We held our second eStorytime here at the Children’s Room today and had a blast with apps and stories about cats.  If you missed the fun here, try some of these apps out on the iPads in the Children’s Room, or download them to share with your child at home.  The next eStorytime will be Friday November 14 at 10 am.


Apps We Shared

We started off using the Free Animal Sounds by Hakim Boukhatem (iOS: Free) and played a guessing game.  As the storyteller, I played a sound and hid it from the audience.  Then they had to figure out what the animal was based on the should it made.  This may sound easy, but when you’re listening to real animal noises, it much harder than you’d think!

Next we read A Present for Milo  written and illustrated by Mike Austin  from Ruckus Mobile Media. (iOS: $2.99).  This is a delightful story of a fast paced game of cat-and-mouse chase around the house.  But the ending is not quite what you would expect!

Sago Mini is one of my favorite app developers, and their Mini Pet Cafe  (iOS: $2.99) was so fun to share with everyone.  We played the cat game (of course!) and matched colors and fed animals all as a group.

We did a few rhymes (see below) with the help of the app Felt Board by Software Smoothie (iOS: $2.99)

Finally, we finished things off with the calming app story Bean’s Night  words by Sarah Hines Stephens, pictures by Anna Grossnickle Hines. from appropos. (iOS, Android, Nook $1.99)


 Movements

Try these fun rhymes at home with your child!

 10 Little Kittens
10 little kittens, standing in a row (hold hands up, palms forward.)
They bow their heads to the children so. (bend fingers up and down.)
They run to the left, (move arms to the left and wiggle fingers.)
They run to the right, (move arms to right and wiggle fingers.)
They stretch up tall with all their might. (Raise hands over head.)
Along comes a dog, looking for some fun; (put fingers on one hand resting on thumb.)
Mew, mew, mew,
Away those kittens run! (wiggle fingers then hide hands behind back.)

Let’s Pretend We’re Cats
The tiny little kittens go mew, mew, mew
The tom cat goes Meow
The cat with the fiddle goes Fiddle Fiddle Fiddle
And the big jungle cat goes ROAR.

GREAT BIG CAT and TEENY LITTLE MOUSE
There was a GREAT BIG CAT
(Say “great big cat” in a big voice, make one hand be the cat)
and a TEENY LITTLE MOUSE
(Say “teeny little mouse” in a small squeaky voice, have other hand be small mouse)
Who ran around and around (Roll cat and mouse around each other)
in a tall, tall house! (Stretch arms above head)
Until that TEENY LITTLE MOUSE (Say “teeny little mouse” in a small squeaky voice)
got caught at last (Have cat catch mouse)
Because that GREAT BIG CAT (Say the “great big cat” in a big voice)
ran around so fast! (Roll cat and mouse around each other real fast)

Book We Shared

We also shared the book Kitten’s First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes.  This Caldecott award-winning book tells the story of a night when Kitten spots her first full moon — and thinks it is a bowl of milk.  Will Kitten ever get to taste some yummy milk?


Continue the Fun

Want some more fun apps to play with?  Check out our Pinterest pages:

Apps we Recommend: Preschool (ages 2-5) 

Apps we Recommend: Ages 6 and Up