Storytime: Family

Books

“Llama Llama Gram and Grandpa” by Anna Dewdney
“Guess How Much I Love You” by Sam McBratney
“The Family Book” by Todd Parr

Grandma’s Glasses
There are grandma’s glasses (circle fingers around eyes)
This is grandma’s hat (place hands above head)
And this is the way she folds her hands (interlace fingers)
And lays them in her lap (put hands in lap)

These are grandpa’s glasses (circle fingers around eyes)
This is grandpa’s hat (place hands above head)
And this is the way he folds his arms (fold arms across chest)
And takes a little nap (close eyes and snore)

My Family
This mama, kind and dear (tap or wiggle thumb)
This is papa, standing near (pointer finger)
This is brother, see how tall (middle finger)
This is sister, not so tall (ring finger)
This is baby, sweet and small (pinkie)
This is my family, one and all (wiggle fingers)

Source: Kididdles

Some Families
Some families are large (hold arms out wide)
Some families are small (bring hands close together)
But I love my family, best of all (hug self)

Who is Knocking at My Door? (Flannel Board)
Who is knocking at my door, at my door, at my door?
Who is knocking at my door?
Look! It’s mommy!

Let’s give mom a great big kiss, great big kiss, great big kiss (blow kiss)
Let’s give mom a great big kiss. Goodbye mommy!

Who is knocking at my door, at my door, at my door?
Who is knocking at my door?
Look! It’s Daddy.

Let’s give Dad a great big hug, great big hug, great big hug (hug self or child)
Let’s give Dad a great big hug.  Goodbye, Daddy!

Who is knocking at my door, at my door, at my door?
Who is knocking at my door?
Look! It’s Grandma.

Let’s give Grandma a great big smile, great big smile, great big smile (smile)
Let’s give Grandma a great big smile. Goodbye, Grandma!

Who is knocking at my door, at my door, at my door?
Who is knocking at my door?
Look! It’s Grandpa.

Let’s give Grandpa a great big wave, great big wave, great big wave (wave0
Let’s give Grandma a great big wave. Goodbye, Grandpa!

Who is knocking at my door, at my door, at my door?
Who is knocking at my door.
Look! It’s my family.

Let’s tell everyone I love you, I love you, I love.
Let’s tell everyone I love you.
I love my family!

Source: Kizclub (for family images)
Source: Story Time Secrets

Storytime: Monsters

Books

“Tickle Monster” by Edouard Manceau
“If You’re a Monster  and You Know It” by Rebecca & Ed Emberley

Ten Little Monsters
1 little, 2 little, 3 little mosnters
4 little, 5 little, 6 little monsters
7 little, 8 little, 9 little monsters
10 little monsters roaring at me

“Go Away, Big Green Monster” by Ed Emberley Puppet

This is such a fun puppet, I planned a monster storytime just so I could use it. This puppet was purchased at Lakeshore Learning.

If I Were a Monster
If I were a happy monster, I’d go ha ha ha
If I were a sad monster, I’d go boo hoo hoo
If I were a mad monster, I’d go stomp stomp stomp
If I were a scared monster, I’d go ahh ahh ahh
But I’m just me, you see, so I’ll just read read read

Monster, Monster
Monster, monster turn around
Monster, monster touch the ground
Monster, monster reach up high
Monster, monster squint your eyes
Monster, monster show your teeth
Monster, monster stomp your feet
Monster, monster slap your knees
Monster, monster sit down please

Monster Brown Bag Puppet

Today we painted with LEGO® DUPLO® bricks! It was really neat to see the patterns the bricks can make by using the different sides. While this was a lot of fun it was messier than I anticipated. I had one toddler end up getting paint all over his dad’s shorts! I wish I gave them a notice last week that we would be painting this week. Also, make sure to instruct children and adults to put glue on the monster parts and not on the bag. No one wants painted glue sticks! The monster parts are from Somewhat Simple.

Story time: Ocean Animals

“Rub-a-Dub Sub” by Linda Ashman
“The Pout-Pout Fish” by Deborah Diesen
“I’m the Biggest Thing in the Ocean” by Kevin Sherry

Five Little Fishies
Five little fishies swimming in the sea (swimming motion)
Teasing Mr. Shark, “No you can’t catch me, no you can’t catch me” (wave finger side to side)
Along comes Mr. Shark as quiet as can be… (whisper, move hands together slowly)
And snaps that fishie right out of the sea (clap hands)

(count down)
I had one child beg me to not let the last fish be eaten so we ended it with “but the fishie was too fast for Mr. Shark and got away.”

