Storytime - Mexican Independence Day

Toddlers

Books: Que te Gusta?/What Do You Like? by Michael Grejniec , My Animals/Mi Animales by Rebecca Emberley, and Piñata by Rebecca Emberley

Songs / Rhymes: “Good Morning”, “Hello, How Are You?”, “Open, Shut Them”, “Head and Shoulders”, “Papa Wore a Rojo Tie” on the felt board, “I Wiggle My Fingers”, and “The More We Get Together”.

Special Activities: As I read My Animals, I used the Spanish name for the animal and asked the toddlers to guess its name. In “Papa Wore a Rojo Tie”, I used the Spanish word for the color and the toddlers said the name of the color in English.

Craft: Piñatas. Materials: cardstock donkeys, tissue paper squares, crayons, glue, and tape. The toddlers glued the tissue paper to their donkeys to make their own piñatas. The idea came from Evite. The donkey outline came from the blog From Glitter to Gumdrops.

Preschoolers

Books: Que te Gusta?/What Do You Like? by Michael Grejniec , My Animals/Mi Animales by Rebecca Emberley

Songs / Rhymes: “Welcome to the Library”, “Hello, How Are You?”, “Hi There, So Glad You Came”, “Open, Shut Them”, “Papa Wore a Rojo Tie”, and “The More We Get Together”.

Special Activities: Today was a day for guessing games! I said the Spanish name for the animal in My Animals, but hid the picture. The preschoolers shouted out what they thought the animal’s English name might be. They also guessed what the children were discussing in What Do You Like? I then played three favorite songs in Spanish (“The Itsy Bitsy Spider”, “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”, and “Happy Birthday”) using YouTube videos. The preschoolers tried to guess the names of the songs. Our last game was to guess the color name as I sang “Papa Wore a Rojo Tie”.

Craft: Mexican Flags. Materials: Mexican flag printout, red and green construction paper rectangles, crayons, glue, tape, and scissors. The preschoolers tore or cut their rectangles and glued the pieces to their flags. Tearing paper is a great way to help children develop the muscles they’ll need to write.

Songs/Rhymes

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

Papa's Ties (Spanish Version)

Sung to: "Mary Wore a Red Dress"

Felt Board

Daddy wore his rojo tie,

Rojo tie, rojo tie.

Daddy wore his rojo tie

All day long.

Continue with:

Azul

Verde

Púrpura

Amarillo

--based on the song from Story Time Secrets. Katie has included a template of the felt board on her blog.