Pizza & Guacamole - Family Storytime

Maybe you don't think those two things go together (but it does seem like people are putting avocados on/in everything these days), but think of it as both being party/snack foods featured in September.

Soup's On! - Family Storytime

I started to do this theme in December, looking for something winter-y besides the usual hibernation and snow themes, but when I discovered January was National Soup Month, I saved it until now. Who doesn't love warm, comfort food like soup in winter, right?

Well, as luck would have it, we had a freak warm front come through and it was 73 degrees and muggy! Kids were coming to the library in shorts, sundresses, and flip-flops! Oh well, best laid plans and all that. I greeted my attendees with a "Hello" song as I passed out program sheets, then we warmed up with "Hello, Everybody". After that, I introduced myself and the topic, and tried to elicit some responses as to favorite soups, but I had a very shy bunch today. 

For our first book, I picked a very simple, straightforward book with little text and bright, simple graphics on a white background. Every Color Soup by Jorey Hurley shows the preparation of a pot of vegetable soup, one color at a time. 

Each page simply has the name of a color, with 1 or 2 ingredients pictured that are that color: purple eggplant, green celery and parsley, etc. It gives the opportunity to identify colors as well as name and count the ingredients. I like that it exposes them to a number of different vegetables, and it also ends with a complete recipe.

Next, we pretended to make alphabet soup with this song that I actually made up myself. Having a visual to go with with this is a good idea, either a printed alphabet you can point to, or a physical set (foam, plastic, wood) of letters that you can hold up and then put in a pot, which is what I did. I found it would have been helpful to tape the strings of three letters together in advance!

Making Alphabet Soup

(to the tune of "Farmer In The Dell")

We're making alphabet soup,

We're making alphabet soup.

Stir the pot; soup's getting hot.

We're making alphabet soup.

First we'll add an A;

And then we'll add a B.

Next we'll add C, D, & E.

We're making alphabet soup.

Next we'll add an F,

And then we'll add a G.

After that we'll add H, I, & J.

We're making alphabet soup.

Then we'll add a K,

And next we'll add an L.

After that we'll add M, N, & O.

We're making alphabet soup.

Next we'll add a P,

And then we'll add a Q.

After that we'll add R, S, & T.

We're making alphabet soup.

Then we'll add a U,

Followed by a V.

And last we'll add W, X, Y, Z.

We made alphabet soup!

SLURP - Yum,Yum!

I next chose a humorous book to read, Duck Soup by Jackie Urbanovic. We first met Max in Duck At The Door after he accidentally missed migration with his flock and spent the winter with Irene and her many other pets. In the sequel, Max's cooking has improved and he is cooking a delicious soup of his own recipe. 

While he goes out to the garden to get some fresh herbs, his friends come home and upon discovering a feather in the soup but no Max anywhere, assume the worst. Hilarity ensues as they pour the soup in a colander in an attempt to save Max, and panic in horror as they mistake a potato for Max's head, pearl onions for his eyeballs, and carrot slices for his feet. 

We followed that with a simple song about making soup that gives everyone a chance to name an ingredient (which can sometimes produce some very unexpected responses and unusual soup). Be sure to have everyone stir, taste, and show their muscles!

Stir The Soup

Stir, stir, stir the soup.

Stir it all day long.

Add some ______;

Take a taste (slurp).

Soup will make you strong!

And finally, another funny book from Jan Thomas, Is That Wise, Pig? Mouse is making soup, and Cow and Pig want to help. Mouse adds one onion, Cow adds two cabbages, and Pig adds three....umbrellas? Then six...galoshes?? Is that wise, Pig? In the end, Pig's odd choices come in handy after all. 

Kids will love the silliness in this book, as well as Thomas' signature bold, bright, simple illustrations with heavy black outlines. This is also a counting book, as each ingredient is added in increasing numbers, from one to ten.

We ended with a closing song, and I quickly set-up and explained the optional activities.

Optional Activity

I came up with what I thought were three cute and fun soup-related activities that used various literacy skills.

For the first, I put out a bin of play food vegetables and meats, a spoon, ladle, and bowls for them to pretend to make their own soup. I included some suggested prompts, like identifying the ingredients, colors, talking about how and where they grow (dramatic play, vocabulary, background knowledge).

The second was alphabet soup, with letters taken from some other play sets in a big pot with a ladle, and suggestions to scoop out a ladle-full and identify the letters and their sounds (letter and phonological awareness), name words that began with those letters, and try to make words with the letters you got (print awareness).

And finally, "pom-pom soup" with pom-poms to pick up with tongs (fine motor, pre-writing skills) and put into bowls of the corresponding colors (pre-math and science skills).

