This week, we celebrated Dragons in both Outdoor Musical Storytime and Family Storytime. Here are the books and songs we did:

Books:

Roar-Choo! by Charlotte Cheng; illustrated by Dan Santat

A proud dragon brags about the strength and bravery of his kind, but every time he roars, he sneezes. Luckily, his friend Phoenix is there to help him feel better. The kids LOVED joining in on the repeated “ROAR-Choo’s!” This was my first time using this book for storytime, but it definitely won’t be the last.

Wishing for a Dragon by Becky Cameron

Sweet, imaginative story about three friends off on an adventure in a magical hot air balloon. They visit a pirate ship and a jungle before their balloon crashes. Luckily, they are rescued by a dragon, who carries them back home.

Knight Owl by Christopher Denise

Such a beautiful and endearing book about a brave little owl who longs to be a knight. When a gigantic dragon threatens him while he is on Knight Night Watch, Owl saves the day with pizza, and makes a bunch of new friends.

Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin; illustrated by Daniel Salmieri

This one was a bit too long for my Outdoor Musical Storytime group, but I read it at Family Storytime, where many of the older kids were already familiar with it. It’s a funny book about the hazards of feeding spicy salsa to dragons. It was especially fitting for our town, which is famous for its Taco Bell on the beach.

Songs:

Silly Pizza Song

This song by Rachel de Azevedo Coleman from her Signing Time series is one of my absolute favorites. We sang this one after reading Knight Owl, since it talks a lot about pizza. I taught the kids the sign for pizza (there are a lot of different variations in ASL, but I use the one she demonstrates in the video with the double Z) and the sign for cheese, and then I ask them for topping suggestions. The kids suggested dough, sauce, pepperoni, herbs, and anchovies.

I like pepperoni on my pizza.
I like pepperoni pizza, please.
Put the pepperoni on my pizza,
Don’t forget the extra cheese.

I like olives on my pizza,
I like olive pizza, please.
Put the olives on the pepperoni,
Put the pepperoni on my pizza,
Don’t forget the extra cheese.

I’m a Little Dragon

I found this adaptation of I’m a Little Teapot on LaptimeSongs.com

I’m a little dragon, strong and stout.
Here is my tail and here is my snout.
If I get upset, you better watch out!
I’ll roar, and shout, and stomp about.

Flying Up and Down on My Little Green Dragon

For our parachute song at Outdoor Musical Storytime, I adapted the Raffi song Bumping Up and Down in My Little Red Wagon. We lifted the parachute up and down along with the words. For Family Storytime, we sang it with play scarves, which we waved around like flying dragons, and changed the words to “Flying All Around on My Magic Dragon.”

Flying up and down on my little green dragon,
Flying up and down on my little green dragon,
Flying up and down on my little green dragon,
Up…Up…Up…Up…DOWN!

Puff, the Magic Dragon by Peter Yarrow

We sang this as our instrument play-along at the end. I skipped final verse because it is so sad.

Chorus
[C] Puff, the magic [Em] dragon [F] lived by the [C] sea,
And [F] frolicked in the [C] autumn [Am] mist in a [D7] land called Honah-[G7]Lee.
[C] Little Jackie [Em] Paper [F] loved that rascal [C] Puff.
And [F] brought him [C] strings and [Am] sealing wave and [D7] other [G7] fancy [C] stuff.

Chorus
[C] Puff, the magic [Em] dragon [F] lived by the [C] sea,
And [F] frolicked in the [C] autumn [Am] mist in a [D7] land called Honah-[G7]Lee.
[C] Puff, the magic [Em] dragon [F] lived by the [C] sea.
And [F] frolicked in the [C] autumn [Am] mist in a [D7] land called [G7]Honah-[C]Lee.

[C] Puff, the magic [Em] dragon [F] lived by the [C] sea,
And [F] frolicked in the [C] autumn [Am] mist in a [D7] land called Honah-[G7]Lee.
[C] Puff, the magic [Em] dragon [F] lived by the [C] sea.
And [F] frolicked in the [C] autumn [Am] mist in a [D7] land called [G7]Honah-[C]Lee.

Chorus
[C] Together they would [Em] travel, [F] on a boat with billowed [C] sails.
[F] Jackie kept a [C] lookout[Am] perched on [D7] Puff’s gigantic [G7] tail.
[C] Noble kings and [Em]princes [F] would bow where ere they [C] came.
[F] Pirate ships would [C] lower their [Am] flags when [D7] Puff roared [G7]out his [C] name.

[C] Puff, the magic [Em] dragon [F] lived by the [C] sea,
And [F] frolicked in the [C] autumn [Am] mist in a [D7] land called Honah-[G7]Lee.
[C] Puff, the magic [Em] dragon [F] lived by the [C] sea.
And [F] frolicked in the [C] autumn [Am] mist in a [D7] land called [G7]Honah-[C]Lee.

Stay & Play: Dragon Masks

This was a really simple Stay & Play, but a big hit with the kids. Before storytime, I printed out these paper mask templates from Ruffles and Rain Boots, and cut them out (with a lot of help from my coworkers!). For the Stay & Play, I put out the paper masks, along with Scotch tape, markers, and popsicle sticks (the wide kind). The kids enjoyed coloring their masks, then taping them to the popsicle sticks, and pretending to be dragons.

Do you have any favorite books or songs about dragons? Please share them in the comments below.