Wonderful Mothers Preschool Storytime

Storytime for 3 to 5 year olds:

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

• Literacy activity flannelboard - Matching mother and baby animals

I found some "Animal and their young" matching card print outs on the Twinkl education resource website. I made multiple copies of the baby animals and handed them out to the children. When I put a mother animal on the board, the children with the corresponding baby animal would then place their card on the board. 

• Book #1 - Mama Zooms by Jane Cowen Fletcher

• Stand-up activity - "If You're Happy and You Know It" action song from Wee Sing Children's Songs and Fingerplays

• Activity - Come A' Look A' See (fingerplay song I first picked up at a workshop conducted by Jane Cobb but can also be found on the CD The Baby Record by Bob McGrath)

 

 

• Book #2 - Mama Cat Has Three Kittens by Denise Fleming

• Book #3 - Owl Babies by Martin Waddell

• Closing - Dance with scarves to the song "Silly Dance Contest" from Jim Gill Sings the Sneezing Song and Other Contagious Tunes by Jim Gill

  

 

• Art experience - Glue or tape an inspirational Harriet Tubman quote to a craft foam star and then decorate star with glitter glue. This can then be used as a Mother's Day gift or any other type of gift. 

Mama-Mommy Storytime

Storytime for 1 to 3 year olds:

• Opening - Skinnamarink, Sticky Sticky Bubblegum

• Book #1 – Is Your Mama a Llama? by Deborah Guarino, illustrated by Steven Kellogg

• Stand-up Activity – Do It For Your Mother (action song to the tune of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat")

Roll, roll, roll your hands
As fast as fast can be
Do it now let me see
Do it for your mother

Clap, clap, clap your hands
As fast as fast can be
Do it now let me see
Do it for your mother

(use other body motions such as stomp your feet, jump your legs, etc.)

• 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 Ducks (traditional counting backwards song)

• Book #2 – Mommy, Carry Me Please! Jane Cabrera

• Activity – Come A' Look A' See (fingerplay song I first picked up at a workshop conducted by Jane Cobb but can also be found on the CD The Baby Record by Bob McGrath)

• Closing - Scarves using the song "Flitter Flutter" from The Second Line by Johnette Downing 

 

• Art Experience – Glue white paper strips to a pink paper circle to make a daisy flower

Earth Day Preschool Storytime

Storytime for 3 to 5 year olds:

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

• Literacy activity flannelboard - There Was an Old Woman Recycling Rhyme (adapted by Carol Hopkins from a rhyme found at Storytime Source Page)

Directions: Give each child a picture of bottles, cans, boxes, or newspapers.  Each child comes up to put their picture on the board when their recyclable item is said.  

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe

She had so much trash, she didn't know what to do

She learned from a friend to separate a few

And got herself a Recycling Bin.

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe

She had so much trash, she didn't now what to do

She piled up the bottles, the bottles, the bottles,

And took them out back to the Recycling Bin.

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe

She had so much trash, she didn't know what to do

She piled up the cans, the cans, the cans,

And took them out back to the Recycling Bin.

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe

She had so much trash, she didn't now what to do

She piled up the newspapers, the newspapers, the newspapers,

And took them out back to the Recycling Bin.

• Book #1 - I Stink! by Kate and Jim McMullan

• Stand-up activity - The Garbage Truck Rolls (fingerplay to the tune of "Wheels On the Bus" adapted by Carol Hopkins)

The garbage truck drives down the street, down the street, down the street
The garbage truck drives down the street
As it picks up garbage

The garbage truck stops adn goes, stops and goes, stops and goes
The garbage truck stops and goes
As it picks up garbage

(use other action words)

• Activity - If You See a Piece of Trash (fingerplay written by Carol Hopkins to the tune of "Mary Had a Little Lamb")

If you see a piece of trash, piece of trash, piece of trash

(pretend to pick up a piece of garbage)

If you see a piece of trash, pick it up right now.

Put it in a garbage can, garbage can, garbage can,

(sign language for trash can)

Put it in a garbage can, do it right now.

If you can recycle it, recycle it, recycle it,

(sign language for recycle)

If you can recycle it, then recycle it right now.