Baby Shark
Baby shark doot-doo, doot-doo-doo (tap thumb and pointer finger together)
Baby shark doot-doo, doot-doo-doo
Baby shark doot-doo, doot-doo-doo
Baby shark

(repeat with…)
Mommy shark… (open and close hand)
Daddy shark… (open and close hands widely)
Grandpa shark.. (open and close hands with closed fist)
Going swimming… (pretend to swim)
See a shark… (make looking motion)
Swimming fast… (pretend to swim quickly)
Safe at last… (wipe forehead)
Bye-bye shark… (wave goodbye)

The Waves in the Ocean
The waves in the ocean go up and down, up and down, up and down (raise and lower arms)
The waves in the ocean go up and down all day long

(repeat with…)
The crabs in the ocean go pinch, pinch, pinch (open and close hands)
The sharks in the ocean go snap, snap, snap (open and close hand widely)
The fish in the ocean go swim, swim, swim (make swiming motion)

I’m the Biggest Thing in the Ocean by Kevin Sherry Flannel Board
I love this book and thought it would translate well into a felt board and it definitely did! I wish I had enough time to actually make it out of felt but all I did was print off clip art images, laminate them and then put velcro on the back. Kids loved it!

Craft
For this craft all I did was cut out cardstock ocean animals. Kids then put glue all over their animal and put down tissue paper. For the final touch we added some eyes!

Storytime: Fruit

Books:

“Blueberry Mouse” by Alice Low
“The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear” by Don & Audrey Wood

Picked a Berry (Tune: Clementine)
Picked a blueberry, picked a blueberry (picking motion)
That was growing in the sun (circle arms above head)
Then I washed it and I ate it (pretend to eat)
And I picked another one

(repeat with other berries such as strawberries, blackberries, etc)

Source: Jbrary

Five Red Strawberries
I love using a bear puppet to gobble the strawberries off the flannel board!

Five red strawberries, sweet to the core
Bear came and ate one, then there were four
Four red strawberries, sitting in a tree
Bear came and ate one, then there were three
Three red strawberries, shining in the sun
Bear came and ate one, then there was one
One red strawberry, left all alone
Bear came and ate one, then there were none!

Source: Sunflower Storytime

Fruit Salad Salsa by Laurie Berkner Band
Get those egg shakers out and start moving!

The Apple Tree by Carole Peterson
I have done this song with and without the music, both work great!

Way up high in the apple tree (point up)
1 little apple smiled at me (hold up 1 finger)
I shook that tree as hard as I could (shaking motion)
Doooown came the apple (wiggle fingers down)
Mmmmm, it sure looks good!

(repeat)

2 little apples under the tree (hold up 2 fingers)
1 for you and 1 for me (point to children, then self)
2 little apples crunch, crunch, crunch (pretend to eat)
2 little apples, lets eat them for our lunch
YUM!

Five Red Apples
This flannel board is based on “Ten Red Apples” by Pat Hutchins. I have a lot of toddlers and was afraid I’d lose them if I went through the whole book so I adapted it to work for my group.

Five red apples hanging on a tree
Yippee, yippee, fiddle-dee-dee
Cow comes to take one
Chomp, chomp, chomp
Moo, Moo and fiddle-dee-dee
“Cow” cries the farmer, “save one for one”

Four red apples hanging on a tree
Yippee, yippee, fiddle-dee-dee
Horse comes to take one
Chomp, chomp, chomp
Neigh, neigh and fiddle-dee-dee
“Horse” cries the farmer, “save one for me”

Three red apples hanging on a tree
Yippee, yippee, fiddle-dee-dee
Pig comes to take one
Chomp, chomp, chomp
Oink, oink and fiddle-dee-dee
“Pig” cries the farmer, “save one for me”

Two red apples hanging on a tree
Yippee, yippee, fiddle-dee-dee
Duck comes to take one
Chomp, chomp, chomp
Quack, quack and fiddle-dee-dee
“Duck” cries the farmer, “save one for me”

One red apple hanging on a tree
Farmer cries “Yippee, there’s one left for me!

Then farmer’s wife comes along…

No red apples, my oh my
No red apples to bake in a pie
Boo, hoo and fiddle-dee-dee
“Wait” cries the farmer, “another apple tree!”

Idea came from: Read It Again!

