H is for Hat!

OK, I must confess that the main reason I wanted to do a hat-themed storytime is because I wanted to read this book :

 At first I was a bit hesitant about reading this book in storytime, but it went over so well -- I don't know if it was my storytime families or the way I read the book or the (very) brief warning I jokingly gave before reading the book, or my cue to the kiddos to "look for the red triangle hat in the book" so they could figure out what was going on ... either way, it was great.

Ho-hum, here's the rest of what we did today :
Books Read
"Twelve Hats for Lena" by Karen Katz
"The Magic Box" by Katie Cleminson (it features a magician's hat)
"Which Hat is That?" by Anna Grossnickle Hines

I dutifully sang "My hat it has three corners" ...

And finally shared this paper-folding story :

I told it with a bit more pizazz and used a very large piece of paper so I could actually put the hats on my head as I told the story. I also pre-folded the paper so the creases were in place for easier storytelling.

At the Circus!

Bring on the dancing ponies and the acrobats! Today at storytime we went to the circus.
Not surprisingly, many kids in attendance had never been to the circus before ... I think it's a dying art.

But in any case, I whipped out all the stops for a circus-themed storytime.

Books We Shared :

Circus  by Lois Ehlert (warning : you may trash your voice if, as I did, you read this in a ringmaster's voice -- ack!)

Circus Parade  by Harriet Ziefert

Wolf Won't Bite  by the one-and-only Emily Gravett
Circus 1-2-3  by Megan Halsey

Flannel Story :
"Clancy the Clown"
super easy flannel story to make -- could also be used in a shapes-themed storytime.

Clancy is a circus clown.
He loves to make people laugh.

Before the circus begins
Clancy always puts on his clown face.

He starts with his clown eyes ...
Then puts on his clown mouth ...
And adds his crazy clown hair ...
And finally his clown nose!
(put on the blue square).

Wait a minute ... that's not right, is it?
(then put on each nose -- green triangle, large yellow circle, small purple dot -- until finally, in frustration, you ask the kids what his nose looks like. Finish the story by adding the red clown nose)
Now Clancy knows his nose ... and you do too!

Draw-and-Tell-Story
I loves me a good draw-and-tell story. The trick is in finding ones that aren't too complicated to draw or too involved to tell a good, simple, SHORT story. This is one of the better ones.
"At the Circus"
Joey and his dad went to the circus.
When they entered the big top, the first thing they saw was the big arena.

Joey and his dad sat on one side of the arena. They could look across and see lots of other people.

The band began to play at the top of the arena.

They could see a conductor leading the band.

Finally, the lights all went out until one spotlight lit up the ringmaster in the center of the arena.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! Boys and Girls! Welcome to the greatest show on earth!
For your entertainment, we have dancing, prancing horses!"

"And for the brave of heart we have fierce lions jumping through hoops of fire!"

"High overhead we have the daring young man on the flying trapeeze ... watch as he swings across the crowd from side to side ..."

When Joey got home, his mother asked him if he liked the circus.
"Yes! There was a band, and dancing horses, and lions jumping through hoops of fire, and even acrobats flying over our heads! But what I loved the most about the circus was ..."
ask kids to answer
"The CLOWNS!"

Finally ... Spring!

Spring has been a long time coming here in Minnesota. When I originally planned for storytime on this date, I thought we'd be well underway with birds, flowers and green grass. Instead, the last of the snow is slowly melting away. Still, it was time to celebrate all things spring this morning at storytime.

Books We Shared :

Wake Up, It's Spring!  by Lisa Campbell Ernst

Spring is Here  by Will Hillenbrand (complete with a snoring bear ...)

Forever Friends  by Carin Berger

I do not consider myself a super crafter ... but when I saw the instructions for creating these flannel rabbit fingerpuppets online, I could not help myself and accepted the (internal) challenge to make five of these little guys to use at storytime.



Of course I had a song/rhyme that went with these little fuzzy guys ...

tune = "Five Little Ducks That I Once Knew" 

(can be found on Raffi's CD More Singable Songs)

(spoken) :

Once upon a time there were five bunnies.

They lived with their momma in a tree stump.

One day ...

(sung) :

Five little bunnies

One spring day

Went to the carrot patch

Far away.

Momma bunny called
"Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!"

stomp foot on ground

But only four came back to their stump ...

count all the way down until there are zero bunnies

last time :

Sad mother bunny

One spring day ...

Went to the carrot patch

Far away ...

Momma bunny went ...

thump ... thump ... thump ... thump ...

and ALL of her bunnies came back to their stump!!

I considered (briefly) using a large rabbit puppet for the mother but realized I needed both hands free to remove the bunnies behind my back one-by-one and (more important!) put them back on at the end.

