Category: Family Storytime

Penguins!

Weeks ago, I did a penguin storytime for the kids. I just got a little behind on posting my summaries because my library has been closed for the past three Fridays (typically when I have time to write up my summaries). Anyway, here it is!

I started off storytime with “Playful Little Penguins” by Tony Mitton.

A rhyming story with bright pictures, this was a great book to start off with. Mitton’s penguins are cute and expressive — the kids were really able to follow the story easily. Next up, “If You Were a Penguin” by Wendell & Florence Minor.

This was a great switch into realistic looking penguins — and the text is nice and short for a quick read before our first extension activity:

Action Song & Puppet: “Did You Ever See a Penguin?”
Did you ever see a penguin, a penguin, a penguin?
Did you ever see a penguin waddle this way and that?
Waddle this way and that way, waddle this way and that way
Did you ever see a penguin waddle this way and that?
Credit: Childhood

I paired our song with a really cute penguin puppet, and had the kids hold up their make-believe penguins with me. Next, I found a version of our session song — “I’m a Little Teapot” — with an arctic twist.

Action Song: “I’m A Little Penguin”
I’m a Little Penguin
In the sea.
I can swim as fast as can be!
When I catch a fish, just look at me.
I’m as proud as I can be.
Credit: Step by Step — Penguin Theme

After the kids sat down again, I pulled out “I Like It When…” by Mary Murphy.

This turned out to be a super quiet read, and some of the kids wound up laying down during the book. That led me straight into our flannelboard this week, which turned out to be a big hit!

Flannelboard Song: “Penguin Went Over the Iceberg”
The penguin went over the iceberg,
The penguin went over the iceberg,
The penguin went over the iceberg,
To see what he could see,
To see what he could see,
The penguin went over the iceberg,
The penguin went over the iceberg,
The penguin went over the iceberg
To see what he could see.
The other side of the iceberg,
The other side of the iceberg,
The other side of the iceberg,
Was all that he could see,
Was all that he could see,
The other side of the iceberg,
The other side of the iceberg,
The other side of the iceberg,
Was all that he could see.
Credit: The Best Kids Book Site

The kids could not get enough of the penguin, and I sang this song three times.

Lastly, “10 Little Penguins” by Jean-Luc Fromental.

This is a very small pop-up book. I thought that it might be a big problem because of its size — but the kids were okay as I panned back and forth. The only problem with the book was that I had one little boy who kept trying to help me move the penguins around. I had to repeatedly tell him to sit down, but because of the size of the book I couldn’t hold it any higher to get him away! Last fingerplay before craft:

Fingerplay: “Two Little Penguins”
Two little penguins sitting on the ice (hold up two fingers)
One bows once, the other bows twice (made index fingers bow)
Waddle little penguins. Waddle away. (put fingers behind back)
Come back penguins. Time to play! (bring fingers to the front)
Credit: King County Library System

And the most adorable craft ever – penguin puppet.

This is another one from KidsSoup. Teen volunteers cut everything out, and pre-glued the puppet down so that the kids could immediately slip their hands into their puppets. Super cute craft.

January 3, 2011 15 Comments Short URL, Family Storytime

Wild Animals!

For my second afternoon storytime, I decided to do a wild animals storytime. And I had nineteen kids show up to practice their animal noises! (I was floored, given the weather!)

First up, I read “Dancing Feet” by Lindsay Craig.

I used this book in my “Shake Your Sillies Out” program, and promised that I would use it again. It was the perfect book to kick off storytime. The kids love guessing which animal is coming next. I did not have the kids stomp their feet with the animals though, because I didn’t want to get them all riled up at the first book! And since they were sitting so well, I went straight into “Jump!” by Scott Fischer.

This is a great repetitive, cause-and-effect book — the kids quickly caught on to the animals pouncing on each other, happily shouting out “JUMP!” between pages. My favorite part of this book is the vertical spread. Make sure you know when it’s coming, and the kids will be so surprised when you turn the book around! Since they were already such great jump shouters, I gave them a chance to practice their own jumping with this action rhyme:

Action Rhyme: Kangaroo!
Jump, jump, jump (Jump)
Goes the kangaroo (Jump)
I thought only one (Hold up one finger)
But now I see two! (Hold up two fingers)
Momma and her baby
With his head popping out (Make a fist, have other hand pop out)
He holds on tight (Hug yourself)
As they jump all about! (Jump)
Credit: Preschool Education — Animals: Zoo

Next up, I had the kids sit down for our flannelboard: Dear Zoo (Based on the book by Rod Campbell).

