When it’s my rotation for infant toddler storytime, I’ll often just use the same theme for preschool storytime that week.  It saves time, and helps me by just looking for one theme even if it’s across a slightly longer age range.

MOVEMENT: Welcome Song*

MOVEMENT: “Clap Your Hands” from Wiggleworms Love You by Old Town School of Folk Music

BOOK:

Boo and Baa Have Company by Lena and Olof Landström

MOVEMENT:
Little Lamb, Little Lamb
Little lamb, little lamb, turn around (turn around)
Little lamb, little lamb,touch the ground (touch ground with hands)
Little lamb, little lamb, jump up high (jump)
Little lamb, little lamb, reach the sky (stretch with arms overhead)
Little lamb, little lamb, sit right down (sit down)
Little lamb, little lamb, get ready to listen now (say this line quietly)

FLANNELBOARD STORY:
Mary’s Many Color Lambs

I found this rhyme via Lisa at Libraryland, who found it from LibrErin, who found it on Recipes for Reading. Recipes for Reading linked to a template that I used to make my pieces at Making Learning Fun.

Start by placing the white lamb on the board.  Ask if anyone knows the song, Mary Had a Little Lamb”.  Then sing:

Mary had a little lamb
little lamb, little lamb
Mary had a little lamb
its fleece was white as snow.

Then say something like, “But Mary had more than one lamb.” and pull out the next lamb you have.  The unexpected, un-lamb-like colors usually get a giggle.  Ask the kids what color the lamb is, and if they can name something else that is that color.  Then sing your song again:

Mary had a blue lamb
blue lamb, blue lamb
Mary had a blue lamb
its fleece was blue as sky…

Continue using as many lambs as you’d like.

MOVEMENT:
Dancing Sheep
(taken from Susan M. Dailey’s Fingerplays website.  She has a song you can listen to for this one, but I just sort of chanted it and made up my own version.)

Shhh!  It’s time to go to sleep
  (put finger to mouth, pretend to sleep)
But into my bedroom one sheep creeps.
  (creep fingers)

“Don’t go to bed,” the one sheep said.
“I would rather dance instead!”

Soon he was…  (draw these words out)
Dancing on the ceiling!
(move hands above head in “dancing” motion)
He was dancing on the floor!
  (move hands on floor as mentioned above)
He was dancing on the window!
  (move hands to one side)
He was dancing on the door!
  (move hands to other side)

He kept on…

Dancing on the ceiling!
  (sing faster)
He was dancing on the floor!
He was dancing on the window!
He was dancing on the door!
(repeat several times getting faster each time through)

“Stop that dancing, silly sheep.
It is time to go to sleep!”

Soon the sheep lay on the floor.
Soon the sheep began to snore.

So I started …  (draw these words out)
Dancing on the ceiling!
I was dancing on the floor!
I was dancing on the window!
I was dancing on the door!

BOOK:

Sheep in a Jeep by Nancy Shaw, illustrated by Margot Apple

VIDEO:

“Charlie Needs a Cloak” from Click, Clack, Moo Cows that Type…and More Fun on the Farm.  Based on the book by Tomie dePaola

MOVEMENT: Storytime’s Over*

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL IDEAS:

 

Book: Pablo in the Snow by Teri Sloat, illustrated by Rosalinde Bonnet
Book: Feeding the Sheep by Leda Schubert, pictures by Andrea U’Ren
Book: The Sheep Who Hatched an Egg by Gemma Merino
Book: Wally Does Not Want a Haircut by Amanda Driscoll

HOW IT WENT:
This was my first time reading Boo and Baa Have Company and I feel like I could have done a better job with that one.  For me, that may be a better one-on-one book instead of a read-aloud.  But there was a kid who said, “That’s a silly book” after I read it, so maybe it wasn’t too bad.

The most Los Angeles moment of this storytime:  As I was doing Mary’s Many Color Lambs I was asking the kids to name something else that was the same color as the sheep, so we could sing about it in the song.  When I brought out the green lamb, and I asked what else was green, I got a couple of kids saying grass, and then one little girl shouts, “Avocado!”  I asked who in the group liked avocado, and almost all the kids raised their hands.  So, of course, Mary’s green lamb was green like avocado.

ATTENDANCE: 30 (adults and children)

DATE PRESENTED: Saturday, October 21, 2017

*To see the words to these movements and activities I use frequently, please visit my A-capella Movements Section on my Storytime Movements and Music Page