I had to put together a storytime at the last minute when my staff called in sick, so I threw together what I called "Sarah's Favorite Books!" I used this plan twice-once with Toddlers and once with Preschool. I also included stations and crafts in this plan.
Honestly, I go back and forth on if I like stations and crafts-I like that they add an extension to the storytime, but I very often see them being used as playtime for the kids and the parents don't really understand that it's a time to play and talk about the books they've just heard. I think when we do stations, we need to explain their purpose. OK, enough soapboxing-here's the storytime plan:
Opening Song: Shake Your Sillies Out by The Wiggles
Literacy Skill: Love Books! I explained to parents that when they read books that they love and enjoy, that comes through in their reading and they are sharing that enjoyment with their kids. So make sure you read your favorite books with kids too!
Book: It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles G. Shaw-I used this one with both toddlers and preschool since we have it in a big book format-great for large storytime groups!
Song-Toddlers: These Are My Glasses by Laurie Berkner
Song-Preschool: Where Is Thumbkin by The Wiggles-preschool
(note: I've used These Are My Glasses with preschool before and they like it, but I really wanted an excuse to use Where Is Thumbkin since toddlers aren't coordinated enough yet for that song!)
Book-Toddlers:If You're a Monster and You Know It by Rebecca Emberly and Ed Emberly-Toddlers-This book is a great sing along and the toddlers love it!
Book-Preschool King Bidgood's in the Bathtub by Audrey Wood, illustrated by Don Wood-my all time favorite picture book! This is another one we had a big book format in and it's great so the kids can see the detailed illustrations.
Activity-Toddlers: The Freeze Song by Greg and Steve
Activity-Preschool: Listen and Move by Greg and Steve
(I love, love, love Greg and Steve and highly recommend them for storytime collections!)
Book: Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes by Eric Litwin, illustrated by James Dean-This is another book I used with both sessions-I love how it can be used with all ages. The toddlers love the jazzy song and are beginning to recognize the colors and the preschoolers love the question and answer portions of the book. Plus the repetition in the text makes it easy to catch on and sing along.
Stations:
Bubbles-from King Bidgood and just for fun with the toddlers
Music Station with instruments-from Pete
Crafts:
Toddlers-
Monster Puppets-from If You're A Monster-I used circles of construction paper and glued them to popsicle sticks. The kids then glued on various scrap pieces of papers and used dot stickers and crayons to decorate their puppets.
Preschool-
Mask Making-from King Bidgood-Using the cuttout we have for masks, I made masks and gave the preschoolers dot stickers, scrap paper and crayons to decorate masks. We then glued a posicle stick to one end so we could hold it up at the masquerade ball.
Both-
Spilt Milk Paper-I took various scrapes of white paper and had the kids tear (toddlers) or cut (preschool) the paper up into their own spilt milk/cloud shapes.
Gathering Back Together Song:
Head Shoulders Knees and Toes
Closing Book:
From Head to Toe by Eric Carle-I've used this book as my closing book for about a year now and it's so fun to watch the kids learn how to move like the animals (espcially for toddlers!)
Closing Song: Skin-a-marink
If you need lyrics or more info on the crafts, let me know-I'm happy to share!
Honestly, I go back and forth on if I like stations and crafts-I like that they add an extension to the storytime, but I very often see them being used as playtime for the kids and the parents don't really understand that it's a time to play and talk about the books they've just heard. I think when we do stations, we need to explain their purpose. OK, enough soapboxing-here's the storytime plan:
Opening Song: Shake Your Sillies Out by The Wiggles
Literacy Skill: Love Books! I explained to parents that when they read books that they love and enjoy, that comes through in their reading and they are sharing that enjoyment with their kids. So make sure you read your favorite books with kids too!
Book: It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles G. Shaw-I used this one with both toddlers and preschool since we have it in a big book format-great for large storytime groups!
Song-Toddlers: These Are My Glasses by Laurie Berkner
Song-Preschool: Where Is Thumbkin by The Wiggles-preschool
(note: I've used These Are My Glasses with preschool before and they like it, but I really wanted an excuse to use Where Is Thumbkin since toddlers aren't coordinated enough yet for that song!)
Book-Toddlers:If You're a Monster and You Know It by Rebecca Emberly and Ed Emberly-Toddlers-This book is a great sing along and the toddlers love it!
Activity-Toddlers: The Freeze Song by Greg and Steve
Activity-Preschool: Listen and Move by Greg and Steve
(I love, love, love Greg and Steve and highly recommend them for storytime collections!)
Book: Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes by Eric Litwin, illustrated by James Dean-This is another book I used with both sessions-I love how it can be used with all ages. The toddlers love the jazzy song and are beginning to recognize the colors and the preschoolers love the question and answer portions of the book. Plus the repetition in the text makes it easy to catch on and sing along.
Stations:
Bubbles-from King Bidgood and just for fun with the toddlers
Music Station with instruments-from Pete
Crafts:
Toddlers-
Monster Puppets-from If You're A Monster-I used circles of construction paper and glued them to popsicle sticks. The kids then glued on various scrap pieces of papers and used dot stickers and crayons to decorate their puppets.
Preschool-
Mask Making-from King Bidgood-Using the cuttout we have for masks, I made masks and gave the preschoolers dot stickers, scrap paper and crayons to decorate masks. We then glued a posicle stick to one end so we could hold it up at the masquerade ball.
Both-
Spilt Milk Paper-I took various scrapes of white paper and had the kids tear (toddlers) or cut (preschool) the paper up into their own spilt milk/cloud shapes.
Gathering Back Together Song:
Head Shoulders Knees and Toes
Closing Book:
Closing Song: Skin-a-marink
If you need lyrics or more info on the crafts, let me know-I'm happy to share!
Sounds like a fun outing for the little ones, but also for the adults.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea for a storytime! I'm sure you could use this theme several times and read different favorite books each time :)
ReplyDeleteYes! It's a very easy theme to pull together. You can never run out of favorite books!:)
ReplyDelete