Families: Cake

For more information on how I plan and prepare my family storytimes, check out this introduction post. I starred the materials used in the plan. Some activities go unstarred because I only do this program once a week.

The Plan

Books

Eight Animals Bake a Cake by Susan Middleton Elya
The Red Hen by Rebecca and Ed Emberley*
Who Made This Cake? by Chihiro Nakagawa*

Early Literacy Tip

Children can help you measuring things in all kinds of ways — in deciding whether something will fit in a certain space, in cooking, and in making things. Understanding the concept of measuring begins to develop one of the mathematical skills children will need in school.

Theme Extension Activities

Featured CD: The Wiggles “Yummy Yummy”*

Featured Track: #20 Crunchy Munchy Honey Cakes*

Flannelboard: “Cake Count”

Flannelboard & Puppets: “Down Around the Corner”*

Flannelboard: “Five Birthday Candles”*

Fingerplay: “Pat-a-Cake”*
Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake
Baker’s man, bake me a cake as fast as you can
Roll it, pat in,
And mark it with a “B” and put it in the oven for baby and me
Credit: Childhood

Repeating Extension Activities

I had four back-up activities in case I needed them for time. I rarely used them, but here they are:

• Dance Your Fingers Up
• Head, Shoulders, Knees, & Toes*
• Itsy Bitsy Spider
• Thumbkin

How It Went

This was the fourth day in a row of dreary rain, so it definitely kept some of my families away which made me sad. I had a mostly preschool crowd this morning. “The Red Hen” was their favorite book, although they liked that I made “Who Made This Cake?” interactive as well. Flannelboards work SO WELL with this crowd; I love having three of them in one plan! I had the children face their caregivers during “Pat-a-Cake” and it was pretty darn adorable. Lastly, the kids did a great job of cleaning up shakers and “Crunchy Munchy Honey Cake” — everyone gave shakers back!