We talked about the letter “A” in storytime today–and apes!

A felt board
I based my ape on a picture of a chimpanzee I found using Google.

I read two pretty new books, one about a monkey and one about all kinds of primates–hence, the “ape” theme instead of just “monkeys” or “gorillas.”

We read Monkey See, Look at Me! by Lorena Siminovich.  This is a fun book to read and invite the kids to act like various animals as you go through it.

monkeysee

Then we read One Gorilla by Anthony Browne.  The illustrations in this book are just gorgeous; I’ve been looking forward to an opportunity to share this one in a storytime.one gorilla

We sang a silly song about a gorilla to the tune of the camping song “Boogie Woogie Washing Woman”:

Boom diddy, boom diddy, boom, boom, boom
Boom diddy, boom diddy, boom, boom, boom
Down in the jungle where nobody goes
There’s a great big gorilla, washing his clothes
With a scrub-a-dub here and a scrub-a-dub there
That’s the way he’s washing his underwear!!
Boom diddy, boom diddy, boom, boom, boom
Boom diddy, boom diddy, boom, boom, boom

We sang “Two Little Apples”:

Two Little Apples felt boardWay up high in the apple tree

Two little apples smiled at me

I shook that tree as hard as I could

Mm Mm Mm Those apples were good!

 

We sang “Five Little Monkeys Jumped On the Bed”:

Five Little Monkeys felt board
The photo came out a bit blurry, but I like to see it as “verisimilitude”–they’re jumping after all. 🙂 #silverlining

And lastly, we watched the film Good Night, Gorilla (based on the book by Peggy Rathmann) from the DVD Good Night, Gorilla… and more bedtime stories.

good night gorilla

I am trying to be better about placing other suggested books out for parents to check out!  Here are a few of the books I set out.  I noticed a few of them were taken so I hope you enjoyed them!

fivelittlemonkeys   little gorilla chimps dont wear glasse Curious George and the pizza fivelittlemonkeysgoshopping