Storytime: Rabbits

Age: 2-5 years
Time: 30 minutes plus craft

1) These Are My Glasses - Laurie Berkner
My current opening song that we sing acappella every week. I start by asking them to show me their glasses and their book so that they remember the signs. We sing it through twice, then I'll ask them to quietly put their "books" in their lap.

These are my glasses (make the letter o with each hand)
And this is my book (hands together)
I put on my glasses (put "glasses" over eyes)
And open up the book (open book hands)
Now I read read read (hold book up in front of face like reading)
And I look look look (put glasses over eyes and look around room)
I put down my glasses and… (lower glasses)
WHOOP! Close up the book. (clap as if closing a book quickly)



2) Seven Little Bunnies – Julie Stiegemeyer

I love using counting books -- asking the kids what number comes next.


3) Fingerplay – Five Little Monkeys
I have a fun little glove (ok, it's not little, it's actually big and furry) that has monkey heads velcroed to the fingertips. This rhyme is so repetitive and classic, I probably should use it more often...


4) Duck! Rabbit! – Amy Krause Rosenthal (Monday), Little Rabbit Foo Foo - Michael Rosen (Tuesday)

I used Duck! Rabbit! with my first group, but they did NOT seem to get into it at all. The parents loved it. But the kids just sat there like a deer in the headlights... Maybe it would have been better with a slightly older group (since I did have 2 and 3 year olds in these groups). So the next day I pulled out my Little Rabbit Foo Foo big book instead.

5) Song – I Know a Chicken - Laurie Berkner


6) Little White Rabbit – Kevin Henkes

I think the kids liked this one. They had fun noticing the things the rabbit did ("his ears are flapping!!"), and the soft (pencil?) colors are pretty.


7) Songs – Shake Your Sillies Out & Hot Potato - the Wiggles
A pair of simple songs to help get their wiggles out...


8) A Boy and His Bunny – Sean Bryan

This was a fun one to end with. Cute rhymes, simple pictures, funny, kept the kids attention well. And it led well into our craft, which let them take their own bunny home.


Paper plate bunny
When I got back from my vacation, I realized that while I'd planned ahead on what books to use for storytime, I hadn't planned our craft. Oops! So I quickly searched my storage closet supplies and came up with a quick paper plate bunny craft. It's just a small (dessert-sized?) paper plate, cotton balls, wiggly eyes, a pink circle nose (that I found in an envelope of paper scraps), and hand-cut ears (no template used! I was so short on time!). The trick is to first glue the ears to the inside of the plate, then spread glue over top of the whole plate, and then stick the cotton balls down. Then put some glue on the eyes and nose and stick them on.

Not my greatest craft ever, but the kids had fun walking around holding it on top of their head like the book we'd just read. :)