Cookies – Preschool Storytime

Posted on February 9, 2019 by jeninthelibrary

Today we shared stories about cookies. Yum yum storytime fun!

MOVEMENT: Welcome Song*

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

BOOK:

The Cow Loves Cookies by Karma Wilson, illustrated by Marcellus Hall

MOVEMENT:
Making Cookies
I am making cookie dough (point to self)
Round and round the beaters go (roll hands over hands)
Add some flour from a cup (pour from cup)
Stir and mix the batter up (pretend to self)

Roll them, cut them nice and neat (pretend to roll out with pin, then cookie cut)
Put them on a cookie sheet (pretend to lay out on cookie sheet)
Bake them, count them, 1, 2, 3 (count with fingers)
Then serve them to my friends for tea (pretend to eat cookies)

FLANNELBOARD STORY:
Cookies and Counting

Flannelboard set found in the Target dollar/three dollar section

For this one, I put the cookie sheet, oven, and then counted out ten cookies with the group. I explained that each cookie had a different number of chocolate chips. For the first example, we counted the chips together, and then I had the kids guide me as I placed the cookie in the correctly numbered space on the cookie sheet. Since the group wasn’t very large, I had kids come up and place the rest of the remaining cookies.

Then I put the whole tray in the oven, and pulled the cookies out again. When they were baked, I put the cookies only back on the flannelboard, and we did this rhyme together:

Ten Little Cookies
Ten little cookies laying on a plate
Mom eats two and then there are 8.

When Dad comes home, two cookies he picks
Leaving on the plate only 6.

Brother comes home, slamming the door.
He eats two cookies, then there are 4.

When sister comes home, there are still a few
She eats a couple, then there are 2.

Baby wakes up. His nape is done.
He eats a cookie, then there is 1.

The cat jumps on the table and eats the last one.
Poor dog! He’s too late. He only gets a crumb.

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

BOOK:

Who Ate All the Cookie Dough? by Karen Beaumont, illustrated by Eugene Yelchin

MOVEMENT:
Patty Cake (Cookie Style)
Patty cake, patty cake, baker’s man (clap hands together)
Bake me a cookie as fast as you can
Roll it (make a rolling motion with hands)
And Pat it (pat hands on your lap)
And mark it with a “C” (for cookie!) (draw a letter C in the air)
And it in the oven (mime putting tray in oven)
for you (point out)
and me! (point to yourself)

VIDEO:

“The Duckling Gets a Cookie!?” from The Duckling Gets a Cookie!? …and More Stories by Mo Willems. Based on the book by Mo Willems

MOVEMENT: Storytime’s Over*

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL IDEAS:

Book: Cookiesaurus Rex written by Amy Fellner Dominy & Nate Evans, illustrated by AG Ford
Book: If You Give a Mouse a Cookie written by Laura Numeroff, illustrated by Felicia Bond
DVD: Some Sesame Street DVD with Cookie Monster

GREAT RESOURCES FOR MORE IDEAS:

HOW IT WENT:
This was a fun and tasty storytime! I was glad I got to try out my set from Target – I hadn’t used that one before. I realized I didn’t change that much from when I did this storytime back in 2012 (at least, I used a lot of the books I identified then too). But it was still a fun theme, and I think long enough from when I did it the first time.

ATTENDANCE: 18 (adults and children)

DATE PRESENTED: Saturday, February 9, 2019 @ Children’s Room

*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

Food – Signs ‘n Storytime

Posted on September 13, 2018 by jeninthelibrary

This is the outline of my second Signs ‘n Storytime!

