Storytime: Animals

Age: 2-5 years
Time: 30 minutes

Sticking with the Fizz Boom Read! CSLP science theme, I have chosen seven topics for our summer. This week we did the easy, generic topic of animals.

My own kids and I managed to come down with strep throat over the long holiday weekend, and while I was feeling much better come storytime, my singing and reading voice was not completely healed yet. Luckily I had a volunteer who comes on Monday evenings who had previously said she was willing to read for me anytime, and on Tuesday morning my library director was available to read. The songs were all done from cds, and I just introduced each thing we did.


1) These Are My Glasses - Laurie Berkner
My current opening song. 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 ask them to put their "books" in their lap while we read our first book.

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) What Pet to Get? - Emma Dodd  OR  Where's My Mom? - Julia Donaldson

I let my volunteer readers choose between a handful of books what they would like to read.


3) Song - I Know a Chicken - Laurie Berkner
Chickens are animals too. :) This is a favorite song for my kids. Luckily we had just enough egg shakers to go around!


4) If You're Happy and You Know It - Jane Cabrera  OR  Mommy Carry Me Please - Jane Cabrera

Again I let my volunteers choose. The If You're Happy book went over really well because it got the kids up and moving, another one I would have personally chosen for this slot is Eric Carle's From Head to Toe.


5) The Monkey Dance - Wiggles
A really easy song to act crazy and jump around and get some energy out!


6) Brown Bear, Brown Bear - Bill Martin Jr.

Both volunteers chose to end with this book. Most of the kids read it right along with them. :)


7) Animal Craft
I purchased some Color-In Masks from Nasco. The kids colored them however they wanted -- I put up pictures of some animals and we had animal books around the room for inspiration. Most just scribbled whatever colors they wanted, but some of the older ones really tried to make theirs look like animals. Tigers were popular (which is what my example was), as were the purple cats from our last book. :)

Other animal ideas:
From Head to Toe - Eric Carle
Actual Size - Steve Jenkins (I probably would have used this one myself, it's a great book for incorporating some non-fiction into storytime, as are the books below)
Whose Legs, Tail, Eyes, Nose, Ears are These? - Peg Hall
5 little monkeys
Old MacDonald
Paper bag puppets
Anything from my previous zoo storytime