Preschool Story Time - Classic Tales & Storytelling Techniques

Folk Tales, Fairy Tales, and Fables are fantastic fodder for story time from preschool through early school age kids.  This is because they have been told, retold, modified and embellished for generations.  Most kids know the big ones - Little Red Riding Hood, The Three Little Pigs, and maybe even Goldilocks and the Three Bears.  They have their own ideas of how they 'should' be told and are quite outspoken if you do not tell it the way they are used to.  For me, that makes it fun!  There are so many fractured fairy tales now that one could do an entire lesson on them.  My "In the Bag" story time for school age visitors is on fractured fairy tales and the kids love it.  For this edition, I took classic folk tales and told them using three different techniques for story telling.  This took more planning than most story times, but it was worth the effort!

** Note that for this story time, I had loads of different versions of these books on display for check out.  There are so many different versions, so I suggest you finding your favorites - whether told by using the picture book, in felt, or by heart - because your love of what you are doing is what will shine through.

The Three Little Pigs - Told as a felt story.

One of my first and most favorite sets, I believe this is one that every story teller needs to have in their collection.  Click HERE for more on this felt set.
This was great fun to tell with felt.  Now, a little disclaimer that I had decided that 'no one in Miss Sue's story times dies'....after I had one little heckler telling me that I wasn't telling the story right.  So in the end, my wolf just ran away screaming with the pigs safely giggling at home.  A couple parents appreciated the comical ending, but it was really funny to see how far that little heckler would take her opinions on how the story should go!


Action Rhyme - Everyone stand up for squats!!  OK, I am kidding, but we did do this chant a few times going faster and faster and faster - what a workout!

The Grand Old Duke of York

The Grand old duke of York (march)

Had ten thousand men. (show 10 fingers)

He marched them up the hill (march)

And he marched them down again.

And when they’re up, they’re up. (Stand Up on tiptoe)

And when they’re down, they’re down. (crouch way down)

When they are only half way up,  (crouch) they’re neither up (stand) nor down! (sit)

The Little Red Hen - Told via picture book.

I do love the story of the Little Red Hen!  The thing about these classic tales is, once you start telling them, you can almost hear your own mom or dad and how they read it to you.  It all comes back to you, and it did for me as I read "Not I!!"  After the first round of the animals turning down the Red Hen, the kids had caught on and shouted "Not I!" with me.  So fun!

Nursery Rhymes work well in this kind of story time.  Some people don't like them.  I do for a couple of reasons.  One is they are familiar and repetitive.  Children are learning language through patterns at this age and latch on to nursery rhymes for this reason.  Another reason is that preschoolers are learning unfamiliar words through rhyme.  They are opening up their vocabularies. You are introducing words they may not get in normal conversation and that is a very good thing.   Finally preschoolers are developing their little egos are feel very proud and excited when they recognize a rhyme and can repeat it back.  They think "whoa!  I got this!" and that is a cool thing to see on their faces.

With that in mind, here are some of Library Village's resources for Nursery Rhymes.
Our FELT sets are HERE for the SHEEP Rhymes, and HERE for Kristie's HEY DIDDLE DIDDLE set.  Then you can click HERE for a bunch of blog posts on various uses for Nursery Rhymes.

The Three Billy Goats Gruff - Told orally, using large cutouts

This was where the bulk of my prep-time went.  I created a bulletin board behind me to look just like the illustrations in this book.  I had the fields, the goats, the bridge and the troll in larger-than-life format behind me as I proceeded through story time.  For our finale, I pulled out all of my best story telling techniques and told this story off-book.  This was one of my own kids' favorites, so after reading it so many times to them I had it down.

Another disclaimer - I think I must be really good at troll voices, because I scared the pants off some of the more sensitive kids.  I toned it down and kept the troll hidden for a lot of the story.  I also stopped and whispered to the little fella "I'll tell you a secret - the goats win in the end!"  Lesson learned as I think this one in full voice might be better for the older preschool crowd, or at least to get to know my audience better before pulling out the scarier stories!

Here is what my bulletin board and story time area looked like that day:

You can see my 3 Little Pigs felt set, my Good Morning Weather felts (which later became my Weather Bear), and the bulletin board.  The Troll is hiding in my bin.  On my cart, I had my Big Fat Hen puppet for more nursery rhyme run.

And here is a closeup of the 3 Goats.  The artwork is right out of the book.