For this storytime, I use a basic storytime pattern that my colleague created. I don’t sign the whole thing, or even a whole book. I’m not fluent. Instead, I first pick a theme I think would be useful for a parent and their child. Then, I try to pick books that have words that would be useful for a toddler to know. When I come across this word in the book, I show and describe the sign. Then, if it repeats throughout we all do the sign together. At the end of the book, we practice again all the words in that book. Finally, at the end of storytime, we review all the signs we learned from all the books

SONG: “Hello Friends” in ASL

taken from Jbrary
I changed this one a little so instead of doing it time to “say” Hello, I sing, “it’s time to Sign Hello” and use the ASL word for sign

BOOK:

Brownie and Pearl Grab a Bite by Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Brian Biggs

Signs used with the story:
cheese
apple
cracker
milk

MOVEMENT: Hokey Pokey

BOOK:

Who’s Hungry? by Dean Hacohen & Sherry Scharschmidt

Signs used with story:
hungry
fish
banana
cheese
chicken

MOVEMENT: If You’re Happy and You Know It

BOOK:

Lunch by Denise Fleming

Signs used with story:
hungry
corn
peas
grapes
apple
watermelon

VIDEO:

“Duckling Gets a Cookie!?” from The Duckling Gets a Cookie!? …and More Stories by Mo Willems

Before watching, we learned the sign for:
cookie

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL IDEAS:

Book: Guess What? – Food by Yusuke Yonezu
(signs to use: bread, cheese, corn)
Book: Orange Pear Apple Bear
(signs to use: orange, pear, apple, bear)
Book: Guess What? – Fruit by Yusuke Yonezu
(signs to use: apple, banana, orange, grapes)
Book: The Big Blue Bowl: Sign Language for Food by Dawn Babb Prochovnic, illustrated by Stephanie Bauer (this would make a good flannelboard)

I also found this video from LifePrint useful when planning my program.

HOW IT WENT: I had a larger group for this program, so that was exciting. Some patrons mentioned that they wish this was on a weekly basis, but it does take a while to prep for, and since I am not fluent, I don’t know if I would be able to sustain that many sessions. We shall see how it progresses.

PRESENTED: Thursday, August 9, 2018

ATTENDANCE: 13 people (adults and children)

Food – Infant & Toddler Storytime

Posted on August 27, 2018 by jeninthelibrary

This was my first time doing Infant Toddler Storytime at one of my new branches! It’s different here than I am used to, because we just do it in the Children’s area (instead of a special storytime room, mostly because it can get large), and it’s a mix of Infants and Toddlers together at the same time.

To ease myself into (and to have continuity for the families that come, I followed a routine that was closer to my Library Technician’s formula:

SONG: Welcome Song*

MOVEMENT: “If You’re Happy and You Know It” from Walt Disney’s Children’s Favorite Songs Volume 3

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

MOVEMENT: Open Shut Them*

MOVEMENT: Roly Poly
(to tune of Frere Jacques) – taken from jbrary

Roly poly, roly poly
up up up,
up up up
Roly roly poly roly roly poly
down down down,
down down down.

Other verses:
out / in
fast / slow

As you sing, do the motions with your arms for the verses, or you can do it with your little one’s legs.

BOUNCE: Dickery Dickery Dare*

BOOK:

Lunch by Denise Fleming

BOUNCE: “Ladies Ride” from from Wiggleworms Love You by Old Town School of Folk Music

MOVEMENT: “2 Little Blackbirds” from Fingerplays and Footplays by Rosemary Hallum and Henry “Buzz” Glass

BOOK:

Guess What? – Fruit by Yusuke Yonezu

SHAKER SONGS: For this portion, I used some songs from a cd my library tech had, and we shook our shakers all to the beat.

MOVEMENT: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (acapella)

MOVEMENT: Storytime’s Over*

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL IDEAS:

Book: Banana by Ed Vere
Book: Early Bird by Toni Yuly
Book: Orange Pear Apple Bear by Emily Gravett

HOW IT WENT: Even though I’ve been presenting storytimes for quite some time, I was nervous about this one since it was my first time in front of a new group. I think it went well. I feel like I can learn a lot of great new techniques from my Library Technician here, and I’m excited about that!

PRESENTED: Thursday, July 19, 2018 at LM Branch

ATTENDANCE: 41 (adults and children)

* For these songs, please see my page Storytime Movements & Music

Fruit – Toddler Storytime

Posted on February 13, 2016 by jeninthelibrary

I filled in for a colleague who was out sick this week for infant/toddler storytime. We had a fresh fruit theme that was bananas!

