Storytime: Birds

Books

Little Bird’s Bad Word by Jacob Grant

You Nest Here With Me by Jane Yolen

Cockatoo, too by Bethanie Deeney Murguia

Birds by Kevin Henkes

Froodle by Antoinette Portis

Hooray for Birds! by Lucy Cousins

Birds are a fun theme for storytime. There are a huge number of great children's books about birds and talking about birds is also a great opportunity to bring out the egg shakers. Hooray for Birds! was my favorite book of this selection with lots of opportunities for pretending to be different types of birds.

Click read more for extension activities about birds!

Flannelboard: Berries

If I come up with more rhymes and songs to go with this flannel set, the post will be edited to reflect that. If you have other ideas for ways to use this set, please share!

Flannelboard

I used this flannelboard for my berry storytime. However, with the exception of blueberries, none of these fruits are actually berries by they botanical definition. Given that all of them except cherries have "berry" in the name though, I just went with it and added the cherry because I needed a fifth fruit and cherries are similar in shape and size to many berries. 

Rhymes, Songs, Games, and Fingerplays

“Down in the Market”

(Tune: Down Around the Corner)

Down in the market at the end of the street,

There are five ripe berries, so juicy and sweet.

Along comes a shopper with a nickel to pay.

She buys the cherry and takes it away!

Down in the market at the end of the street,

There are four ripe berries, so juicy and sweet.

Along comes a shopper with a nickel to pay.

He buys the raspberry and takes it away!

Down in the market at the end of the street,

There are three ripe berries, so juicy and sweet.

Along comes a shopper with a nickel to pay.

She buys the strawberry and takes it away!

Down in the market at the end of the street,

There are two ripe berries, so juicy and sweet.

Along comes a shopper with a nickel to pay.

He buys the blueberry and takes it away!

Down in the market at the end of the street,

There is one ripe berry, so juicy and sweet.

Along comes a shopper with a nickel to pay.

She buys the blackberry and takes it away!

Source: Wrote this myself!

Storytime: Berries

Books

Blueberry Mouse by Alice Low

The Very Berry Counting Book by Jerry Pallotta

The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and The Big Hungry Bear by Don and Audrey Wood

Jamberry by Jerry Pallotta

The Berry Book by Gail Gibbons

Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush by Iza Trapani

Did you know most of the fruit that we know as berries aren't actually berries by the botanical definition? I didn't either! It's true though. Strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries are aggregate fruit, not berries. Do you know what are berries? Oranges, bananas, watermelons, and avocados, among many other various fruits that I never would have thought were berries. Preparing for this storytime made me feel like everything I know is a lie. Bananas are berries and strawberries are not?! What other "truths" that I know are completely false? I decided that for this storytime we could forego the botanical definition and still talk about the berries everyone knows and loves. I did mention this interesting fact at the start of the storytime though. Hopefully it didn't give any of the children an existential crisis the way it did for me.

Jamberry and The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and The Big Hungry Bear were my favorite books for this storytime!

For extension activities click read more.

Flannelboard: Parrots

If I come up with more rhymes and songs to go with this flannel set, the post will be edited to reflect that. If you have other ideas for ways to use this set, please share!

Flannelboard

I used this flannelboard for my jungle storytime. All the birds are based on actual parrots and cockatoos: Scarlet Macaw, Yellow-headed Amazon, Blue-and-yellow Macaw, Yellow-crested Cockatoo, and African Grey. I had fun researching different tropical birds to make this flannelboard!

Rhymes, Songs, Games, and Fingerplays

“Five Little Parrots”

One little parrot, in the morning dew
Along came another and then there were two!

Two little parrots, as chipper as could be
Along came another and then there were three!

Three little parrots, high above the jungle floor
Along came another and then there were four!

Four little parrots, glad to be alive
Along came another and then there were five!

Five little parrots, no room for more
One flew away and then there were four!

Four little parrots, high up in the trees
One flew away and then there were three!

Three little parrots, red and green and blue
One flew away and then there were two!

Two little parrots, when the day is done
One flew away and then there was one!

One little parrot, far away did roam
He was lonely, so he went home!

