Cup Cup Clap Clap

This summer I had fun learning the cup song for our "Cup Cup Clap Clap" library program.  This was a super easy and inexpensive event to put on. We did it just before the Fourth of July holiday weekend.

Event description: Get moving with some fun musical clapping games! Learn how to do the popular "cup song" game as seen in the movies. How long can you keep up the rhythm? For grades 1st through 6th.

First, I started with a somewhat easy clapping game called "Bim Bum" with the assistance of this YouTube video.  This got everyone loosened up.  It also did a wonderful job of taking away any shyness that some children had about doing the clapping in front of others.

Next, we moved onto the cup game.  I used this other YouTube video to show the children how to do it.  We had to watch it and then copy it several times.  We started off doing it at the table and chairs and then moved to a circle on the floor.

It was fun watching the children persevere and do the cup game faster and faster.

Musical Rhyming Preschool Storytime

Storytime for 3 to 5 year olds:

• Opening - "A Tooty Ta" from Dance Like This by Mr. Al

• Color literacy activity magnet board - Little Mouse House

Children guess which colored house the mouse is hiding under.

• Book #1 - Max Found Two Sticks by Brian Pinkney

• Stand-up activity - "Grand Old Duke of York" from Toddlers on Parade by Kimbo

• Activity - "Shake My Sillies Out" from The Singable Songs Collection by Raffi

  

• Book #2 - Miss Mary Mack by Mary Ann Hoberman, illustrated by Nadine Bernard Westcott

• Book #3 -  Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault, illustrated by Lois Ehlert

• Closing - Use rhythm sticks to the song "The Mice Go Marching" from Rhythms On Parade by Hap Palmer

 

 

• Art experience - Create personal, quiet sounding rhythm sticks using craft sticks. The sticks can be decorated with embroidery thread and color marker pens. 

• Reflection - I put together this storytime 10 minutes before storytime was to start. My coworker made the decision she was too sick to do her storytime 15 minutes before opening the doors.  She was already set up, so I looked over her books and then pulled some songs off my iPod that fit her theme. This is what I came up with.  With more time to plan, I probably would not have used these three books together.  The flow seemed a little stilted.  I definitely would have chosen a different flannelboard. But I made it work. :) 

Sweet Food Storytime

Storytime for 1 to 3 year olds:

• Opening - Skinnamarink, Sticky Sticky Bubblegum

• Book #1 – Maisy Bakes a Cake by Lucy Cousins (pop-up)

• Stand-up Activity – "I'm a Little Teapot" from This Little Piggy by Adam Stemple, et al

• Bridge - Open, Shut Them (fingerplay)

Open, shut them
(open and close hands)
Open, shut them
Give a little clap (clap)
Open, shut them

Open, shut them
Put them in your lap
(put hands in lap)

Creep them, creep them
Under your chin
(creep fingers up chest)
Open your mouth, but don't put them in
(do as words say)

Open, shut them
Open, shut them
Give a little clap
Open shut them
Open shut them
Put them in your lap 

• Flannelboard - Five Little Cookies (a counting rhyme I found at Sunflower Storytime)

• Letter of the Day - "i" is for ice-cream

• Book #2 – Wemberly's Ice-Cream Star by Kevin Henkes (this book was so small I enlarged it onto storyboards)

• Activity – Alligator Pie (fingerplay I found somewhere, I have seen it on numerous websites)

Alligator, alligator, alligator pie
If I don't get some
I think I'm gonna cry
You can take away the grass
Take away the sky
But don't take away
My alligator pie!

• Closing - Rhythm sticks using "Goin' On a Bear Hunt" song from Kids In Action by Greg and Steve

• Art Experience – Glitter glue on a foam star with a craft stick taped to it to create pretend ice-cream stars.

Cars on the Road Storytime

Storytime for 1 to 3 year olds:

• Opening - Skinnamarink, Sticky Sticky Bubblegum

• Book #1 – Toot Toot Beep Beep by Emma Garcia

• Stand-up Activity – "Wheels On the Bus" from Six Little Ducks by Kimbo

• Bridge - Open, Shut Them (fingerplay)

Open, shut them
(open and close hands)
Open, shut them
Give a little clap (clap)
Open, shut them

Open, shut them
Put them in your lap
(put hands in lap)

Creep them, creep them
Under your chin
(creep fingers up chest)
Open your mouth, but don't put them in
(do as words say)

Open, shut them
Open, shut them
Give a little clap
Open shut them
Open shut them
Put them in your lap 

• Flannelboard - I Love Trucks (Based off the book I Love Trucks by Philemon Sturges. I used clip art I found to make the flannelboard pieces.)

• Letter of the Day - "C" is for car

• Book #2 – Truck Jam by Paul Stickland (pop-up)

• Activity – "Little Red Wagon" from Wiggleworms Love You by Old Town School of Music

• Closing - Rhythm sticks using "Goin' On a Bear Hunt" song from Kids In Action by Greg and Steve 

 

 

• Art Experience – Use bingo paint dabbers to decorate paper plate steering wheels. Use glue sticks to glue a small paper circle onto the center of the steering wheel for a horn.  

Kids Car Rally

After reading blog posts about cars from Libraryland and A Librarian Less Ordinary, my fellow children's librarian and I decided to try something similar.  This summer we proudly hosted our second library event where children bring in their own cars (Hot Wheels, Matchbox, etc.) to play with in the library. This was a fun, easy to create, and low cost library program for a wide range of ages.

 Before the kids arrive, we laid out two different set of roads on the floor of our library meeting room with masking tape.  One set was a square grid of city streets.  The other was an oval race track.  In the middle we set up two tubs of soapy water as car wash stations. We then let the kids into the room and the free play began.

Supplies:

• Masking tape
• Tubs of water
• Dish soap
• A few dollar store sponges and scrub brushes
• A cut up microfiber cleaning cloth
• Lots of towels from home (the kids get a little messy with the water)
• Some extra cars to have on hand in case a family does not realize they needed to bring their own cars