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This Land Is Your Land: A Storytime for the Fourth of July

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The Fourth of July is this Thursday, but since there aren’t very many Fourth of July picture books that work well for my storytime audience, I decided to focus on the theme of birthdays instead.

I started by asking the kids what happens on the Fourth of July. Several kids shouted “fireworks!” which is definitely the most memorable part of the holiday in our town. I also asked what the Fourth of July means, and talked about how it is the birthday of our country. Then I asked the kids which country we live in. Most of them shouted out Pacifica (our town), or California, but we got there eventually.

Here are the books and songs that we did:

Books:

A Birthday for Cow by Jan Thomas

This is one of my favorite birthday-themed books, because it always gets big laughs. Mouse and Pig are making a birthday cake for Cow, but Duck wants to add a turnip to the recipe. They are surprised and dismayed when Cow arrives, and is very excited to see the turnip. We all sang Happy Birthday to Cow at the end.

Don’t Wake Up the Tiger by Britta Teckentrup

Fun, interactive story about a group of animals trying to avoid waking up a sleeping tiger. The text asks the reader to help by petting the tiger’s nose (I had the kids mime this in the air), blowing air to move a balloon, and singing a lullaby (we sang Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star). In the end, the stork accidentally pops a balloon (I had the kids clap their hands), and the tiger wakes up just in time for her surprise birthday party.

Shy Willow by Cat Min

Sweet story about a shy rabbit who goes on an adventure to deliver a letter to the moon from a boy who has a special request for his mother’s birthday. It’s a longer book than I usually read, but it worked perfectly for the older kiddos who came to Family Storytime.

Olivia Forms a Band by Ian Falconer

Not a birthday book, but a good one for the Fourth of July, because it talks about fireworks, and the color scheme throughout the book is red, white, and blue. Olivia the Pig wants to have a band for the fireworks show, but no one in her family wants to help, so she makes her own band. The book is full of funny moments, and features a beautiful fireworks display at the end. I gave out egg shakers and other instruments before I read it, and had the kids make lots of noise on the pages where Olivia is performing. The parents got a kick out the ending, when Olivia dreams she is a member of the Supreme Court.

Songs & Rhymes:

Ten Candles on a Birthday Cake

We did this fingerplay rhyme after reading A Birthday for Cow. After we did the rhyme with ten candles, I asked if there were any one year-olds in the group, and we did it again with one candle, then two, then three, then four, all the way up to seven. I usually make a joke about doing my age, but then say I don’t have enough fingers.

Ten candles on a birthday cake (hold up ten fingers)
All lit up for me (point to yourself)
I make a wish and blow them out.
Watch and you will see! (blow on fingers and quickly close hands into fists)

Boom, Boom, Boom!

I was struggling to come up with a parachute song for my Outdoor Musical Storytime to fit with the Fourth of July, but then had the idea of adapting our usual Zoom, Zoom, Zoom, We’re Going to the Moon song (here’s a YouTube video from JingleJam with the tune, in case you aren’t familiar with it). We sang it through once, and then I threw several small pom-poms on the parachute, so they would dance around on the parachute as we waved it up and down. For Family Storytime, we did the same song with play scarves, and threw them into the air.

Boom, Boom, Boom!
The fireworks go Boom!
Boom, Boom, Boom!
The fireworks go Boom!
Green and yellow, blue and red,
Colors bursting over head!
Boom, Boom, Boom!
The fireworks go Boom!

This Land Is Your Land by Woody Guthrie

We did this one for our instrument play-along at the end. Here’s an old recording of Guthrie himself.

CHORUS

[C] This land is [F] your land, this land is [C] my land.
From [G7] California to the New York [C] island.
From the redwood [F] forest to the Gulf Stream [C] waters
[G7] This land was made for you and [C] me

As I was walking that ribbon of highway,
I saw above me that endless skyway.
I saw below me that golden valley,
This land was made for you and me.

CHORUS

I’ve roamed and rambled and I followed my footsteps,
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts.
And all around me a voice was sounding
“This land was made for you and me.”

CHORUS

Stay & Play: Colored Sand Fireworks

I was originally going to do this craft with glitter, but I was worried about leaving a lot of glitter behind at the park. I considered using biodegradable glitter, but then realized I could get a similar effect from colored sand. So, before the storytime, I mixed some white play sand with different colors of food coloring in large Ziploc bags. For the Stay & Play, I put out black construction paper, glue sticks, and the different colored sand in paper bowls. The kids had a great time making patterns on the paper with glue, and then sprinkling the sand on top.

What are your favorite books or songs for the Fourth of July? Please share them in the comments below.

Happy Birthday, America! A Storytime for the Fourth of July

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Today was a beautiful day in the park, and we had a lot of fun celebrating the Fourth of July a little early.

