preschool

Rainbows–Preschool

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

Scarves

Books

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Duckies’ Rainbow by Frances Berry
Maisy’s Rainbow Dream by Lucy Cousins

Action Rhymes

Red, Yellow, Green, and Blue
Tune: “Head and Shoulders”

Red, yellow, green, and blue,
Green and blue.
Red, yellow, green, and blue,
Green and blue.
Orange, purple, brown, and black.
Red, yellow, green, and blue,
Green and blue.

Let’s Make a Rainbow!

Let’s wave our scarves high!
Let’s wave our scarves low!
Let’s wave our scarves fast!
Let’s wave our scarves slow!
Now let’s crumple up our scarves.
One, Two, Three!  (Throw scarves into the air and watch the rainbow of colors fall to the ground.)
Source:Library Village

Rainbow Dancers

Rainbow dancers let’s get ready
Hold your scarves nice and steady.
You’ll hear the colors of the rainbow.
Listen for your time to go.

Shake red…
Shake orange…
Shake yellow…
Shake green…
Shake blue…
Shake purple…

Red scarves turn around,
Orange scarves up and down.
Yellow scarves reach up high,
Green scarves fly, fly, fly.
Blue scarves tickle your nose,
Purple scarves touch your toes.

Everybody dance around,
Swirl your scarves up and down.

Shake purple…
Shake blue…
Shake green…
Shake yellow…
Shake orange…
Shake red…

Rainbow dancers dance around,
Scarves swirl up and down.
Our colorful dance is at an end.
Thank you, thank you, all my friends.
Source:Storytime Abc’s

Flannel Board

Rainbow Stew

Take an apple, put it in the pot
Stir it, stir it, stir it a lot.
Take it out. What will it be?
The prettiest red you ever did see.

Take an orange…
Take a banana…
Take a pear…
Take some blueberries…
Take some grapes…
Source: Storytime ABC’s

photo 1 (2)

Take Home Craft

photo 2 (3)
Source: Library Village

Scarf Dancing Song

The Color Game by Jim GIll

Closing Dance Song

Silly Dance Contest by Jim Gill

Closing 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

My preschoolers were WAY MORE into this theme than the toddlers. I opened with rainbow stew and the kids even started saying the rhyme with me.

Duckie’s Rainbow  was decent with this crowd, but Maisy’s Rainbow Dream was a hit. I would read a page and ask the kids different questions depending on the color. By the end of the book, I had kids practically running to me to point out the answer to my question.

The scarves were awesome. We had fun making our own rainbows with the action rhymes and it was a hoot to see the kids trying to figure out what color Jim was going to ask for next in The Color Game.

Kittens–Preschool

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!

Books

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Cat Secrets by Jeff Czekaj
What Will Fat Cat Sit On? by Jan Thomas
Pete the Cat and his Magic Sunglasses by James Dean

Action Rhymes

Can You Meow Like Me (make appropriate noises)

Meow very loudly.
Meow like a giant cat.
Meow in a squeaky voice.
Meow like a scared cat.
Meow like a happy cat.
Meow like a sad cat.
Meow like an angry cat.
Meow in a whisper voice.
Source:bclschidren

“If You’re a Kitty and You Know It”

If you’re a kitty and you know it, say meow.
If you’re a kitty and you know it, say meow.
If you’re a kitty and you know it, then your face will surely show it.
If you’re a kitty and you know it, say meow.

Lick your paws, show your claws, swish your tail, do all four.
Source:Literary Commentary 

Flannel Board

Rainbow Kittens

Six little kittens found a box of paint.
They jumped right in…their mother will faint!
The first little kitten came out all red.
“I’ll be orange,” the second kitten said.
The third little kitten turned bright yellow.
“I’ll be green,” said the next little fellow.
The fifth kitten said, “My favorite is blue.”
“Purple for me,” said the sixth with a mew.
Dancing home the kittens go
To show their mother a KITTEN RAINBOW!
Source: Read Rabbit Read

photo 4 photo (1)photo 5

Take Home Craft

photo 3 photo 2 (1)
Source: Library Village

Closing Dance Song

Silly Dance Contest by Jim Gill

Observations

Like the toddlers, the preschoolers ate up this storytime. The kids enjoyed acting like cats when we did the two action rhymes. I even had a kid who arched her back like a cat.

