Our theme for the EIGHTH and final storytime of the spring session was FOOD! We read a story about a mouse who was hungry for lunch and we played a guessing game with different kinds of fruit that took on some really weird shapes. We also discovered that some cows like turnips more than birthday cake! Wow, we even had time to make some STEW! What follows are the books, fingerplays, actions songs, flannel boards and video we shared.
BOOKS WE SHARED
Guess What? – Fruit by Yusuke Yonezu offers colorful drawings of different fruits which transform into animals with the lift of a flap! An interactive book that engages babies in a guessing game and helps them identify the names of different fruits and animals. Simple, bold illustrations and the element of surprise is always a big hit with the wee ones.
In Birthday for Cow by Jan Thomas, Pig and Mouse are baking a delicious birthday cake for their friend, Cow. Duck keeps interrupting and asking for an EXTRA ingredient to be added to that cake batter – a turnip! Little do Pig and Mouse know, but that turnip turns out to be Cow’s favorite food! The cake? Not so much! A funny book about the vicissitudes of taste!
FLANNEL BOARDS WE SHARED
In Denise Fleming’s picture book, Lunch, we meet a very hungry mouse. Mouse is sooooo hungry that he has to have a nibble of every piece of brightly-coloured food on the table. At the end of his lunch feast he gets very sleep but he happens to wake up just in time for diner. I used accompanying flannel pieces to make the story come ALIVE!
Rainbow Stew
Take a red tomatoe
Put it in the pot.
Stir it, stir it, stir it a lot.
Take it out now. What will it be? The prettiest red you ever did see!
Take an orange carrot
Put it in the pot.
Stir it, stir it, stir it a lot.
Take it out now. What will it be? The prettiest red you ever did see!
Take a yellow squash
Put it in the pot.
Stir it, stir it, stir it a lot.
Take it out now. What will it be? The prettiest red you ever did see!
Take some green broccoli
Put it in the pot.
Stir it, stir it, stir it a lot.
Take it out now. What will it be? The prettiest red you ever did see!
Take a blue potato
Put it in the pot.
Stir it, stir it, stir it a lot.
Take it out now. What will it be? The prettiest red you ever did see!
Take a purple onion
Put it in the pot.
Stir it, stir it, stir it a lot.
Take it out now. What will it be? The prettiest red you ever did see!
Put it all together and what do we get?
The prettiest rainbow you ever did see!
Action Songs & Fingerplays We Shared
We share a lot of songs, bounces & rhymes during storytime! You’ll find lyrics/words to those songs & rhymes we shared without CD accompaniment here.
Welcome, Welcome Everyone
(to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle)
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 – Video: Open Shut Them
Open, shut them, open, shut them, (open and close hands)
Give a little clap, clap, clap. (clap three times)
Open shut them, open shut them (open and close hands)
Put them in your lap, lap, lap. (place hands in lap and bounce them 3X)
Creep them, crawl them, creep them crawl them, (crawl fingers up arms)
Right up to your chinny chin chin. (place fingers on chin)
Open up your little mouth (open mouth and say ahhhhhh)
But do not put them in!! (put hands behind your back)
This is Big, Big Big – Video: This is Big
This is big big big
Hold arms out to side
This is small small small
Cup hands together
This is short short short
Hold hands with palms facing each other
This is tall tall tall
Reach one hand above head
This is fast fast fast
Circle fists quickly
This is slow slow slow
Circle fists slowly
This is yes yes yes
Nod
This is no no no
Shake head
Credit: Mel’s Desk
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star – Video: Twinkle Twinkle
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
How I wonder what you are
Up above the world so high
Like a diamond in the sky
Twinkle Twinkle little star
How I wonder what you are.
Goodbye Friends (in sign) – Video: Goodbye Friends
Goodbye babies, goodbye babies
Goodbye babies, it’s time to say goodbye.
Music from CDs We Shared
Children love to sing and dance to music. Here are some of the action songs & rhymes on CD that we used in storytime. Click onto the CD titles to find these items in our library catalog.
“Clap Everybody and Say Hello” from Sally Go Round the Sun by Carol Hammett and Elaine Bueffel
“Roll Your Hands” from Toddlers on Parade by Kathy Reid-Naiman
“I’m a Little Teapot” from Toddler Favorites by Music for Little People
“Itsy Bitsy Spider” from Its Toddler Time by Carol Hammett and Elaine Bueffel
“ABC” from Go Baby Go! Baby Loves Jazz by Baby Loves Jazz Band
Two Little Blackbirds” from Circle Time: songs and rhymes for the very young by Lisa Monet
“We’re Going to the Market” from I Love to Hear the Sounds by Kathy Reid-Naiman
“Head, Shoulders, Knees, Toes” from Its Toddler Time by Carol Hammett and Elaine Bueffel
We used our shaker eggs and bells for this song! “We’re Going to the Market”
Video We Shared
Spot Makes a Cake
Continue the Fun
If you’d like to read more books about food, check these out at your local Pasadena Public Library!
