For this outdoor storytime, I am going to try a few different interactive elements that I've never done before. But I think they will work well in a big outdoor space. Fingers crossed!
We Clap and Sing Hello We clap and sing hello,
We clap and sing hello, With our friends at storytime, We clap and sing hello! (Wave and sing hello; stomp and sing hello.)
Stretching: High—Sky; Low—Toes; Right; Left; Tree; Lean wind/etc.
We are going to stretch out this morning. I find that kids love to do yoga poses, so I may include some of those before we really get into storytime.
Song – Can't Sit Still by Greg and Steve
Book – Snip Snap! What’s That! By Mara Bergman and illustrated by Nick Maland published by Greenwillow Books
Alligator, Alligator w/ puppet Alligator, alligator long and green. Alligator, alligator teeth so mean. Snapping at a frog. Snapping at a bee. Snapping at a fly but you can’t catch me!
Oral Storytelling: I came across this post from Jbrary a while back and I haven't had a chance to do it before. I am going to ad-lib most of this and use a chicken and frog puppet, but here's the script I found online:
A librarian is working away at her desk when she notices that a chicken has come into the library and is patiently waiting in front of the desk.
When the chicken sees that it has the librarian's attention, it squawks,
"Book, book, book, BOOK!"
The librarian complies, putting a couple of books down in front of the chicken.
The chicken quickly grabs them and disappears.
The next day, the librarian is again disturbed by the same chicken, who puts the previous day's pile of books down on the desk and again squawks,
"Book, book, book, BOOK!"
The librarian shakes her head, wondering what the chicken is doing with these books, but eventually finds some more books for the chicken.
The chicken disappears.
The next day, the librarian is once again disturbed by the chicken, who squawks (in a rather irritated fashioon, it seems),
"Book, book, book, BOOK!"
By now, the librarian's curiosity has gotten the better of her, so she gets a pile of books for the chicken, and follows the bird when it leaves the library.
She follows it through the parking lot, down the street for several blocks, and finally into a large park. The chicken disappears into a small grove of trees, and the librarian follows.
On the other side of the trees is a small marsh. The chicken has stopped on the side of the marsh.
The librarian, now really curious, hurries over and sees that there is a small frog next to the chicken, examining each book, one at a time. The librarian comes within earshot just in time to hear the frog saying,
"Read it, read it, read it..."
Song – Shake Your Sillies Out by Raffie
Wheels On the Bus The wheels on the bus go round and round, Round and round. Round and Round. The wheels on the bus go round and round, All through the town. (Wipers/Horn/etc.)
Book/Puppet - Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems
I have a pigeon puppet I made a fears back, so basically, I ad-lib this book as well and ask the kids to tell the pigeon that he cannot drive the bus no matter how much he begs.
Clapping Pattern Game -- This is a repeat after me. I will do a series of claps and then the kids will repeat after me. Each time, I will add another clap to the pattern and we will see how far we can get. Clapping like this can help with pattern recognition and it just good fun!
Book – I Ain’t Gonna Paint No More! By Karen Beaumont
I usually sing this one with a scarf as my paintbrush.
Bubbles & Bubble Bath song by Joanie Bartels
My bubble maker worked soooo well last time, that I am totally breaking it out again.
If Your Happy and You Know It
We'll do the generic version of this rhyme because I like to see how happy we all are by the end of storytime.
We Clap and Sing Goodbye We clap goodbye like this,
We clap goodbye like this With our friends at storytime, We clap goodbye like this! (Wave; stomp)
How'd it go:
I ended up doing, here we go loopy loo, instead of the Can't Sit Still song but other than that it was such a beautiful day that that storytime couldn't have gone wrong. We did our clapping patterns and I attempted my oral story, which went super well. All in all, a good time was had by everyone!
That's all for now!
-M-