MOVEMENT: Welcome Song*

MOVEMENT: “Clap Everybody and Say Hello” from Sally Go Round the Sun: songs and rhymes from the parent-child Mother Goose program by Kathy Reid-Naiman

MOVEMENT: Open Shut Them*

BOOK:

One Little Blueberry by Tammi Salzano, illustrated by Kat Whelan

MOVEMENT: “Roll Your Hands” from Toddlers on Parade by Carol Hammett & Elaine Bueffel

FLANNELBOARD:
Rainbow Stew
idea taken from Storytime ABC’s

Start this flannelboard with the 6 different fruit on your board, and the 6 rainbow colors in your pot.

Take an strawberry put it in the pot

Stir it, stir it, stir it a lot (stir, not letting the kids see inside the pot)
Take it out now
What will it be? (pull out the color band that matches the fruit)
The prettiest red I ever did see.

Continue doing this for all the fruits/colors, until you have a full rainbow on the board:

Then I recited the other rhyme mentioned by Storytime ABC’s

Rainbow Colors
(to tune of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”)
Rainbow purple,
Rainbow blue,
Rainbow green,
And yellow too.
Rainbow orange,
Rainbow red.
Rainbow smiling overhead.
Come and count the colors with me.
How many colors do you see?
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6!

MOVEMENT: “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” from Songs for Wiggleworms by the Old Town School of Folk Music

MOVEMENT: I’m a Little Teapot from Children’s Favorite Songs Volume 4 performed by Larry Groce and the Disneyland Children’s Sing-along Chorus

MOVEMENT: Grandma’s Spectacles*

BOOK:

Orange Pear Apple Bear by Emily Gravett

VIDEO:

“The Very Hungry Caterpillar” from The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Other Stories

MOVEMENT: Itsy Bitsy Spider

MOVEMENT: Twinkle Twinkle

MOVEMENT: Goodbye Friends

MOVEMENT: Tickle the Clouds*

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL IDEAS:

Book: Go, Go, Grapes! A Fruit Chant by April Pulley Sayre
Book: Apple by Nikki McClure
Book: Lunch by Denise Fleming (or as a flannelboard)
Counting Flannelboard: Apples
DVD: “Grandma’s Berry Patch” from Max and Ruby Berry Bunny Adventures
DVD: “Each Peach Pear Plum” from The Napping House…and more stories that rhyme

Related Blog Posts: Berries – Preschool Storytime

st.

ATTENDANCE: 10 am: 39 people 11 am: 38 people

* For these songs, please see my Storytime Movements & Music page

Fruit – Infant Storytime

Posted on February 13, 2016 by jeninthelibrary

We do infant/toddler storytimes in 10 week sessions at my library, which is why you usually see a bunch of those posts together. This time, however, my colleague was sick, so I just filled in for her (hence this one-off post). To keep things the same for those that were coming to her session, I tried to stick to her routines, which was fun because it allowed me to learn some new songs!

MOVEMENT: Welcome Song*

MOVEMENT: “Clap Everybody and Say Hello” from Sally Go Round the Sun: songs and rhymes from the parent-child Mother Goose program by Kathy Reid-Naiman

BOUNCE: Tiny Little Babies* (this was a new one for me I got to learn! Fun! Make sure to check it out on my Acapella rhymes page)

BOUNCE: The Grand Old Duke of York*

BOOK:

Orange Pear Apple Bear by Emily Gravett

MOVEMENT: “My Little Hands” from Diaper Gym: Fun Activities for Babies on the Move by Priscilla Hegner & Rose Grasselli

FLANNELBOARD:
5 Red Strawberries

Taken from Mel’s Desk

I was thinking about doing the flannelboard Lunch with this group, so I had my mouse puppet ready. I changed the Bear in this rhyme to Mouse so I could use my puppet to gobble up the berries as they came off the board.

Five red strawberries, sweet to the core.
Mouse came and ate one and then there were four.

Four red strawberries, growing near a tree.
Mouse came and ate one and then there were three.

Three red strawberries, for you and you and you.
Mouse came and ate one and then there were two.

