Storytime: J is for Jingle Bells

Age: 18-36 months (coloring page instead of craft), 3-5 years (with craft)

This school year in storytime I decided to use the alphabet to give me inspiration for themes. This was our last week of storytime before our holiday break, so J is for Jingle Bells! (I really stretched this one... There was really only one book truly about jingle bells, and we sang the song. Other than that, this was just a chance for me to read some Christmas-y books. :)


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) Mystery Box
This week I put one of the jingle bells we play with during songs in the box.

2.5) J is for Jingle Bells craft (3-5 yr olds)
Because this week's craft involved tacky glue that I wanted to make sure got dry enough for them to transport home, my 3-5 year olds created their craft at the beginning of storytime. I had pre-cut white J's and had the kids glue it to red paper. Then they could decorate with red and green crayons and Christmas-y stickers. Finally I put a dot of tacky glue on each end of the J for them and they stuck the little jingle bells on.

3) Jingle-Jingle - Nicole Smee

I pointed out to the kids how the horse had bells on him so everyone could hear him when he ran.


4) Jingle Bells song
I have large jingle bells strung together in pairs that I handed out for the kids to dance with during the song. They pretended they were like the horse in the book and we could all hear them coming!


5) Counting Christmas - Karen Katz (18-36 months)

I only did this book with the younger class. It's very simple, with bright pictures, counting up Christmas-y things as the kids get ready for Christmas Eve and presents on Christmas Day.


6) Five Little Christmas Trees
A really simple flannelboard rhyme. I started by asking the kids if they had their tree up yet, and if it was one they had gone out and chopped down. Found this at Mollie's site.

Five little Christmas trees, standing all alone. 
Their hearts were very sad, 'cause they hadn't found a home. (hand over heart)
Then chop went the ax, (chopping motion with hand at the bottom of a tree)
And down fell a tree, (take tree off board)
And off he went with a happy family! ("walk" him away)

(continue from 4-1 Christmas Trees)
No little Christmas Trees standing all alone 
Their hearts were very happy 'cause they all found a home!


7) Christmas Tree, Christmas Tree, What Do You See?
Then I asked if the kids wanted to help me decorate a tree. I found this at Reading Chick. I discovered a flannel tree and mini lights in my storage room. But I also have a giant felt tree, circle "ornaments", and rectangle "presents" at my house, that I created last year for my own kids (toddlers) to "decorate" and leave my real tree alone. So I brought in my big tree, used the lights I'd found, and quickly made a candy cane and Santa hat. I handed out the different pieces to the kids, and had them bring them up when it was their turn in the story.

Christmas tree, Christmas tree, what do you see?
I see some Christmas lights blinking at me.
Christmas lights, Christmas lights, what do you see?
I see ornaments looking at me.
Ornaments, ornaments, what do you see?
I see a candy cane looking at me.
Candy cane, candy cane, what do you see?
I see a yellow star shining at me.
Yellow star, yellow star, what do you see?
I see Santa Claus coming toward me.
Santa Claus, Santa Claus, what did you bring?
A bagful of presents for underneath the tree!


8) Pete the Cat Saves Christmas - Eric Litwin

Did you know you can download Pete the Cat songs for free?? I put them all on a cd that I can now play in my storytime cd player. The Christmas one is actually the entire book being read (I think by Litwin), and has the song throughout too. So I let the kids listen to this one while I turned the pages and pointed out the things the author mentioned. Pretty neat to have someone else read a book for a change!


9) If You Take a Mouse to the Movies - Laura Numeroff

I absolutely love Numeroff's mouse/moose/pig/dog/cat books.


10) Snacks
We had had our monthly movie night a few days before, and we had leftover popcorn, so after the book above I just had to give the kids small bags of our leftovers! :) I also handed out candy canes, and showed them how if they turned it upside down it looked like the letter J!


11) J is for Jingle bells coloring page (18-36 months)



Other Christmas ideas:
Merry Christmas, Big Hungry Bear - Don & Audrey Wood
The Night Before Christmas - Clement Moore
How Do Dinosaurs Say Merry Christmas? - Jane Yolen
It's Christmas, David! - David Shannon
I Love Christmas - Anna Walker

Storytime: Ice & Igloos

Age: 18-36 months (coloring page instead of craft), 3-5 years (with craft)

This school year in storytime I decided to use the alphabet to give me inspiration for themes. So this week, I is for Ice! (I'd really wanted to do a whole storytime about igloos, but couldn't find nearly enough books. So we expanded the idea.)


