This storytime brought together creatures from all over the world and folklore to celebrate those with a single horn or tusk: unicorns, narwhals, and Indian rhinos (on my!).

Fun fact learned while prepping for this storytime – the greater one-horned rhinoceros and the Javan rhinoceros have one horn, while black, white and Sumatran rhinos have two!

MOVEMENT: Welcome Song*

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

INTRODUCTION:
  
Rhinoceroses by Joanne Mattern
Narwhal Whales Up Close by Jody Sullivan Rake

I showed kids pictures of narwhals, a rhino from books, and put up a flannelboard unicorn I had made to see if they could tell me what they all had in common.

BOOK:

Not Quite Narwhal by Jessie Sima

MOVEMENT:
The Rhinoceros
The rhinoceros moves like this and that (stomp from one foot to the other)
He’s terrible wide and he’s terribly fat (hold hands out to your sides)
The ground gets under his feet gets worn (stomp)
but goodness gracious look at that horn! (make a horn with your hand)

Then we stomped some more like rhinos, pranced like ponies, and swam like narwhals.

FLANNELBOARD STORY:
Five Little Unicorns

(Rhyme and idea taken from Story Time Secrets, template found from Google image search)

I saw five little unicorns – creatures from folklore
I watched the blue one prance away, and then there were four.
I saw four little unicorns resting by a tree
I watched the orange one prance away, and then there were three.
I saw three little unicorns, but as near to them I drew
The green one pranced away, and then there were two.
I saw two little unicorns – I watched them run and run
the yellow one pranced away, and then there was one.
I saw a lonely pink unicorn standing in the sun.
when I blinked by eyes, it pranced away, and then there were none.

MOVEMENT: “Shake My Sillies Out” from More Singable Songs for the Very Young by Raffi

BOOK:

My Rhinoceros by John Agee

VIDEO:
  
“Zigby and the Unicorn” from Zigby Season 1 Episode 8

After Zara reads a story to Laurence about a unicorn, he really wants to meet one.  Can Zigby and his friends help this happen?

We didn’t have any good videos with uni-horned animals in our collection, so I streamed this one from Amazon prime using my iPad and our Apple TV mirroring.

MOVEMENT: Storytime’s Over*

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL IDEAS:
       
Book: Chief Rhino to the Rescue by Sam Lloyd
Book: Glitter by Stella J. Jones, illustrated by Judi Abbot
Book: You Don’t Want a Unicorn! written by Ame Dyckman, illustrated by Liz Climo
Book: Wendell the Narwhal by Emily Dove
Book: Uni the Unicorn by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, illustrated by Brigette Barrager
Book: A Unicorn Named Sparkle by Amy Young
Book: I Wished for a Unicorn by Robert Heidbreder, illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton

GREAT RESOURCES FOR MORE IDEAS:
you can do this at your library! Flannel Boards (featuring  You Look Ridiculous Said the Rhinoceros to the Hippopotamus) 
Miss Meg’s Storytime – Unicorn Storytime
Pinterest Five Little Unicorns Flannelboard Rhyme (I tried to search this image back to a website, but it didn’t seem to link to anything)
MotherReader – ABC Storytime: U is for…
yogibrarian – “Letter U” preschool storytime
DLTK kids – Lyrics to “A Lovely Unicorn” 
Little, Brown, and Company – You Don’t Want a Unicorn! Storytime Kit
All Nursery Rhymes – The Lion and the Unicorn Nursery Rhyme words
Pinterest Lion and the Unicorn Flannel Board (I tried to find the original source for this image, but it looks like the page no longer exists)

HOW IT WENT:
This was a fun theme!  I wish I could have though of some better action movements to go along with it though.  Anyone have any ideas?  Also, I am not sure that was the best video to show – it seemed a little long. But I was having a hard time finding one to tie into the theme.  I was hoping some of our nonfiction DVDs would have a good segment on rhinos, but all of them seemed to be focused on the two-horned variety.

ATTENDANCE: 11 (adults and children)

DATE PRESENTED: Saturday, December 30

*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