Two red strawberries, sitting in the sun.
Mouse came and ate one and then there was one.

One red strawberry, left all alone.
Mouse came and ate it and then there were none.

BOUNCE: “Ladies Ride” from Wiggleworms Love You by Old Town School of Folk Music

BOOK:

Guess What? – Fruit by Ysuke Yonezu
This one is a really fun board book where fruit turns into animals with a lift of the flap!

TICKLE: These are Baby’s Fingers*

NURSERY RHYME FLANNELBOARD:
Little Miss Muffet

Flannelboard from Little Folk Visuals

Little Miss Muffet
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:
Goodbye Babies with ASL signs
(to tune of: “Goodnight Ladies”)
Goodbye babies
Goodbye babies
Goodbye babies
It’s time
to say
Goodbye.

This video from Champaign Public Library is really helpful for learning the signs!

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL IDEAS:

Book: Jamberry by Bruce Degen
Book: Lunch by Denise Fleming (book or flannelboard)

HOW IT WENT:
For planning in less than a day, this came together really well. I enjoyed the fruit theme and would do it again. Guess What? – Fruit was a really great read, I think I’ll have to look into the others in that series. I was worried it might be a little small, but with the fold out pages it worked really well.

ATTENDANCE: 33 people

* For these songs, please see my page Storytime Movements & Music

Soup – Preschool Storytime

Posted on January 30, 2016 by jeninthelibrary

It’s January, so that means National Soup Month! Which in turn means, if there’s a storytime to do, I’ll probably do one about soup! Here’s this year’s:

MOVEMENT: Welcome Song*

MOVEMENT: “Jump Jump” from I’m a Rock Star by Joanie Leeds and the Nightlights

MOVEMENT: My Wiggles*

BOOK:

The Wolf’s Chicken Stew by Keiko Kasza

MOVEMENT:
Pea Soup
(hold hand up with all five fingers extended)
1 little pea jumped into the pot (fold one finger down)
And waited for the soup to get hot.
2 little peas jumped into the pot (fold one finger down)
And waited for the soup to get hot.
3 little peas jumped into the pot (fold one finger down)
And waited for the soup to get hot.
4 little peas jumped into the pot (fold one finger down)
And waited for the soup to get hot.
5 little peas jumped into the pot (fold one finger down)
And waited for the soup to get hot.
Finally the soup got so very hot
All the little peas jumped out of the pot. (quickly open hand and extend all fingers.)

SONG:
Vegetable Soup Song

(Song adapted from Harford County Public Library storytime handout. Veggies from Ikea play sets)

Before we started singing this song, I passed out a toy vegetable to each child at storytime. When we sang about the veggie they were holding, they came up and dropped it in the small pot I had.

(to the tune of “The Farmer in the Dell”)
The soup is boiling up
The soup is boiling up
Stir slow — around we go
The soup is boiling up.

First we add the broth
First we add the broth
Stir slow – around we go
The soup is boiling up.

Next we add the tomatoes
Next we add the tomatoes
Stir slow – around we go
The soup is boiling up.

Continue adding different veggies, and substitute for tomatoes: zucchini, mushrooms, garlic, cabbage leaves, carrots, eggplant, green onion, pasta, etc…

It’s time to eat it up
it’s time to eat it up
Sip slow – but with gusto!
It’s time to eat it up.

MOVEMENT: “Shake My Sillies Out” from More Singable Songs by Raffi

BOOK:

Duck Soup by Jackie Urbanovic

VIDEO:

“Birthday Soup” from Little Bear Season 1, Episode 2

MOVEMENT: Storytime’s Over*

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL IDEAS:

Book: Community Soup by Alma Fullerton
Book: Soup Day by Melissa Iwai
Book: Chicken Soup by Jean Van Leeuwen, illustrated by David Gavril
Book: Gazpacho for Nacho by Tracey Kyle, illustrated by Carolina Farías (this one might be better for audiences a little older. Plus I’d need to brush up on Spanish pronunciation before I read it to a group.)
Book: 10 Hungry Rabbits by Anita Lobel (I also want to make this one into a flannelboard)
Book: Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Ehlert
Flannelboard: Stone Soup
Movie: “Chicken Soup with Rice” from Where the Wild Things Are… and other Maurice Sendak Stories

