Fun facts:
- Pandas love reading the newspaper.
(photo from weheartit.com)
- Pandas make a fun toddler storytime theme!
SONG: Now it’s Time to Say Hello*
taken from jbrary
MOVEMENT: “Wake Up Toes” from Morning Magic by Joanie Bartels
MOVEMENT: Open Shut Them*
SIGN: ASL sign for BEAR
taken from Costello, Elaine Ph.D. Random House Webster’s American Sign Language Dictionary. 1994.
BOOK:
Please Mr. Panda by Steve Antony
MOVEMENT: “Reach for the Ceiling” from Toddlers on Parade by Carol Hammett and Elaine Bueffel
FLANNELBOARD:
P-A-N-D-A
There is a bear that likes bamboo
and Panda is its name-o
P-A-N-D-A
P-A-N-D-A
P-A-N-D-A
and Panda is its name-o.
(Turn over the letter P so that the panda side is showing. Let everyone know when they see the Panda they should clap.)
There is a bear that likes bamboo
and Panda is its name-o
Clap-A-N-D-A
Clap-A-N-D-A
Clap-A-N-D-A
and Panda is its name-o.
Continue until all Pandas face out and you are clapping for the whole song.
MOVEMENT: “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” from Songs for Wiggleworms by the Old Town School of Folk Music
BOOK:
Chengdu Could Not, Would Not Fall Asleep by Barney Saltzberg
MOVEMENT: “Two Little Blackbirds” from Fingerplays and Footplays by Rosemary Hallum and Henry “Buzz” Glass
VIDEO:
“Playhouse” and “Panda Play Song” from Play Time Maisy
MOVEMENT: Now it’s Time to Say Goodbye taken from jbrary
Book: Playdate for Panda by Michael Dahl, illustrated by Oriol Vidal
Book: Panda Big and Panda Small by Jane Cabrera
Book: Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr and Eric Carle
Book: If You Were a Panda Bear by Wendell and Florence Minor
Book: Five Hungry Pandas! by Alexis Barad-Cutler, illustrated by Kyle Poling
Flannelboard: The Panda Went Over the Mountain
DVD: “Ruby’s Panda Prize” from Max & Ruby’s: Halloween
THOUGHTS ON THIS STORYTIME:
Pandas turned out to be a better them than I first thought it might. I think reading both those books might have been too long for the toddler attention spans, though — next time I might pick one and then choose a shorter option from my additional materials list. The flannelboard worked really well though.
ATTENDANCE: 10 am: 44 people 11 am: 43 people
* For these songs, please see my Storytime Movements & Music page