All of the kids kept trying to guess what animal was coming next from the zoo — and I had one boy who insisted the zoo should send a dog, which was excellent when I got to the end and he proclaimed, “I WAS RIGHT!”

After that energetic story, I led the kids in a quick round of “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” slow, fast, slow to get them prepared for the next book. It actually gave me a great segue for “Whose Nose and Toes?” by John Butler.

Now this book is definitely for the younger crowd, and my older kids dominated the younger kids. But! One of my youngest loved the pictures and kept pointing all the way from the back row, trying to sound out the animal’s names. The only one that she got clearly was dog.

(Another reason why I like to mix things up, and do some younger books is that I often have bilingual families attending. So this simple book can be understood without actually understanding all of the English words I’m saying. The reason I know this? I had some kids guessing Spanish animal names instead of English.)

The book ends with an elephant as the last animal to guess, so that was another great intro to our next action rhyme.

Action Rhyme: “Big Gray Elephant”
The big gray elephant slowly walks.
She doesn’t make a sound.
She swings her trunk from left to right.
When she puts her feet on the ground.
Swing, swing, left and right,
She doesn’t make a sound.
Credit: Alphabet Soup – Zoo Poems, Songs, and Fingerplays

Next up, “My Heart is Like a Zoo” by Michael Hall.

Definitely a great rhyming story; my (and their) favorite page is the page where hippos are drinking apple juice. The kids were very talkative during this story, and I definitely had to lower my voice to sometimes get their attention between rhyming couplets. Overall, this is still one of my favorite books for its bright colors, and almost homage to “Color Zoo.”

Next, I just couldn’t resist using two flannels in one program! So, I pulled out my Seals on the Bus flannel (Based on the book by Lenny Hort) and we sang the book out loud.

One last song before our last book! I pulled out my Manhattan Toy “Sweet Safari” finger puppets for this one, and modified what animals we heard so that the puppets would fit.

Song & Puppets: “You Can Hear” (Tune: She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain)
You can hear the lions roaring at the zoo, ROAR! ROAR!
You can hear the lions roaring at the zoo, ROAR! ROAR!
You can hear the lions roaring, you can hear the lions roaring
You can hear the lions roaring at the zoo! ROAR! ROAR!
(Elephants trumpeting, zebra braying, monkey eeking)
Credit: Perpetual Preschool

Last book, I did as an action rhyme/book — “From Head to Toe” by Eric Carle.

Luckily, we own the big book version of this one, so I was able to have all the kids stand (short ones walk towards the middle of the rug to see better, tall ones move to the sides) while I held up the book, panning back and forth and doing (most) of the motions with them. This led to hysterical giggles — I don’t recommend doing this as the opening story!

But for me and my kids, it was time for the craft. They made lion masks that I found on my new favorite website, KidsSoup. (Again, it’s paid, but for me it has been WORTH it so that I’m not struggling to find a craft to fit my theme.)

Nothing beats little ones running out of the program room roaring at one another.

December 15, 2010 4 Comments Short URL, Family Storytime

Shapes!

I had a second successful storytime! My numbers were consistent for a second week — I am as shocked as you are! Especially given Chicago’s *freezing* temperatures this week. And it snowed yesterday night, causing more chaos! Anyway, this week I tackled shapes in my storytime. This turned out to be such a great storytime — both material wise and kid wise.

I started off with “Dog’s Colorful Day” by Emma Dodd.

A great book about counting, and colors that can easily be used in a shapes theme. Before I started the book (but after I had told the kids the title and author), I pulled out my circle shape from my flannelboard, and asked the kids what shape I had. After they told me it was a circle (yay!), I said that we were going to read a book about a lot of circles making a dog very messy.

This one is always a great read-aloud, and a definite success in shapes storytime. Next up, a cute song!

Song: “I Can See Shapes” (Tune: London Bridge)
I can see a circle shape, circle shape, circle shape
I can see a circle shape, how about you?
(Little square, triangle, rectangle, diamond)
Credit: The Story Place

When each shape came up, I put it on the flannelboard, leaving all the shapes up. I asked the kids to tell me the color the shape after each verse. (Really, this could have been a color & shapes storytime.)

Then, I read “Color Zoo” by Lois Ehlert.

(Side story: This is the first book that I remember hearing read to me in a library, in kindergarten.)