My other soup storytimes:
Preschool Storytime 1/18/2014
Class Visits1/24/2014

THOUGHTS ON THIS STORYTIME:
This was a squirrelly storytime, I don’t think I did a very good job today of getting a handle on it. I think I should have swapped the books around, since Duck Soup is a little bit longer. Or told a different, shorter story, because this storytime ran a bit long. Also, I really like doing the song where the kids bring up the veggies, but the squirrelly-ness seemed to happen a lot after that. So after “Shake My Sillies Out” I should have done a different calm down rhyme to help the transition into the story.

I wanted to do something a little different with the movie this time, since I showed “Chicken Soup with Rice”. I found that Little Bear has some episodes for free with Amazon Prime, and since I’m a Prime subscriber, I have an iPad, and our storyroom has AppleTV, I just played it through my iPad. I hadn’t done that before, but that turned out just fine. Yay for innovation in techniques.

ATTENDANCE: 33 (adults and children)

*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

Breakfast – Preschool Storytime

Posted on September 18, 2015 by jeninthelibrary

I don’t suggest this delicious theme if you haven’t eaten recently. It will leave you hungry for both breakfast and more good stories. I actually took a break while writing this to go have some breakfast for lunch.

MOVEMENT: Welcome Song*

MOVEMENT: “Can’t Wait to Celebrate” from Jim Gill’s Irrational Anthem by Jim Gill

MOVEMENT: Bread and Butter
(taken from Preschool Storytime Outlines)

Throughout this rhyme, pat your lap and clap your hands in time as you chant, except for when you are saying “Hello”.

Bread and butter
Marmalade and jam
Let’s say Hello
as _quietly__ as we can.
Hello.

Other verses:
loudly, slowly, fast, high, low

BOOK:

Please, Mr. Panda by Steve Antony

MOVEMENT: “Shake My Sillies Out” from More Singable Songs by Raffi

MOVEMENT: Five Fat Sausages
Five fat sausages frying in a pan (hold up 5 fingers)
All of a sudden one went BANG! (clap hands)
Four fat sausages…
Three…
Two…
One fat sausage frying in a pan (hold up 1 finger)
All of a sudden, it went BANG! (clap hands)
There were NO sausages left.

FLANNELBOARD:
Eggs for Breakfast

(pattern and story from Ready-to-Go Storytimes by Gail Benton and Trisha Waichulaitis)

One morning I woke up early and no one was up yet. I was hungry, so I decided to make myself some eggs. I got out the griddle (point to flannelboard). I got out the eggs. I picked up one egg and:

Give it a whack, (clap hands)
hear it crack, (hand behind ear)
Drop it in the middle, (pat hands on your lap)
One egg frying on the griddle. (place egg on flannelboard)

That egg smelled so good. Soon, my sister came into the kitchen, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She said, “I want one too!” I picked up one egg and:

Give it a whack, (clap hands)
hear it crack, (hand behind ear)
Drop it in the middle, (pat hands on your lap)
Two eggs frying on the griddle. (place egg on flannelboard)

Here comes dad, nodding his head. He likes his on toasted bread. I picked up one egg and:

Give it a whack, (clap hands)
hear it crack, (hand behind ear)
Drop it in the middle, (pat hands on your lap)
Three eggs frying on the griddle. (place egg on flannelboard)

Last up was one. She gave me a wink and said, “Looks good, I’ll have one too!” I picked up one egg and:

Give it a whack, (clap hands)
hear it crack, (hand behind ear)
Drop it in the middle, (pat hands on your lap)
Four eggs frying on the griddle. (place egg on flannelboard)

Now my family’s all here and it’s time to eat together. So we ate 1, 2, 3, 4 eggs! (Take eggs off flannelboard).

