Storytime: P is for Prince & Princess, Q is for Queen

Age: 18-36 months (coloring page instead of craft), 3-5 years (with craft)
Time: 30 minutes plus craft

This school year in storytime I decided to use the alphabet to give me inspiration for themes. I'm needing to double up a few weeks so that we finish when we're supposed to... This week, P is for Prince & Princess and Q is for Queen!


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 brought one of my daughter's play crowns to put in the box. The kids identified it right away, and I asked them "who wears a crown??"


3) Over at the Castle - Boni Ashburn

This was a great book to introduce the kids to lots of aspects of castle life. I was wondering what the dragons were up to... and was pleasantly surprised at the end. :)


4) There's a Castle in the Middle of the Moat

I found this awesome flannel at Mel's Desk. It was great that the book we just read showed the moat around the castle, so I could explain what a "moat" is before we sang! I used a moat, castle in the moat, throne in the castle, princess on the throne, prince by the princess, crown on the prince, jewel on the crown. For the toddler group I just put the pieces up (we had only two kids), and for the preschoolers I let them have a piece (we had five kids). Both groups loved remembering what each thing was -- I'd sing most of the verse myself, then sing "there's a ____ (pointing at the prince, waiting till they said it) by the _____ (princess)" etc.


5) Queen's Feet - Sarah Ellis

I pointed out the "Q" in queen, since we're doing that letter today too. This book led great into our next song.


6) Song – We are the Dinosaurs - Laurie Berkner
"Where are your feet? Can your feet do crazy things too? Like march like a dinosaur??"


7) Not All Princesses Dress in Pink - Jane Yolen

I wanted to make sure I had a princess book that wasn't too girly, so our boys wouldn't feel left out... I shouldn't have worried, in my toddler group I only had girls!


8) The Famous Prince of York
I tweaked the "Grand Old Duke of York" song to fit our theme. We started by marching in place, then whenever we said up we reached up high with our arms, and whenever we said down we touched the floor. With the preschoolers I did this four times -- normal, really slow, kind of fast, really really fast!

The famous Prince of York, he had ten thousand men 
He marched them UP to the top of the hill 
And he marched them DOWN again 
And when they were UP, they were UP! 
And when they were DOWN, they were DOWN! 
And when they were only halfway up, 
They were neither UP nor DOWN!


9) The Prince Won't Go to Bed - Dayle Ann Dodds

"That song was about a prince, so let's read a book about a prince too..." I used a lot of dynamics with the repeated parts of this one, reading quietly when the prince went to bed, then crying waa waa waa really loudly. The kids giggled a lot.


10) P & Q coloring page (18-36 months) or P & Q craft (3-5 yrs)
This was a pretty easy craft to come up with, a friend of mine did this queen Q with her daughter awhile ago. Just paper, gluesticks, and sequins. I would have loved to use those stick-on jewels, but I was sick earlier in the week and didn't have the chance to hunt for some at a store. I found a package of sequins in my cabinet instead.

Other prince/princess/queen ideas:
The Queen of Hearts - paper plate cutting story from Cut & Tell: Scissor Stories for Winter by Jean Warren
The Knight and the Dragon - Tomie DePaola
Princess Baby - Karen Katz
King Bidgood's in the Bathtub - Don & Audrey Wood
One Monday Morning - Uri Shulevitz
Do Princesses Wear Hiking Boots - Carmela Coyle
The End - David LaRochelle