by scottdirkb
Opening: Shake My Sillies Out – Raffi
Book: Unicorn Thinks He’s Pretty Great – Bob Shea
(I thought this might be a bit wordy, but our crowd was just the right age for it! …usually we have quite a few very young patrons.)
(This was a hit, and super simple. The kids loved identifying the jobs based on their uniforms, and then deciding which would use the tools we revealed.)
Book: Up, Up, Down – Robert Munsch
(Perfectly simple fun book, the kids loved it. The ending felt just a bit abrupt.)
Activity: Grand Old Duke of York
Oh, The grand old Duke of York,
He had ten thousand men;
He marched them up to the top of the hill,
And he marched them down again.
And when they were up, they were up,
And when they were down, they were down,
And when they were only half-way up,
They were neither up nor down.
(We marched in place, then went on our toes for Up, and squatted for Down).
(We started this at a normal speed, then gradually increased the speed for about four rounds of the song. They loved it!)
Book: What Color is Your Underwear? – Sam Lloyd
(A simple, silly book. The kids were great at identifying the colors, and really liked the laugh-out-loud ending.)
(A simple little rhyme, wasn’t fantastically recieved, but I needed something else for the theme, and they didn’t dislike it.)
One rain drop came out to play,
On an umbrella one day.
It had such enormous fun
That it called for another little drop to come!
…continue adding more drops
Book: The Umbrella – Ingrid & Dieter Schubert
(Wordless books still make me a little nervous, but this was fantastic! We just chatted about what was going on, the kids were great at filling in the information.)
(I made ‘raindrops’ out of yarn to bounce on our parachute. We kept going until more kids were interested in hiding under the parachute than bouncing the rain on it.)
Letters Storytime
by scottdirkb
Opening: Shake My Sillies Out – Raffi
Book: Lottie Paris and the Best Place – Angela Johnson
(A great way to introduce the theme, making friends at the library! I clipped the ‘rules’ pages to streamline things.)
Activity: Dear Zoo –
from the book by Rod Campbell
(A zoo keeps sending the wrong pet! The kids loved saying why certain animals weren’t a good fit, and we swapped a skunk for the original camel.)
Book: Wombat Walkabout – Carol Diggory Shields
(Quite a fun book, though it felt a smidge long. Maybe it would be better as a opening title.)
Activity: If You’re Friendly and You Know It
If you’re friendly and you know it, clap your hands!
If you’re friendly and you know it, clap your hands!
If you’re friendly and you know it, then your face will always show it,
If you’re friendly and you know it, clap your hands!
…wave hello
…jump up and down
…shout Horray!
…do them all.
(A nice simple activity to do some moving.)
Book: My Friend is Sad – Mo Willems
(A fantastically fun book, as all the Elephant and Piggie are.)
Activity: My Friend Rabbit –
from the book by Eric Rohmann
(Pretty simple, we ask the kids to identify the animals as rabbit brings them out to add to the tower.)
Book: You Will Be My Friend – Peter Brown
(A good lesson in friend behavior. Clipped a few pages together, and it went over well!)
(Our last book ended with the new friends having a dance party, so we finished with a dance party of our own!)
Friends Storytime
by scottdirkb
Opening: Shake My Sillies Out – Raffi
Book: Cock-a-doodle! Quack! Quack! – Ivor Baddiel
(A playful story, the kids love the mess up’s. A smidge long, so I do clip some pages together.)
Activity: 5 Pigs So Squeaky Clean
(A fun simple rhyme. Not such a hit this week though.)
Five pigs so squeaky clean, cleanest you’ve ever seen,
wanted to go outside and play. Uh huh!
One jumped into the mud, landed there with a thud.
Now there are four pigs squeaky clean. Oink, oink!
Book: Chickens To the Rescue – John Himmelman
(Fantastic illustrations, even though they are quite busy they work for a group as well. Very cute story too.)
Activity: I Know a Chicken –
from the CD Whadda Think of That by Laurie Berkner
(This song is always a hit, kids love the shaking!)
Book: Up, Down, and Around – Katherine Ayres
(We have the kids point up, down and twirl their finger around during the appropriate points. I think it would be a bit dull without the interactive element, but with it’s great!)
Activity: In the Farmyard
(A sweet little rhyme, and it let well to our next book.)
In the farmyard at the end of the day,
All of the animals politely say
“Thank you for my food today.”
The cow says …
“Moo”
(continue with other animals)
end
And then the barn is locked up tight,
and the farmer quietly says, “Good night.”
Book: Farmyard Beat – Lindsay Craig
(The animals wont stay asleep! A great book with nice illustrations and repetition.)
(We ended with streamers this week.)
Farm Storytime Video
by scottdirkb
Opening: Shake My Sillies Out – Raffi
Book: Waking Beauty – Leah Wilcox
(This is a very fun book, if just slightly long. It still holds the kids attentions well, and the adults really appreciate it.)
Activity: Princess and the Mattresses
(Princess and the Pea)
A video of my presentation.
(A very fun puppet story, inspired by a post at The Voices Inside My Headphones. The kids love the sleepless princess and the surprises she discovers in her bed.)
On top of all these mattresses I get to spend the night,
I toss and turn and cannot sleep, for something is not right.
Something (tickley, squishy, buzzy, scary, lumpy) keeps me up.
These mattresses I’ll spread…
A (feather, banana peel, bee, monster, pea)! That’s no good,
get out of my bed!
(The princess then throws the item and climbs up for the next verse)
Finally everything is soft, and I can rest my head. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Book: Paper Bag Princess – Robert Munch
(This classic is always fun to include. I worried at first it would be too wordy, but it works great!)
(Some of the kids were a little lackluster this go round, probably due to a younger crowd. It still worked well enough, and I like it!)
Book: Interrupting Chicken – David Ezra Stein
(I feel like this ran a smidge long, maybe do to the younger crowd again. It’s a very cute book.)
Activity: Somethinglocks and the Three Somethings
(See the full version here)
(A great way to engage the kids and build narrative skills. Lots of fun!)
Book: The End – David LaRochelle
(Our program was running a bit long, so we ended up dropping this title. I think it is great though!)
(We finished by dancing with streamers)
Fairy Tale Storytime Video
SLC Book Boy 