Craft - 3 Billy Goats Gruff puppets
If you may have noticed, I am a huge fan of story re-telling. I give out a parent newsletter with our rhymes and books, I have many books on display, and many of the crafts I select are designed so the child can go home and retell the story to their siblings or stuffed animals.  We do a lot of puppets in story time - here is my goat puppet!  Simply a white bag, goat head cut outs, snipped yarn, and markers make this craft.

No matter how you tell stories - through felt sets, via picture book, orally, with puppets, or through song, story times need to come from the heart...YOUR HEART.  I enjoy telling stories through lots of techniques, and I hope my love of story telling shines through to my preschool kids and their families.  I hope you enjoyed this story time.  This was the one my boss attended for my performance review and I am happy to report that she was as pleased with the results as I was.  Thanks for stopping by!!

Flannel Friday - Two Little Blackbirds

I love using nursery rhymes in Baby Story Time! It is so vitally important to pass these on to our children, both for the history and tradition, as well as for their role in developing early literacy skills!

I found these simple finger puppets for Two Little Blackbirds (including a free template!) on Kids' Brain.  Their directions are very easy to follow!

 

Here's the rhyme:

 

Two little blackbirds sitting on a hill,

One named Jack, the other named Jill.
Fly away, Jack! Fly away, Jill!
Come back, Jack! Come back, Jill!


Here's my take on them:

 

Each bird is two pieces of black felt, glued together along the edges.  The edge of the beak is glued in between them.

 

I glued the wings at different angles so you could see both wings from either side.  For the eyes I used small sequins, one on each side.  I think they turned out pretty cute, and they were very easy to make!

Happy Flannel Friday!

Thanks so much to Linda at Notes from the Story Room for hosting this week! Flannel Friday is for anyone interested in finding and sharing great flannel board ideas!  You can learn more about Flannel Friday and how to participate here.

Baby Story Time - On the Farm!

Welcome back to Baby Story Time! I did story times all summer, but didn't really have a chance to write about them, so I've got a lot of catching up to do! Let's jump right in with a fun Farm theme!

OPENING SONG: "The Hello Song" *

GREETING SONG: "Hello" (Name Song) *

WAKE-UP RHYME: "Mother and Father and Farmer John"
(traditional lap bounce; it's supposed to be "Uncle John," but I changed it to "Farmer John" to match the theme)
Mother and Father and Farmer John went to town, one by one.
     (bounce baby)
Mother fell off,
     (tip baby to one side)
And Father fell off,
     (tip baby to the other side)
But Farmer John went on and on and on and on...
     (bounce slowly and then get faster and faster!)

1st Book: Giant Pop-Out Farm from Chronicle Books

Simple nonfiction with wonderful, truly giant pop-up images! This book was perfect!

ACTION SONG: "Old MacDonald Had a Farm"

Old MacDonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O.

And on that farm he had a cow, E-I-E-I-O.
With a "moo-moo" here, and a "moo-moo" there,
Here a "moo," there a "moo," everywhere a "moo-moo."
Old MacDonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O.

I love using puppets with this song. These are the animals I used this week:

I love that beautiful chicken!

BABY PARADE: "Walkin' Old Joe" (from the cd Songs for Wiggleworms by Old Town School of Folk Music)

Old Joe, the horse, moseys, walks, and gallops! It's fun for parents to dance and bounce with their babies to this quick, energetic little song!

NURSERY RHYME: "One, Two, Buckle My Shoe"

(A classic, and one of my favorites! It's so important to pass classic nursery rhymes along to the next generation!)

One, two, buckle my shoe.
Three, four, shut the door.
Five, six, pick up sticks.
Seven, eight, lay them straight.
Nine, ten, a big fat hen!

I found this template in a book. I photocopied it onto card stock, colored it in, and stuck Velcro on the back! Voila!

2nd Book: Where Is My Baby? by Harriet Ziefert

Turn the flaps to find each baby animal. Great for making animal sounds, and Taback's illustrations are so engaging. We are lucky to have a class set of this book, so everyone could read along together.

ACTION RHYME: "Ten Fluffy Chickens" (borrowed from Mel's Desk - thank you!)

Five eggs and five eggs, that makes ten.

     (hold up both hands)
Sitting on top is Mother Hen.
Crack, crack, crack, crack! What do you see?