Since this is a super simple book (just animal names, and shape names), I did elaborate by saying, “Take the square away and we get…a…” and waited for the kids to shout out the animal names. Huge success, I had one little boy ask me to read it again, right away. But instead, I asked if he wanted to play a game…which, of course, he did! So I did our flannelboard, a play on “Little Mouse, Little Mouse, What House Are You In?” except with a little dog and my shapes.

Then, I read “Whoo? Whoo?” by David A. Carter.

This one is very similar to “Color Zoo,” except that the shape cut-outs join together to make an animal. The kids and I shouted out what shapes were on the page before turning it to reveal an animal. They *loved* participating with this one. I followed it up with a revamp of a classic fingerplay:

Action Song/Fingerplay: “Where Is…?” (Tune: Where Is Thumbkin?)
Where is triangle? Where is triangle?
Here I am. Here I am.
How are you today, sir? Very well, I thank you.
Run away. Run away.
(Circle, rectangle, square, diamond)
Credit: KidsSoup

And then, I led the kids in “I’m a Little Teapot” and “The Wiggles” before sitting down to read “Not a Box” by Antoinette Portis.

This was one of those books that I LOVED the minute I saw it, but kind of feared that I’d never use it in a storytime. But — a box is totally a rectangle! And with such a repetitive text, I easily had every kid chiming in by the end, proclaiming that the box was not a box! One last song:

Song: “Make a Circle, Draw a Square” (Tune: Oh My Darling Clementine)
Make a circle, make a circle, draw it in the sky
Use your finger, use your finger, make it round as pie
Make a square, Make a square, make the lines so straight
Draw a square, draw a square, draw one or draw eight
Draw a triangle, draw a triangle, always start at the top
Make a tent, make a tent, use three lines and then stop!
Credit: Best Kids Book Site

And then, I read our last book — “It Looked Like Spilt Milk” by Charles G. Shaw.

We have this in big book form, so the pictures were *so* big and the kids kept shouting out what they saw in the cloud. For such a simple concept, this is a great storytime book.

And then, our craft was a shape hanger that I got from KidsSoup. One of my moms told me that this was my cutest craft yet. (You can’t see it in the picture, but on the other side of the “My Shapes,” it says “Mis Formas” for my Spanish speaking households!)

December 10, 2010 10 Comments Short URL, Family Storytime

Winter!

It’s the start of my winter storytime session!

This is an experimental session, as I’ve never done storytime in the winter before. (Our attendance always dropped out significantly during November.) So far, I’ve got four weeks planned, but whether or not I’ll do another four weeks depends on whether or not my families keep showing up!

For this session, I have switched things up and started using “The More We Get Together” as my opening song, and “We Wave Goodbye Like This” as my closing song. Our stretcher for this session is “I’m a Little Teapot.”

I started off storytime with “A Kitten’s Tale” by Eric Rohmann.

This was a nice quiet start for the first storytime since October. It might have been almost too quiet, because I had wigglers up until the snow fell in the story. But the minute the snow appeared, everyone sat down and listened up. It was a nice moment, after I had been mildly worried that things were going south. (I can’t be the only librarian who frets during storytime!) Followed this up with a great transition into our flannelboard: “The Three Little Kittens.”

Our set was damaged in the flood that we had this summer, so I actually wound up remaking it, using the existing flannel pieces as the templates. After that, it was on to another great transition from kitten mittens to “One Mitten” by Kristine O’Connell George.

This is a great rhyming story about a girl who can’t find her second mitten until it’s found under her cat. (Third cat related winter activity in a row — maybe my theme was really cats and winter!) The kids really enjoyed this one, I had a couple of them shouting out places to look for her mitten. No one guessed under the cat. Once she finds her mittens, she goes out into the snow, which led to a great discussion about playing in the snow. And then, to a great fingerplay once someone mentioned sledding!

Fingerplay: “Here’s a Hill”
Here’s a hill (tilt left arm so that it forms a hill)
And here’s a hill (tilt right arm so that it forms a hill)
All covered with snow (raise hands up, bring down in snow motion)
I’ll put on my coat, (put coat on)
And jump on my sled (hold the rope of a sled)
And ZOOM, down the hill I will go! (clap hands, slid hands down)
Credit: The Holiday Zone (with a little tweaking)

Next, I went through the actions in “I’m a Little Teapot” (i.e. – “Can you make a handle? Can you make a spout? Can you tip yourself over? Great! Now you can do this song with me!”) since it was our first time. This is how I introduce most of my songs, so the kids are familiar with it.

