Going On Safari - Elementary Program and Preschool Storytime

This is a program I did back in the summer; I originally planned it for the elementary aged program, then adapted it for the preschool storytime (see below) the next day. We had an animal show booked that week with animals from around the world, so I wanted to do something with a safari theme. Not knowing if I was going to have any help over the summer or not, I also wanted to keep it fairly simple, without a lot of advanced prep, set-up, or clean-up, so decided on a simple binocular craft and safari activity using inflatable animals (cheaper and take less storage space than plush animals).

This was one of my "splurge" programs for the summer, as purchasing all the inflatable animals was a bit pricey, but they can (and will) all be used again in the future. If you already own larger plush or inflatable animals you can use, it would be significantly less costly to do.

Program: Going On Safari

Ages: 5-10, then adapted for ages 3-5 (see below)

# of Participants: Planned for up to 30, actually had 14 kids, then 8 for storytime

Budget: $165, but bulk of cost was reusable inflatable animals, consumable items cost less than $1/participant

Materials:

• cardboard craft tubes (such as from toilet paper, but I opted to purchase for hygienic reasons), 2 per participant, $0.33 each, 60 for $20
• colored masking tape, $7 for 8 rolls
• washi tape (already had), optional
• yarn or heavy string (already had)
• markers
• crayons
• construction paper cut into pieces sized to fit around tubes
• glue sticks
• tape
• scissors
• hole-punch
• assorted inflatable animals - $138 (The ones by JET were good quality, though scale is inconsistent since they are all about the size of a medium-large dog, so we just said some of them were babies.)
• elephant, $18
• rhino, $18
• zebra, giraffe, & tiger, $40
• alligator, kangaroo & kiwi bird, $38
• monkeys, $14 (poor quality, leak, but will last barely long enough for program)
• snake, $10 (this one was plush)

Activities:

Binocular Craft 

1. Participants could decorate two cardboard tubes however they liked using crayons, markers, colored paper, colored masking tape, and/or washi tape.
2. The tubes were then glued together, as well as taped together by wrapping tape around the middle. [Realized too late that it would have been nice to have something to act as a spacer in the middle to have at a more appropriate width.]
3. Holes were then punched on the outer side of each tube at one end, and string or yarn tied to them so they could hang around the kids' necks.

 

Safari 

1. Prior to the program, my co-worker had made a "fact sheet" for each animal with one or two interesting facts, along with a photo of a real animal, and a checklist of animals to find with a question about each animal that had to be answered.
2. The animals were hidden all around the library, and the appropriate fact sheet was posted next to them.
3. The kids took their binoculars and checklists and searched the library until they found all of the animals and answered the questions, requiring them to have actually found the animal and read the fact sheet. They were reminded that it was NOT a race, it didn't matter how fast they found them, or who found them all first, and there was no running or yelling. I also encouraged them to take photos with the animals.
4. Once they had found all the animals, they returned to the program room and showed one of us their checklist. If they had all the questions answered correctly, they got to pick a small prize (I gave them a small selection to choose from: small plastic animals, slap bracelets, or pop-it bracelets).
5. If they had missed a question or had the answer wrong, I sent them back to find the animal again and get the correct answer (most were because they didn't read the question carefully, a couple accidentally skipped a question), then they got to pick their prize.

How It Went:

I was a little worried some of the older kids would think the binocular craft was too babyish, but they seemed to enjoy being creative decorating them, and most did use their pretend binoculars on the safari. They really enjoyed the safari, and I got a lot of positive feedback from caregivers, too. More animals would make it even more fun! Of course you can use whatever animals you want, and either inflatable or plush. I chose inflatable because I could get larger animals for less cost than plush, and they could be deflated and thus take less storage space. I will definitely do this program again in the future!

