Fun facts:

1. Pandas love reading the newspaper.
   (photo from weheartit.com)
2. 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

COUNTING SONG:*

10 Pandas

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

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL IDEAS:
  

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