Early Literacy Tip: Point out repeated words and phrases in the books you read together, and have your kids say them with you each time you read them. This helps build the connection between written and spoken language, and helps develop their sight vocabulary.

Happy New Year!

For storytime this week, I decided to do a theme about animals in Winter. I talked a little about hibernation, and shared a chart from animalspot.net showing common animals that hibernate.

Here’s the rest of what we did:

Books:

Harold Hates to Hibernate by Vern Kousky

The sequel to Harold Loves His Woolly Hat, this one features Harold trying to avoid hibernating, because he’s afraid his friends the crows will forget about him. With the help of his friends, he tries to stay awake eating a big meal, wearing warm clothes (stolen from a clothesline), and resting his aching paws in something soft. When he is no longer able to stay awake, the crows promise they will remember him until he wakes up. The kids loved joining in on the repeated “CaCaws!”

The Mitten by Jim Aylesworth; illustrated by Barbara McClintock

Although I love the Jan Brett version of The Mitten, I find this adaptation a bit easier to read to younger kids. The story is essentially the same: a young boy’s lost mitten becomes a shelter for a series of animals escaping the cold. The mitten stretches to hold a squirrel, a rabbit, a fox, and then a bear. But when a little mouse tries to crawl in, the mitten bursts into pieces. I like the repeated rhyme each animal says, and it’s fun to do different voices for each animal.

I Don’t Want to Go To Sleep by Dev Petty; illustrated by Mike Boldt

A sequel to I Don’t Want to Be a Frog. In this story, Owl explains to Frog all of the reasons he can’t do the fun things that his other animal friends enjoy in the Winter, and that instead he will have to bury himself in the mud and sleep. Eventually, Frog decides to hibernate, but only if his friends will join him in the mud. I didn’t actually get to read this one at Family Storytime, like I had planned, but I did read it to a transitional Kindergarten class, and two second grade classes. The second graders especially enjoyed the humor.

Froggy Gets Dressed by Jonathan London; illustrated by Frank Remkiewicz

My favorite of the Froggy books, in this story, Froggy decides he doesn’t want to sleep through the Winter, and goes out to play in the snow. But his mother keeps reminding him about the different articles of clothing he forgot to put on: his pants, his shirt, his coat, and finally, his underwear. The kids enjoyed joining in on the “Froggys!” (Before I read it, I talked about how they could keep an eye out for repeated words like that in the books they read with their grown-ups). I read to a couple of special needs preschools once a month, and have found that the kids there often enjoy repeating the different sound effects in this book (zum, zap, zip, znap, etc.). The kids at my storytimes this week did too.

Songs:

Two Little Blackbirds

One of my favorite storytime songs. It words well as either a finger play or a scarf song. You can also adapt it to other types of birds (ducks, geese, crows, etc.).

Two little blackbirds sitting on a hill, (Hold up both thumbs)
One named Jack, and the other named Jill.
Fly away, Jack! (Put one thumb behind your back)
Fly away, Jill! (Put the other thumb behind your back)
Come back, Jack! (Bring the first thumb out in front).
Come back, Jill! (Bring the second thumb out in the front).

Two little blackbirds sitting on a cloud,
One was quiet, and the other was loud (I make my voice as loud and obnoxious as possible each time I sing the word “Loud!”)
Fly away, Quiet!
Fly away, Loud!
Come back, Quiet!
Come back, Loud!

Two little blackbirds sitting in the snow.
One flew fast!
And the other flew slow!…

Two little blackbirds sitting on a gate.
One was early, and the other was…late!…

Mitten Song

Cute, simple song about mittens. I use the tune from this video, but only do the first verse.

Thumb in the thumb’s place, (wiggle your thumb)
Fingers all together, (squeeze your other fingers together)
This is the song we sing in mitten weather.

The Little Bunny Song

For Outdoor Musical Storytime, we did this one with the parachute. We started with the parachute on the ground, and I threw cotton balls in the middle. We sang the beginning of the song, then shook the parachute up and down when the bunnies “woke up.” The kids loved watching the cotton balls fly into the air.

See the little bunnies sleeping
‘Till it’s nearly noon.
Come, let us wake them with a merry tune?
They’re so still.
Are they ill?
NO! Wake up little bunnies!
Hop little bunnies, hop, hop, hop!
Hop little bunnies, hop, hop, hop!
Hop little bunnies, hop, hop, hop!
Hop little bunnies, hop and stop!

If All the Raindrops

Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, our Winter’s are full of rain rather than snow, so we sang this song as our instrument play-along at the end. I asked the kids to suggest different foods they would like to fall from the sky for each verse.

[C] If all the raindrops were [G7] lemon drops and [C] gum drops,
Oh, what a rain it would [G7] be.
[C] I’d stand out- [G7] side with my [C] mouth open [G7] wide,
[C] “Ah, Ah, Ah, [G7] Ah, Ah, Ah, [C] Ah, Ah, Ah, [G7] Ah!”
[C] If all the raindrops were [G7] lemon drops and [C] gum drops,
Oh, what a [G7] rain it would [C] be.

If all the raindrops were ice cream and carrots… etc.

Stay & Play: Paper Mittens

Before storytime, I printed out blank mitten templates (there are lots of options online, but here’s a free one from MondayMandala.com). For the Stay & Play, I put out the printed templates, kids scissors, markers, dot markers, tape, and yarn. The kids enjoyed coloring their mittens with the markers and dot markers, and the grown-ups helped them cut the mittens out and tape a long piece of yarn on the back of each one to connect them.

Do you have favorite picture books about hibernation and animals in Winter? Any storytime themes you are interested in trying this year? Please share them in the comments below.