To be honest, I have a hard time finding Fourth of July books that work well for storytime, so instead I focused primarily on the theme of birthdays. After we sang our opening song (Put Your Finger in the Air), I asked if anyone had a birthday coming up. Two girls raised their hands (their moms said they were both in September, but we sang Happy Birthday to them anyway). And then I said that there was a big birthday coming up…America’s! And we sang Happy Birthday to America before reading our first book.

Here’s what we did:

Books:

This Bear’s Birthday by Alyssa Satin Capucilli; illustrated by Lorna Hussey

Sweet story about a little bear who wants to do things for himself on his birthday. He has trouble putting on his jacket, and picking apples high in the tree, but still finds ways to get things done with a little help from his family. Although it was a little on the long side for my audience (which is largely two and three year-olds), there were lots of opportunities for the kids to participate by stretching up high, or pretending to blow out candles, so it still held their interest.

A Birthday for Cow by Jan Thomas

Jan Thomas’ books are always fun for storytime, and this one was no exception. When Mouse and Pig decide to make a birthday cake for cow, they dismiss Duck’s suggestions of adding a turnip. But when it’s finally time to celebrate, it’s the turnip that excites Cow the most. The kids enjoyed pretending to stir the cake batter, and singing Happy Birthday to Cow.

Red, White, and Boom! by Lee Wardlaw; illustrated by Huy Voun Lee

Simple, colorful rhyming book about a Fourth of July celebration, with a parade, a picnic on the beach, and fireworks at the end. Before we started reading, we handed out small squares of bubble wrap (the kind with large bubbles), and told the kids we would pop them when we got to the page with the fireworks. They had a great time.

Songs & Rhymes:

Ten Candles on a Birthday Cake

Ten candles on a birthday cake (hold up ten fingers)
All lit up for me (point to yourself)
I make a wish and blow them out.
Watch and you will see! (blow on fingers and quickly close hands into fists)

After we did the rhyme with ten candles, I asked if there were any one year-olds in the group, and we did it again with one candle, then two, then three, then four.

This is the Way I Blow My Balloon

This is the way I blow my balloon: (mime holding a balloon in both hands)

Blow! (blow air out while spreading your hands apart)

Blow! (blow air out while spreading hands even wider)

Blow! (blow air out while spreading your hands as wide apart as you can)

This is the way I POP my balloon. Oh! Oh! No! (clap hands together)

Old MacDonald

We sang this one as a follow-up to A Birthday for Cow. I asked the kids to suggest animals and their sounds:

C] Old MacDonald [F] had a [C] farm,

E-I- [G7] E-I- [C] O!

And on that farm he [F] had a [C] pig,

E-I- [G7] E-I- [C] O!

With an oink-oink here, and an oink-oink there,

Here an oink, there an oink,

Everywhere an oink-oink.

[C] Old MacDonald [F] had a [C] farm,

E-I- [G7] E-I- [C] O!

Wave, Wave, Wave Your Flag

For this one, I held up an American flag, and asked the kids what colors they saw. Then we handed out play scarves and told the kids we were going to pretend the scarves were flags for the next song.

These were actually two separate songs that I found on PreschoolEducation.com, but they were both to the tune of Row, Row, Row Your Boat, so I combined them. In between the second and third verses, I told the kids we were going to do some magic and turn our flags into fireworks, which we threw up into the air and caught over and over again in the third and fourth verses.

Wave, wave, wave the flag,
Hold it very high.
Watch the colors gently wave,
Way up in the sky.

March, march, march around,
Hold the flag up high.
Wave, wave, wave the flag,
Way up in the sky.


Boom, crack, whistle, pop!
Fireworks in the sky.
See them lighting up the night,
On the Fourth of July.


Red, blue, gold, and green,
With fireworks we say,
“Happy Birthday, America,
It’s Independence Day!”

You’re a Grand Old Flag by George M. Cohan

We sang this for our instrument play-along (after we handed out egg shakers).


[C] You’re a grand old flag, you’re a high-flying flag,
[G7] And forever in peace may you wave.
[C] You’re the emblem of the land I love,
The home of the [D7] free and the [C] brave.

[C] Every heart beats true ’neath the Red, White and Blue,
Where there’s [A7] never a boast or [Dm] brag.
But should [C] auld acquaintance [G7] be forgot,
Keep your [F] eye on the [G7] grand old [C] flag!

Stay & Play: Cardboard Tube Fireworks

I found this idea on TheBestIdeasforKids.com and it was a big hit. We had cut small slits in the bottom half of some toilet paper and paper towel rolls ahead of time, and flattened them out to make a flower shape.

For the Stay & Play, I put out the cut cardboard tubes, along with sheets of black paper, plates of red, white, and blue tempera paint, and glitter. The kids had fun dipping their cardboard tubes in the paint and stamping them on the paper, then sprinkling on the glitter. They turned out really well!

Happy Fourth of July!