Storytime - My Body

Toddler

Books: Here Are My Hands by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault and My Octopus Arms by Keith Baker

Songs / Rhymes: “Good Morning”, “Hello, How Are You?”, “Head and Shoulders”, “Open, Shut Them”, “Hi, My Name is Joe”, “I Wiggle My Fingers”, and “The More We Get Together”.

Craft: Xylophones. Materials: printout of the letter X, construction paper rectangles in red, yellow, orange, and blue, crayons, glue, and tape. The toddlers glued and taped their rectangles to their papers to make a xylophone. *I was trying to stick with an X theme, but when I couldn't find enough material for toddlers, I went with My Body. It was too late to change the craft, though. The idea came from The Measured Mom.

Preschool

Books: Here are My Hands by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault

Songs / Rhymes: “Welcome to the Library”, “Hello, How Are You?”, “Head and Shoulders”, “Open, Shut Them”, “Johnny Hammers One Hammer”, “Them Bones”, and “The More We Get Together”.

Special Activity: I explained to the group that under our skin we have bones. I used the overhead projector to show the preschoolers x-rays of body parts and the preschoolers tried to guess what part they were looking at. I used hand, foot, knee, shoulder, and chest x-rays taken by my husband when he was still in radiology tech school (don't worry, they're not of real people).

Craft: X-rays. Materials: black construction paper, cotton swabs, white construction paper crayons, tape, scissors, and glue. The preschoolers traced their hands and feet to the paper using the special crayon. When they were done, they filled in the outline with cotton swabs to make their very own x-rays! The idea came from Inspired Montessori.

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

Hi, My Name is Joe

Hi, my name is Joe.

I work in a button factory.

One day, my boss comes up to me and says,

“Hey Joe, are you busy?”

I said, “No.”

“Then turn the button with your right hand.”

Continue with:

Left hand, feet, head, whole body

--Traditional

Johnny Hammers One Hammer

--Lapsit Services for the Very Young II by Linda L. Ernst. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc, 2001.

Move Them Bones

Your toe bone’s connected to your foot bone.

Your foot bone’s connected to your ankle bone.

Your ankle bone’s connected to your leg bone.

Let’s shake those bones, those bones.

Your leg’s connected to your knee bone.

Your knee bone’s connected to your hip bone.

Your hip bone’s connected to your back bone.

Let’s shake those bones, those bones.

Your back bone’s connected to your shoulder bone.

Your shoulder bone’s connected to your neck bone.

Your neck bone’s connected to your head bone.

Let’s shake those bones, those bones.

--Sticky Kids