Preschool Storytime Version:

Since we had so many cardboard tubes leftover, and had so much fun with the safari, I decided to just adapt both activities to use after the safari-themed preschool storytime the following day. I followed my usual storytime plan, reading Sitting in My Box by Dee Lillegard & Jon Agee and Starry Safari by Linda Ashman & Jeff Mack and singing songs featuring exotic animals ("The Animals in the Jungle Go...", or "If You're a Lion and You Know It"), then did modified versions of the binocular craft and safari afterward, simplifying both in order to be more developmentally appropriate and take less time.

For the binocular craft, we provided fewer options for decorating, skipping the colored paper and washi tape, and just having them color directly on the white tubes with crayons or markers, and using the colored masking tape to attach them together. For the animal safari, instead of sending them out to search for them, I led them around as a group to find the animals together, and read the facts to them, skipping the checklist with questions and prizes. Then they were free to go back for photo ops with the animals.

How It Went: This streamlined version worked perfectly for the preschoolers, and they loved it! One caregiver left me a note over the weekend telling me her child had not stopped looking at the world through her binoculars, and when I saw them again a couple of weeks (or more?) later at the library, the child still had her binoculars, except that the caregiver said they were a different pair, and that she had been obsessed with making them at home since the program. So definitely a hit! 

 

Slithery, Slippery Snakes - Family Storytime

I was not the one who actually presented this storytime, but I did plan it and left it for my boss to use when she covered my storytime while I was on vacation. The whole snake thing has been a running joke for a couple of months now, and it was a theme I had not done before, so I figured why not, plus I found a couple of cute songs/rhymes to go with it.

Silly Chicken Stories - Family Storytime

 

The YS department at the main library had a bunch of these egg-hatching craft kits leftover, so I decided to take some off their hands and do a chicken-themed storytime.

Polar Bears - Family Storytime

 
I was first inspired to plan a polar bear theme by Mac Barnett's new book, A Polar Bear In the Snow, but at the last minute decided not to use it because I wasn't sure the pictures would be visible and clear enough to everyone, with us having storytime outdoors and being all spread out.

Wolves - Family Storytime

 
Since the CLSP summer reading theme this year is "Tails and Tales", I am using animal themes for all my storytimes. This week I focused on wolves, and I wanted to avoid the typical "big bad wolf" story that paints wolves in a negative light since conservationists and wildlife biologists are working very hard in our state to re-establish wolf populations and educate people on their necessity for a healthy ecosystem.

Moose - Virtual Storytime

 

I've had a "moose" themed storytime in the back of my mind for over a year, since back in the before-times when I noticed that there were several cute picture books with moose. Then the pandemic hit, lost my job, yada yada yada, and now I'm in Colorado, which made the theme even more fitting since there are moose here.

Cute Little Animals - Outreach Storytime

Today was my monthly outreach visit to a nearby daycare, and with it being Spring (finally), I decided to do stories with cute, fluffy animals. I see ages 1 through 4 years old, so I need a range of books, and I start with mostly songs for the youngest, then end with mostly books for the oldest. Since I only have 20 minutes per group, I do an abbreviated storytime and start with a shorter "Hello" song than my usual opening song.

1-Year Olds 
The babies still do best with songs, so after the "Hello" song, we did "Itsy Bitsy Spider" twice, then "The Wheels On The Bus", and "Little Bunny Foo Foo". Then I read Mary Murphy's Say Hello Like This. This book is short and sweet, and features animals and their sounds, which little ones usually like and it's good for phonological awareness. I also like the bold, simple illustrations with heavy outlines for the younger kids, since simple, high contrast images are known to hold their interest. We finished with our "Storytime Is Over" song. Though I love the babies, I couldn't wait to get out of there as they all had nasty, snotty noses!

2-Year Olds 

The 2-year olds really surprised their teachers with how well they did last time, and today they [almost] all sat down and were ready to listen almost right away. After the "Hello" song, we sang the ABC's and "The Wheels On the Bus", then I read Five Little Chicks by Nancy Tafuri, which is a short, simple story that begins with the Mama hen and five eggs, which hatch, producing five little chicks. 

