fell fast asleep.
Credit: SurLaLune Storytime
Fingerplay: “Pizza Man!”
Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, pizza man [Clap hands together.]
Make me a pizza as fast as you can [Shake finger.]
Roll it [Roll as if with rolling pin.]
Toss it [Pretend to toss dough in the air.]
Sprinkle it with cheese [Sprinkling motions.]
Put it in the oven [Pushing motion with hands.]
And bake it fast, please!
Credit: SurLaLune Storytime
Song & Puppet: “Did You Ever See a Penguin?”
Did you ever see a penguin, a penguin, a penguin?
Did you ever see a penguin swim this way and that?
Swim this way and that way, swim this way and that way?
Did you ever see a penguin swim this way and that?
Modified from Childhood
Craft
This was the same craft that I made for pizza storytime. I just saved all the left-over yarn for this storytime.
How It Went
The kids were particularly impressed by the two books that had multiple P words in the titles. And I think that “Polly’s Pink Pajamas” was the overall favorite; mostly because it inspired a chaotic conversation about what color was best for pajamas. Our big extension activity hits were definitely the flannelboards and the rhyme “Pizza Man.” Their pizza crafts were very creative — I had a lot of kids who made rainbow pizzas!
storytime katie 
I love the craft!! How did you get all the yarn to stay on? Glue (obviously) but did you spread Elmer’s glue with a paint brush or use a glue stick….?
Elmer’s gluesticks! We use the purple kind that disappears as it dries.
Hi, Katie:
I recently borrowed some of the ideas from your Pirate program plan for my job interview where I presented a pseudo storytime program with my addition of opening and closing activities. In the plan I demonstrated to the interview panel that I would open the program by putting on my pirate captain’s ensemble in front of kids to introduce the theme. At the end parents and kids would make pirate hats with old newspaper. Then all the little ‘pirates’, wearing their captain hats, would be gathered again and sing one of the pirate songs they would have learned that day. I want to thank you for sharing your ideas and expertise so generously. They were quite inspiring. Best Wishes.
Wen-Ling Liu
Thank you so much for your lovely comment! I’m glad to have helped and I hope that your job interview leads to a job!