MOVEMENT: If You Like Your Eggs Scrambled
(taken from Storytime Source Page)

If you like your eggs scrambled, clap your hands
If you like your eggs scrambled, clap your hands
Yes, they’re yummy and they’re yellow
So you’ll be a happy fellow
If you like your eggs scrambled, clap your hands

Other verses:
If you like your eggs fried, jump up high…
If you want bacon with your eggs, wiggle your legs…
If you want toast instead, nod your head (mmm-hmmm)

MOVEMENT: These are Grandma’s Spectacles

These are Grandma’s spectacles (make circles with hands, place over eyes)
And this is Grandma’s hat (make hands into a hat on top of head)
And this is the way she folds her hands (fold hands)
And places them in her lap. (put hands in lap)

BOOK:

Everyone Loves Bacon words by Kelly DiPucchio, pictures by Eric Wight

VIDEO:

“Spot’s Breakfast” from Spot Goes to School

MOVEMENT: Storytime’s Over*

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL IDEAS:

Book:If You Give a Pig a Pancake by Laura Numeroff, illustrated by Felicia Bond
Book: Sausages by Jessica Souhami
Book: We’re Making Breakfast for Mother by Shirley Neitzel, pictures by Nancy Winslow Parker
Flannelboard: Flip-Flack Jack (from Ready-to-Go Storytimes by Gail Benton and Trisha Waichulaiti
Movie: “Breakfast at Farzzle’s” from Farzzle’s World: Breakfast at Farzzle’s

THOUGHTS ON THIS STORYTIME:
Before I came up with this theme for storytime, I was feeling a little blah about having to do storytime for the week. But once I looked through some books, and realized I hadn’t used Please, Mr. Panda yet, and that we had just gotten Everyone Loves Bacon I knew I had a theme on my hands I was looking forward to. (You know, I think I do A LOT of storytimes about food.) I was a little worried about finding a video, but the Spot one worked just fine.

I think there are probably a few other great breakfast themed books I could have used, but since I was putting this together last minute I didn’t have time to request books from the branches. Do you have a favorite first-meal-of-the-day story?

If I were to do this again, I think I would switch the order I read the stories and do Everyone Loves Bacon as my first book, since it’s a little long. Also, as I was reading Please Mr. Panda I realized I should probably do a black and white themed storytime sometime.

ATTENDANCE: 36 (adults and children)

*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

Apples – Preschool Storytime

Posted on September 28, 2013 by jeninthelibrary

A few weeks ago I did an apple storytime, but I forgot to post it on here! So, I figure better late than never.

September always makes me think of starting school (even though school starts here now in August!), and fall (even though it’s in the high 80s, mid 90s). So how else could celebrate the first Saturday in September than with a storytime about apples, the most quintessential of fall fruits?

MOVEMENT: Welcome Song*

MOVEMENT: “Jump Jump” from I’m a Rock Star by Joanie Leeds and the Nightlights

BOOK:

Ouch! by Ragnhild Scamell

Movement:
A Little Apple Seed
(to tune of “Itsy Bitsy Spider”)

Once a little apple seed
was planted in the ground.
Down came the raindrops falling all around.
Out came the big sun
Bright as bright could be
And that little apple seed grew up
to be an apple tree.

FLANNELBOARD:
A-P-P-L-E

(to tune of “Bingo”)There is a fruit that’s good to eat
and apple is its name-o.
A-P-P-L-E
A-P-P-L-E
A-P-P-L-E
and apple is its name-o.

Now when we turn the apple over, and you don’t see a letter, you clap instead! (Do this one apple at a time — I just took this photo when two apples were turned over.)

There is a fruit that’s good to eat
and apple is its name-o.
clap–clap-P-L-E
clap–clap-P-L-E
clap–clap-P-L-E
and apple is its name-o.

Continue singing and clapping until all apples are turned over.

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

FLANNELBOARD:
An Apple Tree

Way up high in the apple tree (lift hands above head)
Four red apples (hold up 4 fingers)
smiled at me (smile)
So I shook that tree as hard as I could (pretend to shake the tree)
And down came an apple.
Mmm… was it good! (rub tummy).

Continue with the rhyme until all apples have been eaten!