Afterward, the kids were definitely ready to sit down and listen to “The Snowy Day” by Ezra Jack Keats.

I am always REALLY excited when I get to share a book that I read when I was a kid. The parents always chuckle when I say that this book is old (because most of my parents are just older than me), and the kids are always wide-eyed, like it’s a dinosaur age book. So funny. Anyway, they really liked reading about Peter and his adventures, though they didn’t get that the snow in his pocket had melted. Had to explain that one a bit. But after that discussion, a great segue into an extension activity:

Action Song: “Dance Like Snowflakes”
Dance like snowflakes,
Dance like snowflakes
In the air, in the air
Whirling, twirling snowflakes
Whirling, twirling snowflakes
Here and there, everywhere
Credit: BellaOnline

I didn’t have a seemless transition into “Duck Skates” by Lynne Berry though I had thought about trying to explain freezing snow and ice…but that seemed way too difficult to me.

This series is so cute, and the kids really like the rhyming. I’m not sure if they understand what’s going on, though, and I find myself explaining a lot of the pages to them. That sometimes messes with the rhythm of the story, but I don’t mind.

I wanted the kids really worn out for my last book (which is a very quiet one), so we did this:

Action Song: “Winter Hokey Pokey”
You put your mitten in, you take your mitten out
You put your boots in, you take your boots out
You put your hat in, you put your hat out
You put your coat in, you put your coat out
Credit: Step by Step – Winter Theme

We did several rounds before “Polar Bear Night” by Lauren Thompson.

I must really like bears, but this book is fast becoming a favorite of mine — right up there with “Old Bear.” The kids were pretty settled down after several rounds of Hokey Pokey, and were very content to listen. A great way to end storytime.

This craft was off of KidsSoup, which is a paid membership site. ($25.00 for a year; my Christmas present to myself and my staff!)

I printed off the template. My teens cut out the mittens, hole-punched the mittens, and tied them up. The kids added the foam shapes. A very successful return — I had eleven kids attend!

December 3, 2010 10 Comments Short URL, , Family Storytime

Fall! (Again.)

Last week, I had my first ever afternoon storytime! After some of my storytime kids started preschool during morning storytime, I scheduled a once monthly afternoon storytime for them. This worked really well, and I have a waitlist going for registration slots! Luckily, the weather cooperated with me and warmed up so that our fall theme was still appropriate!

I started off with “Mouse’s First Fall” by Lauren Thompson.

The kids were very excited towards the end of the book, where the reader is asked to help Mouse find his friend, Minka. (She’s hiding in the leaves.) I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again — I really like using the Mouse books as a primer about seasons for storytime. The titles are bright, colorful, and with familiar characters (yes, some of the kids have started recognizing Mouse!).

Next up, “It’s Pumpkin Time!” by Zoe Hall.

This one almost didn’t make the cut when I realized that the book ended with Halloween (which is obviously over with, Ms. Katie!), but I read it anyways and it gave the kids a chance to share who/what they dressed up as. And we had a LOT of Disney princesses and Spidermans — not that that surprised me, haha!

Modified my favorite fall flannelboard by changing “Halloween” to “fall.”

Flannelboard: “Five Little Pumpkins”
Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate
The first one said, “My, it’s getting late.”
The second one said, “There are witches in the air.”
The third one said, “I don’t care!”
The fourth one said, “Let’s run and run and run.”
The fifth one said, “It’s all fall fun!”
Then oooooh went the wind, and out went the lights!
And the five little pumpkins rolled clear out of sight.

And then, I went with an action rhyme from earlier this season:

Action Rhyme: “Pumpkin, Pumpkin”
Pumpkin, pumpkin on the ground, (touch the ground)
How’d you get so big and round? (make a big circle)
Once you were a seed so small, (pinch fingers together)
Now you are a great big ball! (make a big circle)
Pumpkin, pumpkin on the ground, (touch the ground)
How’d you get so big and round? (make a big circle)

And then, I read “Who Loves the Fall?” by Bob Raczka.

Ack, another book that mentions Halloween. Fortunately for this one, we had already talked about what they had dressed up as, so we didn’t need to mention it again. Again, the butterfly vertical spread was a favorite. The kids were sitting so still for this one, that I just went ahead with “Leaf Jumpers” by Carole Gerber.