The five little chicks then each start looking for something to eat and investigating different things: worms, beetles, butterflies, fish, and strawberries, then finally their mother shows them how to scratch in the dirt near the corn field to look for corn and other seeds. The kids can identify each potential food, and comment on whether they would like to eat it or not.

After that we stood up for a very fun and interactive book, Ellie Sandall's Everybunny Dance! This is a great movement book, as the kids get to pretend to be bunnies and act out the story, dancing, pretending to play instruments, and singing, until the fox comes out and they run and hide! But, as it turns out, the fox only wants an audience. Sometimes I follow this by doing the "Bunny Hop" conga dance, but I thought these kids were too young to follow the steps.

3- & 4-Year Olds 
Today they were expecting me, fortunately, so I didn't have to wait very long for them to sit in the story area and get settled. I started with the "Hello" song, then my "If You're Ready for a Story" song. I had planned to do Everybunny Dance! with them as well, but the space was just too cramped, so I had to change my plans. Instead, I read Wee Little Bunny by Lauren Thompson and John Butler, which was probably a little on the simple side for this age, but they were okay with it. The story shows a new little bunny as he plays and frolics, meeting a new friend along the way, then goes home at the end of the day and tells his mother all about his busy day.

Then I asked the kids if they knew what today was. They knew it was the first day of April, but didn't know about April Fool's Day. So I explained that it was a day people played silly little tricks on each other, just like we would see in our story, Barnyard Fun by Maureen Wright. I was SO excited when I found this book! It is the only April Fool's Day book I have found that is suitable for storytime. It is April 1st, and Sheep has a bunch of barnyard pranks to pull on his friends. He sets Rooster's alarm an a hour earlier, replaces Dog's can of food with a can of springy "snakes", serves Pig a "cake" that is just box covered in icing, and connects Cow's dots to make smiley faces. Then Horse decides to give Sheep a taste of his own medicine, with hilarious results!

I concluded with showing them my April Fool's joke, a nice pan of "brownies".

How It Went 

This was my third visit to the daycare, and the kids seem to be remember me and are getting used to the routine, so it is going more smoothly each time (not that it's ever gone badly). Today I was greeted by lots of smiles and "Hi!"s, and even a couple of hugs.

Everything worked really well, and I was glad to have the chance to read Barnyard Fun for April Fool's again, and share my little prank. They all laughed and thought it was hilarious when the other animals gave Sheep a taste of his own medicine by shearing him to look like a poodle!

Lions, Tigers, & Bears 2019 - Family Storytime

I first did this theme about 3 years ago, after seeing someone else mention it and thinking it would be fun (and it was!). I thought it would be perfect for the younger crowd I get for this weekend family storytime as it embraces their natural inclination to be wiggly and noisy, rather than fighting it, and I was able to find a great new set of books to use for it.

We started with our welcome song and introduction. I asked if anyone knew what movie the line "lions, tigers, and bears; oh my!" came from. None of the kids really did, but a couple of them were fed the answer by their parents (The Wizard of Oz, if you didn't know). Then we talked about how to distinguish lions and tigers, and some different types of bears. 

Then we sang our story song to get settled for our first book, Don't Wake Up the Tiger! by Britta Teckentrup. This is such a great book for younger, wiggly crowds! It's fairly short and simple, with bold, bright illustrations and very interactive. 

Tiger is asleep, but the other animals need to get past her with their big bunch of balloons, without waking her up. Frog has the great idea to float over her with a balloon. But the animals need the audience to help keep Tiger asleep by rubbing her nose and belly, and singing her a lullaby. At the end, it turns out it's Tiger's birthday, and we all sing her "Happy Birthday".

Since we sang two songs as part of the story, I asked the kids if the wanted to do a song, or go right to another book, and they wanted a story! For the second story I read our longest one, Lion Lessons by Jon Agee, which was another interactive story with lots of movement about a boy who is taking lessons on how to be a lion, from a real lion! (I should've done it first to be true to our theme, but I was hesitant since it was longer.)