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) Mystery Box
This week I kept my box in the kitchen (right next door to my club room) so I could claim to have "forgotten" the box. I would run in and quickly take a small sandwich bag of ice (that I had put together ahead of time in the freezer), toss it in the box, and come back in. When I showed it to the kids, I put it against each of their hands so they could feel how cold it was!


3) Bunnies on Ice - Johanna Wright 

I did paperclip a few of the pages together in this one. I didn't think the images would capture my kids attention very well, but wanted the main part of the story to still come through. It was a good one for the introduction to "ice".


4) Jingle Bells 
I have large jingle bells strung together in pairs that I handed out for the kids to dance with during the song.


5) Geography lesson
I brought in a globe and showed the kids where we live, then explained how way up north it's cold and snowy ALL the time, and some people live in special houses made out of snow and ice!


6) Look Inside an Igloo - Schuh

One of the few books I was able to find that's about igloos and is kid-friendly! The kids thought these houses were pretty neat. I also pulled out Building an Igloo by Ulli Steltzer, and showed one specific page with a picture of lots of ice/snow blocks lined up and ready to be put together.


7) Build an igloo feltboard
I took a piece of flannel, made the general shape of an igloo (including a door), then cut it into eight pieces and numbered them with a Sharpie. I handed them out to the kids and had them help me build an igloo!

8) 5 Little Eskimos
From Step by Step Childcare. I printed out five identical Eskimos and gave them some flannel backing. I lined them up underneath our igloo, near the door, to start.

Five little Eskimos by the igloo door. 
One went out to feed the dogs, then there were four. 
Four little Eskimos rowing out to sea, 
One jumped on an iceberg, then there were three. 
Three little Eskimos making fish stew, 
One burned his finger, then there were two. 
Two little Eskimos hunting for fun, 
One chased a baby seal, then there was one. 
One little Eskimo all his work was done, 
Went home to supper, then there were none.


9) 5 Little Penguins Slipping on the Ice - Steve Metzger

The kids really wanted to say no more monkeys penguins jumping on the bed...


10) Parachute play 
It had been awhile since we'd played with the parachute. We bounced a little stuffed penguin around for awhile, then lifted it up over our heads for them to go under. It was kind of like an igloo. :)


11) I is for Ice coloring page (18-36 mo.) or I is for Igloo craft (3-5 yrs)
I told the kids how impressed I was with their cutting abilities during last week's H is for house craft, so I also traced the I on black paper for them to cut out. Then I had pre-cut some white address labels into squares (just really roughly cut with a paper cutter, no measuring), and they took them off like stickers and put them on their I like ice cubes on an igloo. Finally they glued a little black door on their I-igloo.

My 3.5-year-old daughter's version

Other ice ideas:
Seven Little Mice Have Fun on the Ice - Kazuo Iwamura
Callie Cat, Ice Skater - Eileen Spinelli
Ice skating indoors - use squares of wax paper under feet (I ended up using this in my Olympics storytime!)

Storytime: Houses

Age: 18-36 months (coloring page instead of craft), 3-5 years (with craft)

This school year in storytime I decided to use the alphabet to give me inspiration for themes. So this week, H is for Houses!


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) Mystery Box
This week I built a tiny Lego house to put in my box.

3) The Three Little Pigs - James Marshall

This was one of the best versions of this story I could find, even if some of Marshall's humor is over the heads of my kids. I ended up paperclipping together everything between the third pig and the chimney scene. It's a pretty long story for my toddlers.


4) Song – Shake Your Sillies Out - the Wiggles


5a) Building a House - Byron Barton (18-36 mo)

I love Byron Barton's bold, simple pictures. This one was neat for the kids to see how a house gets built! I'd wanted to also read it with my older group, but I was afraid I'd run out of time and I really wanted to do the next story with them...

5b) Little Orange House story (3-5 yrs)
This is on Scholastic's site. I practiced first and could totally see where it was going. When I asked the kids if they wanted to see inside the house, they were SO into it. I opened it up and watched their faces light up as they realized what I'd made. :) Even the parents liked it!


6) Shape house
Found this at Read Sarah Read, originally from Finger Tales by Joan Phelps. Since we'd just built a house in #5, I asked if they could help me build a house too! I handed out the pieces and asked them to bring them up when I said their shape. I added the colors of the pieces when I read it to help the kids know which pieces were which.

Some houses are wood, and some are stone.
But let's build one with shapes alone!
Start with a square, but we won't stop.
Add a triangle up on the top.
Then a rectangle for the door.
Now square windows 1, 2, 3, 4!
A little circle just for fun.
Now our shape house is all done!


7) Purple Little Bird - Greg Foley

A cute little book that has potential for being read in lots of different storytime themes!


8a) Bird Houses Flannel 
I found this at Erin's Falling Flannelboards. I made four houses of different colors with different shaped doors, just like she did. The kids did a great job of telling me with words which house the bird belonged in, and I made sure we mentioned both the color and the door shape.

8b) Little Mouse
It was so easy to include the Little Mouse game with the bird houses flannel. I simply put the mouse behind one of the houses before I hung them up. "Little Mouse, Little Mouse, are you in the red/green/orange/blue house??"


9) Do Lions Live on Lily Pads? - Melanie Walsh

The kids thought this was a really silly book. They enjoyed guessing the correct animal each time before I turned the page.


10) H is for House coloring page (18-36 mo.) or H is for House craft (3-5 yrs)
Got this idea from Crystal. If you stick a triangle on top of the letter H, it really does look like a house! I traced an H on three different colors (so the kids could choose the color of their house), then actually had them practice cutting the straight lines. The other pieces I pre-cut for them, and put out crayons for them to decorate their house.

My 3.5-year-old daughter's version

Other house ideas:
Bunny Bungalow - Cynthia Rylant
A New House for Mouse - Petr Horacek
The House that Jack Built - Diana Mayo

Storytime: Giraffes

Age: 18-36 months (coloring page instead of craft), 3-5 years (with craft)

This school year in storytime I decided to use the alphabet to give me inspiration for themes. So this week, G is for Giraffe!


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) Mystery Box
This week I put in a little plastic giraffe.


3) Giraffes Can't Dance - Giles Andreae

I discovered this book a number of years ago when I was shopping for a gift for a friend's new baby. I think I've mentioned before how I'm a sucker for good rhyming books... this one has great rhymes, big bold pictures, and a wonderful message.


4) The Monkey Dance - Wiggles
The kids had fun with this one, I might have to incorporate it in other weeks.


5) Giraffes Up Close - Carmen Bredeson (non-fiction)

I paper clipped a page or two in this one, and mostly just described the pictures. It was cool for the kids to see real photos of giraffes.


6) Five Giraffes in the Bathtub
Found this at The Door 2 Door Librarian, a modified version of Five Elephants in the Bathtub. I found a simple giant bathtub that I printed on cardstock and attached to felt, then found a giraffe head clipart to print and attach to felt. I always paused before the next verse and asked "how many giraffes are in the tub now?"

One Giraffe in the bathtub going for a swim. 
Knock, Knock, (Clap twice with “Knock, Knock.”) 
Splash, Splash, (Slap knees twice with “Splash, Splash.”) 
Come on in! (Motion with both hands to come in.) 

Two Giraffes in the bathtub...  
Three Giraffes in the bathtub...
Four Giraffes in the bathtub...  

Five Giraffes in the bathtub going for a swim. 
Knock, Knock, Splash, Splash, 
It all fell in! (knock everything off flannelboard)


7) Carlo Likes Colors - Jessica Spanyol

I pulled out my shape monster felt pieces and handed out different colors to the kids. Then I only read the pages in this book that the kids had, and they brought up their shapes to the flannelboard when their color was called.


8) Zoo Animals song
Found this from the Madison Public Library, originally from the Whatcom County Library.

If you want to be a monkey, jump up high 
If you want to be a monkey, jump up high 
If you want to be a monkey If you want to be a monkey 
If you want to be a monkey, jump up high 

parrot… flap your wings 
elephant… swing your trunk 
lion… roar out loud 
giraffe… stand up tall


9) Saffy - Paola Opal (18-36 mo.), Abigail - Catherine Rayner (3-5 yrs.)

A couple of cute, simple books about the adventures of a giraffe. Saffy was a boardbook and just the right length for my younger group. Abigail was a bit longer. After storytime I took the Abigail book home to read with my own 3-year-old Abigail... :)

10) G is for Giraffe coloring page (18-36 mo.) or G is for Giraffe craft (3-5 yrs)

The base idea came from Get 'er Done Momma. I found a different giraffe head and left off the mane. I also just used a piece of yellow yarn for the tail, and googly eyes. The kids colored spots (or stripes or scribbles) on their giraffes in whatever crayon color they wanted. 