This book is so much fun to read, and the kids love hearing about jumping in leaf piles. After the second kid mentioned that he had jumped in the leaves recently, I asked for a show of hands of those that had to avoid another seventeen stories. All of their hands were raised. And they were rambunctious after this book, so I quietly sang to them the following, while they used their hands to make some falling motions:

Song: “The Leaves Are Falling Down” (Tune: “Farmer in the Dell”)
The leaves are falling down
The leaves are falling down
Red, yellow, green, and brown
The leaves are falling down

Followed by another activity:

Fingerplay: “Way Up High in the Apple Tree”
Way up high in the apple tree (stretch arms up high)
Two red apples smiled at me (hold up two fingers)
I shook that tree as hard as I could (make a shaking motion)
Down came the apples… (make a downward motion)
And mmm, they were good! (smile and rub stomach)

Before reading my favorite seasons book of all time: “Old Bear” by Kevin Henkes.

Rather than emphatically stating my love with this book — I will just say that I recently purchased the ALA “Old Bear” poster for my office, and that it makes me happy every time I look at it.

Our craft was another one that I stole from Sarah that she made last fall, leaf wreaths!

My teen volunteers cut the paper plates, tied the ribbon, and cut out the leaves — all my storytime kids did was the leaf gluing, and I swear, they would glue all day long if I asked them to. I think it might be the purple glue we use. It makes everything much better.

November 17, 2010 4 Comments Short URL, Family Storytime

Monsters!

Rather than go with a Halloween theme (which I love, but wasn’t sure all of my parents would be on board), I went with a simple monsters theme. Also, any chance at all that you can give kids to roar around equals a great time.

First up, “If You’re a Monster and You Know It” by Ed and Rebecca Emberley.

This book is an amazing plethora of crazy excitement. I was a very brave storytime lady and sang the book, and let the kids do the actions as we went. There was a ridiculous amount of paw stomping, claw smacking, snorting, growling, and roaring — the kids loved this book!

But my favorite part was when one of my little boys jumped up to interrupt the story and asked, “Hey! Are we going to do the head, shoulders, knees, and toes thing today?” I nodded and continued with the story. He, however, fist-pumped into the air and shouted, “YES!”

Sometimes the interruptions are worth it.

Continuing on, I did our flannelboard: “Go Away Big Green Monster.”

This is a super simple flannelboard version of the book by Ed Emberley. And I have to say — the book works really well as a flannel! The kids were delighted when I taught them how to say, “GO AWAY” to the big green monster. My little boys especially like getting to holler in storytime.

And I moved our “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” up to the top of the list, because it was requested!

And then the kids were still wiggly, so I went ahead and did another action rhyme:

“Monsters Galore”
Monsters galore, can you roar? (Roar.)
Monsters galore, can you soar? (Flying motions.)
Monsters galore, please shut the door. (Clap.)
Monsters galore, fall on the floor! (Sit/fall down.)

Credit: SurLaLune Storytime

Finally, another book — “Monster Hug” by David Ezra Stein was next.

This is a super simple, short text book about two monster best friends. This one was a big hit with my parents, actually. Almost all of my moms awwed at the end of the story and gave their kids hugs. It was super sweet to see!

But enough sweetness, this is monster storytime! So, the kids got up to do the “Monster Stomp.”

Action Rhyme: “Monster Stomp”
If you want to be a monster, now’s your chance.
‘Cause everybody’s doing the monster dance.
You just stamp your feet, wave your arms around. (Stomp, wave arms.)
Stretch ‘em up, stretch ‘em up, (Stretch up arms.)
Then put them on the ground. (Put hands on the floor.)
‘Cause you’re doing the monster stomp. (Stomp feet.)
That’s right! You’re doing the monster stomp. (Stomp feet.)

Credit: SurLaLune Storytime

Followed by one of my favorite bedtime books ever, “Go to Bed, Monster” by Natasha Wing.

A book all about a child trying to get a monster to go to bed! This was a great choice for storytime — any book that makes children sympathize with their parents is funny to see. We finished up with a song:

“Ten Little Monsters” (Tune: “Ten Little Indians”)
One little, two little, three little monsters
Four little, five little, six little monsters
Seven little, eight little, nine little monsters
Ten monsters roaring at me!

Credit: SurLaLune Storytime

And…the best monster storytime book ever, “Leonardo the Terrible Monster” by Mo Willems.

(Why yes, I do have Sam’s speech memorized.) I love this book (and author) so very much, it was such a pleasure to get to read it in storytime!

And for the craft, I borrowed one from Sarah — her monster mask craft. My teen volunteers cut out the masks, eyes, and used some scrapbooking punches to cut out the circles. They had a great time gluing away!