     (clap hands to "crack" eggs)

Ten fluffy chickens, yellow as can be!

This was 100% stolen from Mel's Desk. Her's are actually much more clever - they are eggs on one side and chicks on the other! I was in a super hurry so I just stuck tape on the backs of mine. I may remake this later in felt, though. It is super cute!

ACTION SONG: "Los Pollitos" (from the cd You Are My Little Bird by Elizabeth Mitchell)

(This is a traditional Spanish children's song. You could play the cd, or just sing it a capella.)

All the little chicks say, "Pio, pio, pio!"

When they are hungry, when they are cold.
Mama Chicken looks for corn and some wheat.
That will give them dinner, that will give them heat.
Under her wing, her chicks she'll keep,
Until the morning, the little chickies sleep.

We waved little chicks on craft sticks during this song. The tune is very simple, so a lot of the parents picked up on it and sang it with me the second time through.

3rd Book: Baby at the Farm by Karen Katz

We had to skip this one on Wednesday, they were a wild group! The Friday group heard it, though. There's not a lot to it, just another good opportunity to reinforce animal sounds.

CLOSING SONG: "If You're Happy and You Know It" *

GOODBYE SONG: "Babies, Bye-Bye" *

CLOSING RHYME: "Thank You" *



*Check out my Baby Story Time page for the words to all of my weekly songs and rhymes.

We had a great time on the farm! See you next time!

Baby Story Time - Bears!

We made some big changes to Baby Story Time with the new year! My groups were so large that I decided to split them in two - ages 3-12 months in the Baby group, and ages 12-24 months in a special 'Ones' group.  With the winter weather affecting our numbers, it is hard to say how this will go, but I'm excited to try it!

On to story time! Bears always seem like a wintry theme to do:

Wake-Up Rhyme: "Acka Backa" (from Baby Rhyming Time by Linda Ernst)

Acka backa soda cracker, acka backa boo!
     (bounce baby)
Acka backa soda cracker, I love you!
     (give baby hug)
Acka backa soda cracker, acka backa boo!
     (bounce baby)
Acka backa soda cracker, up goes you!
     (lift baby in the air)
Acka backa soda cracker, acka backa boo!
     (bounce baby)
Acka backa soda cracker, I love you!
     (give baby hug)

1st Book: Mama's Little Bears by Nancy Tafuri

These playful bears explore the woods, finding surprises all around them!

Flannel Board Matching Game: "Little Bear, Where is Your Mommy?"
Check out my Flannel Friday post to see what this simple game looks like.

Action Rhyme: "'Round and 'Round the Garden" (from Baby Rhyming Time by Linda Ernst)

'Round and 'round the garden goes the teddy bear,
     (make circles on baby's tummy)
One step, two step,
     (walk fingers up baby's arm)
Tickle you under there!
     (tickle baby!)

Action Rhyme: "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear" (traditional)

Teddy bear, teddy bear, turn around.
Teddy bear, teddy bear, touch the ground.

Teddy bear, teddy bear, show your shoe.
Teddy bear, teddy bear, I love you!

Teddy bear, teddy bear, climb upstairs.
Teddy bear, teddy bear, brush your hair.

Teddy bear, teddy bear, turn out the light.
Teddy bear, teddy bear, say "Goodnight!"

2nd Book: Funny Face by Nicola Smee

A little boy goes through a range of emotion after a big bear takes his ball!

 

Rhythm Time with Shakers:

 

We shook our shakers to the song "Rattle My Rattle" from Elizabeth Mitchell's cd Little Seed, while I visited each child with my bear puppet from Lakeshore Learning.



 

 



Action Song: "Shake Your Shaker" (adapted from 101 Rhythm Instrument Activities for Young Children by Abigail Flesch Connors) (to the tune "London Bridge is Falling Down")

Shake your shaker in the air,
Shake it here, shake it there.
Shake your shaker in the air,
My fair baby!

Shake your shaker way down low,
To your knees, to your toes.
Shake your shaker way down low,
My fair baby!

3rd Book: The Bear Went Over the Mountain by Michelle Dorenkamp

This is a simple book to sing along to, with great illustrations!

 

We finished up with our regular goodbye songs and rhymes (visit my Baby Story Time page for these), and it was play time!  What a fun wintry story time!

 

Want to see how you can use Bears in a Toddler Story Time? See Miss Kristie's post here.



