100 Storytimes : Food Storytime, Friday, May 26 @ 10:30

Pick a Puppet -- Any Puppet

I start off with my all time favorite turtle puppet and the Vachel Lindsay poem:

I have a little turtle, he lives in a box.

He swims in the puddles, he climbs on the rocks.

He snaps at the mosquitoes, he snaps at the fleas, he snaps at the minnows,

He snaps at me!

He caught the mosquitoes, he caught the fleas, he caught those minnows,

But he didn't catch me!

While I recite I circle the room and snap and nibble at the children by turns. Change words to do with another puppet.

Groovy Joe Ice Cream & Dinosaurs by Litwin

Yummy YUCKY by Leslie Patricelli. Ask the kids to rub their tummies to the yummies. Group was pretty old this year so I skipped.
I Really Like Slop by Mo Willems, Elephant and Piggy. This one is short and too too funny.
Peanut Butter books by Terry Border. Big hit with the moms, esp. when you pause at the end and its just Peanut Butter and Meatball.
Huff & Puff by Claudia Rueda. The world's shortest retelling of the 3 little pigs. I used a blow dryer for the wolf's huff & puff to kick it up a notch and all my little two year olds stopped what they were doing and listened. Then at the end, when we find out they had blown out the candles on a birthday cake, we sang happy birthday. Fun.
Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog or The Duckling Gets a Cookie by the great Mo Willems. I've perfected the Pigeon Yell: it's like a regular yell, with a scrunched up face and pulled out syllables, but almost at a whisper. Works better than the extra decibels. This wasn't an enormous hit this year with the young ones. I think they just didn't quite get it.
The Cow Loves Cookies by Karma Wilson. This book reads like a wonderful poem about a happy farm in a dreamlike world. Didn't quite hold this group. Not so sure about this book. Maybe it's just the farm theme.
Who Stole the Cookie from the Cookie Jar by Margaret Wang. Great clapping song. I had the puppets for the book and read the short one first. Then I passed out the puppets and asked the kids to do it too. Maybe this would have worked better if I'd gotten everyone into a circle, it was pretty random. But so cute when one little voice piped up, "Not me!" I started it at 5 instead of 10, and that worked OK. But no one caught on to saying Not You -- a little rehearsal next time.
Betty Goes Bananas by Steve Antony. This short, expressive book is written about a gorilla who seems to be just about the same age as my storytime visitors, suffering the anguish of not being able to peel her own banana. Plus, banana is one of those words that's funny all by itself.
How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food by Yolen.
I'm a Hungry Dinosaur by Janeen Brian. GREAT starter, very interactional.
Three Billy Goats Gruff by Pinkney. Beautiful retelling.
I Will Chop You by Jory John. Interactional and funny.
Betty Goes Bananas by Steve Antony
The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Scieszka.
Watermelon Seed by Pizzoli (so cute!)
Everyone Loves BAcon by DiPucchio
Woodpecker Wants a Waffle by Breen
Stanley's Diner by Bee
Peanut Butter books by Terry Border
Everyone Loves Cupcake by Kelly DiPucchio. Too funny!
Nanette's Baguette by MO WILLEMS

Songs:

Down around the corner at the bakery shop
5 Gingerbread Men
Peel Banana
Bread and Butter Hello Song

Bread and butter,
Jelly and jam,
Let’s say hello
As quietly as we can.
Hello! (Say quietly)
Bread and butter,
Jelly and jam,
Let’s say hello
As loudly
As quickly
As slowly
As high
As low as we can.

Clapping Song

Mashed potatoes hot, mashed potatoes cold, mashed potatoes in the pot nine days old
Patty cake
Bread and butter, jelly & jam

M & M Game:

I made up cards with numbers 1-4 in the M & M colors, set out the dish of M & Ms, gave each child a cup, and started pulling numbers from my pack. A 2 card meant they could pick 2 M & Ms. I think next year I would slow it way down. First I would spin for the numbers and then I would pick the colors. That would have given the 2 year olds a chance to catch up with the 3 year olds.

Crafts:

Shaving Cream & Corn Starch!
We made shaving cream and corn starch clay, and boy was it messy! I defied all warnings and spent a half hour cleaning up. Which in the grand scheme of things isn't much, but I'm not sure if the moms were all that crazy about this.

Playdough!

I made a trial batch the night before, and as promised by The Imagination Tree, it was extremely easy and turned out perfectly. I brought in the dry ingredients premixed in a Tupperware so set up was very easy. Hot water from the cooler worked fine. While I let it cool off, I divided the playdough I brought in from home. We “baked” a pink cake (Milo forgot that he didn’t want pink and shouted “I love pink!”) and by great good fortune, I had exactly eight children, so we got to have a quick fraction lesson when I divided it up with a cake slice. They played with it while I kneaded the second batch, which was still nice and warm when I divided that too.

I used this recipe from The Imagination Tree, minus the glycerine. Great site; lots of comments from readers. I did not add fancy ingredients like unsweetened Koolaid and lavendar extracts. I’m saving that for the Master Chef Playdough Challenge. This is a site that doesn't require cream of tartar: How-to-Make-Playdough-Without-Cream-of-Tartar/

Fruit Loop Necklaces!