All three of the books were a smashing hit. The preschoolers enjoyed Cat Secrets. They also enjoyed guessing what the cat would sit on in What Will Fat Cat Sit On?. The winner (of course) was Pete the Cat and His Magic Sunglasses. We all started moving pretty groovy as the book went on. The craft fit the book perfectly!

I would say the highlight of the storytime was Rainbow Kittens.  Like the puppy storytime, we named the six kitties. The preschoolers actually named the kittens after colors. Then when I started dipping each kitty in their specific color, I received lots of “ooooohhhhhs and ahhhhhs” from the crowd. I did add my own twist on this flannel. Another blogger mentioned that she had cat puppet that licked all the kitties back to white. I decided to make a flannel mama kitty and then have her change to a tie-dye color after she cleaned all her kittens. The crowd really liked this surprise.

The super best part was watching the kids interact with the flannel after storytime. A little boy was dipping each kitten in their colors and putting each kitten back up on the board. He then would take the mommy kitty and clean the kittens back to white. He did this for about five minutes. A little girl even joined in with him. This made my heart so happy!

Puppies–Preschool

Dress-Up Item

photo(2)
Source: Martha Stewart

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!

 

Books

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Bark George by Jules Feiffer
The Doghouse by Jan Thomas
Mister Bud Wears the Cone by Carter Goodrich

Action Rhymes

Some Dogs Bark (make appropriate noises)

Some Dogs bark.
Some dogs growl.
Some dogs yip.
Some dogs howl.
And some dogs just wag their tail. (wiggle bottom)
Source: Storytime Katie

Bingo

There was a farmer who had a dog,
And Bingo was his name-o.
B-I-N-G-O!
B-I-N-G-O!
B-I-N-G-O!
And Bingo was his name-o!

There was a farmer who had a dog,
And Bingo was his name-o.
(Clap)-I-N-G-O!
(Clap)-I-N-G-O!
(Clap)-I-N-G-O!
And Bingo was his name-o!

Puppy Dog
Puppy dog, puppy dog,
turn around. (turn in place)
Puppy dog, puppy dog,
Sit on the ground (sit)
Puppy dog , puppy dog,
Sit and beg. (pretend begging)
Puppy dog, puppy dog,
Stand on one leg. (stand on one leg)
Puppy dog, puppy dog,
Bark and wail! (bark and howl)
Puppy dog, puppy dog,
Chase your tail! (run in circle)
Puppy dog, puppy dog,
Into your bed creep. (walk softly)
Puppy dog, puppy dog,
Go to sleep! (close eyes, put head on hands)
Source: Librarian Lisa’s Storytimes

 Fingerplay

“Five Little Puppies”

Five little puppies were playing in the sun. (Hold up hand, fingers extended.)
This one saw a rabbit, and he began to run. (Bend first finger.)
This one saw a butterfly, and he began to race. (Bend second finger.)
This one saw a pussycat, and he began to chase. (Bend third finger.)
This one tried to catch his tail, and he went round & round. (Bend fourth finger.)
This one was so quiet, he never made a sound. (Bend thumb.)
Source: Storytime Katie

photo 1

I’m still need to make the eyes, but the puppets still worked for the storytime.
Source: Mollie Makes

Take Home Craft

photo(1)

This was originally designed to be a card, but I thought the puppy dog would be cute as a craft.
Source: mmmcrafts

Closing Dance Song

Silly Dance Contest by Jim Gill

Observations

The preschoolers had just as much fun with this theme as the two-year-olds. I did switch up the books from my Tales for Two session.

Bark George was still a big hit. The kids were engaged and answered my questions about George. The Doghouse was awesome. Actually anything by Jan Thomas is awesome. The kids loved the animals’ responses to being pushed into the doghouse. Unfortunately, Mister Bud Wears the Cone was not as big as hit as I hoped. It was my mistake for choosing two funny books and then going to a more solemn story. I would probably recommend doing Say Hello to Zorro instead.

The kids also named the flannel puppets. They were a bit more creative than my two-year-old group and actually gave me names.