Today’s theme was food, and our tactile thing was shaker eggs. They’re shaped like eggs, and they have beans inside, so…. yeah!

I did more books this time than usual. Some themes suggest so many good books I just can’t pick only two!

We sang “Clap Everybody and Say Hello” and then I did a puppet show telling the narration of the classic book The Little Mouse, The Red, Ripe Strawberry and the Big, Hungry Bear by Don and Audrey Wood. I used a mouse/rat puppet to be the mouse and the parents helped to be the sound of the big, hungry bear.

We read Eat Up, Little Donkey by Rindert Kromhout & Annemarie van Haeringen, about a donkey who won’t eat his lunch. His mom takes him to the park to feed it to the ducks, and THEN he gets interested. 🙂

With infants we did the tickle “You Be The Ice Cream” and “Way Up High in the Apple Tree.”

We talked about our favorite foods and identified them from a group of foods with a flannel board about “What Hippo Likes Best.” The idea was based on “What Bear Likes Best,” on pg. 171 of Baby Storytime Magic by Kathy MacMillan and Christine Kirker.

food felt board

Then we sang a song called “Stir, Stir, Stir the Soup” which I found on Miss Jennifer’s blog at https://jeninthelibrary.com/2014/01/18/soup-preschool-storytime.

food toys 2

Stir, Stir, Stir the Soup
(To tune of “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”)
Stir, stir, stir the soup
Stir it all day long.
Add some (insert food name here),
Take a taste (slurrrp!)
Soup will make us strong. (flex arm)

We read Fruit by Yusuke Yonezu, a really awesome lift-the-flap book where fruit shapes turn into animals! It worked great for the large group.

We sang a song called “Pea Soup” from Miss Jennifer’s storytimes blog:

(hold hand up with all five fingers extended)
1 little pea jumped into the pot (fold one finger down)
And waited for the soup to get hot.
2 little peas jumped into the pot (fold one finger down)
And waited for the soup to get hot.
3 little peas jumped into the pot (fold one finger down)
And waited for the soup to get hot.
4 little peas jumped into the pot (fold one finger down)
And waited for the soup to get hot.
5 little peas jumped into the pot (fold one finger down)
And waited for the soup to get hot.
Finally the soup got so very hot
All the little peas jumped out of the pot. (quickly open hand and extend all fingers.)
(Source: https://jeninthelibrary.com/2014/01/18/soup-preschool-storytime/ )

Toddlers danced and shook their shaker eggs to a wonderful, Rumba-like rendition of “Apples and Bananas” by Ladybug Music (Patricia Maertens) from the album Summer Songs vol. 1. If the shaker eggs distracted kids here and there during storytime, it was worth it for the great music we made during that song!

We read a THIRD book (like I said, I got greedy!) which I think was totally enjoyed by everyone: Yummy Yucky by Leslie Patricelli. I see the library copy is currently missing which is a shame–it’s one of my favorites. A real hoot!

We watched a short film from the DVD Breakfast at Farzzle’s:

Want to do some more food themed songs at home? Try Little Miss Muffet and Little Jack Horner! I didn’t have time to get to those.

Little Miss Muffet
sat on her tuffet
eating her curds and whey.
Along came a spider
who sat down beside her
and frightened Miss Muffet away.

Little Jack Horner
sat in the corner
eating his Christmas pie.
He stuck in his thumb,
and pulled out a plum–
and he said, “What a good boy am I!”

I always thought those songs weren’t very fair to the girls…

Here are some other yummy reads: