Last week we continued our colors of the rainbow series of storytimes by focusing on the color Yellow. I started by asking the kids to suggest things that are yellow. They came up with bananas, lemons, flowers, and school buses.

Here are the books and songs we did for Family Storytime and Outdoor Musical Storytime.

Books:

The Duckling Gets a Cookie?! by Mo Willems

One of the Pigeon books by Mo Willems, this one features the Duckling, who gets a cookie (with nuts), and upsets the Pigeon, who complains that he never gets anything he asks for. But for once the Pigeon has a happy ending, when the Duckling gives him the cookie.

The Little Yellow Leaf by Carin Berger

This book was a bit out of season, since it’s almost summer, but the kids enjoyed it. It’s about a yellow leaf that doesn’t want to let go of the tree, until it meets a red leaf who agrees to let go at the same time. I gave out play scarves before we read it, and the kids enjoyed waving them through the air and dropping them like leaves.

Counting to Bananas by Carrie Tillotson; illustrated by Estrela Lourenço

A funny, rhyming counting book, featuring a banana who complains that the narrator keeps putting animals in a book about fruit. He gets even more upset when the animals include baboons and apes, who love to eat bananas.

Yellow Copter by Kersten Hamilton; illustrated by Valeria Petrone

Very cute rhyming story about a yellow helicopter who rescues a teacher stranded at the top of a ferris wheel. I read this one at Family Storytime, and gave out play scarves for the kids to spin around like propellors as I read.

Songs:

Do You See the Color Yellow

This song always gets the kids excited, as they look around the room pointing to things that match each color. It’s to the tune of Do You Know the Muffin Man?

Do you [C] see the color yellow,
The [F] color yellow, the [G7] color yellow?
Do you [C] see the color yellow,
[F] Right here [G7] in this [C] room?

Do you see the color blue… etc.

Leaves Are Falling on the Ground

To the tune of The Wheels on the Bus. I got this one from PreschoolExpress.com, who credits Jean Warren as the author. We handed out play scarves before we sang it, and pretended they were leaves falling through the air, then swished them in the air like rakes for the second verse:

The leaves on the trees are falling down,
Falling down, falling down.
The leaves on the trees are falling down,
All through the town.

Let’s rake the leaves into a mound,
Into a mound, into a mound.
Let’s rake the leaves into a mound
All through the town.

The kids in the town jump up and down,
Up and down, up and down.
The kids in the town jump up and down,
All through the town.

Yellow Bird

This is a traditional song called Little Bird. For Outdoor Musical Storytime, I sang it with the parachute, and had the kids walk underneath the parachute as if they were flying through the window.

[C] Yellow Bird, Yellow Bird,
[C] Fly through my window.
[G7] Yellow Bird, Yellow Bird,
[G7] Fly through my window.
[C] Yellow Bird, Yellow Bird,
[C] Fly through my window.
[G7] Find molasses [C] candy.

Chorus:

[G7] Fly through my window, my sugar lump!
[C] Fly through my [G7] window, my [C] sugar lump!
[G7] Find molasses [C] candy!

Black Bird, Black Bird, Fly through my window…

I Like to Eat Apples and Bananas

The kids always love this silly camp song, which goes through all of the long vowel sounds. Here’s a video from Super Simple Songs:

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)

Stay & Play: Flower Painting

This is such an easy process art activity, but it’s always a big hit. Before storytime, I gathered a bunch of flowers from my yard (I try to stick to edible flowers like nasturtiums, oxalis, lavender, and geraniums). For the Stay and Play, I put out white card stock and the flowers. The kids had a great time squishing the flower petals onto the paper to make different colors.

Do you have any favorite books or songs featuring the color yellow? Please share them in the comments below.