How It Went 

I had a pretty good turnout and overall it went pretty well. The kids liked the books, especially the last two humorous books. Duck Soup was just a little long for some of them, but Is That Wise, Pig? was just right; I've never had that one fail to be a hit.

The crowd was a little lukewarm about the songs, and much to my disappointment, almost no one stuck around for the activities, and the few that did didn't really use them the way I had intended. I was actually pretty pleased with myself for coming up with them, and it was kinda hard not to take it personally when they really weren't used. It seems no matter what I do for an after-storytime activity, I get very little participation.

It could just be that my ideas aren't as great as I think they are, but I have the feeling that the weekend crowd is just very different. I really have the sense they just want to get in, hear a couple of stories, and get out; they aren't interested in singing songs, doing rhymes, literacy tips, or doing crafts or activities. I also get a strong sense that parents that come on the weekend just want to have a lazy Saturday morning and don't want to do any "work" with their child, but just want to sit and chill while the child plays by themselves or with other kids. 

And I totally get that. I just haven't figured out how to work with it, and still meet my system's requirement for having a craft or activity afterward, without wasting time and materials and feeling frustrated at the lack of participation. The challenges of a Saturday storytime....

Food, Glorious Food! - Preschool Storytime

The week of Thanksgiving seemed to be the perfect time for a round of "Food"-themed storytimes, since food is such an important part of the holiday tradition, as well as for many holidays in general. My book selection was kind of a mish-mash without any real focus, but all had something to do with food: cooking, eating, sharing, table manners, etc.

Each storytime started with a brief introduction which included letting the kids each share what one of their favorite foods is, our letter of the day ("Ff"), and our story song. Though it varied with the group, we generally read 2-3 books and did 1 or 2 additional songs/rhymes.

The Books 

• The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle is a classic, and while many may already know it, there are still those that don't. I use the opportunity to point out that he got a tummy ache from eating all the junk food, when he should have been eating leaves.
• Worms for Lunch by Leonid Gore has various characters with lift-a-flaps for guessing what each one eats, and figuring out who eats worms.
• The Watermelon Seed by Greg Pizzoli has a silly crocodile who loves watermelon, but when he accidentally swallows a seed fears that it will grow inside him.
• What's for Lunch? by Ann Garrett, Gene-Michael Higney, & Stephanie Peterson features lift-a-flaps and a rhyming text to show what different animals like to eat. They also produced a companion book, What's for Dinner?
• Yummy, Yucky by Leslie Patricelli is a board book intended to help teach babies and toddlers what they should and shouldn't eat, but preschoolers still enjoy saying whether things are "yummy" or "yucky".
• Sam's Sandwich by David Pelham is a book that looks like a sandwich. Sam offers to make his sister a sandwich, but sneaks in some rather distasteful ingredients among the others. Kids love being grossed out by this one.
• The Wolf's Chicken Stew by Keiko Kaska has an unexpected ending, though most of the preschoolers don't quite get it.
• How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food? by Jane Yolen & Mark Teague is a fun book for addressing appropriate table manners.
• Cookiesaurus Rex by Amy Fellner Dominy, Nate Evans, & AG Ford is a really fun
  book about a dinosaur cookie that learns it doesn't pay to be demanding and selfish.
• Is That Wise Pig? by Jan Thomas (inadvertently omitted from collage above) has humor, counting, and making soup, though the ingredients Pig suggests are pretty questionable.

Activities

We talked about our favorite foods and identified fruits and vegetables using the set of plush props I had as visuals:

We also had a great song about making soup to complement Is That Wise Pig?, and let each child have a turn suggesting an ingredient to add:

"Stir, Stir, Stir the Soup"

(to the tune of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat")

Stir, stir, stir the soup;

Stir it all day long.

Add some   (ingredient) ,

Take a taste (SLURRRP!)

Soup will make us strong! 

[Act out stirring, adding ingredient, tasting from spoon, and show muscles, 

repeat for as many ingredients as desired.]

As you might expect, we did get some rather unusual ingredients, and they outnumbered the typical soup ingredients. Even after reading Is That Wise, Pig? and seeing ingredients like onions, tomatoes, green beans, potatoes, etc., they tended to choose fruits, or silly things, like cookies, cakes, and ice cream.

How It Went 

Even though I think our book selection needs a little improvement (I really hope to find something about healthy food vs. junk food that is engaging), the kids seemed to enjoy the theme, and talking about what they liked and didn't like. Some of the books they seemed to like best were Is That Wise, Pig?, Worms For Lunch, How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food, and my newest favorite, Cookiesaurus Rex.