There are stretches, looking fierce, roaring, sprinting, eating, hiding, and pouncing, and the boy doesn't perform to the lion's standards. But then he excels in the last test, looking out for a friend. This was a really fun book! (For a somewhat similar one, check out You Are a Lion! by Taeeun Yoo that does lots of different animal yoga poses).

Then it was time for a song where we could pretend to be lions even more!

If You're A Lion...

If you're a lion and you know it, give a ROAR!

If you're a lion and you know it, give a ROAR!

If you're a lion and you know it, then your ROAR will surely show it.

If you're a lion and you know it, give a ROAR!

Shake your mane, show your claws, give a growl, swish your tail...

Then it was time for one last story, and I asked them which animal did we have left to talk about, and they quickly responded "Bears!" I chose this sweet, simple book by Nancy Tafuri that I had not seen before, Mama's Little Bears. This has sparse text and follows three little cubs as they explore their surrounds while Mama fishes a little while longer. 

This is great for positional prepositions as they look over, under, in, up, and down and discover blueberries, birds, salamanders, mice, otters, and owls (all mothers with young as well). In the end they call for Mama, and she finds them and they give each other big bear hugs, which prompts all the caregivers to give their little ones hugs as well.

We followed with a song that included all 3 animals:

You Can Hear...

(to the tune of "She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain")

You can hear lions roaring at the zoo...ROAR, ROAR

You can hear lions roaring at the zoo...ROAR, ROAR

You can hear lions roaring, you can hear lions roaring,

You can hear lions roaring at the zoo...ROAR, ROAR

tigers growling.....bears snoring....

And then sang our closing song and brought out the optional craft.

Craft

Since we get such a young crowd, I try to keep the crafts as simple as possible. I saw a picture on Pinterest of a simple "mask" to resemble a bear, made from a paper plate with the center cut out for the child's face to peek through. I decided to that, but provide materials and examples for all three options.

I cut out the plates, sorted out crayons in shades of yellow, orange, brown, and black; provided scrap paper in brown, yellow, and orange for cutting out ears, and curved pieces of brown for lion manes, plus craft stick handles, scissors, and tape.

How It Went

I had a decent turnout today, with about 10 kids, mostly age 2-4, with a couple just under 2 and one older sibling around 6-8, and we had a lot of fun. The kids really enjoyed the theme and getting to participate with the story in Don't Wake Up The Tiger! and acting like lions and other animals with Lion Lessons and the songs. They did a great job identifying the animals in Mama's Little Bears, but were stumped by the otters.

I think I got the most participation and answering of question by the children today, as compared to any other of these weekend family storytimes I've done. Two or three of them couldn't stay sitting and often wondered around or up close to me, and I told their parents that they were fine and we don't expect the little ones to sit still and be quiet, and they often are listening better and absorb more than we think.

As usual, several skipped the craft, but the ones that did it seemed to really get into it, adding additional details like whiskers. All in all, it was a really great storytime!

Preschool Storytime - Rabbits

This storytime actually came from a plan I prepared for an assignment. The original plan called for Everybunny Dance! by Ellie Sandall, which is what I did for the interview, but since I had already done that book and Candace Fleming's Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! with this group recently, I used the alternate books from the plan I had prepared.

We started with our welcome song, then I introduced the topic with a non-fiction book, Rabbits, Rabbits & More Rabbits by Gail Gibbons to give them a few interesting facts about rabbits, and the difference between rabbits and hares. Then we moved on to our story song, with added bunny-themed verses.

For our first story I chose The Little Rabbit Who Liked to Say Moo by Jonathan Allen. This is a cute story of a little bunny who likes to try making the sounds of other animals, and the other baby farm animals all join in. Eventually, they all decide that while it is fun making other sounds, the like their own sounds best, except for the rabbit who surprises the audience in a twist ending. 

Kids love making the animal sounds, which helps with phonological awareness, and they can identify the animals. Short, simple text and very cute illustrations.

I followed that with a cute flannel board and rhyme. I used the "Shapes" tool in publisher to make a simple bunny pattern with ovals for the ears and circles for the head, body, and tail, then drew on mouth and whiskers and added googly eyes.

Five Little Bunnies

Five little bunnies playing on the floor;

One hopped away, and then there were four.

Four little bunnies hiding behind a tree;

One climbed up, and then there were three.

Three little bunnies wondered what to do;

One went to sleep, and then there were two.

Two little bunnies looking for some fun;

One jumped down a hole, and then there was one.

One little bunny, alone in the sun;

He hopped home to his burrow, and then there was none.

After the first time, I had the kids put the hand they used down, and use their other hand in order to be sure their non-dominant hand got some fine-motor exercise, too.

Our last story is one of my boss's favorites, Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krause Rosenthal andTom Lichtenheld. This is an exercise in perspective and point of view as we have an image that can be seen as a duck or a rabbit.

Two unseen voices argue back and forth, each presenting different observations to support their opinion. In the end, they start to see each other's point of view. Then, look, there's an anteater! Or is it a dinosaur??

While reading the story, the kids will also argue back and forth about whether it's a duck or a rabbit. Afterward, we tried  to take a vote and graph it, but it didn't work out quite as well as I'd hoped. Three-year olds just can't really grasp the concept of voting, or making a choice and sticking to it. 

I tried a show of hands, I tried getting them to line up on different sides of the room, but they would keep changing their minds. It was like an episode of Keystone Cops, LOL! We finally got them to stay on one side or the other, and I showed them how to do a simple bar graph of the results to work on pre-math skills.

After that, we sang our closing song and passed out stickers.

How It Went

Overall it went okay, though slightly downhill at the end. They really liked the first book and the rhyme. They didn't quite seem to get Duck! Rabbit!, although I did hear some arguing about whether it was a duck or a rabbit, and voting and graphing were just too much for them to grasp. While I really like the idea of adding math literacy to storytime, I think I will have to stick to sorting and grouping activities and shapes with the younger ones.

Wild About Animals!

Lately the themes for my Storytime-To-Go program have been repeats, and I didn't really do anything significantly different from the last time, so I didn't bother to write them up. But this time, while I didn't really use a novel theme, I did use a new assortment of books and activities. This was just a generic "Animal" theme, as a way to use an assortment of good books that had not been used in our previous, more specific themes, such as "Jungle Animals," "Zoo Animals," "Oceans," or "Farm".

Each session is approximately 25 minutes (depending upon whether the class arrives on time!), and I generally do 3 books and 1 or 2 songs/rhymes/activities with each one, but it does vary. I start each session by introducing the topic and the letter-of-the-day ("Aa"), then we sing our story song to help us settle down. I use a variety of books over the course of the two-week rotation.

The Books

(click on picture for larger image)

Hide & Seek  by Il Sung Na, very charming illustrations, predict who is best at hiding.
Ernest, the Moose Who Doesn't Fit by Catherine Raynor, funny, fold-out page.
Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing by Judi & Ron Barrett, very silly.
Brown Bear, Brown Bear... by Bill Martin, Jr. & Eric Carle, a classic.
From Head To Toe by Eric Carle, great to incorporate movement (but skip the donkey).
Wild About Us! by Karen Beaumont & Janet Stevens, diversity & self-acceptance.
Who Ate All The Cookie Dough? by Karen Beaumont & Eugene Yelchin, cute, repetition
Sitting In My Box by Dee Lillegard & Jon Agee, reading and imagination.
Never Take A Shark To The Dentist by Judi Barrett & John Nickle, humorous
Spunky Little Monkey by Bill Martin, Jr., Michael Sampson & Brian Won, movement
Whose Nest? by Victoria Cochrane & Guy Troughton, beautiful illustrations, lift-a-flap
Quiet As A Cricket by Audrey & Don Wood, mentions lots of different animals

The Activities

With this particular selection of books, we ended up incorporating a lot of activities with the stories, rather than as a separate activity. For example, both From Head To Toe and Spunky Little Monkey incorporate movement. Also, I had sets of flannel board pieces to go with both Brown Bear, Brown Bear and Quiet As A Cricket so I would hand out pieces to each child prior to reading the story, then when I got to the point in the story where their animal was mentioned, they would bring it up and place it on the board. They always love being able to participate in this way, and it was nice to have a different way of doing Brown Bear, Brown Bear since everyone knows it.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear

Quiet As A Cricket

Another book that was used to incorporate an activity was David Carter's pop-up If You're Happy And You Know It, which features pop-up animal characters that illustrate the appropriate action for each verse when you pull the tabs, such as clap your hands, wag your tail, pat your head, and touch your toes.

This book is really cute, and everyone seemed to really enjoy it, including the adults. I think everyone's favorite was the little dog wagging his tail.

Then I also had some photographs of a number of different animals so they could see some realistic pictures of animals they might not be familiar with, like the armadillo, though I think they did end up knowing most of them.

How It Went

Though all the books worked fairly well, the ones they seemed to enjoy the most were Ernest, the Moose Who Doesn't Fit, Brown Bear, Brown Bear (no one ever seems to get tired of that), Who Ate All The Cookie Dough?, Wild About Us, and Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing.

They really enjoyed having the animals from the two stories to put on the board, and I really liked how it worked out that we didn't have add separate activities, because several of the books incorporated movement and song with them. The kids seemed to like this better as well.

Whose Nest? worked better for some classes that others. I did like how it showed that lots of other animals besides birds build nests, and one little girl was really fascinated when I told her I had a leopard gecko at home like the one in the book. I showed them a couple of photos of him, and she asked me a couple of questions about his lifestyle and diet, and a couple of kids said they wanted to get one, too. Here is a picture of him celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday:

A Bear-y Fun Storytime

Many of our winter-themed picture books in my kit for the Storytime-To-Go program have to do with animals, particularly bears, hibernating. I didn't really feel like talking about winter again, so I decided to do a general "Bear" storytime. We started with our welcome song, and then talked a little about bears and how they would be sleeping, or hibernating, now that it's winter, after eating and getting fat during the fall. We followed that up with a version of the classic "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear" rhyme:

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear turn around.

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, touch the ground.

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, reach up high.

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, touch the sky.

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, show your shoes.

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, I love you!

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, touch your knees,

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, sit down please!

After singing our "story song", we read our first book, Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman. I love all books illustrated by Jane Chapman, but especially Karma Wilson's Bear books. This one is particularly fun for the kids because in addition to saying the repeated line "But the bear snores on," they get to make snoring sounds. I also like the drama when the bear wakes up and at first seems angry that the other animals are in his cave, but he's really just upset that he missed out on all the fun. For 3-year olds, that's a pretty significant plot twist.

After that we sang my version of a childhood classic, "The Bear Went Over The Mountain":

The bear went over the mountain,

The bear went over the mountain,

The bear went over the mountain,

To see what he could see.

The other side of the mountain,

The other side of the mountain,

The other side of the mountain,

Was all that he could see.

The bear swam across the river...

The other side of the river...

The bear went across the meadow...

He found another bear there,

He found another bear there,

He found another bear there,

Who looked just like him.

And they went off to play,

And they went off to play,

And they went off to play,

And had lots of fun!

Then I brought out a non-fiction book to show all the different kinds of bears, Bears! from Time For Kids. I was really torn between this one, which has photographs of real bears, and Bears! Bears! Bears! by Bob Barner that has a fun rhyming text and a map at the end showing where each type of bear lives. I decided I really wanted them to see real bears, so I went with the first one, but in retrospect, I realize I could have shown them as part of the introduction, then read the second book to elaborate on them as one of the stories. 

Oh well, hindsight is always 20/20, right?

I found a song on Jbrary that was the perfect follow-up to this, adding a verse for panda bears to the Jbrary version:

"Grizzly Bears"

(to the tune of "Mary Had A Little Lamb")

Grizzly bears are big and brown,

Big and brown, big and brown.

