Let’s go to the zoo!

We had so much fun during last week’s storytime when we went to the farm, so this week we took a trip to the zoo! I love zoo/jungle themes because there is an endless amount of books that fit this them and the crafts are always really fun.

We started with the book Beautiful Bananas by Elizabeth Laird illustrated by Liz Pichon.

This is a very sweet story about a girl who is trying to take her grandfather a gift of bananas but the animals of the jungle keep messing up her plans. I enjoy reading this book in storytime because it is fun for the kids to discuss the animals however it is a bit long so I usually start with it when their attention spans are at their longest.

Next we read Sam Who Never Forgets by Eve Rice.

The kids liked this book a lot, more than I expected. I think it is because of the elephant that is featured in the story, they all seem to really like elephants. This book lead a to a nice discussion about zoo keepers and what they do.
After that we read Whose Nose and Toes by John Butler.This book is awesome! I love, love, love reading it in storytime. The children always have a great time guessing which animal each set of nose and toes belong to. This sort of thing never gets old in storytime.

The final book we read was The Giraffe Who Cock-A-Doodle-Doo’d by Keith Faulkner illustrated by Jonathan Lambert.

This book is a great way to end. It is lots of fun and as an added bonus is a pop-up book.

For our craft this week we made paper bag puppets. We have a lot of paper bags in our craft closet so I decided to use them to create fun puppets.I am not sure if there is anything cuter than a 3 year old running around making his paper bag puppet lion roar at other paper bag puppets.
Here is a link to the template for this craft:
http://abcteach.com/directory/fun_activities/crafts/paper_bag_puppets/

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Barnyard fun

Today for storytime we took a trip to the farm for a barnyard storytime!

We opened today with Clip Clop by Nicola Smee.

This is a short and sweet story about Mr. Horse who takes his friends Cat, Dog, Pig and Duck for a ride. The children really enjoyed this story, it has a great rhythm and fun illustrations.

Next we read Mrs. Wishy-Washy’s Farm by Joy Cowley illustrated by Elizabeth Fuller.

I really think Mrs. Wishy-Washy is a great character to introduce in storytime. There are many stories about Mrs. Wishy-Washy and so the children can continue to discover new books with this fun character. This is a super funny story and the children all laughed and chanted “Wishy-washy, Wishy-washy,” with me.

Next we read a very fun and interactive book, Peek-a-Moo by Marie Torres Cimarusti illustrated by Stephanie Peterson.

I LOVE using this in storytime, especially with the younger crowd. It is a lot of fun for everyone to say all of the animal sounds and the upside down flaps are silly and fun.

After that we read First the Egg by Laura Vaccaro Seeger.

This book was a Caldecott honor book in 2008 so as a librarian I was excited to use it, however the kids could care less. This is a very nice, simple book with great illustrations. I have a feeling the parents enjoyed it a bit more than the children did, but that is Ok- they need to have a fun time too.

Finally, we ended with Look Who’s Talking! On the Farm by Danny Tepper illustrated by Valeria Petrone.
This was another lift the flap book and it was equally as enjoyable as the first we read. I was worried the kids wouldn’t have as much fun the second time but kids do love repetition so we had an even better time making animal noises.
For the craft this week, we made little chicks coming out of their eggs. The children got to glue on the beaks and the googley eyes and color in their chicks. I made mine a very boring yellow.

Here is the link to this craft:
http://www.coloring.ws/t.asp?b=m&t=http://www.coloring.ws/easter/draw-chick.gif

I’m Hungry!

This week’s storytime was all about one of my favorite topics: food! There are so many awesome books on this topic it was hard to choose just a few. I am sure that I will be revisiting this theme in the weeks and months to come

We started with Sausages by Jessica Souhami.
I will admit that I chose this book initially because I liked the cover. However, as it turns out not only does it have an appealing cover but it is a really fun story. This book is a retelling of an old folk tale. It is about about a husband and wife who get three wishes from a magic elf. The husband mistakenly wishes for sausages and in her annoyance at his wasting of a wish his wife wishes that it they get stuck to his nose. So they are left with only one wish left and must use to it get the sausages off his nose. The kids really liked this book and agreed that it was ok to use the final wish to get the sausages off of his nose. We had a big discussion about what we would wish for. Not surprisingly everyone wanted to be rich and no one wanted sausages.

After that we read Little Pea by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and illustrated by Jen Cordce.

I was first introduced to this book by the boys that I babysit and feel in love with Little Pea. It is the super cute story of a little pea who does not want to eat his dinner- candy! Of course all of the kids decided that they would like to be little peas and eat candy for dinner. There were only a few, like myself who found his dessert, spinach appetizing.

Next we read Today is Monday by Eric Carle.It seems difficult for me to do a storytime with out a book by Eric Carle, I like him that much! This is really great for storytime for younger children. I like to use this book to help teach the days of the week. For a little extra fun we made the animal noises for the animals.

Then we read The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss and illustrations by Crockett Johnson.

I have always liked this book and today it was fun because a few of the kids had read this book before so they got excited about knowing the end ahead of time.

Finally we read Round as a Pancake by Joan Sullivan Baranski illustrated by Yu-Mei Han.
I had never read this book for a storytime before and was plesantly surprised about how great it worked! It had a really fun and fairly simple rhyme. So, it was lots of fun for the kids to hear as well as to anticipate.

For the craft this week we made some bananas with funny faces. The free downloadable templates can be found here: http://www.makingfriends.com/preschool/fruit_faces.htm
I forgot to take a picture so you will have to use your imaginations!