Source: Abby the Librarian

Storytime: Jungle

Books

Do Crocs Kiss? by Salina Yoon

Jazzy in the Jungle by Lucy Cousins

We’re Roaming in the Rainforest: An Amazon Adventure by Laurie Krebs

The Perfect Siesta by Pato mena

Rumble in the Jungle by Giles Andreae

“Slowly, Slowly, Slowly” Said the Sloth by Eric Carle

There are so many “jungle” books out there that have savanna animals in them instead. I tried to get away from this, but some of my chosen books still have animals in them that aren't really jungle animals. This is definitely true of Do Crocs Kiss?, but it's such a fun book with great opportunities for animal noises, that I decided to just add it anyway. They also often combine African and South American jungle animals in the same stories. This was even more difficult to avoid than the inclusion of savanna animals. So, while jungle is a fun theme, you are not very likely to get an accurate representation of jungle wildlife unless you pull nonfiction books as well!

Click read more for extension activity ideas.

Storytime: Camping

Books

Scare a Bear by Kathy-jo Wargin

Camping Day by Patricia Lakin

Sheep Take a Hike by Nancy Shaw

Maisy Goes Camping by Lucy Cousins

Do Princesses Make happy Campers? by Carmela LaVigna Coyle

A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee by Chris Van Dusen

Camping was a fun theme for the summer months. Most of the children had been camping before so they could tell me what kinds of things they did while camping and what foods were good for cooking over a fire. I expanded the theme a little to include outdoor activities like hiking to have more book options to choose from.

For extension activities click read more.

Storytime: Opposites

Books

Animal Opposites: A Pop-up Book by Petr Horáček

The Hueys in What’s the Opposite? by Oliver Jeffers

Big Bear, Small Mouse by Karma Wilson

The Opposite Zoo by Il Sung Na

Marta! Big & Small by Jen Arena

What’s Up, Bear? by Frieda Wishinsky

I did this storytime way back in September, September 9th is opposite day, but am only now posting it. See how far behind I am? This was a great theme! In fact, I'm planning on doing it again this coming September. There are so many great books for kids that present opposites so there are a lot of stories to choose from! I taught the children some word pairs in sign language like big and small, fast and slow, and short and tall and we also learned some Spanish words from Marta! Big & Small. I had a boy in this storytime who was a native Spanish speaker and he was only too happy to help me out with some of the Spanish pronunciations when I was unsure.

There are also a wealth of songs and rhymes for kids that present opposites. For the ones I chose for this storytime, click read more.

Storytime: Families

Books

The Family Book by Todd Parr

One Family by George Shannon

Families, Families, Families by Suzanne Lang

Love Me Tender by Elvis Presley and illustrated by Stephanie Graegin

Littles and How They Grow by Kelly DiPucchio

We Are Family by Patricia Hegarty

I did this storytime around Valentine's Day. I never do holiday specific storytimes, but I still sometimes like to have themes inspired by holidays. What better way to celebrate love than talking about all different kinds of families? I tried to choose books that showed a lot of non-traditional families and diverse groups of people. I did a mix of songs and rhymes about both families and love.

Click read more for family related extension activities!

Storytime: School

Books

Bob and Flo by Rebecca Ashdown

Pete the Cat: Rocking in My School Shoes by Eric Litwin

Maisy Goes to Preschool by Lucy Cousins

Dad’s First Day by Mike Wohnoutka

Wow! School! by Robert Neubecker

Rosie Goes to Preschool by Karen Katz

Because of some weird scheduling I had one storytime theme that I was only doing with the all ages group and not the toddlers. This one happened right around the time that school started here. Yes, this has been sitting in my drafts folder since September! Most of the children who come to the all ages class are between three and five years old. I figured they will be graduating up to pre-k and kindergarten soon and many of them have older siblings just starting school so a school theme would be fun for them! Pete the Cat: Rocking in My School Shoes was definitely the favorite for this storytime. I didn't show a video or play the song but I definitely sang the words in the book with the official tune:

Kids and caregivers were snapping and clapping along with the rhythm. It was so much fun!

For school themed extension activities click read more.

Storytime: Numbers and Counting

Books

Eggs 1 2 3 by Janet Halfmann

The Water Hole by Graeme Base

1-2-3 Peas by Keith Baker

Ones and Twos by Marthe Jocelyn and Nell Jocelyn

7 Ate 9: the Untold Story by Tara Lazar

Goodnight Numbers by Danica McKellar

As usual, I've gotten way behind on my posts. One day, maybe I'll catch up. I wanted to at least get one storytime post up during February though! I did this storytime quite a while ago, but counting is a theme that can be used any time of year. There are a wealth of books, songs, and rhymes that involve counting, so it's a great theme for a storytime! I especially liked Eggs 1 2 3 because it is a nonfiction book with information about different animals and the types of eggs they lay. The kids can guess what the animal is before you turn the page. The platypus one definitely stumped them!

For a small selection of the numerous counting songs and rhymes that are out there, click read more.