Grizzly bears are big and brown,

And live in the woods.

Polar Bears are soft and white,

Soft and white, soft and white.

Polar bears are soft and white,

And live where it's cold.

Panda bears are white and black,

White and black, white and black.

Panda bears are white and black,

And like to eat bamboo.

Teddy bears are just my size,

Just my size, just my size.

Teddy bears are just the size,

To cuddle with at night.

[I showed a picture corresponding to the bear in each verse,

 then pulled out a real teddy bear at the end.]

I ended up using another one of Karma Wilson's Bear books, also illustrated by Jane Chapman, because it just came out this past year and I always like to introduce new books, and I really thought it would work well as a read aloud.

Big Bear, Small Mouse is the third "concept" book for the series, with the first two focusing on colors and counting. Throughout the story, as we see what Bear and his friends are up to, we are presented with opposite pairs, like big-little, slow-fast, quiet-loud, and cold-warm.

We finished up with our closing song and passed out stickers.

How It Went  

Today was not a typical day, for a number of reasons. First, it was the first storytime after Christmas break. Second, we had our first snowfall of the year overnight, and not only were the kids excited about the snow, but the daycare had opened 1 hour late, so they were off the normal routine. And third, there were two new students who were a little apprehensive. Because of the weather, it was a much smaller group than usual, which was probably a good thing, considering.

Despite the circumstances, the kids did pretty well other than being a bit more chatty than usual, and settled down pretty well after having a chance to tell me about their Christmas presents, and one who got a new baby brother. One of the new students warmed up pretty quickly and started participating, but the second was having a harder time adjusting and clung to one of the teachers the whole time. 

This group really seemed to like Bear Snores On, which I was pleased to see as some groups don't seem to appreciate Bear as much as I do. They didn't really get into "The Bear Went Over The Mountain" at all for some reason, but did like "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear" and "Grizzly Bears".  

Lions, Tigers, and Bears, Oh My! - Preschool Storytime

  

I wish I could say I thought of this theme on my own, but when someone else mentioned using it on Storytime Underground I knew right away it was one I could have a lot of fun with and would be perfect for my group that it often very wiggly and talkative.  This is not a quiet storytime; rather than fighting the kids' natural inclination to move around and be loud, it embraces it!

As always, we started with our welcome song, and I introduced the topic, talking about what sounds lions, tigers, and bears make.  For the purposes of our storytime today, we agreed that lions would roar, tigers would growl, and bears would snore.  After the introduction, we sang our story song and started with our first book, Roar! - A Noisy Counting Book by Pamela Duncan Edwards, illustrated by Henry Cole. 

 In this story, a bored lion cub is looking for someone to play with, and can't understand why everyone runs away when he roars an invitation.  This story emphasizes the word "roar" throughout, and kids love roaring, so I made a little "Roar!" sign to hold up each time so the kids would know when to roar.  I also like that the story also gives the opportunity to work on counting, number recognition, and colors, besides being a lot of fun.  Eventually, the lion cub does find appropriate playmates.

Next, we sang a simple song incorporating the sounds of the three animals we were talking about today, but of course you could add as many verses and as many animals as you'd like.  I had some "animal-on-a-stick" props to hold up to show which animal we were doing each time.

"You Can Hear Lions Roaring"

(to the tune of "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain")

You can hear the lions roaring in the jungle, "Roar, Roar"

You can hear the lions roaring in the jungle, "Roar, Roar"

You can hear the lions roaring, you can hear the lions roaring,

You can hear the lions roaring in the jungle, "Roar, Roar"

You can hear the tigers growling in the jungle, "Growl, Growl"....

You can hear the bears snoring in the jungle, "Snore, Snore"....

