Birds: Toddler Storytime

Books We Shared

I was surprised, but not super surprised, a lot of people have Martin Waddell and Patrick Benson’s Owl Babies at home! It’s a great one for addressing separation anxiety. We read it with a flannelboard.

Lucy Cousins’s bright and colorful illustrations in Hooray for Birds, combined with lots of action and movement prompts, make this one a great choice for group reading!

Flannelboard Song

We sang “Six Little Ducks” from Raffi’s Singable Songs Collection. The felt pieces double as finger puppets, so everyone could see me wiggle the one with the back tail feathers!

Six little ducks that I once knew
Fat ones, skinny ones, fair ones too
But the one little duck
With the feather on his back
He led the others with a quack, quack, quack
Quack, quack, quack
Quack, quack, quack
He led the others with a quack, quack, quack

Down to the river they would go,
Wibble-wobble, wibble-wobble
To and fro
But the one little duck
With the feather on his back
He led the others with a quack, quack, quack
Quack, quack, quack
Quack, quack, quack
He led the others with a quack, quack, quack

Back from the river they would come,
Wibble-wobble, wibble-wobble
Ho hum hum
But the one little duck
With the feather on his back
He led the others with a quack, quack, quack
Quack, quack, quack
Quack, quack, quack
He led the others with a quack, quack, quack

Rhymes & Bounces & Songs We Shared without Music

We sing a lot of songs during storytime! You’ll find lyrics to those songs without music here.

Pete the Penguin

(adapted from a rhyme about a parrot)

“Good morning,” says Pete.
Isn’t he sweet?
He kisses me lightly,
Ever so slightly,
Right on the cheek
With his small yellow beak.

Way up in the sky the little birds fly

Way up in the sky (jump high)
The little birds fly (flap arms)
While down in the nest (form nest with arms)
The little birds rest (hands next to head like napping)

With a wing on the left (fold left arm under)
And a wing on the right (fold right arm under)
The little birds sleep (hands next to head like napping)
All through the night.
Shhh! THEY’RE SLEEPING!

The bright sun comes out (with arms above head)
The dew goes away (hands like banging on a keyboard)
Good morning, good morning, the little birds say (raise arms up and down)

Two Little Blackbirds

Tune: I’m a Little Teapot

Two little blackbirds sitting on a hill.
One named Jack and one named Jill.
Fly away Jack, flay away Jill.
Come back Jack, come back Jill.

Storytime’s Over

Hands up high! (Put your hands in air)
Now give a big sigh (sigh and bring hands down)
Our storytime’s over
So wave bye-bye (wave)

Goodbye Friends

Click here for video: Goodbye Friends

Goodbye friends, goodbye friends
Goodbye friends, it’s time to say goodbye.

Music from CDs We Shared

Children love to sing and dance to music. I often give them shaker eggs to play, and did yesterday. Here are some of the songs/bounces on CD that we used in storytime.

“Clap Everybody and Say Hello” from Sally Go Round the Sun by Kathy Reid-Naiman

“I Know a Chicken” from The Best of the Laurie Berkner Band

“A Smooth Road to London Town” from A Smooth Road to London Town: Songs from the Parent-Child Mother Goose Program by Kathy Reid-Naiman

Video We Watched

We had more Lucy Cousins fun with a short film called “Nest,” which is one of the chapters in the episode “Maisy’s Springtime” on the “Good Night Maisy” DVD. In it, Maisy finds a bird building a nest, helps her finish and then looks after her hatchlings while she hunts for food.