Tag Archives: early literacy tips in storytime

By the Book: A Storytime About Interactive Picture Books

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Early Literacy Tip: Engage children in the books you read together by inviting them to mimic sounds and actions from the story, and asking them questions about the pictures and what they think will happen next. Interactive picture books are a fun and easy way to get kids involved in the story.

Interactive picture books (the kind that asks the reader to do different actions) are so much fun to share at storytime. They are also a great way to model the kinds of interactions that caregivers can use to encourage kids to engage with the books they read aloud. For this week’s storytimes, I decided to feature several of these types of books, and briefly explain to caregivers that they provide an easy way to give kids a way to participate in the books they read together, even before they learn how to read for themselves.

Here’s what we did:

Books:

Is Everyone Ready for Fun? by Jan Thomas

Jan Thomas is one of my favorite storytime authors. In this one, a trio of enthusiastic cows announce that it’s time to bounce on Chicken’s sofa. When Chicken tells them there will be no bouncing on his sofa, the cows dance, wiggle, and eventually nap on the sofa instead. The kids enjoyed doing the actions along with the cows. This is a great book for restless toddlers.

Bunny Slopes by Claudia Rueda

One of a series of Bunny Interactive books, this one asks the reader to help Bunny go skiing by shaking the book (or your arms) to make it snow, tilting the book (or your body) to make a ski slope, and more. The kids enjoyed following the bunny’s instructions.

Don’t Wake the Dragon by Bianca Schulze; illustrated by Samara Hardy

This was my first time reading this book, but it worked really well. A naughty dragon is finally asleep, and the narrator asks you to help keep her that way by saying “Shhh!” three times, rocking the book (or your body), and quieting a noisy group of knights by participating in their birthday party celebration until you can finally get their attention. The illustrations are bright and eye-catching, and the kids really seemed to enjoy all of the actions.

Count the Monkeys by Mac Barnett; illustrated by Kevin Cornell

I read this one for Family Storytime. It’s time to count the monkeys! There’s just one problem: a bunch of other animals (and people) keep showing up and scaring the monkeys away. You can help by giving high fives to the lumberjacks, moving your hand in a Z to confuse the crocodiles, saying thank you to the beekeepers, and more. This book got lots of laughs from both kids and grownups.

I Say Ooh, You Say Aah! by John Kane

I didn’t actually end up reading this at storytime, because it seemed a bit too complicated for the toddlers and preschoolers to follow. But I read it to a group of Kindergartners and T/K (Transitional Kindergartners), and they loved it so much, I ended up reading it twice (they even begged me to read it a third time!). The book asks the reader to follow a series of silly instructions: say “Aah” when the narrator says, “Ooh;” say “Underpants” when you see a picture of an ant; pat your head when you see the color red, etc. It then introduces a donkey named, “Ooh” with an ant on his nose, and things get very silly.

Songs:

We Bounce and We Bounce and We Stop

We sang this to go with the book Is Everyone Ready for Fun? This is one of my all-time favorite storytime songs, because it’s so versatile. It works for almost any age (as a lapsit song for babies, and an action song for toddlers on up). You can add in age-appropriate actions like clapping, jumping, spinning, etc., and ask the kids for suggestions. You can sing it fast or slow, or add in long pauses to make them wait for the action (“We…bounce and we bounce and we stop!”). Or repeat the third line to keep them guessing when the “stop” will come. It’s always a hit!

[C] We bounce and we bounce and we stop!
[C] We bounce and we bounce and we stop!
[C] We bounce and we bounce and we bounce and we bounce,
[C] And we bounce and [G7] we bounce and we [C} stop!

The Sleepy Bunny Song

We sang this after reading Bunny Slopes. This is another long-time favorite, which I learned from a daycare provider. The kids LOVE pretending to sleep on the floor, and then jumping up at the end.

For Outdoor Musical Storytime, we sang it twice, doing the actions with our bodies. Then I brought out the big parachute and put cotton balls on top to look like little bunnies. The kids loved watching them fly in 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!

Monkey See and Monkey Do

I wish I could remember who taught me this song, because it’s one I’ve used for my whole career. It’s another really versatile song with a catchy tune, and you can ask the kids to suggest other actions for the monkey to do.

When you clap, clap, clap your hands,
The monkey clap, clap, claps his hands,
Monkey see, and monkey do,
The monkey does the same as you!

Repeat with other motions: when you jump up and down; make a funny face; turn yourself around; and sit back on the ground.

Down By the Bay

We sang this as our instrument play-along at the end. Each time we sang it through, I asked the kids to suggest different things that the mother might ask. Some kids were familiar with the original song, and suggested, “Did you ever see a llama wearing pajamas?” but another kid suggested, “Did you ever see a whale wearing pajamas?” which everyone thought was really funny.

[C] Down by the bay, where the watermelons [G7] grow,
Back to my home, I dare not [C] go,
For if I [F] do, my mother will [C] say,
“Did you ever see a whale with a polka dot tail
[G7] Down by the [C] bay?”

