Opening Song

If You Want to Hear a Story
Tune: “If You’re Happy and You Know It”

If you want to hear a story, clap your hands!
If you want to hear a story, clap your hands!
If you want to hear a story,
If you want to hear a story,
If you want to hear a story, clap your hands!

Props

I put several different animals into these two boxes. I then pulled each animal out of the box and we talked about what noises they made.

Books

   

The Giraffe who Cock-A-Doodle-Doo’d by Keith Faulkner
The Underpants Zoo by Brian Sendelbach

Action Rhymes

Let’s Hear You Roar Like a Lion

Let’s hear you roar like a lion!
Let’s see you jump like a frog.
Let’s see you snap your jaws like a crocodile.
Let’s hear you woof like a dog.
Pretend you’re an elephant with a big, long trunk.
Pretend you’re a monkey; let’s see you jump, jump, jump.
And now you’re a mouse. Just let me see
How very, very quiet you can be.
Source:So Tomorrow

Animals at the Zoo
Tune: “The Wheels on the School Bus”

The lions at the zoo go roar, roar, roar.
Roar, roar, roar.
Roar, roar, roar.
The lions at the zoo go roar, roar, roar.
All day long!

The snakes…go hiss, hiss, hiss.
The hyenas…go ha, ha, ha.
The monkeys…go eee, eee, eee.
The birds…go tweet, tweet, tweet.
Source:King County Library System

Zoo Animals
Tune: “If you are happy and you know it”

If you want to be a monkey, jump up high!
If you want to be a monkey, jump up high!
If you want to be a monkey, if you want to be a monkey,
If you want to be a monkey, jump up high!

Parrot – flap your wings
Elephant – wing your trunk
Lion – roar out loud
Giraffe – stand up tall
source:Once Upon a (Story) Time

The Elephant Hokey Pokey

You put your elephant ears in.
You put your elephant ears out.
You put your elephant ears in,
And you shake them all about.
You do the elephant pokey,
and you stomp yourself around.
That’s what it’s all about!

…elephant trunk…
…elephant foot…
…whole self…
source:Falling Flannelboards

The Monkeys in the Zoo

The monkeys in the zoo turn round and round,
Round and round,
Round and round.
The monkeys in the zoo turn round and round,
Just like I do.

The monkeys in the zoo all touch their toes,
touch their toes,
touch their toes.
The monkeys in the zoo all touch their toes,
Just like I do.

The monkeys in the zoo all rub their tummies,
Rub their tummies,
Rub their tummies.
The monkeys in the zoo all rub their tummies,
Just like I do.

The monkeys in the zoo all pat their heads,
Pat their heads,
Pat their heads.
The monkeys in the zoo all pat their heads,
Just like I do.

The monkeys in the zoo jump up and down,
Up and down,
Up and down.
The monkeys in the zoo jump up and down,
Just like I do.

The monkeys in the zoo swing through the trees,
Through the trees,
Through the trees.
The monkeys in the zoo swing through the trees,
Just like I do.
source:Storytime Hooligans

Flannel Board

Five Elephants in a Bathtub

One elephant in the bathtub
Going for a swim.
Knock, Knock, (Clap twice)
Splash, Splash, (Slap knees twice)
Come on in! (Motion with both hands to come in.)
Two elephants elephants in the bathtub… etc.
(Until…)
Five elephants elephants in the bathtub
Going for a swim.
Knock, Knock,
Splash, Splash,
They all fell in!
Source: Storytime Katie

Take Home Craft

Source: First Palette

Closing Dance Song

See Ya Later Alligator by Laura Doherty

Closing Goodbye Song

We Wave Goodbye Like This
Tune: “Farmer in the Dell”

We wave goodbye like this.
We wave goodbye like this.
We clap our hands for all our friends.
We wave goodbye like this.

Observations

This storytime was so much fun! I kicked off the storytime by putting on my zoo hat and opening each box. The kids and I then discussed each animal I pulled out.

The books get an A+ for this storytime. The Giraffe who Cock-A-Doodle-Doo’d had the kids making the appropriate noises for each animal. I even had a little girl who stood up and turned my page because she wanted to know what was going to happen next. The Underpants Zoo had the kids laughing.

I definitely went heavy on the action rhymes. How could I not? And the kids loved them. We were all sweaty and out of breath by the end. I did change my closing song, but I thought “See you later Alligator” was a better fit for this storytime.

The funniest part happened after storytime. I knew that I would be moving around quite a bit, so I made sure to bring in my water. I kept joking that this elephant was thirsty as I guzzled down water. During a playtime a mother gently tapped me on the shoulder and pointed out a little boy. The little boy (a sibling of a preschooler) was wearing my zoo hat and drinking my water!