Baby Story Time - Yummy Food!

Babies love food, and so do I! So why not do a story time on one of their favorite subjects?

Turkey nametags, anyone?
(confession time - this was actually my Thanksgiving story time, just now posting it!)

Wake-up Rhyme: "Roll, Roll, Sugar Babies"
Lots of story time bloggers use this one!  And it makes me think of sugar cookies :)

Roll, roll, sugar babies
Roll, roll, sugar babies
     (rolling baby's arms)
*Up, Down
     (arms up, then down)
Clap, clap, clap!

Repeat with other commands, such as "Out, In" (arms out and in), "Right, Left" (lean baby side to side), and "Front, Back" (tilt baby front and back).

1st Book: The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

Who doesn't love Eric Carle?



Counting Rhyme: "Five Little Cookies"
I borrowed this from Mel's Desk last year, but this year I made up my own rhyme to go with it.

Five yummy cookies, pretty as can be.

Someone ate the blue one! How many do you see? 1, 2, 3, 4!

Four yummy cookies, pretty as can be.

Someone ate the green one! How many do you see? 1, 2, 3!

Etc., etc.

Ok, so my plan was to bring my son's Cookie Monster toy (his mouth opens!!) to eat the cookies off of the board, but I forgot it at home.  Sigh, oh well.  There's always next year!

Action Song: "Go Bananas!"
You guys all learned the Banana Cheer in Girl Scouts, right??

Bananas unite!
     (put hands together over head)
Peel bananas, peel peel bananas!
     (peel one arm down)
Peel bananas, peel peel bananas!
     (peel other arm down)
Eat bananas, eat eat bananas!
     (sign "eat" at mouth)
Eat bananas, eat eat bananas!
     (repeat)
Go bananas! Go go bananas!
     (dance!)
Go bananas! Go go bananas!
     (repeat)
Bananas to the left,
     (lean left)
Bananas to the right,
     (lean right)
Peel your banana and take a bite!
     (mime these actions)
Mmmmmm!!
     (rub tummy)

This was a hit!  The first line had everyone laughing, including me!

2nd Book: How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food? by Jane Yolen

I only read about half of this one because the babies were getting super wiggly!

(Bonus Song! - I threw this in to get us back on track!)

Action Song: "Baby's Hokey Pokey" (adapted from the cd Baby Face by Georgiana Stewart)
Arms up, arms down,
Arms up, and wave them all around!
Then tickle, tickle, wiggle, wiggle, everybody knows,
That's how baby's hokey-pokey goes!
(Repeat with legs)

Action Rhyme: "Mix a Pancake"

This is a classic children's poem by Christina Rossetti.  I'm not sure where I saw the idea to use it as a lap bounce, but I like it!

Mix a pancake, stir a pancake,

     (draw big circles on baby's tummy)

Pop it in the pan.

     ("pop" baby in your lap)

Fry the pancake,

     (rock baby)

Toss the pancake,

     (lift baby in the air!)
Catch it if you can!
     (give baby a big hug!)

Nursery Rhyme: "Patty-Cake"

Patty-cake, patty-cake, baker's man.

     (clap hands)

Bake me a cake as fast as you can.

     (clap hands)

Roll it, and pat it, and mark it with a "B,"

     (roll hands, pat tummy, draw a "B" on tummy)

And put it in the oven for baby and me!

     (clap hands)

3rd Book: Yummy Yucky by Leslie Patricelli

Baby compares yummy and yucky foods.  My favorite page reads, "Burgers are yummy. Boogers are yucky."

 We finished up with our usual songs and rhyme, and it was playtime.  This was a simple story time without a lot of extras (rhythm instruments, etc.), but it flowed smoothly and we had a lot of fun!



Baby Story Time - Babycakes!

Let's face it - we LOVE babies!  This story time celebrates their cuteness!

Wake-up Rhyme: "Patty Cake"
Patty-cake, patty-cake, baker's man
Bake me a cake as fast as you can!
     (clap hands)
Roll it and pat it and mark it with a "B"
     (roll hands, pat tummy, draw "B" on tummy)
And put it in the over for baby and me!
     (clap hands)

1st Book: All of Baby Nose to Toes by Victoria Adler

I love Hiroe Nakata's illustrations and this rhyming book about body parts is super cute.  It was a little too long for my wiggleworms today so I didn't quite read the whole thing.