Storytime: Crayons

 

Books

“Harold and the Purple Crayon” by Crockett Johnson
“The Crayon Box that Talked” by Shane DeRolf
“Go to Bed, Monster!” by Natasha Wing

How a Crayon is Made

We started the storytime by talking about our favorite colors and how crayons are made. I didn’t read “What Happens at a Crayon Factory?” verbatim but it is a great book to introduce how crayons are made.

Five Little Crayons
Five little crayons standing in a row (hold up 5 fingers)
The first one said, “I’m red, you know!” (wiggle the fingers as you talk about them)
The second one said, “I’m green like a tree”
The third one said, “I’m blue like the sea”
The fourth one said, “I’m yellow as the sun”
The fifth one said, “Being purple is fun!”
Five little crayons, happy as can be (hold up 5 fingers)
Coloring pictures with you and me (point to person and then self)

Source: Storytime Katie

10 Little Crayons
(Tune: 10 Little Indians)
1 little, 2 little, 3 little crayons (count on fingers)
4 little, 5 little, 6 little crayons
7 little, 8 little, 9 little crayons
10 little crayons to take to school

10 Little Fingers
1 little, 2 little, 3 little fingers (count on fingers)
4 little, 5 little, 6 little fingers
7 little, 8 little, 9 little fingers
10 little fingers on my hands

They wiggle and they wiggle and they wiggle all together (wiggle fingers and hands)
They wiggle and they wiggle and they wiggle all together
They wiggle and they wiggle and they wiggle all together
10 little fingers on my hands

They clap and they clap and they keep on clapping (clap)
They clap and they clap and they keep on clapping
They clap and they clap and they keep on clapping
10 little fingers on my hands

Source: Jbrary

Crayons
For the next few songs/activities I handed each child a crayon to act out the motions. When handing out items of different colors I always remind children (and parents) that “You get what you get and you don’t get upset.”

Put Your Crayons
Put your crayons up (raise hands)
Put your crayons down (lower hands)
Hold your crayons up and turn around (turn in a circle)
Put your crayons up
Put your crayons down
Put your crayons on the ground (touch floor)

I Have a Crayon
Children brought their crayon to me when I held up the corresponding color.
I have a crayon, I’ll give it to you
Here is my crayon, my crayon of blue.
I have a crayon, a lovely little fellow
Here is my crayon, my crayon of yellow.
I have a crayon, it’s here on my head
Here is my crayon, my crayon of red.
I have a crayon, we can draw a circle
Here is my crayon, my crayon of purple.
I have a crayon, what do I see?
Here is my crayon, an orange one for me.
I have a crayon, the best ever seen
Here is my crayon, my crayon of green.

Harold’s Other Crayons (Flannel Board)
(Tune: Mary Wore a Red Dress)

Harold was working on a picture, he used his purple crayon
Harold used his purple crayon, purple crayon, purple crayon
Harold used his purple crayon all day long

Then Harold decided to use blue!
Harold used his blue crayon, blue crayon, blue crayon
Harold used his blue crayon all day long

(repeat with other colors)

Wow! Look at all of Harold’s Crayons.
Let’s say the colors one more time.
Do you know why Harold used these colors?
Because he was drawing a rainbow!

Source: Story Time Secrets

Storytime: Shapes

I found shapes to be a more difficult storytime concept than I originally thought. It’s extremely important for kids to recognize shapes because it is how they differentiate letters. I received a lot of children under the age of 3 for this program and the storytime turned into more of an exercise for the parents on how they can point out and talk about shapes at home with their children. I hope the parents gained some valuable information from this storytime! This theme would have been better offered to preschool or kindergarten children.

 

Little, Bigger, Biggest
A little circle (make a circle with finger and thumb)
A bigger circle (make a circle with 2 hands)
And a great big circle I see (make circle overhead with arms)
Now help me count them
1, 2, 3 (count on fingers)

Twinkle, Twinkle
Twinkle, twinkle little star
How I wonder what you are
Up above the world so high
Like a diamond in the sky
Twinkle, twinkle little star
How I wonder what you are

Yoga Shapes
I would love to introduce more yoga into my storytimes, the kids and parents loved it!

Source: Miss Meg’s Storytime

I Can See Shapes (tune: London Bridge)
This is a great song to give each child a shape and have them bring it to the board. Since I had a younger crowd this week parents had to help them.

I can see a circle shape, a circle shape, a circle shape
I can see a circle shape, how about you?

(repeat with other shapes)