October 29, 2010 10 Comments Short URL, Family Storytime

Opposites!

Yep, I went ahead and tried a pretty difficult topic this week — opposites! But were my kids up for the challenge? Read on…

I started off storytime with defining opposites as two things that are exactly different from one another. I used the example of “big” and “little,” having the kids reach really far to the sides for big and very close together for little. We did this several times throughout storytime. Our first book was “Octopus Opposites” by Stella Blackstone and Stephanie Bauer.

I use a LOT of Blackstone’s titles in my storytimes. The simplicity of this book is that it uses animals to explain opposites in a bright colorful way. We did have a bit more fun identifying animals than opposites…but this was an excellent way to start off storytime. Next, I read “Big, Bigger, Biggest” by Nancy Coffelt.

It was my goal to get them to understand the difference between big and little by the end of the program, so this book was a great choice. I’m not sure how well the kids comprehended a lot of the larger words, but they did get big, bigger, biggest! I think the next time I use this book in storytime for my little guys, I might skip the bigger words.

I found this great action rhyme on Mel’s Desk and the kids LOVED it. We did it three times in a row!

Action Rhyme: “This Is Big”
This is big, big, big (stretch hands far to sides)
This is small, small, small (cup hands together)
This is short, short, short (hold palms close vertically)
This is tall, tall, tall (hold palms far apart vertically)
This is fast, fast, fast (roll hands quickly)
This is slow, slow, slow (roll hands slowly)
This is yes, yes, yes (nod head)
This is no, no, no (shake head)

And then a “little” to go with our “big!”

Fingerplay: “Little Turtle”
There was a little turtle (put hands on top of one another)
He lived in a box (make box)
He swam in a puddle (swimming motion)
He climbed on the rocks (climbing motion)
He snapped at a mosquito (clap)
He snapped at a flea (clap)
He snapped at a minnow (clap)
And he snapped at me (clap)
He caught the mosquito (cup hands together)
He caught the flea (cup hands together)
He caught the minnow (cup hands together)
But he didn’t catch me! (shake finger “no”)

Next, I read a very short book: “A Garden of Opposites” by Nancy Davis.

This book is a great lapsit to read, particularly at the end where there is an opportunity to review the opposite pairs that readers have learned. It worked well in storytime though because it’s eye-catching and quick! And I definitely had wigglers this week, so I switched it up with the flannelboard next.

Flannelboard: “Big, Bigger, Biggest”
A little ball, a bigger ball, and a great big ball I see
Now help me count them, one, two, three!
Credit: Debmonn PB Wiki

I just made three simple balls — a tennis ball, a beach ball, and a soccer ball out of felt and put them up. We also did this rhyme a couple of times, to the delight of the kids. Next, we practiced our “Heads, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” — which I am pleased to report that most of my kids have down now. They aren’t singing with me yet, but we’ve got the motions down pat.

The last book for this week was “Where is the Green Sheep?” by Mem Fox.

This was a HUGE success. This book is so engaging and clearly shows opposites in the different sheep. And while I know the kids were hearing the opposites, they were also looking for green sheep. Luckily, they found green sheep at the end of the book, fast asleep.

I ended storytime by using egg shakers and doing “Opposites Hokey Pokey” with the kids. (You shake your egg up/down; left/right; etc.)

Our craft: Opposite Books!

I got the idea for this craft from Bright Hub and I got to work immediately making a template. My teen volunteers cut out words, pictures, the book, and assembled the whole project. All my storytime kids did was color the pictures in!

October 23, 2010 8 Comments Short URL, Family Storytime

Fall!

I am really more of a summer person, but I do love fall books — fall has a ton of options for storytime, too!

Because I have a wide variety of ages in my storytimes (6 months to 4 years), I started off with “Mouse’s First Fall” by Lauren Thompson.

The text in this book is pretty predictable (and I have the book memorized after just two storytimes!), but you cannot beat the bright colors, and the adorable characters. It’s also a great introductory to a few of the traditional fall activities. I followed up with “Who Loves the Fall?” by Bob Raczka.

In Raczka’s series, there is always a page where you turn the book vertically and read — the kids absolutely love this part! In “Who Loves the Fall?,” it’s a spread about butterflies, and I had to do two full pans before the kids seemed ready to move on.

Next, the kids got up and we did some action rhymes, and our flannelboard for the week.

