storytime katie

The Plan

Books

Bear in Underwear by Todd H. Doodler
One Rainy Day by M. Christina Butler
Red, White, and Boom! By Lee Wardlaw
Uncles by Lola M. Schaefer
Up, Down, and All Around by Katherine Ayres

Extension Activities

Flannelboard Puzzle: “Letter U”

Flannelboard: “Red, White, and Blue”

Flannelboard: “Ten Little Umbrellas & Ten Little Raindrops”
One little, two little, three little umbrellas
Four little, five little, six little umbrellas
Seven little, eight little, nine little umbrellas
Ten umbrellas up for the rain
Repeat with raindrops going on top of umbrellas – last line “Ten raindrops falling down.” Pull raindrops away, counting down – last line “No raindrops out today.” Pull umbrellas away, counting down – last line, “Everything’s put away!”
Credit: Modified from childhood

Action Rhyme: “Up and Down”
Put your arms up
Put your arms down
Put them through the middle
Move them all around
One arm to the left
One arm to the right
Give yourself a hug
And hold on tight!
Credit: MotherReader

Bounce: “Mama and Papa and Uncle John”
Mama and Papa and Uncle John
Went to the market one by one
Mama fell off, Papa fell off
But Uncle John went on and on
Credit: King Country Library System

Fingerplay: “Up the Hill”
Here goes a turtle up a hill, creepy, creepy, creepy, creepy (crawl up arm)
Here goes a rabbit up a hill, boing, boing, boing, boing (bounce up arm)
Here goes an elephant up a hill, thud, thud, thud, thud (clap up arm)
Here goes a snake up the hill, slither, slither, slither, slither (slither up arm)
Here comes a rock down the hill, boom, boom, boom, boom, CRASH!
(bounce down, clap hands for crash)
Credit: Bright Spot — Brighton Memorial Library

Craft

This was a simple paper plate craft that was inspired by Jenna’s post at Ramblings of a Crazy Woman. Since I was doing this with a daycare, I did want to minimize our mess, so I did not do it three-dimensional.

How It Went

The hit of storytime was “Up, Down, and All Around” — they loved this book! Everything else went pretty good, but I was met with a huge reaction of “EWW UNDERWEAR IS GROSS” when I read “Bear In Underwear.” I mean, the kids were in hysterics laughing, but I honestly wonder if they think underwear is gross. The umbrella craft was a huge success and the kids had a great day at storytime!

The Plan

Books

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr.
Freight Train by Donald Crews
It’s a Tiger by David LaRochelle
Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle
Tap Tap Bang Bang by Emma Garcia

Extension Activities

Flannelboard Puzzle: Letter “T”

Flannelboard: Clickety-Clack

Fingerplay: “Eeny Meeny Miny Mo”
Credit: Childhood

Fingerplay: “Five Little Nails”
Five little nails, standing straight and steady
Here I come with my hammer ready!
Bam, bam, bam! That nail goes down.
Now there’s just four nails to pound.
(count down)
Credit: Mel’s Desk

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

Fingerplay: “Way Up High in the Apple Tree”
Way up high in the apple tree
I saw two apples smiling at me
I shook that tree as hard as I could
And down came the apples
And mmm, they were good!
Credit: Childhood

Song: “Down By the Station”
Credit: Childhood

Craft

We made tiger masks! I cut these out of paper plates and attached popsicle sticks. I did not bring my example and was so pleased when the kids had purple and pink and green tigers instead of just orange!

How It Went

This was a super awesome storytime. I loved all the books and had a ton of kids who repeated the last word or two as I turned the page. (I adore when that happens and it’s so good for them to practice vocabulary and to build their early literacy skills!) The best book was obviously, “It’s a Tiger!” which is such a natural read-aloud — I really encourage all storytime providers who like to be loud to look into it!

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!