Action Song: "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" (always a favorite - we sang this twice!)
Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes,
Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes,
Eyes and ears and mouth and nose,
Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes!

Nursery Rhyme: "Jack and Jill" (I used a storytelling kit from Lakeshore Learning)
Jack and Jill went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water.
     (bounce baby)
Jack fell down and broke his crown
     (lower baby to the floor)
And Jill came tumbling after!
     (roll hands)

Bounce Song: "Baby Hop" (from the cd Diaper Gym: Fun Activities for Babies on the Move)
(This song is really cute, even if it is a little corny.  It goes to the tune of the "Bunny Hop." This was introduced to me be a fellow Baby Story Time teller - thanks, Keesha!)
Snuggle up together, baby's in your lap.
Snuggle up together, and clap, clap, clap.
Snuggle up together, don't you nap.
Snuggle up together, and tap, tap, tap.
We're working out together, baby don't stop.
We're working out together, so hop, hop, hop.
(Song repeats)

2nd Book: The Baby Goes Beep by Rebecca O'Connell

This book was a hit, with lots of repetition and bright illustrations.  The parents were making all the sounds along with me!

Rhythm Time with Scarves:
What would I do without Lakeshore Learning? We used their wonderful activity scarves for these songs.

Action Song: "This is the Way" (tune of "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush")
(pretending our scarves are washclothes - parents scrub their babies)
This is the way we wash our arms,
Wash our arms, wash our arms.
This is the way we wash our arms
When we're in the bathtub!
(Repeat with legs, head, tummy, toes, etc.)

Action Song: "Baby's Hokey Pokey" (adapted from the cd Baby Face by Georgiana Stewart)
(waving our scarves)
Arms up, arms down,
Arms up, and wave them all around!
Then tickle, tickle, wiggle, wiggle, everybody knows,
That's how baby's hokey-pokey goes!
(Repeat with legs)

3rd Book: Baby Cakes by Karma Wilson

We are so lucky to have class sets of many great board books - Baby Cakes is one of them.  Parents read aloud with me for this one.

We finished with our usual songs and rhyme, and it was play time!

How it went:
20 babies this week!!  It was a little rocky at first, as we had many new faces today, but we got into a rhythm and made it through.  I shortened a few songs and definitely had to think on my feet - I didn't bother to collect the scarves or the books until after I got the toys out at the end.  It would have taken too much time and I knew I had to keep the ball rolling with this huge group!  As long as people leave happy, I guess I'm doing okay!

Preschool Story Time - Sheep Shenanigans

I love books with sheep in them, and there are TONS!  Last year I did an entire theme of counting sheep - all books referring to sleeping and sheep.  Except for my last book, each of these books talk about wool and sweaters.  Keeping Every Child Ready to Read in mind, these books are all written in rhyme, and the last book reinforced the 'ee' sound and rhyming.  I explained to the parents that children can recognize rhyme before they can make a rhyme, so they should start with asking if something rhymes before they have the child create a rhyme.

The Plan-

I have a new opening rhyme I tried!  This rhyme is by an unknown author.  When I read this rhyme for the first time, I sang it in my head loosely to the tune of Merry Old Land of Oz (Wizard of Oz) and it stuck, so that's my tune.

Touch Your Nose
Touch your nose. Touch your chin. That's the way this game begins.
Touch your eyes. Touch your knees. Now pretend you're going to sneeze (A-choo!).
Touch your hair.  Touch one ear.  Touch your two red lips right here.
Touch your elbow where it ends.  That's the way this touch game ends.

Woolbur- Leslie Helakoski

Woolbur is a free spirited lamb who cannot follow the flock.  "But isn't it GREAT?" Woolbur tells his parents.  This book is longish for preschool story time, but the kids really loved the refrain. A comical way to look at wool and the process of making yarn.

The Great Sheep Shenanigans - Peter Bentley

Wolf has a plan to have lamb for dinner, but Red's Gran and Rambo the Ram have other ideas.  Anytime you can say the word 'poo' or 'stinky' in story time, the kids are going to like it!


Peppered in between the books were our nursery rhyme felts.  If you missed my Flannel Friday post, click here for more about my Nursery Rhyme Sheep
With this set, I was able to do Mary Had a Little Lamb, Little Bo Peep, and Baa Baa Black Sheep.