 

 

• Book #2 - The Earth Book by Todd Parr

• Book #3 - Big Earth, Little Me by Thom Wiley, illustrated by Kate Endle

• Closing - Dance with scarves to the song "Silly Dance Contest" from Jim Gill Sings the Sneezing Song and Other Contagious Tunes by Jim Gill

   

 

• Art experience - Tear pieces of construction paper and then glue them to a recycling truck drawing

Wild Sendak Rumpus Preschool Storytime

Storytime for 3 to 5 year olds:

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

• Shape literacy activity flannelboard - Shape Identification

I passed out a felt circle, triangle, or rectangle to each child. We then talked about how many lines and corners each shape has. Then they brought up their shapes to place on the board. 

  

• Book #1 - Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

• Stand-up activity - "Monster Boogie" from Buzz Buzz by Laurie Berkner

• 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!

• Book #2 - Chicken Soup with Rice by Maurice Sendak

• Book #3 - Bears by Ruth Krauss, illustrated by Maurice Sendak

• Closing - Dance with scarves to the song "Silly Dance Contest" from Jim Gill Sings the Sneezing Song and Other Contagious Tunes by Jim Gill

  

 

• Art experience - Color with pens and cut out paper monster feet

• Reflection - This storytime was pulled together at almost the last moment.  I needed to quickly substitute for another librarian.  I'm not sure if I would do this line up of books again.  It didn't seem to flow very well.  The art activity turned out really cute, especially once we figured out how to make the foot hole larger on the paper feet. 

Take Your Child to the Library Day

Celebrated on the first Saturday of February, this yearly event is a great way to advertise all the services and fun programs going on at your library on Saturdays.  At my library, we keep this library event simple.  In the morning, we promote our weekly Saturday Lego building brick storytime.  We schedule one of our therapy dogs to make a visit sometime during the day. In the afternoon, we include a passive art creation table.  Nothing too staff intensive.

This year, at the art creation table we decorated craft foam bracelets.  The bracelets are leftover from a Día celebration a few years back. Recycling the leftover pieces from a past event actually made this a zero cost day for us. All of our supplies were sitting in our art supply closet.

Art table, bracelet supplies:

• Craft foam bracelets (I think we originally bought these from Oriental Trading)
• Sticky craft foam letters (they came with the bracelets, they peeled and stuck like stickers)
• Color pens
• Yarn (a few balls will do the trick, a small length of yarn is needed to tie the ends of the bracelets together)
• Scissors (to cut the yarn, unless you have the yarn pre-cut)

Overall, I enjoy celebrating Take Your Child to the Library Day. It is an easy way to add a little more fun to a normal Saturday at the library.  More information about Take Your Child to the Library Day can be found at Connecticut Library Consortium.  

Springtime Fun Preschool Storytime

Storytime for 3 to 5 year olds:

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

• Color literacy activity flannelboard - "Bluebird, Bluebird Through My Window" flannelboard song

• Book #1 - Mud by Mary Lyn Ray, illustrated by Lauren Stringer

• Stand-up activity - "If You're Happy and You Know it" action song from Wee Sing Children's Songs and Fingerplays

• Activity - "Shakin' Like a Leafy Tree" action song from Racing to the Rainbow by The Wiggles

  

 

  

• Book #2 - Splish, Splash, Spring by Jan Carr, illustrated by Dorothy Donohue

• Book #3 - Kite Flying by Grace Lin

• Closing - Dance with scarves to the song "Silly Dance Contest" from Jim Gill Sings the Sneezing Song and Other Contagious Tunes by Jim Gill

  

 

• Art experience - Decorate a paper plate kite with crepe paper streamers and stickers

Number Counting Preschool Storytime

Storytime for 3 to 5 year olds:

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

• Counting literacy activity flannelboard - Make a graph of favorite colors. Each child brings up their chosen color and places it on the board in the corresponding column. Then we count each color. Which color has more?  Which color has less?

• Book #1 - One Is a Drummer: A Book of Numbers by Roseanne Thong, illustrated by Grace Lin

• Stand-up activity - Two Little Hands (action rhyme)

Two little hands go clap, clap, clap

Two little feet go tap, tap, tap.

Two little fists go thump, thump, thump.

Two little legs go jump, jump, jump.

One little body turns around,

And everyone sits quietly down.

 

 

• Book #2 - Snappy Little Numbers by Kate Lee and Caroline Repchuk, illustrated by Derek Matthews (pop-up)

• Book #3 -  Three Little Mermaids by Mara Van Fleet (pop-up)

• Closing - Dance with scarves to the song "Silly Dance Contest" from Jim Gill Sings the Sneezing Song and Other Contagious Tunes by Jim Gill

• Art experience - Coloring sheet with crayons