Storytime - Shake It Up

Books

Stretch by Doreen Cronin

Toddler

Do Donkeys Dance by Melanie Walsh

Toddler and Preschool

Wiggle by Doreen Cronin

Preschool

Songs/Rhymes

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!

Substitute different body parts. For more advanced children, use left and right.

--Traditional

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

If You’re Happy and You Know It

If you’re happy and you know it,

Clap your hands.

If you’re happy and you know it,

Clap your hands.

If you’re happy and you know it,

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

Activities

Move Like an Animal (dry erase board)

I put double sided tape on the back of each card, and hung them on the dry erase board. The children were invited to shout out the name of the animal and imitate their movements. 

Parachute*

Come Under My Umbrella (parachute)

Come under my umbrella,

Umbrella, umbrella.

Gently wave the parachute up and down.

Come under my umbrella,

It’s starting to storm.

Move parachute faster.

There’s thunder and lightning

And wind and rain.

Come under my umbrella,

It’s starting to storm.

--MCLS Kids

Ring Around the Rosie

Lead the group around in a circle.

Ring around the rosy
A pocketful of posies
"Ashes, Ashes"
We all fall down!
Everyone falls down.

--Traditional

London Bridge

London Bridge is falling down,

Falling down, falling down.

London Bridge is falling down,

My fair lady.

--Traditional

To end the parachute session, I instructed the classes to let go on the count of three. Not everyone listened or wanted to let go, but we eventually got the parachute reigned in.

*This was my very first time using the parachute in storytime EVER. I learned some very valuable lessons:

1. Don't use with groups of 20 or more children. I tried to do this with the preschoolers (a class of over 40 children) and it got out of hand FAST.

2. Start with the slow activities and build up. I wanted them to be excited, but once I introduced the faster activities, I couldn't get them to slow down again.

3. Stay away from asking the toddlers to go under the parachute, at least until they've had a few sessions of practice.

A big thanks goes out to MLCS Kids for their parachute ideas!  

Craft

There was no craft today. Instead, we played with the parachute.