I was really surprised that some of the kids didn't know Mary Had a Little Lamb!  Usually my group knows nursery rhymes but I either had shy ones or they just don't get these rhymes at home.  I guess the lesson is to not assume that nursery rhymes are old news for the preschool kids.

Farmer Brown Shears His Sheep - Teri Sloat

It's spring and time for the sheep to be shorn, but the sheep want their wool back!  This book cleverly explains the process from shearing through sweaters.  The naked sheep really distracted the kids, but this book is hysterical.

Sheep in a Jeep- Nancy Shaw

This is very short and sweet but reinforces rhyming, and our craft was based on this book!  I had two kids tell me that this book was too short.  I guess after the last three books, it is, but I like to end on a quick one.

My craft was based on Shannon's Book Nook Blog.  She did something very similar, but I used A to Z Teacher Stuff Tools to create the bottom line of the sheet.  I left out the 'ee' in both words so the preschoolers could write that in and practice that sound with their parent.  My craft has little detail because I do not want the children to copy me.

Overall SUCCESS!  The kids loved the theme and sat perfectly for all 4 stories.  We ran almost 10 minutes over but they still wanted more.  Now I am ready to launch into our fall, then holiday story times.  It's going to be a busy fall!

Flannel Friday - Nursery Rhyme Sheep

If you follow my story times, you know I love creating flannel boards.  I really enjoy going off-book and just telling a story using flannel props.  I also love crafting sets which I can leave on the board for 'Free Exploration' after story time.  Lately I have been focusing on nursery rhymes and songs.  According to Every Child Ready to Read, singing and talking are two strong components of early literacy.  By learning and reciting poems and singing songs, children learn rhyming, patterns, how words are formed, sequence, etc.  I try to incorporate one of these rhymes at least once a month.  The children who know it feel successful, the children who don't can learn it and take home tools to be able to try it at home.

This set I have created is for an upcoming sheep story time.  I decided to immortalize three nursery rhymes in flannel in one multi-use set.  I'm sure I'll be adding pieces to it later.  Here are all of the pieces in the kit:

The sheep are cut from a coloring sheet I found at http://www.coloringan.com/2013/03/sheep-coloring-pages-1612/.

**Shout out to my daughter, Sarah, who designed the people in her artistic style.  I used her drawings for the template for the Master, Dame, and Little Boy.

The rest of the items, the school, staff, bags, bushes, are free hand.

First: Baa Baa Black Sheep:
Baa Baa Black Sheep have you any wool?
Yes sir, Yes sir, three bags full!
One for the Master, one for the Dame, 
and one for the little boy who lives down the lane.

Next: Little Bo Peep:
Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep
and doesn't know where to find them!
Leave them alone and they'll come home
Wagging their tails behind them!

Finally: Mary had a Little Lamb
Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb.
Mary had a little lamb with fleece as white as snow.
And everywhere that Mary went, Mary went, Mary went,
Everywhere that Mary went, the lamb was sure to go.
It followed her to school one day, school one day, school one day.
It followed her to school one day which was against the rules.
It made the children laugh and play, laugh and play, laugh and play.
It made the children laugh and play to see a lamb at school.  
(there is more to this story but this is generally long enough for preschool)

My flannel stories are generally created by making a template from a photocopy of a book, drawing, or coloring page.  I will first cut out the piece which will be out front (for example the dress), then do the hands and head but adding a 'tail' so there is more surface area to glue in back. T-shirt paint (also called puffy paint) is used for detail.  This paint does come in a sharpie like pen as well, but is for a softer line.  I have flesh tone markers to softly color in the skin.

Thanks to Kathryn for hosting Flannel Friday this week!  If you are new to Flannel Friday, visit her blog at: http://kdr4xmom.blogspot.com/ and see what Flannel Friday is all about!

Baby Story Time - Birds!

Greetings from Baby Story Time! Last week our theme was "Birds," which included ducks, hens, owls and more!

Books we read:

Duckie's Rainbow by Frances Barry

I LOVE this book for babies and toddlers!  It's so bright and colorful.  By the end of the book, the borders of the pages have formed a rainbow, so you can have everyone say the names of the colors aloud.  Someone in our department made a simple rainbow felt set to go with this book, but I didn't use it today.

