With February coming soon, that means groundhogs! And since there are not a lot of good groundhog books for the youngest ones, I expanded our stories to include shadows as well.
MOVEMENT: Welcome Song*
MOVEMENT: Peek-a-Boo*
BOUNCE: Icky Bicky Soda Cracker*
AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE: sign for “Shadow”
taken from Costello, Elaine Ph.D. Random House Webster’s American Sign Language Dictionary. 1994.
BOOK:
Shadows by April Pulley Sayre, illustrated by Harvey Stevenson
MOVEMENT: “Clap, Tap and Bend” from It’s Toddler Time by Carol Hammett and Elaine Bueffel
FLANNELBOARD:
Five Little Groundhogs
Patterns and Rhyme from Preschool Favorites: 35 Storytimes Kids Will Love by Diana Briggs
Five little groundhogs on Groundhog Day,
The first one said, “I’ll have a peek if I may.”
The second one said, “Is it warm or cold?”
The third one said, “Let’s get out of this hole.”
The fourth one said, “Is that a shadow I see?”
The fifth one said, “No, it’s only me.”
When the groundhogs popped their heads out,
No shadows did they see.
“Spring is finally here!” they shouted.
“And we’re free, free, free!”
As I put the groundhogs up on the board, I encouraged the caregivers to do this as a finger/toe rhyme with their little ones, similar to “This Little Piggy.”
BOUNCE: “Smooth Road to London Town” from A Smooth Road to London Town: Songs from the Parent-Child Mother Goose Program by Kathy Reid-Naiman.
MOVEMENT: Patty Cake*
BOOK:
A Greyhound A Groundhog written by Emily Jenkins, illustrated by Chris Appelhans
TICKLE: These are Baby’s Fingers*
NURSERY RHYME:
Little Miss Muffet
Flannelboard from Little Folk Visuals
Sat on a tuffet,
Eating her curds and whey;
Along came a spider
Who sat down beside her
And frightened Miss Muffet away.
MOVEMENT: “Itsy Bitsy Spider” from Children’s Favorite Songs Volume 3 from Walt Disney
MOVEMENT: “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” from Songs for Wiggleworms by the Old Town School of Folk Music
MOVEMENT: Storytime’s Over*
HOW IT WENT:
Years ago I had done an infant storytime with this theme, and I thought I would try it again, especially since I love A Greyhound A Groundhog. I think the storytime went fine, but I don’t think this is the most effective theme to use with infants. I did add some elements to the storytime to make it more infant-friendly though. When we read Shadows we did different motions to go along with the book: running, kicking rolling our hands when a ball rolled, etc. And the adults loved A Greyhound a Groundhog, so that was great. I just want to be on the lookout for other, better options for this theme. There are not a lot, as you can see from the lack of additional materials ideas I have here. Do you have any great groundhog or shadow ideas for this age group?
ATTENDANCE: 53 people (adults and children)
* For these songs, please see my page Storytime Movements & Music
Jen in the Library 