“Pumpkin, Pumpkin”
Pumpkin, pumpkin on the ground (touch the ground)
How’d you get so big and round? (make a big circle)
Once you were a seed so small (pinch fingers together)
Now you are a great big ball (make a big circle overhead)
Pumpkin, pumpkin on the ground (touch the ground)
How’d you get so big and round? (make a big circle)
Credit: Step by Step — Pumpkin Theme

And, of course, “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes.”

And our flannel:

Flannelboard: “Five Little Leaves”
Five little leaves on the tree next door
One fell off and then there were four
Four little leaves all over the tree
One fell off and then there were three
Three little leaves where the wind blew
One fell off and then there were two
Two little leaves sitting in the sun
One fell off and then there was one
One little leaf in the tree all alone
The wind blew and blew now there are none!

I redid the flannelboard that the library had for this rhyme (it was this old transfer paper-like felt and hand-drawn) into bright new felt colors for this year’s season. Simple — took me about a half hour.

Then, I read “Old Bear” by Kevin Henkes.

“Old Bear” is a book that talks about all seasons and you better believe that I use it at almost every season storytime I do. It’s a great way to introduce the concept of our seasons cycling, and I absolutely adore Henkes’s illustrations. They are just gorgeous and so eye-catching. Next up, another favorite — “Fall Leaves Fall!” by Zoe Hall.

Now, I had three Zoe Hall books to choose from: “It’s Pumpkin Time,” “The Apple Pie Tree,” and “Fall Leaves Fall.” And it was a hard choice! I went with “Fall Leaves Fall” because of the linear story and that the story covered most of the highlights of the season (including a brief mention of Halloween!). Next, we switched gears a bit as I began prepping the kids for our craft with our fingerplay/action rhyme:

“Way Up High in the Apple Tree”
Way up high in the apple tree (stretch arms up high)
Two red apples smiled at me (hold up two fingers)
I shook that tree as hard as I could (make a shaking motion)
Down came the apples… (make a downward motion)
And mmm, they were good! (smile and rub stomach)

And then, we read “Apple Farmer Annie” by Monica Wellington.

This is such a great story about apples and I love Monica Wellington’s books. (Especially “Pizza at Sally’s!”) We finished up with a different closing song than normal with:

“The Leaves are Falling Down”
The leaves are falling down
The leaves are falling down
Red, yellow, green, and brown
The leaves are falling down
Tune of “The Farmer in the Dell”

Our craft was super simple — I got a tree template, had my teen volunteers cut out tree trunks and leaves and then let the kids crumple up tissue paper squares to make apples. They had a ton of fun crumpling!

October 15, 2010 11 Comments Short URL, Family Storytime

Birds!

One of my best friends is a giant nature person and she loves birds, so I decided to do a bird storytime for my preschoolers! We started off with “Birds” by Kevin Henkes. We had a much larger group of 4/5 year olds this time around, so I decided to stretch storytime a little bit longer.

This is big, colorful book just perfect for storytime. I love Henkes’s illustrations but sometimes his stories aren’t so linear — and that’s the case with this one. But because I used it first, it really gave the kids a primer for all the different kinds of birds we were going to see throughout storytime. They really enjoyed the “surprise” layout in the book as well.

Next up, a perennial favorite of my staff, “Grumpy Bird” by Jeremy Tankard.

This book has such a great pattern and repetition that I definitely had some kids call out, “Walking!” after an animal asked Grumpy Bird what he was doing. We had great attention skills while we read this book (I think probably because the pictures are so bright and commanding), I almost hated to break away to do some action rhymes and my flannelboard.

Action Rhyme: “Little Birds”
Little birds, little birds, jump up and down
Little birds, little birds, don’t make a sound
Little birds, little birds, tip-toe to me
Little birds, little birds, bend your knees
Little birds, little birds, peep, peep, peep
Little birds, little birds, sleep, sleep, sleep
Little birds, little birds, fly to the leaves
Little birds, little birds, sit down please
From: Greatest Resource Education Child Care

Two very enthusiastic thumbs up to this action rhyme — the kids loved pretending to be birds! And then after we sat down, we did this amazing flannelboard that I found on Mel’s Desk – Farm Storytime. The clip art is from Microsoft Office, and the flannelboard is super easy to make. I did it in about a couple of hours.

Flannelboard: “Ten Fluffy Chickens”
Five eggs and five eggs
And that makes ten
Sitting on top
Is Mother Hen
Cackle cackle cackle
What do I see?
Ten fluffy chickens
Yellow as can be

We did our flannel twice (yay repetition!) and then we read “Pepito the Brave” by Scott Beck.

