In anticipation of the holiday, we spent our storytime reading books about Thanksgiving. I know I was thankful to share time with the beautiful infants and toddlers who attended Tuesday’s storytime. It is always a joy! Here are the stories, songs & activities we explored.
Stories
During our infant and toddler storytimes, we sang the classic Thanksgiving tale, Over the River and Through the Wood by L. Maria Child, and we shared Sandra Magsamen’s board book, I Love to Gobble You Up! and the board book Gobble, Gobble by Alphaprints. There were lots of “gobble, gobble, gobbles…” in those two books! I wasn’t sure the children would be able to sit still during the musical rendition of Over the River and Through the Wood, but they were mesmerized by the gentle tune, the lyrics and the great visuals showing a happy family getting into their red car to drive through the snow to visit grandmother and grandfather for a Thanksgiving feast!
Flannel Board Story
INFANT & TODDLER STORYTIME
Turkey’s Rainbow Feathers
Here’s a turkey. (Place the turkey on the flannelboard.)
But he’s missing something! What is he missing? (wait for audience to answer)
Feathers!
What color is this feather? (Bring out the red feather)
Red! That’s right! Let’s put it on the turkey. (Place the feather on the turkey.)
(now sing, to tune of Mary Wore Her Red Dress)
Turkey wore his red feather, red feather, red feather.
Turkey wore his red feather all day long.
(Continue adding color feathers and singing)
Let’s see, what color feathers does turkey have? (rename all the colors)
And what does that make?
A rainbow!
Five Fat Turkeys (flannel song)
Five fat turkeys are we.
We slept all night in a tree.
When the cook came around,
We couldn’t be found.
That’s why we’re here you see!
TODDLER STORYTIME
Five Little Turkeys
Five little turkeys standing by the door
One waddled off and then there were four.
Four little turkeys under a tree,
One waddled off and then there were three.
Three little turkeys with nothing to do,
Another waddled off and then there were two.
Two little turkeys in the noon day sun,
One waddled off and then there was one.
One little turkey better run away,
For soon will come Thanksgiving Day!
Rhymes & Songs We Shared
We have a lot of fun doing action rhymes at storytime! Here are the ones we shared without musical accompaniment.
INFANT STORYTIME
Welcome Song (tune: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star)
Welcome, welcome everyone
Now we’re here let’s have some fun.
First we clap our hands just so
Then we bend and touch our toes
Welcome, welcome everyone
Now we’re here let’s have some fun.
Dickery Dickery Dare (tune : Hickory Dickory Dock)
DickeryDickery, dickery dare, (bounce baby on lap)
The pig flew up in the air. (lift baby up in air)
The man in brown
Soon brought him down! (bring baby back down to lap)
Dickery, dickery, dare. (bounce baby on lap)
The Grand Old Duke of York (See video of Grand Old Duke of York)
The grand old Duke of York (bounce baby on lap)
He had 10,000 men, (bounce baby on lap)
He marched them up to the top of the hill (lift baby up in the air)
And he marched them down again. (bring baby down onto lap)
When they’re up, they’re up (lift baby up in the air)
And when they’re down, they’re down, (bring baby down onto lap)
And when they’re only halfway up, (bring baby halfway up)
They’re neither up nor down. (lift baby up and bring baby down again)
One Little Nose
One little nose (touch baby’s nose)
Two little feet (touch baby’s feet)
Three little tickles on your tummy so sweet (tickle baby’s tummy)
Four little kisses on five little toes (kiss baby four times)
Then one more kiss for you sweet little nose. (kiss baby’s nose)
Mr. Moon (See video of Mr. Moon)
Mr. Moon, Mr. Moon, you’re out too soon,
The sun is still in the sky,
So go back to your bed and cover up your head,
And wait ’til the day goes by.
TODDLER STORYTIME
Welcome Song
(to tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star)
Welcome, welcome everyone
Now we’re here let’s have some fun.
First we clap our hands just so
Then we bend and touch our toes
Welcome, welcome everyone
Now we’re here let’s have some fun.
Open Shut Them (See a video of Open Shut Them)
Open, shut them. (hands palms out with fingers stretched, then close into fists)
Open shut them. (hands palms out with fingers stretched, then close into fists)
Give a little clap, clap, clap. (clap hands on each clap)
Open, shut them. (hands palms out with fingers stretched, then close into fists)
Open shut them. (hands palms out with fingers stretched, then close into fists)
Place them on your lap-lap-lap. (pat lap three times)
Creep them, crawl them (creep fingers up from lap towards chin)
Creep them, crawl them (creep fingers up from lap towards chin)
Right up to your chin-chin-chin (tap fingers on chin)
Open up your little mouth (open mouth wide)
BUT DO NOT LET THEM IN! (say quickly and hide hands behind back).
INFANT & TODDLER STORYTIMES
Goodbye Friends (in sign)
Goodbye friends, goodbye friends, goodbye friends,
It’s time to say goodbye..
See video here: Goodbye Friends
(For infants we replace “friends” with “babies”)
Music We Shared
Singing is a great way to share words and rhythms with your baby. While you don’t need a music cd to do this, we do share some songs from cds in our storytimes.
INFANT & TODDLER STORYTIMES
“Ladies Ride”, “Trit Trot” & “Trot, Trot, Trot”
“My Little Hands”
Children’s Favorite Songs Volume 3 from Walt Disney
“Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”
“Row, Row, Row Your Boat”
“You Are My Sunshine”
“Goodbye, Goodbye”
Songs for Wiggleworms by the Old Town School of Folk Music
“I’m a Little Teapot & Two Little Blackbirds”
“Clap Everybody and Say Hello”
Sally Go Round the Sun by Kathy Reid-Naiman
“Roll Your Hands”
Toddlers on Parade by Carol Hammett & Elaine Bueffel
Film We Watched in Toddler Storytime
Max’s Thanksgiving from the DVD Max & Ruby’s Halloween
More Fun
If you’d like to read more books about giving thanks, check these out at your local public library:
