Monthly Archives: March 2026

Building Up: A Storytime About Construction

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Early Literacy Tip: Books with “sound words” like “Crash” and “Bang” are a fun way to help build phonemic awareness (the knowledge of the sounds that make up words). As an added bonus, these words are often prominently displayed, making them great for helping kids build the connection between the sound of the word and the way it looks on the page.

I love reading books about construction vehicles, because there are a few toddlers who get so excited just seeing pictures of them. So, I thought it would make for a fun theme this week for Outdoor Musical Storytime and Family Storytime. Here’s what we did:

Books:

Baby Builders by Elissa Haden Guest; illustrated by Hiroe Nakata

Cute, rhyming picture book describing all the steps a crew of adorable babies go through to build a house together. The kids loved the line about the babies enjoying mint ice cream, and everyone liked the picture of the house at the end, which has a big slide in the middle.

Cats in Construction Hats by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen & Leeza Hernandez

Colorful cats in different colored construction hats work together to build a building, with the help of some rats. This one reminds me a bit of the Busy Town books by Richard Scarry.

Little Excavator by Anna Dewdney

Super cute, rhyming picture book by the creator of the Llama Llama books. In this one, a helpful excavator called Little E tries his best to help the other construction vehicles, but always ends up falling over or getting in the way. In the end, though, there is one task that only he can do. Filled with lots of great sound words that the kids enjoyed repeating.

Smashy Town by Andrea Zimmerman and David Clemesha; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

I handed out the egg shakers before we read this one at Outdoor Musical Storytime. By the creators of Trashy Town, this book features Mr. Gilly as the driver of a wrecking ball, hired to knock down an old building so a new one could go up. The kids enjoyed joining in (and shaking their egg shakers) for the repeated “Swing the ball, hit the wall! SMASH, SMASH, SMASH! Swing the ball, hit the wall! CRASH, CRASH, CRASH!

Songs & Rhymes:

The Wheels on the Trucks

We have a set of plastic construction vehicle toys that we put out for Stay & Play sometimes, so for this song, I held up each truck and we sang about it to the tune of The Wheels on the Bus.

The wheels on the trucks go round and round,
Round and round, round and round.
The wheels on the trucks go round and round,
All day long.

The drum on the concrete mixers goes round and round…

The bucket on the excavator goes up and down…

The bed on the dump truck goes up and down…

Bumping Up and Down in an Excavator

We sang this with the parachute at Outdoor Musical Storytime. It’s to the tune of Bumping Up and Down in My Little Red Wagon. I put cotton balls on the parachute, so they would fly up and down while we shook the parachute in time to the song.

Bumping up and down in an excavator,
Bumping up and down in an excavator,
Bumping up and down in an excavator,
Won’t you be my darlin’?

I Have a Cat

We did this rhyme after reading Cats in Construction Hats. I usually have the kids echo each line of this rhyme as I say it. They especially like the part where they get to pretend to catch a rat.

I have a cat (pet imaginary cat).
My cat lies flat (put one hand flat on top of the other).
I have a cat (pet imaginary cat).
She wears a hat (pat the top of your head).
I have a cat (pet imaginary cat).
She caught a rat (grab imaginary rat).
I have a cat (pet imaginary cat).
Purr, Purr, MEOW!

If I Had a Construction Crew

I was having trouble finding songs for this theme, so I wrote this one, which I may expand into a longer song (if you ever need a song for a theme, please let me know. I love a challenge!). Each time we sang it, I asked the kids to suggest things they would like to have in their house. We had “rooms of cows and kittens too,” “bouncy houses and slides too,” and “rooms of cake and cookies too.”

[C] If I had a [E7] construction crew,
I’d [F] build a house for [G7] me and you,
With [C] rooms of toys and [E7] candy too,
Just [F] like a fairy tale [G7] come [C] true.

[F] And we’d ride uni-[G7]corns all [C] day,
And [F] dream of games we’d [G7] like to [C] play.
So [F] many things that we [G7] could [C] do,
If [F] I had a [G7] construction [C] crew.

Repeat, asking the kids to suggest things they would like to see in their dream house for the third line (Example: With rooms of cats and kittens too).

Stay & Play: Painting With Legos

This was so messy, but the kids LOVED it! I just put out Duplo blocks and trays of tempera paint in different colors, and they had a blast stamping the blocks in the paint and then onto the paper.

What are your favorite books or songs about construction vehicles? Please share them in the comments below.

Hold Your Horses: A Storytime for the Year of the Horse

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For the last few weeks, our libraries have been celebrating Lunar New Year, which this year fell on February 17, but is often celebrated through the Lantern Festival on March 3. We’ve been lucky enough to have a Lion Dancers come to both libraries, which has been a blast (the first one was absolutely packed!).

Since this year is the Year of the Horse, I focused my last two storytimes on a combination of horse books and songs, and books about the Lunar New Year. Here’s what we did:

Books:

Tomorrow is New Year’s Day by Aram Kim

Most of the picture books we have about the Lunar New Year are focused on the Chinese traditions surrounding the holiday. I liked that this one centered around the traditions practiced by people from Korea. It’s also relatively short, and works well for storytime. In this story, Mina can’t wait to show off her beautiful hanbok to her class, and share tteokguk, a delicious rice cake soup. But she’s embarrassed when her little brother shows up crying and complaining about his own hanbok being itchy. Luckily, the compliments of her classmates calm him down. Includes a glossary of terms (with pronunciation), and instructions on how to make an origami hanbok.The kids like joining in on the “Waaahh!” when the little brother cries.

Bringing in the New Year by Grace Lin

This is one of my favorite Lunar New Year picture books that focuses on Chinese traditions. It describes how one family celebrates the holiday by sweeping out the old year, getting haircuts, eating dumplings, and waking up the dragon. Sometimes I hand out pieces of bubble wrap (the kind that still pops) for the kids to pop when we get to the page with the firecrackers.

Clip-Clop by Nicola Smee

This simple, funny picture book works well for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers. All the animals want to go for a ride with Mr. Horse, but when they complain that he’s going too fast, he skids to a stop, and they all fly into a haystack. Mr. Horse is very worried, but then they all beg to do it again. Lots of opportunities for kids to join in on the “Clippedy-Clops” (or stomp their feet), and make different animal sounds.

Horse Meets Dog by Elliott Kalan & Tim Miller

Funny story about an encounter between a horse and a dog, who are both confused about each other’s identity. The horse thinks the dog is a tiny baby horse, and tries to give him a bottle of hay. The dog thinks the horse is a very big dog, and tries to teach him to play fetch with a ball. The kids loved the part at the end, where they argue back and forth: “Tiny baby horse!” “Very big dog!” and the ending, when a bird thinks they are “two weird looking birds.”

If You Want to Ride a Horse by Amy Novesky & Gael Abary

This one is a bit too long for my Outdoor Musical Storytime crowd, but it worked well for the early elementary kids at my evening Family Storytime. It invites the reader to imagine what kind of horse they might like to have, the different ways they could ride it, and the different tools they would need to take care of it. It’s the kind of book I would have loved when I was a horse-obsessed girl.

Songs:

Ribbon Dancing

In honor of Lunar New Year, we handed out ribbon wands, and invited the kids to wave them in time to the song Gongs and Drums to Welcome New Year performed by the Taipei Municipal Chinese Classical Orchestra. This was a big hit!

Giddy-Up!

This is one of my all-time favorite baby/toddler storytime songs. It’s to the tune of the William Tell Overture (Lone Ranger Theme). For Outdoor Musical Storytime, we sang it with the parachute, shaking the chute in time to the song, and getting faster each time.

Giddy-up, Giddy-up, Giddy-UP-UP-UP! (bounce baby or toddler, or have older kids “gallop” in place)
Giddy-up, Giddy-up, Giddy-UP-UP-UP!
Giddy-up, Giddy-up, Giddy-UP-UP-UP!
WHOA, Horsey! (Lean back with baby/toddler, or have older kids stop and put their hands out)

Hop Up, My Ladies

There are lots of recordings of this traditional song, but the one by Dan Zanes is my favorite. It’s such a fun and happy song. We did it as our instrument play-along at the end.

[C] Did you ever go to meetin’, [G] Uncle [C] Joe, Uncle Joe?
Did you ever go to [G] meetin’, Uncle Joe?
Did you [C] ever go to meetin’, Uncle Joe, Uncle Joe?
Don’t [F] mind the weather [G] so the wind don’t blow.

CHORUS:

[C] Hop up, my ladies, three in a row,
Hop up, my [G] ladies, three in a row,
Hop up, my [C] ladies, three in a row,
Don’t [F] mind the weather [G] so the wind don’t blow.

Will your horse carry double, Uncle Joe, Uncle Joe…

CHORUS:

Is your horse a single-footer, Uncle Joe, Uncle Joe…

CHORUS:

Say, don’t you wanna’ gallop, Uncle Joe, Uncle Joe…

Stay & Play: Paper Dragon Puppets

A teacher friend of mine gave me a whole envelope full of wooden chopsticks and New Year envelopes (we put stickers in these, and gave them out at the end of both storytimes).

Before the storytime, I cut out the dragon head and tail from krokotak.com (for some reason, I couldn’t get the template to load when I went back to the site, but here’s a photo of it).

I also cut sheets of red paper in half lengthwise to make the bodies.

For the Stay & Play, I put out the paper templates, markers, chopsticks, the half sheets of red paper, glue sticks, and Scotch tape. I showed the kids how to fold the red paper accordion style (the adults helped the kids with this too). Then they colored their dragons, and glued the head and tail onto either end of the folded paper. We taped a chopstick at the front and the back. The kids had a great time making their dragons dance.

Do you have favorite books, songs, or crafts related to Lunar New Year or horses? Please share them in the comments below.