Animal Mommies

May 27, 2014

Animal Mommies

A storytime devoted to mommies of the animal variety!

Books:

Hush, Little Dragon by Boni Ashburn
     No, it's not a traditional "animal mommy" story, but...work with me here. It's a new version of "Hush, Little Baby" but with a dragon trying to find food for her baby as the theme.

Babies in the Bayou by Jim Arnosky
     A highlighting of all the babies you find in the bayou:alligators, racoons, turtles, and ducks!

Mama Built a Little Nest by Jennifer Ward
   How many animals make nests? This book goes over a bunch of nest-making animals from all over.

Songs:

Opening Song: Where is Thumbkin? - Kimbo

Song 2: Skinny-Marinky-Dinky-Dink - 100 Singalong Songs for Kids

Song 3: Shake My Sillies Out - Raffi

Song 4: Peanut Butter and Jelly - Kimbo

Song 5: Dance Your Fingers/Clap Along With Me - Wee Sing for Baby

Song 6: Put Your Little Foot - Wee Song Fun N' Folk

Song 7: If You're Happy and You Know It - Kimbo

Song 8: Wheels on the Bus - 100 Singalong Songs for Kids

Felt/Magnet Board:

This week we did two magnet boards! We started with Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? We were able to easily print the graphics for this magnet board from the wonderful folks at DLTK Teach.That took care of our "Animal" aspect (again, work with me here!).

Out second board we made ourselves using simple clipart from Microsoft Word - 5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed. This took care of our "Mommy" aspect...since mama calls the doctor...and she's a mama of monkeys afterall (still...work with me!).

 Craft:

To go with our 5 Little Monkeys magnet board we made a Monkey Mask! Found at FirstPalette.com,
a website filled with tons of simple printable crafts! We printed ours onto different colors of cardstock paper and the kids LOVED looking like monkeys. We then had them tape or glue a large popsicle stick (tongue depressor size) to make the monkey face into a mask.

Quack Quack!

April 22, 2014

Quack Quack!

A storytime devote to ducks and ducky things!

Books:

One Duck Stuck by Phyllis Root
The Odd Egg by Emily Gravett
Little Quack by Lauren Thompson
Outfoxed by Mike Twohy

Songs:

Opening Song: Where is Thumbkin? - Kimbo

Song 2: Skinny-Marinky-Dinky-Dink - 100 Sinagalong Songs for Kids

Song 3: Shake Your Sillies Out - Raffi

Song 4: Dance Your Fingers / Clap Along With Me - Wee Sing for Baby

Song 5: Put Your Little Foot - Wee Sing Fun 'N Folk

Song 6: If You're Happy and You Know It - Kimbo

Song 7: Wheels on the Bus - 100 Singalong Songs for Kids

Felt/Magnet Board:

5 Little Ducks!

We did a telling of the nursery rhyme Five Little Ducks for this week's magnet board. We simply printed out five little ducks and attached magnets to the back to tell the story:

Five little ducks
Went out one day
Over the hill and far away
Mother duck said
"Quack, quack, quack, quack."
But only four little ducks came back.

Four little ducks
Went out one day
...
But only three little ducks came back.

Three little ducks
Went out one day
...
But only two little ducks came back.

Two little ducks
Went out one day
...
But only one little duck came back.

One little duck
Went out one day
...
But none of the five little ducks came back.

Sad mother duck
Went out one day
Over the hill and far away
The sad mother duck said
"Quack, quack, quack."
And all of the five little ducks came back!

Craft:

Today, we made a duck picture! We used a pond coloring page for the background and then had the kids assemble and glue the duck craft on top of it. Worked like a charm and the kids really enjoyed assembling the duck!

Farms

November 12, 2013

Farms

A storytime about life on the farm, synching ourselves up for the big THANKSGIVING - where, you know, there's food. Food that comes from farms!

Books:

Cows to the Rescue by John Himmelman

Cock-A-Doodle-Moo! by Bernard Most

Story County: Here We Come by Derek Anderson

Pigs to the Rescue by John Himmelman

Songs:

Opening Song: Where is Thumbkin? - Kimbo

 Song 2: Skinny-Marinky-Dinky-Dink - 100 Singalong Songs for Kids

 Song 3: Shake My Sillies Out - Raffi

 Song 4 (Our Theme Song Pick): Peanut Butter and Jelly - Kimbo

Song 5 (Our Theme Song Pick): Old McDonald - 100 Singalong Songs for Kids

 Song 6: Dance Your Fingers / Clap Along With Me - Wee Sing for Baby

Song 7: Wheels on the Bus - 100 Singalong Songs for Kids

Felt Board / Magnet Board:

This was a half failed attempt at an Old McDonald magnet board. In the version of the song we have on 100 Singalong Songs for Kids, the singers repeat the sounds of the previous animals after they introduce an animal so the final chorus would be:

With a Neigh Neigh here
And a Neigh Neigh there.
Here a Neigh, there a Neigh
Everywhre a Neigh, Neigh!

Quack Quack here
And a Quack Wuack there
Here a Quack, there a Quack
Everywhere a Quack Quack!

Oink Oink here
and an Oink Oink there
Here an Oink, there an Oink
Everywhere an Oink Oink!

Moo Moo here
And a Moo Moo there
Here a Moo, there a Moo
Everywhere a Moo Moo!

So I thought, wouldn't it be cool the make a box that I could attach the animals a noises to and turn it quickly as they new animals and noises came up in the chorus. All in all - it's an ok idea! Except, the magnets I used weren't strong enough to hold to each other so the pieces fell off easily while I turned the box around to show the previous animal. Oh well - I still have a magnet board to use for Old McDonald next time!

 Craft:
 

 

 

This was a perfect craft for this storytime and all of the kids loved making it. It can be found at DTLK-kids.com along with lots of other great and free printable crafts that are easy to make. We happen to have an abundance of cardboard rolls (TP Rolls for the crude) and need to use them as often as we can.

How Many Did You Have?

Today, at one point I counted 57, though of course the little ones were scrambling around and I may have missed one or two. We had to run off extra pages for the craft!

How Did It Go?



We did have a fifth book planned that we didn't get to, but all in all I'd say it was a success. Note: In Cock-A-Doddle-Moo!, the rooster has lost its loud crow so you have to whisper "Cock-A-Doodle-Doo" when he talks. Whispering will get attention a lot faster than yelling - all the kids quieted down so that they could listen.