Storytime: Red

Age: 2-5 years
Time: 30 minutes + play

It was our first week back to school-year storytimes! I've made a few tweaks from last year, the biggest being the age breakdown of our classes. Traditionally our library has held Storytime for babies (0-18 months), toddlers (18-36 months), and preschoolers (3-5 years). After sporadic attendance in those classes last year, and overlap with siblings, and after going through our Summer Reading Program storytimes which were always for ages 2-5, I decided to go down to 2 classes instead of 3 for the school year.

Our "Storytime for Littles" (0-2 years) will have lots of repetition from week to week -- I'll write about that another day. Our "Storytime for Bigs" (2-5 years) will continue to have weekly themes.


1) This year I'm using the same opening and closing songs each week. Click here to see what I do.


2) Red Red Red - Valeri Gorbachev

The longest of my books, but the repetition helped it flow smoothly and quickly. It made me smile the first time I read it, and there were lots of "oooooo!"'s from the adults when I got to the page of the red thing Turtle was really going to see. :)


3) Five Little Apples Flannel
I came across a rhyme at Storytime Katie and changed the characters to match the animals I had on hand. Each animal took the place of the apple on the board. After each verse we counted how many apples were left.

Five little apples hung in a tree 
The farmer wasn’t looking, so guess who came to eat? 
A mouse! Munch munch munch! 

Four little apples hung in a tree 
The farmer wasn’t looking, so guess who came to eat? 
A pig! Munch munch munch! 

Three little apples hung in a tree 
The farmer wasn’t looking, so guess who came to eat? 
A sheep! Munch munch munch! 

Two little apples hung in a tree 
The farmer wasn’t looking, so guess who came to eat? 
A cow! Munch munch munch! 

One little apple hung in a tree 
The farmer wasn't looking, so guess who came to eat? 
A horse! Munch munch munch! 

Now the tree is bare, there are no more apples there 
But when next fall comes around, guess who’ll be there?
A mouse, a pig, a sheep, a cow, and a horse!


4) Old MacDonald Had a Farm

I have a tin with a [red!] barn on the front and crocheted finger puppets inside. I'll be using this frequently, even if it doesn't always match our theme. The kids love it. This week we used the pig, duck, and chicken - which led into our next story.


5) The Red Hen - Rebecca & Ed Emberley

I really liked this version of the classic story. It has nice bold pictures, talks about a cake instead of bread, and simplifies the animals to a cat, rat, and frog. I used this one in my Storytime for Littles class this week too.


6) Song - I Know a Chicken - Laurie Berkner
When the kids returned their eggs to me, I gave them each a [red] heart sticker, to help encourage them to give the eggs back!


7) Llama Llama Red Pajama - Anna Dewdney

A classic book about something red. Well... the book isn't truly about the pajamas themselves... Oh well. :) It's one I'm really comfortable with and have basically memorized, so I wanted to finish our first week strong.


8) I'm using the same opening and closing songs each week. Click here to see what I do.


9) Playtime
I attended a Storytime 101 workshop a week ago that was put on my by the co-op my library is part of, and they talked about the five practices of early literacy. I decided I wanted to incorporate a time for play after every Storytime that I offer. I had a box of blocks, a box of instruments like shakers and jingle bells and rhythm sticks, and I put paper and red paint on the tables. Kids could play with any or all, which they did for about 10-15 minutes, then gravitated out of the program room and into the children's area which also has games and puppets and puzzles.


Other red ideas:
Red is Best - Kathy Stinson
Fire Truck - Peter Sis
Holly's Red Boots - Francesca Chessa
Little Mouse and the Big Red Apple - A.H. Benjamin
Big Red Barn - Margaret Brown (I LOVE to read this one to my own kids at bedtime, but read on a few blogs and heard at a recent workshop that it's not the best choice for storytime)
The Little Red Hen - John Escott (the full story, too long for my storytime kids)
The Little Red Hen Makes a Pizza - Philemon Sturges (a fun twist on the classic story, maybe a bit long for my group, I think I'll try this one with some of my elementary class visits)
Bumping Up and Down in My Little Red Wagon -  song by Raffi
other apples stories and activities