Storytime: Frogs

Age: 18-36 months (coloring page instead of craft), 3-5 years (with craft)

This school year in storytime I decided to use the alphabet to give me inspiration for themes. So this week, F is for Frog!


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) Mystery Box
This week I put in a little rubbery frog. It looked pretty real... I was tempted to make it jump out at the kids but decided that wouldn't be very nice. ;-)


3) Froggy Gets Dressed - Jonathan London

I honestly had never heard of Froggy until one day when I brought my then-18-month-old daughter to storytime (long before I had any idea I would someday get this job!). I love the simple stories that keep the kids' attention, and they all love shouting FRRROOGGYY!!! after me.


4) 5 Little Speckled Frogs
Apparently the librarian before me had done this at some point, because I discovered a prop for it! It's a paper towel tube (so it really is a hollow log!).

Five little speckled frogs (hold up 5 fingers)
Sitting on a hollow log (point at the log)
Eating the most delicious bugs -- yum yum! (rub belly) 
One jumped into the pool (flip one frog down, kids jump)
Where it was nice and cool
Now there are four little speckled frogs! (ribbit, ribbit!)


5) Frog jump
I got this idea from childfun.com , though it's just a simple way of burning off some energy. :) Let the children pretend to be frogs. Have them squat down with their arms straight out in front of them. Then have them jump forward, raising their arms high into the air before returning to a squatting position. Ask them to jump fast, to take big frog jumps, to take a certain number of jumps, to jump slowly and take little frog jumps. I did it with them to model it, and got quite the workout myself!


6) Red-Eyed Tree Frog - Joy Cowley

I'm trying to include more non-fiction books in my storytimes, especially when it comes to animals. Obviously the reading level varies so much throughout the children's non-fiction section, but occasionally I can find a nice simple book. The kids loved this one because it had real pictures of the frog (as well as a snake!)


7) Jump! - Scott Fischer

Each time I read the word "jump" I had the kids jump too.


8) The Goldfish Song - Laurie Berkner
We did this song pretty frequently over summer, but I've typically had so many other good songs and rhymes that fit each week that this was the first time this session we brought it back. I told the kids that "frog" starts with the letter F, but so does the word "fish"!


9) The Wide Mouthed Frog (pop-up book) - Keith Faulkner

I have a small collection of pop-up and other small-pieces books behind my desk that are for "library use only" -- this classic story is one of them. The kids LOVED it.


10) Song & Rhyme Cube
We had a little extra time in my 3-5 year old class, so we rolled the cube for a couple more activities. The Itsy Bitsy Spider and I'm a Little Teapot came up.


11) F is for Frog coloring page (18-36 mo.) or F is for Frog craft (3-5 yr.)
This one completely came from Crystal & Company (via Pinterest). Though since I was out of black paint, I had the kids glue down a little black pom pom for the fly. And I used those little round hole protector stickers for eyes.

Other frog ideas:
Big Wide Mouthed Frog - Ana Martin Larranaga (same story as the pop up book I used)
Stick - Steve Breen
One Frog Sang - Shirley Parenteau

This was another theme that has tons of great ideas out there -- just search Google or Pinterest for "frog storytime" and you can find lots of good stuff!

Book Display: Readbox

I came across this idea on Pinterest a few times and thought it was cute. This is my little shelf in the hallway that I often don't know what to do with... I found a piece of red cloth that drapes over the top and along the inside of the shelf back, behind the books (you can't see that very well in the picture).

In case you want yours to look just mine :) here's how I did it: I took a full size piece of red posterboard and created the letters for "readbox" in MS Publisher -- the font is Comic Sans, font size 467 (2-3 letters per 11x8.5 landscape page), and changed Format-->Font-->Outline. Printed and cut. The arch overtop I cut freehand. The words on the bottom say "SAVE a dollar, READ the book!"

I chose books from the kid's section that have been made into movies:

• Doctor Dolittle
• Peter Pan & Wendy
• Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
• Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
• The Wizard of Oz
• How to Train Your Dragon
• Charlotte's Web
• Stuart Little
• Mary Poppins
• Beezus & Ramona
• The Tale of Despereaux
• The Invention of Hugo Cabret
• Inkheart
• Bridge to Terabithia
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
• The Secret Garden
• Mr. Popper's Penguins

There are obviously tons more out there, and I'll probably fill it in with others as these get checked out!