This week I decided to do a storytime about the five senses, using a mix of books about all five, as well as a couple of titles featuring specific senses. At the beginning of both Outdoor Musical Storytime and Family Storytime, I asked the kids to name the five senses. Most of the kids who raised their hands pointed to their eyes, nose, mouth, ears, or hands, so we talked about the sense that was associated with each body part: sight, smell, taste, hearing, and touch.

In the future, I think it would be fun to do a series of storytimes focusing on a different sense each week. For now though, here’s what we did:

Books:

Hooray for Hoppy! by Tim Hopgood

Cute story about a rabbit who sets out to discover if Spring has begun, based on his five senses. He hears the birds, smells the blooming flowers, and tastes the newly grown grass. Some of the kids in Outdoor Musical Storytime enjoyed hopping along each time the rabbit hops in the story. In the end, when Hoppy thumps his foot to tell all of the other rabbits that Spring has sprung, I had the kids thump their feet on the ground (I like to tell them about my own pet rabbit, who thumps her foot whenever she’s scared or angry. The thump is incredibly loud!)

Dim Sum Palace by X. Fang

Fun story that’s reminiscent of In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak. A little girl is excited to hear that her family will be going to the Dim Sum Palace the next day. That night she dreams that she wanders into an enormous kitchen, falls into a bowl of dumpling mix, and gets put into a dumpling. She is almost eaten by an Empress, but luckily is able to get her attention, and instead gets to enjoy a delicious feast. In the morning, when her family goes to the real Dim Sum Palace, she learns that it isn’t a real palace at all, but she still loves all of the amazing food. Many of the kids were familiar with dim sum, and they were excited to see foods that they had enjoyed.

Mama in the Moon by Doreen Cronin & Brian Cronin

This is such a sweet book, about a baby sloth who falls out of a tree. Frightened and alone, he calls to his mother, who slowly climbs down the tree to find him, while pointing out nearby things that he can sense: the sight of the moon, the smell of the flowers, the wriggling of the worms, the flutter of butterflies. The note at the end of the book says that sloths fall out of trees at least once a week for their entire lives, which the storytime crowd thought was very funny.

It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles G. Shaw

I used a big book version of this book, which worked really well. Each page shows a white shape resembling an animal or an object, with the phrase “It looked like a [rabbit, tree, flower, etc.]. But it wasn’t a [rabbit, tree, flower, etc.]. In the end, the white shape is revealed to be a cloud in the sky. The kids LOVED calling out what they thought the shape was, and they usually got pretty close.

Songs:

The Sleeping Bunnies

I learned this from a preschool teacher years ago, and it’s become one of my go-to songs. It even pulls in some of the elementary school-aged kids who don’t always want to participate in songs and fingerplays. They all love pretending to be asleep and then jumping up and hopping up and down.

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!

Apples and Bananas

Another favorite song of mine, and a great way to emphasize different vowel sounds. The kids always laugh every time I sing a new verse.

I like to [C] eat, eat, eat, apples and ba-[G]nanas.
I like to eat, eat, eat, apples and ba-[C]nanas.
I like to [C] eat, eat, eat, apples and ba-[G]nanas.
I like to eat, eat, eat, apples and ba-[C]nanas.

Ay lake to ate, ate, ate, ayples and baynaynays…

Ee leek to eat, eat, eat, eeples and beeneenees…

I like to īte, īte, īte, īpples, and bīnīnīs… (the ī symbol is for the long “i” sound, which sounds like “eye”)

Oh, loke to oh-te, oh-te, ohte, oh-pples and boh-noh-nohs…

 Ū lūk to ūte, ūte, ūte, ūpples and būnūnūs… (the ū symbol is for the long “u” sound, which sounds like “ooh)

Zoom, Zoom, Zoom

We sang this with the play scarves in Family Storytime to go along with Mama in the Moon (I sing it with the parachute every week for Outdoor Musical Storytime). The kids loved throwing the scarves 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!

If All the Raindrops

We sang this as our instrument play-along for Outdoor Musical Storytime. I asked the kids to suggest different foods they would like to fall from the sky for each verse. We had “If all the raindrops were vegetables and ice cream,” and “If all the raindrops were watermelon and fruit.”

[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

Rainbow ‘Round Me by Ruth Pelham

We sang this as the instrument play-along for Family Storytime. I asked the kids to suggest colorful things they would like to see outside the window for each verse. They suggested a yellow and orange bee, a rainbow ladybug, and a brown bat.

When I [C] look outside my [G7] window,
There’s a world of color I [C] see.
Fiddle-dee-dee, [F] outside my [C] window 
There’s a [G7] world of color I [C] see.

CHORUS:
[F] Rainbow, [C] rainbow, [G7] rainbow ’round [C] me. 
[F] Rainbow, [C] rainbow, [G7] rainbow ’round [C] me. 

And the [C] butterfly outside my [G7] window,
Is as purple as purple can [C] be.
Fiddle-dee-dee, [F] outside my [C] window 
It’s as [G7] purple as purple can [C] be.

CHORUS:
[F] Rainbow, [C] rainbow, [G7] rainbow ’round [C] me. 
[F] Rainbow, [C] rainbow, [G7] rainbow ’round [C] me. 

And the [C] cat outside my [G7] window,
Is as yellow as yellow can [C] be.
Fiddle-dee-dee, [F] outside my [C] window 
It’s as [G7] yellow as yellow can [C] be.
And the butterfly is [G7] purple as purple can [C] be.

Stay & Play: Cotton Ball Vanilla Clouds

This was a really simple activity inspired by It Looked Like Spilt Milk. For the Stay & Play, I put out blue paper, glue sticks, and cotton balls, and showed the kids how they could glue the cotton balls onto the paper as they were, or stretch the cotton, or tear it into smaller pieces. When they were done, I sprayed their cotton ball clouds with a small spray bottle full of diluted vanilla extract to add the element of smell to the tactile experience of the cotton. I also gave out the handout below showing different types of clouds.

What are your favorite books or songs about the senses? Please share them in the comments below.