Tag Archives: kids songs about the letter i

The I’s Have It! A Storytime About the Letter I

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Early Literacy Tip: Ask your child to guess what will happen next in a story. This is a great way to make sure they understand what’s happening, and keep them engaged in the book.

This week’s storytime focus was the Letter I. We started by drawing a capital and lower case letter I in the air together (I also wrote them on my whiteboard), and then we talked about the two main sounds that the letter I makes, and some words that start with I. The families suggested igloo, ice cream, and ice. I also pulled three items out of a paper bag: an insect (honeybee puppet), an instrument (a rainstick), and an ink pad.

Here’s the rest of what we did:

Books:

Good Luck, Ice Cream Truck by Sorche Fairbank; illustrated Terry Runyan

Cute, rhyming book about waiting for the ice cream truck, but seeing lots of other trucks instead. When I read this in Family Stortyime, one of the kids started pointing to different animals on each page, and saying, “That one’s me, and that one’s my Dad.” And then other kids started joining in. It was so funny and sweet that I think I may ask kids to point to the animal they would like to be in future books with different animal characters.

If You Give A Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff; illustrated by Felicia Bond

Many of the kids were familiar with this book, which I read in a big book format for Outdoor Musical Storytime. It’s a fun one for asking the kids to guess what the mouse will ask for next (my early literacy tip for the week).

The Most Important Thing by Antonella Abbatiello

Different types of animals argue about which trait is the most important (long neck, spiky quills, tall ears, wings, etc.), and they all imagine what they would look like if they had that trait. The kids really enjoyed the pictures showing all the animals with wings or long necks, etc.

If by Sarah Perry

This is an older book, but the ideas and illustrations are imaginative and unforgettable. Each page depicts a different hypothetical scenario, ranging from the magical (if cats could fly) to the creepy (if teeth were toes). The kids were mesmerized by the illustrations (and so were the grown-ups).

Songs:

If You’re Happy And You Know It

Full disclosure: I also sang this song for the letter H last week (as well as Hickory Dickory Dock (below), but it works for both! Plus, it’s the kind of classic song that the kids are usually excited to sing with me.

[C] If you’re happy and you know it, clap your [G7] hands! (clap, clap)
If you’re happy and you know it, clap your [C] hands! (clap, clap)
If you’re [F] happy and you know it, and you [C] really want to show it,
If you’re [G7] happy and you know it, clap your [C] hands! (clap, clap)

If you’re sad and you know it, cry, “Boo hoo!”…

If you’re angry and you know it, say, “I’m mad!”… (stomp feet while saying, “I’m mad!”)

If you’re shy and you know it, hide your face… (cover your eyes, and then uncover them and say, “Peek-a-boo!”

If you’re sleepy and you know it, yawn and stretch…

If you’re happy and you know it, shout, “Hooray!”

The Itsy Bitsy Spider

We sang this with the play scarves in Family Storytime. I had the kids pretend the scarves were spiders that they “crawled” up their arms, and then threw into the air on the “down came the rain” line.

The itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout.
Down came the rain and washed the spider out!
Out came the sun and dried up all the rain,
And the itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again.

Hickory Dickory Dock

This was a repeat from last week that we did with the parachute. I put a mouse puppet in the middle of the parachute, and we shook the parachute in time to the song, and lifted it up and down to go with the lyrics.

Hickory Dickory Dock (clap hands in rhythm)
The mouse ran up the clock (run fingers up arm)
The clock struck one: BONG!
The mouse ran down (run fingers down arm)
Hickory Dickory Dock (clap hands)

Hickory Dickory Dock (clap hands in rhythm)
The mouse ran up the clock (run fingers up arm)
The clock struck two: BONG! BONG!
The mouse went, “BOO!” (cover your face and then uncover it when you yell, “BOO!”)
Hickory Dickory Dock (clap hands)

Hickory Dickory Dock (clap hands in rhythm)
The mouse ran up the clock (run fingers up arm)
The clock struck three: BONG! BONG! BONG!
The mouse went “Whee!” (run fingers down body quickly)
Hickory Dickory Dock (clap hands)

If All the Raindrops

I do this traditional song a lot because it works well for so many ages, and gives the kids a chance to suggest their favorite foods for each verse. We sang it as our instrument play-along at the end.

[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 raindrops were ice cream and carrots… etc.

Stay & Play: Stamps & Inkpads

This was one of the easiest Stay & Play’s I’ve done, but the kids really enjoyed it. We have a huge collection of different types of stamps and inkpads, so I just put them all out, along with white paper and markers. They had a great time trying out all of the different stamps. One of the caregivers pointed out that stamping is a great way to practice different types of motor skills, because it takes a while for kids to get the hang of pressing down hard on the inkpad, but also being careful to make sure the ink covers the whole surface, and then using enough force and care to make sure the whole image gets imprinted on the paper.

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

I is for Ice Cream: A Storytime About the Letter I

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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.