Opening Song: My Hands Say Hello
Book: The Three Little Pigs by Heather Amery, illustrated by Stephen Cartwright. This is part of the Usborne First Stories series. Usborne has published several fairy tales that are pretty succinct. Since the kids are so familiar with this story, we asked for their help as we read it.
Flannel Rhyme: Five Knights in Shining Armor from Storytime Katie. When Miss T made our flannel knights, I asked her to make one of them pink so it could be a girl knight (or a boy knight who likes pink!).
Book: Over at the Castle by Boni Ashburn, illustrated by Kelly Murphy. This is a play on the song "Over in the Meadow", so I sung it. As we count up through the song, we explore different parts of the castle and the people working or playing within it.
Action Rhyme: The Grand Old Duke of York:
The Grand Old Duke of York,
He had ten thousand men.
He marched them to the top of the hill
And he marched them down again.
And when they were UP, they were UP!
And when they were DOWN, they were DOWN!
And when they were only halfway up,
They were neither UP nor DOWN!
We marched for the first part of the rhyme and then stretch our arms up for the word "up" and we bend down for the word "down". We tried it and then did it fast, super fast, and then I had a request to do it super slow, so we tried it that way, too.
Felt Story: Goldilocks and the Three Bears. This was from a felt set we had purchased from somewhere, many moons ago. Again, this is a very familiar story, so we asked for the kids' help in telling it.
Felt Activity: Color bears. I passed out the color bears and invited the kids to come up and put their bear on the board when we said their color. For this activity, I sang the following rhyme:
(To the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star")
Color bears, color bears, what do I see?
I see a red bear smiling at me!
And, of course, you repeat with different colors.
Ending Song: Do You Know What Time It Is?
We don't do crafts for our group visits, so after the storytime the class explored the Children's Room, selected books to check out, and played with the toys and computers we have in our room.
Alternate Books:
If you don't like or don't have any of the books we used, here are some others you might want to check out:
The Three Bears by Byron Barton
Yummy: Eight Favorite Fairy Tales by Lucy Cousins
The Little Red Hen by Paul Galdone (and others by Paul Galdone)
The Foggy Foggy Forest by Nick Sharratt
Falling for Rapunzel by Leah Wilcox
King Bidgood's in the Bathtub by Audrey and Don Wood