Tag Archives: family

X is for X-Ray: A Storytime About the Letter X

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At last, the letter I have been dreading through my whole alphabet storytime: the Letter X! It actually wasn’t too bad, even though I had to focus on words that included the letter X, rather than words that started with it.

We started our storytime by asking the kids if they knew any words that contained the letter X. After a few examples, they actually thought of quite a few. Some of the older kids were suggesting words like exoskeleton and excavator, and even phoenix. I also showed them a xylophone, just to have an example of something that actually starts with the letter X, and we talked about how the smaller bars make higher sounds.

Here’s the rest of what we did (this is a combination of Outdoor Musical and Family Storytime):

Books:

My Mom Has X-Ray Vision by Angela McAllister; illustrated by Alex T. Smith

This was my only book featuring a word that started with the letter X, and it was a big hit at Family Storytime. Matthew is convinced that his Mom must have X-ray vision because she always seems to know when he’s getting into trouble, and so he decides to test her. The kids really enjoyed guessing how the Mom knew what Matthew was up to, based on details in the illustrations.

Mix It Up by Hervé Tullet

Several of the kids were familiar with this book, but they all enjoyed following along by tapping the different colors on the page and pretending to mix them together (in my Outdoor Musical Storytime, which gets a bigger crowd) I just had them pretend to tap the pictures by tapping the air. They loved guessing what color each combination would make.

Not a Box by Antoinette Portis

This is one of those really simple books that works well for lots of ages. A little rabbit is asked why he is sitting in a box. “It’s not a box!” the rabbit insists, and the next page shows him driving a race car. The kids loved guessing what the rabbit is imagining the box is on each page.

Hattie and the Fox by Mem Fox; illustrated by Patricia Mullins

A simple story, but full of suspense. When Hattie the hen sees a nose poking out of the bushes, the other animals are not impressed. But then she sees two eyes, two ears, two legs, and a body, until finally a fox leaps out of the bushes. Luckily, the cow scares it away with a loud, “MOO!” (the kids enjoyed joining in on that part).

Songs:

Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes

I did this one to go along with My Mom Has X-Ray Vision for Family Storytime. We sang it through three times, getting faster and faster.

Head and shoulders, knees and toes,
Knees and toes,
Head and shoulders, knees and toes,
Knees and toes,
And eyes and ears and mouth and nose.
Head and shoulders, knees and toes,
Knees and toes.

Do You See the Color Blue?

This song always gets the kids excited, as they look around the room pointing to things that match each color. It’s to the tune of Do You Know the Muffin Man?

Do you [C] see the color blue,
The [F] color blue, the [G7] color blue?
Do you [C] see the color blue
Right [F] here [G7] in this [C] room?

Do you see the color red… etc.

The Jack-in-the-Box

Few things are as gratifying as demonstrating a jack-in-the-box at storytime. I brought one out today, and the kids LOVED it! They begged for me to play it over and over again. Then we sang this song together with the parachute.

The jack-in-the-box jumps up!
The jack-in-the-box goes flop.
The jack-in-the-box goes round and round.
The lid comes down with a plop!

A Hunting We Will Go

Oh, [C] a-hunting we will go!
A-[F]hunting we will go!
We’ll [G7] catch a fox and put it in a box,
And then we’ll let it [C] go!

Stay & Play: Letter X Brush Pen Resist Art

I adapted this activity from themeasuredmom.com, only I had the kids use brush pens instead of watercolors. Before storytime, I made X’s out of removable tape on pieces of cardstock. For the Stay & Play, I gave each child a paper with a taped letter X, and a variety of brush pens. They had fun decorating the paper, and then pulling away the tape to reveal their letter X.

Do you have any favorite books or songs featuring the letter X? Please share them in the comments below.

R is for Rocket: A Storytime About the Letter R

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This week, we featured the letter R in both Family Storytime and Outdoor Musical Storytime.

As usual, I started by asking the kids to name any words they knew that started with R. They suggested rain, rabbit, roar, and rainbow. Then we wrote the letter R (upper and lower case) in the air together.

Here are the books and songs that we did:

Books:

Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krause Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld

This is a fun book to read, especially for two voices, so Claire and I read it together for Outdoor Musical Storytime. Two people argue about the creature they see. One says it’s a duck. The other insists it’s a rabbit. The argument continues until the creature runs away. But now they both have doubts about what it actually was.

Tiny Little Rocket by Richard Collingridge

A story that describes an exciting journey into space in a tiny red rocket ship. The kids loved joining on the “scream!” and calling out things they saw in the illustrations. I had a pretty lively group of preschoolers at Outdoor Musical Storytime, and I was worried this would be a bit too long, but they were very engaged.

Are You Ready to Play Outside? by Mo Willems

One of my favorite Elephant and Piggie books. In this one, Gerald and Piggie are excited to run, skip, and jump outside on a beautiful day, until it starts to rain. Piggie complains that she hates the rain, but then they see two worms having fun, and decide to try having fun too. But just as Piggie realizes how much she loves the rain, it stops. Luckily, Gerald has a plan to keep the fun going.

Row, Row, Row Your Boat by Jane Cabrera

Colorful, animal-filled adaptation of the classic song, with lots of opportunities for the kids to join in on the animal sounds. I gave out instruments before we read this one at Family Storytime.

Songs:

See the Little Bunnies Sleeping

I learned this song from a local daycare provider, and it’s been a big hit. I have the kids crouch down and pretend to be asleep, then pop up and hop. We usually sing it three times.

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!

Zoom Zoom Zoom

We sang this one with the parachute at both storytimes (I have a little parachute that we used for Family Storytime. The kids put puppets on top, and thought it was hilarious to watch them fly up in the air at the end).

Zoom, Zoom, Zoom,
We’re going to the Moon.
Zoom, Zoom, Zoom,
We’re going to the Moon.
If you want to take a trip,
Climb aboard my rocket ship.
Zoom, Zoom, Zoom,
We’re going to the Moon.
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
Blast-off!

Rain is Falling Down

We did this one with play scarves, throwing them up in the air and catching them. I use the tune from JBrary in the video below:

Rain is falling down. SPLASH!
Rain is falling down. SPLASH!
Pitter patter, Pitter patter,
Rain is falling down. SPLASH!

Snow is falling down. SHHH!
Snow is falling down. SHHH!
Swirling, twirling, swirling, twirling,
Snow is falling down. SHHH!

If All the Raindrops

We sang this one as our instrument play-along. I asked the kids to suggest foods that they would like to have fall from the sky. They came up with macaroni and broccoli, bananas and juice, and chicken wings and carrots.

[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 snowflakes were chocolate bars and milkshakes…

If all the sunbeams were bubblegum and ice cream…

If all the raindrops were (ask the kids to suggest other types of foods)…

Stay & Play: Straw Rockets

For this easy Stay & Play, I precut these paper rocket ships from Playdatebox.com. I also rolled some strips of paper into pencil-sized tubes, and taped one end of each one to seal it closed.

For the Stay & Play, I put out the paper rockets, markers, tapes, the rolled paper tubes, and some paper straws. After the kids colored the rockets with the markers, I showed them how to tape a paper tube on the back, with the sealed end on the top. Then they made the rockets fly by putting their paper straw into the tube and blowing (it helps not to push the straw too far in).

Do you have any favorite books or songs featuring the letter R? Please share them in the comments below.