Fairy Tale Storytime

Opening: Shake My Sillies Out – Raffi

Book: Emerald Tree – Janet Palazzo-Craig

 

(I like this story, but the kids were a little antsy toward the end. Better told than read.)

Activity: The Cow Jumped…

(Had a cow puppet and a moon prop, started the Hey Diddle Diddle but had the cow jump under, behind, around, onto the moon. Finally the kids helped me get it right! from Liesl Johnson)

Book: The End – David LaRochelle

 

(This was a lot of fun. I first asked if anyone knew how a fairy tale ended, and one boy shouted out “And they all lived happily ever after” [bless him] which is how this story begins!)

Activity: The Troll – from the CD Animal Songs by Geof Johnson

 (The kids liked moving, but it felt kind of awkward. I think I just wasn’t familiar enough with the song.)

Book: In the Foggy Foggy Forest – Nick Sharratt

 

(I thought this would be more popular, while the  kids liked it they weren’t all gung ho.)

Shadowplay: Masha and the Bear

 

(A traditional Russian tale that I made a shadowplay for during Russian Storytime. See the story here. )

Book: Falling for Rapunzel by Leah Wilcox

(Very cute, quite a few words had the kids confused though I think. Still, they got the general meaning, the parents enjoyed it more.)

Activity: Dancing in bubbles

(Played some classical music, it was a ballroom in my imagination at least!)

Birds Storytime

Opening: Shake My Sillies Out – Raffi

Book: Don’t Let thePigeon Drive the Bus – Mo Willems

 

(The kids were a little slow to shout out the ‘No!’…but made up for it by being vocal the rest of the storytime.) =\

Activity: Two Little Blackbirds (see at end)

 (This was very well recieved. We have little blackbirds on popsicle sticks, but I knew there wouldn’t be enough so we just used our thumbs as the birds. Each time they flew away we did breathy flying noises that matched the descriptors.)

Book: The Wolf’s Chicken Stew – Keiko Kasza

 

(I encouraged some response ‘Who likes pancakes?’ and even though I’m not the biggest fan of the illustrations, I think this is a nice story.)

Activity: I know a little rooster – song by The Best of the Babysitters

(The kids seemed a little disintersted in this…I think something more active would have been better. I’ll try the chicken dance with the next group.)

Book: Grumpy Bird – Jeremy Tankard

(A simple story, cute pics, I think it kinds of went over the heads of my group though.)

Activity: 5 Penguins in the Bathtub (see at end)

(They liked this a lot…it’s a variant that I put to a tune. It even got an encore!)

 Book:  Do Like a Duck Does– by Judy Hindley

(I’m a big fan of this book, cute big pictures and fun opportunity for voices. The kids like it too!)

The Parts:

Two Little Blackbirds

Two little black birds sitting on a hill,

One named Jack and one named Jill.

Fly away Jack, Fly away Jill!

Come back Jack, come back Jill!

…sitting on a pole,

one named high and one named low…

…sitting on a cloud,

one named quiet and one named loud…

…sitting in the snow,

one names fast and one named slow…

Five Penguins in a Bathtub

One penguin in a bathtub, going for a swim

Knock, Knock (clap, clap)

Splash, Splash (slap knees, slap knees)

Come on in! (motion with hand)

Two penguins…

Three penguins…

Four penguins…

Five penguins…

…They all fell in! (final line)

Making Noise Storytime

Opening: Shake My Sillies Out – Raffi

Book: The Baby Beebee Bird– Diane Redfield Massie

 

(I used a bird puppets to make the birds noise throughout the book [one handed page turning takes pratice!] A fun story, well recieved, but it can also stand to have a few pages skipped [which I inadvertently did].)

Song/Activity: Hands are for Clapping – from the CD The Sneezing Song and Other Contagious Tunes by Jim Gill

(You get to make noises with different parts of the body, Clapping, tapping, snapping, slapping etc. Fun! During the whistling portions of the song I’d guide the kids to clap big, small, fast etc. for each action.)

Book: Katie Loves the Kittens – John Himmelman

 

(As soon as I opened this book, I knew I wanted to read it aloud, just so I could ARrooooo! for Katie [the kids like to as well]. A very cute book about a dog that loves the new kittens a bit too much. Runs a little long, the second time I skipped about a dozen pages [where the kittens go to sleep and Katie eats their foot] and it held interest much better.)

Puppet Play: The Little Little Girl with the Big Big Voice – Kristen Balouch

(Used puppets for this [substituted the snake for a monkey I have on hand], and everyone loved when the girl and lion roared and laughed together. The text is so simple, it worked great!)

 

Book: Dinosaur Vs the Library– Bob Shea

 

(How can you go wrong with Dinosaur! It’s fun to make the roaring noise in the other animal voices too…chicks, turtles, etc.)

Flannel Board: Animal noises

(A simple activity using farm animals I inherited. Introduce that some of the animals have mixed up their noises, tell the kids to shout ‘Yes!’ if they get it right, and to help the animals if they get it wrong. Then put up the animals and make a noise for them [I did two wrong for every one right]. Then we reviewed them all at the end. It was fun!)

Book: Clickety Clack – Rob and Amy Spence

 

(Tried to get the kids to join in making the noises of the yaks, singing, etc, but they were really only excited about the ducks and fireworks. )

Activity: Instruments

(The kids played with instruments! Played some Frances England in the background.)