Preschool Storytime–Bedtime

Bubbles: Hello Bubbles/1 Little 2 Little 3 Little Bubbles

Hello song (with uke): Hands are clapping/Hey Hey How are You

Welcome song (with uke): Willoughby Wallaby Woo

Letter of the day.  I’ve recently added this House of Sounds to my letter of the day segment.  The house has four different doors (beginning sound, middle sound, end sound, and make a rhyme), and it comes with a bunch of different little toys you can put inside.  Since storytime started back last week, I’ve been using it to introduce the letter of the day, and the kids seem to really enjoy it.  I choose a child to open the door and take out the item, then we talk about the sound that it makes.  I put the letters on the board and then we brainstorm words that start with that letter and sound.

Book 1: No Sleep for the Sheep by Karen Beaumont and Jackie Urbanovic.  This book is so cute!  I love the fact that it has farm animals in it, so it can transition very easily to Old MacDonald or other farm animal songs.

Scarves: Wind oh Wind, Peek-a-boo, This is the way we wash our hands, Popcorn Kernels, Roll your scarf into a ball, Wind oh Wind.  Usually we would do Scarves Away at the end of this sequence, but we held onto them for the next activity.

Tuck Me In! with puppets:  This activity is based on the adorable book Tuck Me In! by Dean Hacohen and Sherry Scharschmidt.  This would also work as a flannelboard, especially if your storytimes are really large.  On this particular day I only had three kids, so it worked perfectly.  I asked “Who needs to be tucked in?” and pulled a puppet out of my bag.  The kids told me the animal and what sound it made, and we used each one of their scarves to tuck the animals in.  We sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to get them to sleep.  Then I sang “When the (animal) gets up in the morning” to put the puppets away again and Scarves Away for the scarves.

Book 2: What! Cried Granny, by Kate Lum and Adrian Johnson.  The granny in this story is one of my favorite characters in any book, ever.  Patrick needs a bed?  She cuts a tree down out of her yard and builds him one?  Teddy bear?  No problem–she’ll just rip down her curtains and sew one there on the spot.  Of course you have to shriek “WHAAAATTTT?” as loudly as possible.  This book is awesome.

Closing Song (with uke): Baby Shark

Goodbye Song: Icky Sticky Bubble Gum

Craft: Tuck me in bears.  This idea came from Jen in the Library.  I have some stamper markers and they had a great time experimenting with those to decorate their bears and beds.

Other books: Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson, Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein, Don’t Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late by Mo Willems, Dinosaur vs. Bedtime by Bob Shea.