Very simple, but effective story about a little bird who’s scared to fly and instead hops, climbs, swims, etc. to get where he’s going. My only hesitation with using this book again is that the book is a small size, so it did require a lot of book panning with my large group.

We followed up the book with one of the few rhymes I remember from childhood — “Two Little Blackbirds.”

Next up, “Who Will Sing a Lullaby?” by Dee Lillegard.

This book has a ton of variety in the kinds of birds trying to get a baby to sleep. The kids were very calm during this story, happy to listen. And, of course, the kids practiced their weekly “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” before launching into the last story of the morning: “I’m Not Scared” by Jonathan Allen.

I adore Little Owl and Owly and was so happy to share this story with my group. The kids kept insisting that Little Owl wasn’t scared, which was really amusing to see them side with Little Owl as he called out “I’m not scared!”

After storytime, we made a bird puppet craft. Super simple; found the bird template at Danielle’s Place and just glued feathers all over it. My teen volunteers had already prepped the craft by tacky gluing the popsicle on so that no one had to wait until the stick dried to play with their puppets.

October 8, 2010 20 Comments Short URL, , Family Storytime

Dinosaurs!

For whatever reason, during this session we have a ton of little boys! Ten boys to six girls, which is really different from what I’m used to. I’m finding that I need a lot more action rhymes/songs to get those wiggles out. Anyway, I decided to cater to my boys and do a dinosaur storytime!

We started off with “The Littlest Dinosaur’s Big Adventure” by Michael Foreman.

I wanted to start off storytime with a quiet one instead of going straight into roaring. I also liked that this story was just about dinosaurs, and didn’t have any people in it. A lot of the books that I previewed were about dinosaurs living with people — which isn’t bad, just not exactly what I wanted. Next, we practiced some shapes with “Shape by Shape” by Suse Macdonald.

I did our flannelboard & song next — “Ten Little Dinosaurs” — which is just the tune of “Ten Little Indians” and dinosaurs. And then we did this action rhyme that I found this poem by Nancy Klein on The Childrens Museum of New Hampshire’s website.

“Dinosaurs”
Spread your arms, way out wide
Fly like Pteranodon, soar and glide
Bend to the floor, head down low
Move like Stegosaurus, long ago
Reach up tall, try to be
As tall as Apatosaurus eating on a tree
Using your claws, grumble and growl
Just like Tyrannosaurus on the prowl

And then we read my favorite dinosaur book: “Dinosaur Vs. Bedtime” by Bob Shea.

While we did enjoy roaring with dinosaur, this one did require a little bit of explanation at the end. The kids weren’t really sure what had happened — why dinosaur had stopped roaring. I had to explain that dinosaur was sooooo tired from roaring that he went to bed! I love this book’s colorful images and vivid dinosaur destroying scenes.

Next, I got to use our brand-new storytime mitt and dinosaurs shapes! So incredibly happy with this purchase.

“Five Funny Dinosaurs”
Five funny dinosaurs letting out a roar.
One went away, and then there were four.
Four funny dinosaurs munching on a tree.
One went away, and then there were three.
Three funny dinosaurs didn’t know what to do.
One went away, and then there were two.
Two funny dinosaurs having lots of fun.
One went away, and then there was one.
One funny dinosaur afraid to be a hero.
He went away, and then there was zero.

And finally, we finished up with “I Dreamt I Was a Dinosaur” by Stella Blackstone and Clare Beaton.

I love Stella Blackstone books. They have simple, rhyming text and always really colorful pictures. This book was done with felt/sequin pictures and is such a great settle down book for the end of storytime. One of my little boys laid down on the rug and put his hands under his head for this one.

“Dinosaur, Dinosaur”
Dinosaur, dinosaur, turn around
Dinosaur, dinosaur, touch the ground
Dinosaur, dinosaur, reach up high
Dinosaur, dinosaur, wink one eye
Dinosaur, dinosaur, touch your nose
Dinosaur, dinosaur, touch your toes
Dinosaur, dinosaur, slap your knees
Dinosaur, dinosaur, sit down please

Our craft project was a super simple one that a co-worker had used for her K-3 dinosaur program — clothespin dinosaur!

Super easy. I glued the eyes down ahead of time; teen volunteers cut out the dinosaur shape. All the kids had to do was color and clip!

September 30, 2010 15 Comments Short URL, Family Storytime

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