This week, we had fun with the Letter I in both Outdoor Musical and Family Storytime. The kids have really gotten into our letter series, and love to try to guess which letter we are doing each week. One Mom told me that she and her preschool-aged son have started something similar at home, tackling two letters a week.

As usual, I started by asking the kids to suggest words that started with the Letter I (they suggested igloo, ice, ice cream, and insect). I wrote them on my white board, and then we drew the letter I (both capital and lower case) in the air together.

Here are the books and songs that we did:

Books:

The Itsy Bitsy Spider by Iza Trapani

We were lucky enough to have a big book version of this on hand. It’s one of my favorite books for toddlers: an extended version of the traditional song, which depicts the spider climbing up (and falling from) lots of other surfaces. The big book version is even better (even though I always struggle to hold the book and turn the pages!) because it’s easier for the kids to see the spider in the pictures.

It’s a Tiger! by David LaRochelle; illustrated by Jeremy Tankard

This is a favorite of one of my storytime families, and it was huge hit with both of my storytime groups. It features a little boy in the jungle, who keeps having run-ins with a tiger: in a cave, hidden in a pile of leaves, on a boat, and in a treasure chest. Luckily, the tiger turns out to be friendly. The kids loved joining in on the “IT’S A TIGER!” parts, and a number of the parents with kids on their laps would bounce them up and down as if they were running away.

Inch by Inch by Leo Lionni

Before I read this book, I held up a picture of an inchworm, and talked about how they move. I had the kids pretend their finger was an inchworm, and bend and straighten it as if it was crawling. I also showed them a yardstick, to show how big an inch is. The story is about an inchworm who escapes being eaten by a hungry robin by offering to measure its tail. He then ends up measuring several other types of birds, until a nightingale insists that he measure his song. At first the inchworm doesn’t know what to do, but then he tells the bird to sing and he will measure, and he quickly inches away.

Should I Share My Ice Cream? by Mo Willems

One of my favorite Elephant and Piggie books, where Gerald can’t decide whether or not to share his ice cream with Piggie. Claire and I read this one together for Outdoor Musical Storytime, and it got a lot of laughs.

Songs & Rhymes:

Itsy Bitsy Spider

When I do this song with toddlers and babies, I usually tell them that they can do the traditional finger motions (as shown here in this video by Katie Cutie Kids TV), or just wiggle their fingers like spider legs, or creep their hands up their bodies. I also held up a large 3D Printed spider, and we sang “The Great Big Hairy Spider” as the second verse.

The [C] itsy bitsy spider went [G7] up the water [C] spout.
[C] Down came the rain and [F] washed the spider [C] out.
[C] Out came the sun and [G7] dried up all the [C] rain,
and the [C] itsy bitsy spider went [G7] up the spout [C] again.

Inchworm

This is such a pretty song. I had the kids pretend their fingers were inchworms and creep them up their arm as we sang. I don’t sing the “Two and Two are Four” at the beginning of this video.

Inchworm, inchworm,
Measuring the marigolds.
You and your arithmetic
Will probably go far.
Inchworm, inchworm,
Measuring the marigolds.
Seems to me you’d stop and see
How beautiful they are.

Inside the Space Shuttle

For Outdoor Musical Storytime, we did this rhyme with the parachute. The kids loved running underneath as soon as we lifted it up in the air.

Inside the space shuttle, (lower parachute to the ground)
Just enough room.
Here comes the countdown:
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 (shake parachute as you count)
Blast-off! (lift parachute up high)

Icky Sticky Bubblegum

For Family Storytime, I did this song with play scarves, and had the kids pretend the scarves were bubble gum, stretching them out and then pretending the scarves were sticking to different body parts. I asked the kids to suggest parts of the body for the gum to stick to each time we sang. They suggested arm, eye, neck, and leg. I sing a slightly different version from the one in the JBrary video below:

Icky sticky sticky bubble gum,
Bubble gum, Bubble gum,
Icky sticky, sticky bubble gum,
Sticking my hands to my knee…
1,2,3, UNSTICK!

If All the Raindrops

We did this song as our instrument play-along at the end. After singing the original three verses, I had the kids suggest other foods they would like to fall from the sky (my favorite was tofu stir fry!).

[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: Pony Bead Inch Worms

This may be one of my absolute favorite Stay & Play crafts! I found the idea on Craftulate.com.

For the Stay & Play, I put out pipe cleaners, pony beads, and googly eyes (the kind with adhesive backs). At first I wasn’t sure if threading the beads onto the pipe cleaners would be too challenging for the toddlers and young preschoolers who come to my storytimes (I was also a little worried that someone might stick a pony bead up their nose, based on personal experience with my daughter!). But the kids absolutely LOVED the beading. And they loved the worms. I had been a little worried that they wouldn’t understand the concept behind the book Inch by Inch, until I heard one little girl hold up her worm and say to her mother, “The Measure Worm can measure my dress!”

Do you have any favorite books or songs that work well for a Letter I theme? Please share them in the comments below.