1, 2, Buckle My Shoe by Anna Grossnickle Hines

What does this nursery rhyme have to do with birds, you ask?  Why, a big, fat hen, of course!  Hines' version is so visually interesting, made with fabric and buttons instead of illustrations, and is a really nice, simple counting book.

 



In My Nest by Sara Gillingham

This series of board books all have a little finger puppet in the middle, which you can wiggle as you read.  These are nice books to end a baby story time with because they are very short and sweet.

Activities:

After our "hello" song and name song, we always start with a "Wake-up Rhyme," which may or may not have anything to do with the theme, but gets the babies bouncing and awake!  Today we did a familiar one, "Way up high in the apple tree."  I guess I was thinking birds live in trees, right?

Apple Tree (adapted from Linda Ernst's book, Baby Rhyming Time)
Way up high in the apple tree,              
     (raise baby's arms over head)
Two little apples did I see.                    
     (hold up two fingers)
So I shook that tree as hard as I could,  
     (jiggle baby!)
And d-o-w-n came the apples,              
     (lower baby between your legs to the ground)
Mmm! They were good!                       
     (rub baby's tummy and hug)

After reading Duckie's Rainbow, we did a fun guessing game that I totally stole from Mel's Desk.  With a few simple felt eggs, we "guessed" which egg the baby duckling was in, saying, "Baby duckling, are you in the --- egg?"  I borrowed a little felt duck from a different felt set, but made my own eggs.  This was fun and easy, and a nice little break from your typical fingerplays or rhymes.

Next we sang a fun song called "Mama Duck" from the Peter Allard's cd Sing It! Say It! Stamp It! Sway It! Vol. 3.  Rather than play the cd, I often just sing songs myself.  That way if the song is too fast or too long, I can control the pace and the length.  Anyway, we bounced (on parents' laps) every time we said "quack."

Mama Duck
Here comes the Mama duck - quack!
Here comes the Mama duck - quack!
Here comes the Mama duck and one little duckling - quack!

Here comes the Mama duck - quack quack!
Here comes the Mama duck - quack quack!
Here comes the Mama duck and two little ducklings - quack quack!

Keep going up to five - five fast bounces is really fun to do and gets a lot of giggles from the babies!

After reading 1, 2, Buckle My Shoe, we said the nursery rhyme again, acting out the actions.  On "nine, ten, a big, fat hen," I got out our beautiful hen puppet!  Ok, maybe it's a rooster.  Either way, we clucked around the circle so each baby could touch it.  This is one of my favorite puppets to use because it always gets lots of "oohs" and "aahs."

Next we did a quick counting rhyme, which I also borrowed from Mel's Desk.  I liked that this was repetitive, so I didn't have to try to remember a different rhyme for each verse!  I used a felt set of owls that I made several years ago.

Five Little Owls
Five little owls sitting in a tree,
One flew away! How many do you see?
One, two, three, four.

Four little owls sitting in a tree...

If I do several rhymes in a row, then I throw in a song to get everyone's attention back on track.  This time we sang "Open, Shut Them," a classic story time song!

Open, Shut Them
Open, shut them, open, shut them,                        
     (open and shut baby's arms)
Give them both a clap, clap, clap.                          
     (clap hands)
Open, shut them, open, shut them,                         
     (open and shut baby's arms)
Put them in your lap, lap, lap.                                
     (pat your lap)
Walk them, walk them, walk them, walk them      
     (walk your fingers up baby's arm)
Right up to your chinny, chin, chin.                       
     (tap baby's chin)
Circle around your little mouth, but...                    
     (circle your finger around baby's mouth)
Do not let them in!                                                  
     (tickle!!)

After our last book, In My Nest, we passed out shakers and shook to "Shake My Sillies Out" from Raffi's cd More Singable Songs.  I really like this version because it is quick - only about one minute long.  After that, we shook our shakers to our various body parts - heads, toes, tummies, etc.

We usually end with "If You're Happy and You Know It," but in honor of our "birds" theme, I played "Kookaburra" on my guitar.  I even added a verse about Kookaburra visiting story time!  After that I sang my "goodbye" song, we did our "thank you" rhyme, and it was time to play!

How it went:

This was a little bit of an ambitious story time, but it went really well!  I had about 15 babies with their parents, and several new faces this week.  While two or three activities between every book might seem like a lot, each book was short, as was each activity, so we really kept the ball rolling and kept the babies' attention.  I have found that quick transitions are super important because babies get restless! See you next week!