Storytime - Story Stew

When I first started doing storytimes, we were given free reign on themes. In the system I work in now, we plan out our themes a few months beforehand. More than two years of this was starting to stress me out, so a Twitter pal suggested I use a "Story Stew" theme, made up of anything I wanted. It was a nice change from the normal, and gave me the break I needed to recharge my theme batteries.

Books

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle  
Toddler

The Little Red Hen by Byron Barton
Preschool 










Songs
If You're Happy and You Know It
If you're happy and you know it,
Clap your hands x2
If you're happy and you know,
And you really want to show it,
If you're happy and you know it,
Clap your hands.
Repeat with stomp your feet, shout hooray, do all three.
--Traditional

The Hokey Pokey
You put one arm in, 
You take one arm out.
You put one arm in,
and you shake it all about.
You do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself around.
That's what it's all about!
Repeat with other body parts.
--Traditional
*For toddlers I don't specify right/left, but the preschoolers have been learning the difference.

Head and Shoulders
Head and shoulders, knees and toes,
Knees and toes.
Head and shoulders, knees and toes,
Knees and toes.
Eyes and ears and mouth and nose.
Head and shoulders, knees and toes,
Knees and toes.
--Traditional
*When singing with my preschoolers, I gradually get faster and faster each time I sing it, then collapse on the floor in a heap.

Storytelling

The Hungry Hen by Richard Waring
Toddler

It's a short story with a crazy ending. The caregivers all gasped out loud then laughed at the same time. A really fun story to tell on the flannel board.















The Three Billy Goats Gruff
Preschool

The Little Red Hen and The Three Billy Goats Gruff are my two favorite stories to tell. I came to class with each book and prepared to tell both stories, but I let the preschoolers choose which one I would read and which one I would tell. 




Craft

Watercolor painting. Materials: cups of water, paint brushes, watercolor paints, and cardstock. I put all of the materials out on the tables and let the kids go crazy. The moms told me I was brave, but really I just wanted to have lots of fun! It's good to get messy every now and then.