BOOK:

Apple Pie ABC by Alison Murray

VIDEO:

“Chicka Chicka 1 2 3” from Chicka Chicka 1 2 3 — and more stories about counting

MOVEMENT: Storytime’s Over*

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL IDEAS:

Book: A New House for Mouse by Petr Horácek
Book: Ten Red Apples by Pat Hutchins
Book: Little Apple Goat by Caroline Jayne Church
Book: Apple by Nikki McClure

THOUGHTS ON THIS STORYTIME:
Though we say this is a preschool storytime, we actually end up with a wide range of ages in the audience on any given Saturday. I started out with the book Ouch! because that is one of my favorites – I love the illustrations, and the kids and the adults both seem to get a kick out of it. However, with the group I had this Saturday, the story felt rather long. That’s why for my second book I chose Apple Pie ABC – it’s still engaging, and the photos are wonderful, but it is a lot shorter and I hoped that would help with the concentration of the audience. I think it worked. Also, the video was a good one – again, slightly long, but since it is one the kids are familiar with I think that helps. I swear I could hear a little voice singing along, but I couldn’t locate where it was coming from.

ATTENDANCE: 67!! (adults and children)

*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

Bread and Butter – Preschool/Family Storytime

Posted on August 9, 2013 by jeninthelibrary

Since my Loafing Around program was a couple of weeks ago (things have been busy… sorry I haven’t updated!), I don’t remember the exact agenda I used for the storytime. But I did want to record the books and flannelboards that I used here.

BOOKS:

FLANNELBOARDS:

The Little Red Hen
from: Sierra, Judy. The Flannel Board Storytelling Book 2nd Edition. 1997. pg 152

A traditional retelling of the tale, but I changed the object being baked from cake to bread to fit in with the theme better.

Yellow Butter, Purple Jelly, Red Jam, and Brown Bread Tongue Twister
rhyme and template taken from Miss Mary Liberry (though I altered the pieces just a little)

Yellow butter
Purple jelly
Red jam
Brown Bread

Spread it thick, say it quick!
Spread it thicker, say it quicker!
Now repeat it, while you eat it!
Yum!

Fred Fed Ted Bread Tongue Twister
Inspired by Miss Mary Liberry, and since I thought I might have a wide range of ages at this program, I wanted to do something that would work for older children at the program too. I found this tongue twister online and thought it would make a cute flannelboard. I got the pattern for the man from “The Three Pigs” in Judy Sierra’s The Flannel Board Storytelling Book 2nd Edition (pg 151) and just drew in the bread in his outstretched hand.

Fred fed Ted bread and Ted fed Fred bread.
We tried a couple of times to say this, and then I asked for volunteers to try out loud.

Movement:

Bread and Butter
Clap and and slap thighs in rhythm to this chant

Bread and Butter
Marmalade and Jam
Let’s Say Hello
as __quietly__ as we can.
Hello
Other verses: loudly, slowly, fast, high and low.
(Taken from Preschool Storytime Outlines)

Peanut, Peanut Butter (and Jelly)
I added a couple of verses at the beginning of this song about kneading the dough, baking the bread, and slicing the bread.

ACTIVITY:
Making Butter! (See this post for instructions.)

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL IDEAS:

Book: What to Do? What to Do? by Toni Teevin
Book: Monsieur Saguette and His Baguette by Frank Asch
Book: Bread is for Eating by David and Phillis Gershator
Book: The Tortilla Factory by Gary Paulsen
Book: Loaves of Fun by Elizabeth M. Harbison

ATTENDANCE: 71 (adults and children)

*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

Making Butter at Storytime!

Posted on August 8, 2013 by jeninthelibrary

Since we are doing the “Reading is Soooooo Delicious” theme for this summer, my library celebrated with a system-wide Fun Food Week. Each branch chose a food-related program to highlight at their location.

My program was a bread storytime where we made our own butter! I got the idea for this program because I remembered making it in preschool (kindergarten? it was a long time ago…), and I thought it was so cool then. Apparently, science still amazes now, because the program (that my coworker coined “Loafing Around”) was a hit with both kids and parents — some even wanted to go home and try making more butter.

And making it is really simple!

