Today’s toddler storytime was about the jungle. We made our shapes into animal faces:
We read the book Tiny Little Fly by Michael Rosen and illustrated by Kevin Waldron. Rosen is very good at writing books that have the right balance of lyric and repetition to make them fun to do in a group. And Waldron’s illustrations are large which also makes it a great choice.
We did an animal sounds song with egg shakers:
Listen to the sounds of the jungle
What can we hear in the jungle?
The tiger says …. Roar (3x)
That’s what you hear in the jungle
The monkey says… oo-oo ah-ah
The elephant says… ah-woo!
The parrot says… squawk!
We did a counting story about ten little monkeys who are hungry for bananas:
One banana, two bananas, three bananas, four;
All the little monkeys look around for more.
Five bananas, six bananas, seven bananas, eight;
The monkeys are so hungry, they can hardly wait!
Nine bananas, ten bananas, one for every tummy.
What do all the monkeys say? “Yummy, yummy, yummy!”
(adapted from song on King County Library System website: http://wiki.kcls.org/index.php/One_Banana,_Two_Banana; flannel template borrowed from http://melissa.depperfamily.net/blog/?p=4175)
and we sang a movement song to the tune of “If You’re Happy and You Know It”:
If you’re an elephant and you know it, STOMP your feet
If you’re a monkey and you know it, JUMP up and down
If you’re a crocodile and you know it, SNAP your jaws
If you’re a tiger and you know it, give a ROAR!
(from http://sunflowerstorytime.com/2010/11/19/in-the-jungle/)
We read a book called Bedtime in the Jungle by John Butler. We counted all the baby animals in the pictures.
(Just so you know, I link all the books I talk about in case anybody would like to check them out or request them from our catalog!)
We told a story about Three Talking Toucans:
Three talking toucans sitting in a tree
The first one turned and squawked at me!
Three little toucans sitting like kings
The second one said, “Watch me flap my wings!”
Three little toucans sitting side by side
The third one said, “I can open my beak wide!”
Then a chameleon the toucans spied
But he changed color so he could hide!
(flip the chameleon around to the dark green side)
(adapted from the song found at http://www.childcarelounge.com/general-themes/jungle-rain-forest.php)
We learned a movement song to the tune of “I’m a Little Teapot”:
I’m a little panda in a tree
I like to climb up high where I can see
Every day I munch on thick bamboo
I eat it for lunch, and I hide in it, too!
Then we learned the Peek-a-Boo Song:
Peek-a-Boo, where are you? Hiding in your…place! Peek-a-Boo!
Peek-a-Boo, I see you and your smiling… face! Peek-a-Boo!
We did a Boogie Woogie jungle song:
Down in the jungle, if you look in the trees,
There’s a cheeky little monkey washing his knees,
With a rub-a-dub here, and a rub-a-dub there,
That’s the way he washes his knees!
Diddly-ah, oh, a boogie, a woogie,
Diddly-ah, oh, a boogie, a woogie,
Diddly-ah, oh, a boogie, a woogie,
A boogie-woogie jungle monkey washing his knees!
Down in the jungle where nobody goes,
There’s a big huge elephant washing his toes,
With a rub-a-dub here, and a rub-a-dub there,
That’s the way he washes his toes!
Diddly-ah, oh, a boogie, a woogie,
Diddly-ah, oh, a boogie, a woogie,
Diddly-ah, oh, a boogie, a woogie,
A boogie-woogie elephant washing his toes!
(adapted from http://www.letsplaykidsmusic.com/down-in-the-jungle-bath-time-songs/)
And we watched a video about Bert and Ernie visiting the rainforest, on the Sesame Street Bert and Ernie’s Great Adventures DVD.
We wrapped up storytime with a few songs from the song cube.
There’s a fun event on Thursday at 3 pm at Lamanda Park which might interest you guys: it’s an animal magic show! Feel free to visit the Lamanda Park branch for that and I’ll see you all next Tuesday!