For those crazy enough as I was to pursue this "craft" here is a link to the template :

Felt Bunny Finger Puppets

If you put in the time, I promise you will NOT regret it!

Body Parts (but not zombies ...)

"The head bone's connected to the ... neck bone, the neck bone's connected to the ... shoulder bone"
We shared stories today all about the different parts of the body.
No storytime on body parts would be complete without "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" so that was the active part of storytime today.

Here is what else was shared :

Books We Read :

We've All Got Bellybuttons!  by David Martin
Thank You For Me by Marion Dane Bauer
From Head to Toe by Eric Carle
The Long-Nosed Pig by Keith Faulkner
The Pig's Picnic by Keiko Kasza (book prop)

I shared the silly song "Tony Chestnut" -- here is a cute video from Britain demonstrating how to sing the song. I didn't leave parts of the song out, as demonstrated here, but rather went faster and faster resulting in much hilarity and hitting of nose.

Finally, I shared one of my all-time favorite books about body parts, Head, Body, Legs which is a folktale from Liberia re-told by Won-Ldy Paye. I have always thought this book a bit long for storytime, and have always felt it lended itself better when told as a story rather than read from a book. So, I created a flannel to accompany the story.

Happy Birthday

We celebrated birthdays this morning at storytime -- and had two attendees whose birthdays were just a few days away! Always very cool when that happens ...

This storytime was simple and sweet, just like a classic birthday cake.

Books We Shared :
It's My Birthday  by Heidi Goennel (out of print)
Wolf's Coming  by Joe Kulka (what's a birthday celebration without a little, um, surprise?)
Muriel's Red Sweater  by Dora Dokas
A Birthday For Cow  by Jan Thomas

I also shared the story "The Cake That Mack Ate" using the book prop from Book Props -- I think this one is sadly no longer available. It really is one of their better efforts. Could probably be made into a flannel story with a bit of work.

Finally, I shared this flannel story :

Five little cupcakes at the bakery shop

Round and fat with frosting on top.

Along came _________ (child's name)

With a quarter one day,

Bought a cupcake and ate it right away!

Four little cupcakes ...

Three little cupcakes ...

Two little cupcakes ...

One little cupcake ...

last time :

No little cupcakes at the bakery shop ...

None with sprinkles or frosting on top ...

It was my birthday

And there was no time to bake ...

So I bought myself a birthday cake!

My cupcake template was found here :
birthday cupcake template
My cake template was found here :
birthday cake
But I imagine these two images can be fairly easily produced with freehand drawings.

Pizza!

Who doesn't like pizza? Pepperoni Pizza. Sausage Pizza. Cheese Pizza.
Today's storytime was all pizza, all the time.
Here's how the pie was laid out ...

Books We Read :

The Pizza That We Made  by Joan Holub
The Little Red Hen (Makes a Pizza)  by Philemon Sturges
Pizza at Sally's  by Monica Wellington
"Hi, Pizza Man!"  by Virginia Walter





The flannel story I shared is taken from Carole Spinelli's poem "One More Bite" -- here is the text :
At four o'clock when I came home
So ravenous from school,
I barely got inside
Before my mouth begain to drool

I stormed the kitchen like a thief

Because I craved a treat
I searched through all the cabinets
For something good to eat.

I first consumed a vegetable
For health was on my mind,
And then I chomped a piece of fruit
Right through it's bumpy rind.

Because the hunger didn't quit
I gnawed some homemade bread,
I ate a cherry lollipop
Which made my tongue all red!

I then proceeded to digest
A giant piece of pie,
With dollops of whipped cream on top
So swirly, twirly high.

Then my mother gave to me
A sandwich of baloney,
But I'd rather have a pizza pie
All topped with pepperoni!

Snowmen!

Today's Make-and-Take craft storytime was all about snowmen, snowwomen, snowboys, snowgirls, snowbabies, and naturally snowlibrarians.

I shared this flannel, based on the Jack Prelutsky poem "My Snowman" which can be found here (scroll down to the second poem which is Prelutsky's). It can also be found in the collection "It's Snowing! It's Snowing! : Winter Poems" by Jack Prelutsky.



Here is the flannel :

These are the books we shared :

Winter is the Warmest Season  by Lauren Stringer

Pip & Squeak  by Ian Schoenherr
Everything You Need for a Snowman  by Alice Schertle
Snowballs  by Lois Ehlert



This was my sample Snowgirl



The last book led perfectly into our craft which was making your own snowperson out of construction paper and any odds & ends I had lying around (buttons, sequins, glue-on jewels, stickers, googly eyes, yarn, ribbon) plus pine needles collected from the deck outside for the arms. Here is how some of our snowpeople turned out :