Make Your Own Butter

You need a jar with a lid that closes tightly and heavy whipping cream.

That’s it!

Pour the whipping cream into the jar. Leave some room so the cream can move around. Of course, you can vary the amount depending on how much butter you want to make.

Shake! Shake! Shake!

After shaking for a little while, the cream will turn into whipped cream. You won’t hear liquid sloshing around anymore.

Keep shaking more, and the mixture will look like it is turning back to liquid in your jar. It’s actually becoming butter and buttermilk. In the photo below, you can see the lump of butter in the center of the jar, and then buttermilk surrounding it.

Pour off the buttermilk to separate it from the butter. (At home I just poured it out of the jar, when I did the program at the library we dumped it out into a bucket covered with cheesecloth. You can see that on the right. Also, at the library, we scooped up the butter each child made and put it into a plastic take-out sauce container, and handed them a popsicle stick for spreading.)

If you are making a lot of butter at home that you will want to enjoy for a while, rinse off the butter under cold water to get rid of the buttermilk — this will make the butter last longer. At the library, since we were enjoying the butter right away and only made a small amount, we skipped this step.

Put your butter on bread, and enjoy! For the Loafing Around program we created sandwich baggies that had a small sample of various kinds of bread: tortilla, French bread, lavash, challah, Irish soda bread and pumpernickel. Each kid received a baggie to go with the butter they made.

TIPS IF YOU DO THIS AS A LIBRARY PROGRAM:

– WIDER MOUTH JARS WORK BETTER.
Jars like the one pictured with the cream in the first photo work better than narrow mouth jars (like the ones you see in the shaking photos). It is easier to get the butter out from these, and it just seemed to work better overall. (We got our jars from The Container Store. The 4 oz ones worked best.)

– TEST THE JARS FIRST TO MAKE SURE THEY DON’T LEAK
Since we couldn’t get enough of the good 4oz jars, we used smaller 3 oz ones for the program, and they were not leak-proof. To solve this problem, we just put the jar with the cream in it inside a sandwich baggie. This helped keep our carpet clean and worked just fine.

– DON’T USE SPICE SHAKER INSERTS ON TOP OF THE JARS
Since we couldn’t find enough of the 4 oz jars, we went with 3 oz narrower jars that were meant for storing spices. In addition to a twist on lid, these came with snap off inserts that had holes for shaking out spices. I thought, “Oh this might be a great way to drain the buttermilk without having to take the butter out of the jar!” BUT NO. The cream didn’t like having the lid their during shaking, and the holes just ended up causing a problems instead of a solution.

– HAVE MORE THAN ONE BUTTERMILK DRAINING STATION
If you have all the children in the program start making butter at the same time, they will probably all be ready around the same time. We had two draining stations to pour off the butter set up, and we probably could have used one more.

– HAVE SOMETHING TO PUT THE BUTTER IN SO KIDS CAN TAKE LEFTOVERS My coworker came up with the great idea to use take-out restaurant sauce containers with lids and they were perfect. This way, we didn’t have to give away the more expensive jars to the kids, and we could save them to use at another program in the future.

– USE VOLUNTEERS TO HELP OUT
If I did this program again, I would get more people to help me out. Volunteers could help with the draining of the buttermilk and putting the butter into the sauce containers. They also would have been useful for clean-up afterwards.

– MAKE DIFFERENT FLAVORS WITH OLDER CHILDREN
If I was going to do this program with an older audience, I might add some different flavor elements that kids could use to make flavored butter: herbs like chives or dill, sugars, salt, etc.

But, even for doing it the first time around this was a really fun program, and it was a great success as well. I would definitely do it again!

Jen in the Library

Storytimes, Programs and Library Thoughts

Tag Archives: food

Cookies – Preschool Storytime

Food – Signs ‘n Storytime

Food – Infant & Toddler Storytime

Fruit – Toddler Storytime

Fruit – Infant Storytime

Soup – Preschool Storytime

Breakfast – Preschool Storytime

Apples – Preschool Storytime

Bread and Butter – Preschool/Family Storytime

Making Butter at Storytime!