After that, we had an even more fun story, It's A Tiger! by David LaRochelle, illustrated by Jeremy Tankard.  This book requires a departure from the usual "criss-cross applesauce, hands in your lap" and instead should have the audience standing up so they can act out parts of the story.  In the story we are walking through the jungle, and repeatedly stumble across a hidden tiger and must run, climb, and swim to escape him.  The kids will catch on quickly and look for the clue to the hidden tiger, and love yelling out, "It's a tiger!" when the page is turned.  There is also a funny twist at the end.  I LOVE this book!

We were ready to rest after all the activity with It's A Tiger!, so I had them sit back down, criss-cross, to do the call-and-response chant, "Going On A Bear Hunt".  First I showed them how to clap in rhythm, and explained they were to repeat everything I said.

"Going On A Bear Hunt"

Chorus:

Going on a bear hunt.

Gonna catch a BIG one!

With round fuzzy ears,

And a little fuzzy tail.

(Repeat after each verse)

Look, there's a meadow,

Full of very tall grass.

Can't go over it,

Can't go under it.

We'll have to go through it.

SWISH, SWISH, SWISH, SWISH

Look, a huge muddy field,

Full of wet, sticky mud.

Can't go over it,

Can't go under it.

We'll have to go through it.

SQUISH, SQUISH, SQUISH, SQUISH

Look, it a river,

deep and wide.

Can't go over it,

Can't go around it.

We'll have to swim through it.

SWIM, SWIM, SWIM, SWIM

Look, there's a mountain;

A big, tall mountain.

Can't go through it,

Can't go around it.

We'll have to climb over it.

CLIMB, CLIMB, CLIMB, CLIMB

Look, there's a cave,

A deep, dark cave.

Can't go over it,

Can't go under it,

We'll have to go inside it.

TIP-TOE, TIP-TOE, TIP-TOE, TIP-TOE

I feel something, it's big and furry.

With two round ears, and a little fuzzy tail!

With a cold, wet nose, and big, sharp teeth!

It's a bear!  RUN!

Run out of the cave,

Climb up the mountain,

Climb down the moutain.

Swim across the river,

Walk through the mud.

Go through the tall grass,

Back in the house,

And shut the door!

Whew!  We made it!

They had done such a good job participating, I decided to go ahead and do the third book, Bear and Duck by Katy Hudson.  I also felt like I owed it to the teachers to end with a quieter book to calm the kids back down before I left.  In this story, Bear decides he is tired of being a bear (having to sleep all winter, having hot fur, and getting stung by bees) and wants to try being a duck, which doesn't quite work out as he'd hoped.  But in the end, he learns to accept and appreciate being a bear, and makes a new friend.

After that, we sang our closing song, and passed out paw print stickers, which I told them could be lion or tiger paw prints, and one kid piped up with, "Or 'Paw Patrol'!"  Whatever makes you happy ;)

How It Went

I have to say, this was one of the most fun storytimes I've had in a while.  Lots of participation and movement, so works great with those kids that are hard to keep engaged.  They really liked all the books, but they LOVED It's A Tiger!, and so did I.  If you have not ever done this book in storytime, you should!  I was a little surprised that their little eagle eyes started picking out the tiger's tail right away, and even at the end a couple of them saw the crocodile tail and knew what it was.  I was also pleasantly surprised at how many of them recognized the printed numbers in Roar!, and of course they loved roaring.

They didn't seem to have much interest in the first song, other than making the sounds, but they really got into "Going On A Bear Hunt".  It helped that one of the kids had the book at home and knew how it went, so he took charge and led the kids in repeating each line after me.  I think I did one verse too many for this age, as I noticed I was losing participation towards the end, but I got them all back when we ran into the bear and had to race back through all the obstacles to get back home safe and sound!

So, to sum it up, 16 kids and I had a lot of fun this morning!  Oh, and as a bonus, watch this video of a real life bonded lion, tiger, and bear trio that were rescued as cubs.  Of course their names are Leo, Shere Khan, and Baloo.

*Sadly, Leo the lion died just 4 months after I originally posted this due to liver cancer, after spending 16 years with his brothers.