This week, we read books about Construction. I planned this week's theme and I found that there are TONS AND TONS of construction books, so this is a great theme with a lot of choices. Here's what I did:
Opening Song: My Hands Say Hello. The kids who were with me for the last session were already familiar so they were jumping in with suggestions right away! I start with hands and feet and then ask them what else we can say hello with. I like to end with "My tongue says hello" because it's so silly!
Memory Box: This week's Memory Box item was a paint brush from the book The Construction Crew.
Book: The Construction Crew by Lynn Meltzer. I love the bright, bold pictures (featuring a diverse group of people) and the bouncy, rhyming text. This was a great book to start us off because it introduces a lot of the construction vocabulary (excavator, backhoe, bulldozer, etc.). Honestly, I was surprised the kids in my class were not as familiar with the machines as I thought they would be. I know when my brother was little he knew every truck known to man. ;)
Book: The Little Dump Truck by Margery Cuyler. This book describes a day in the life of a dump truck, using rhyming text and cute cartoony illustrations.
Song: "Dump Truck" (to the tune of "Ten Little Indians")
Bumpity-bumpity comes the dump truck,
Bumpity-bumpity comes the dump truck,
Bumpity-bumpity comes the dump truck,
Duuuump out the load!
(Credit: Pre-K Fun via Storytime Katie)
They needed to get some wiggles out, so we stood up and did this song. I had them bump up and down and then bend over sideways on "dump out the load!". I only did this one verse and we repeated, so we did it normal and then fast and then slow ("like we have a reeeeally heavy load and we have to go really slow and careful!"). There are more verses if you click through to Pre-K Fun.
Prop Rhyme: Five Little Nails (credit to Mel's Desk for this one!)
Five little nails,
Standing straight and ready.
Along comes the carpenter
With his/her hammer ready...
BAM BAM BAM!!
(And I put one nail down and we moved on to four little nails, etc.)
I had the kids clap together on the BAM BAM BAM part.
Book: Construction Countdown by K. C. Olson. Since we had just done some counting with that last one, we did a little more counting in this book.
Felt Activity: Color construction machines. I passed out the machines to the kids and asked them to bring them up and put them on our felt board (our "construction site") when I called their machine. We'd been practicing the machine words all storytime. When we do activities like this, I always keep back one of each color or item to hold up as an example.
Closing Song: Do You Know What Time It Is?
Craft: A movable dump truck! Credit: Texas Reading Club.
Playtime: I brought out blocks and the cars and trucks from our Toddler Time toys so that the kids could spend some time building. While they constructed, I put on the CD John Deere: Crazy About Big Truck Songs by The Wonder Kids.
Alternate Books and Activities:
There are SO MANY construction books!!! If you don't like or don't have any of the above books, consider one of the following:
Pre-K Fun has a huge list of construction songs and rhymes.
Storytime Katie has storytime plans for Construction, Tools, and Trucks.
What Happens in Storytime: Build With Me.
Builder Goose by Boni Ashburn
Digger Man by Andrea Zimmerman & David Clemensha
I'm a Truck Driver by Jonathan London
Job Site by Nathan Clement
Raise the Roof by Anastasia Suen
Road Work Ahead by Anastasia Suen
Roadwork by Sally Sutton
Tip Tip Dig Dig by Emma Garcia
Tap Tap Bang Bang by Emma Garcia
A Truck Goes Rattley Bumpa by Jonathan London
Truckery Rhymes by Jon Scieszka
What Can A Crane Pick Up? by Rebecca Kai Dotlich