Stay & Play: Marble Painting

This was really messy, and had nothing to do with the theme, but I had been wanting to try this process art activity ever since one of my coworkers found a big box of marbles in our craft closet. Before storytime, I traced the bottom of a pie tin onto white paper, and cut out a circle for each child.

For the Stay & Play, I gave each child a pie tin with a paper circle inside, and put a few dollops of different colors of tempera paint on the paper. I let them choose a marble (or two or three), and then they tilted the pie tin back and forth to roll the marble through the paint. One little girl discovered that she could make a more understated painting by taking the paint-covered marble from her first attempt, and rolling it across another white paper. You can see both paintings in the photo above.

Do you have any favorite interactive picture books? Please share them in the comments below.

Music to My Ears: A Storytime About Songs

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I’ve been trying to incorporate more early literacy tips into my storytimes lately, so I thought I would try to actually build each of my storytimes around a literacy tip. Last week, I focused on the idea of pointing out common sight words that kids are likely to see out in the world, by doing a storytime around the word “STOP!” This week, I decided to talk about the importance of using songs and rhymes to build pre-reading skills.

I started by talking about how sharing songs and rhymes with young children is one of the easiest ways to help them become strong readers later on. And a fun way to incorporate music into daily life is to make up your own versions of popular songs. To demonstrate this idea, I shared books that were all based on traditional rhymes and children’s songs.

Here’s what we did for Outdoor Musical Storytime (I’m also including a book we read in Family Storytime that fit the theme):

Books:

Hush, Little Trucker by Kim Norman; illustrated by Toshiki Nakamura

I love this picture book because it combines a traditional lullaby with construction vehicles. Based on the song Hush, Little Baby, this book features a mother describing how she will search for her son’s lost toy truck using a wide variety of other machines. The kids enjoyed calling out the names of the different vehicles.

I Ain’t Gonna Paint No More by Karen Beaumont; illustrated by David Catrow

This is one of my all-time favorite storytime books: a parody of It Ain’t Gonna’ Rain No More about a little boy who defies his mother by painting different parts of his body. I gave out the play scarves before we read it, and I had the kids pretend they were paintbrushes. They loved trying to guess which body part we were painting next, based on the rhyme.

Pop! Goes the Nursery Rhyme by Betsy Bird; illustrated by Andrea Tsurumi

I actually did this book last week for Family Storytime, and I enjoyed it so much that I used it for Outdoor Musical Storytime this week (I also read it to two T/K classes, who both kept singing “Pop, Goes to Weasel” long after I stopped reading). It features several famous nursery rhymes (Jack and Jill, Pat-a-Cake, Twinkle, Twinkle) that all get interrupted by a weasel popping out to sing, “Pop! Goes the Weasel.” The kids still had the play scarves from the previous book, so I had them throw their scarves in the air every time we got to the word, “Pop!”

Here We Go Digging for Dinosaur Bones by Susan Lendroth; illustrated Bob Kolar

Cute, informative picture book based on the song Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush, all about excavating dinosaur bones. I had the kids act out the motions: digging the bones, brushing them off, wrapping them up, and assembling them. Each page has additional facts about paleontology.

Songs:

We Are Scary Ghosts

I was originally going to do The Wheels on the Bus to go with the book Hush, Little Trucker (I love to have the kids suggest animals, Pokemon, or superheroes to go on the bus, like “The Pikachu on the bus goes, “Pika! Pika!”). But since we had the play scarves, and it was close to Halloween, I decided to do one of my favorite Halloween storytime songs instead. I had the kids put the scarves on their heads, and pull them off on the “BOO!”

We are scary ghosts floating down the street,
Walking down the street,
Walking down the street.
We are scary ghosts walking down the street,
We’ll scare you…BOO!

Pop, Goes the Weasel

We did this song with the parachute. I put a few small stuffed animals on the parachute so we could make them pop up in the air (I just wish I had a toy weasel!) Here’s a Rock N Learn video with the tune, in case you aren’t familiar with it.

All around the cobbler’s bench,
The monkey chased the weasel.
The monkey thought ’twas all in fun,
“Pop!” Goes the weasel!

Down by the Bay

We did this as our instrument play-along at the end. I had the kids suggest ideas for what the mother says in each verse. We had “Did you ever see bananas wearing pajamas?” and “Did you ever see a cat wearing a hat?”

[C] Down by the bay, where the watermelons [G7] grow,
Back to my home, I dare not [C] go,
For if I [F] do, my mother will [C] say,
“Did you ever see a whale with a polka dot tail
[G7] Down by the [C] bay?”

Stay & Play: Paper Plate Maracas

For the Stay & Play, I put out paper plates, markers, & washi tape. Each of the kids decorated the bottoms of two plates. My coworker and I helped them put a small amount of rice on top of one of their plates, then we put the other plate on top and stapled them both together (we did all the stapling). I also showed them how to put washi tape around the outside of the plates to cover any gaps. NOTE: I know using food items as a craft supply can be problematic, but we had an old, open bag of rice in the supply closet, so I made an exception this time. You can also use beads or other small objects.

What are your favorite early literacy tips, or your favorite picture books based on songs? Please share them in the comments below.