They had a lot of fun with the "Soup" song, though the ingredients they came up with were for the most part definitely not standard soup ingredients. A few did say things like carrots, tomatoes, rice, or noodles; but I also got a lot of fruits, ice cream, and cookies. They did have fun with it, though.

One group was absolutely beside themselves with excitement as they presented us with "drumsticks" that their teacher had made, obstensibly with their help. They were made of paper bags and had candy inside. It was very sweet of her to do, and so cute how excited the kids were to give to us (the "us" being myself, the Storytime Bus driver, and the volunteer assistant). 

One little boy in that class, that I have noticed really seems to enjoy the stories, asked if we had the "scary carrot book" because he really wanted to read that one again. I realized he was talking about Aaron Reynolds and Peter Brown's Creepy Carrots that we had read to them last month. Unfortunately I didn't have a copy of it with me this time, but it's always nice to see when a book makes that much of an impression on them that they remember it and ask for it later.

What's For Dinner? - Food Storytime

What to do on the Storytime Bus during the transition between Thanksgiving and Christmas? It isn't really winter yet, and we don't typically get much snow until January or February around here, so I usually save those themes until after the holidays. I decided to do "Food" since food does play a big part in the traditions of both holidays, and everyone has to eat, right?

We visited multiple facilities and saw many groups, for roughly 30 minutes each. We started each session with an introduction including the letter-of-the-day (Ff) and our "story song", followed by reading 2-3 books and doing a couple of other songs or activities, depending on time, with several of each to choose from.

The Books 

How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food? by Jane Yolen & Mark Teague, kids love this series!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, a beloved classic, great artwork

Keisha Cane and her Very Sweet Tooth by Ashley Foxx & April Foxx, very cute

What's for Dinner? by Ann Garrett & Gene-Michael Higney; bold, simple illustrations, flaps

Yummy Yucky by Leslie Patricelli, written to teach babies and toddlers what should 

     not go in their mouth, but the older kids love it, too.

Everybody Loves Bacon by Kelly Dipucchio & Eric Wight, silly with lots of puns

The Watermelon Seed by Greg Pizzoli, humorous, short & simple

Worms for Lunch? by Leonid Gore, lift a flap, guess what animals eat

Is That Wise, Pig? by Jan Thomas, funny, counting, bold, simple illustrations

The Activities  

I had this nice set of plush fruits and vegetables that we would hold up and see if the kids could name them. They had no problem with the fruit, but the green onion, garlic, and what could be either a poblano pepper or okra game them trouble. We talked about the ones we liked and didn't like, and how they were good for you. Sometime I used them with the song below, following a reading of Is That Wise, Pig? I would hold an item up and let the kids name them to put in the soup; other times I just let the kids taking turns saying what they would like to add to the soup.

Stir, Stir, Stir the Soup

(to the tune of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat)

Stir, stir, stir the soup, 

Stir it all day long.

Add some ______,

Take a taste - SLURRP!

Soup will make us strong!

(repeat for as many verses/ingredients as desired, act out motions)

____________________

I also had a song that went with The Watermelon Seed perfectly, that helps to explain why you don't have to worry about a watermelon growing in your belly if you swallow a seed and provides the opportunity for a quick discussion about what seeds need to grow.

A Watermelon Seed

(to the tune of "London Bridges", call and response)

Oh, no! (Oh, no!)

I just swallowed, (I just swallowed)

A watermelon seed (A watermelon seed)

Will I grow a watermelon (Will I grow a watermelon)

Inside me? (Inside me?)

No, no. (No, no)

The seed won't grow (The seed won't grow)

In my tummy. (In my tummy.)

There's no rain or sunshine (There's no rain or sunshine)

Inside me. (Inside me)

________________________

The last activity provided an opportunity to discuss picky eaters, and why you should always try a bite of everything before you decide whether you like it or not. 

"Picky Paul"

There was an actual script for this, but I just winged it, telling the story with the felt pieces and acting our the motions.. This flannel set tells the story of Picky Paul, a little boy who didn't think he liked anything. One day his father was getting ready to cook dinner. He set the ingredients out one by one on the counter (let kids identify each), and each time Picky Paul would say, "I don't like ____". Then, Picky Paul's father got out a bowl and added some flour, yeast, water, olive oil, and a pinch of salt. He mixed them up (pretend to stir), then rolled it out (pretend to roll). Next he chops or slices each ingredient and sprinkles them on (imitate chopping/slicing and sprinkling). Then he puts the whole thing into the oven.

As it cooks, a wonderful aroma fills the air. Picky Paul sniffs, and comments on how good it smells. Finally the timer dings, and Picky Paul's father takes it out of the oven. "Pizza!" exclaims Picky Paul, "I LOVE pizza!" So even though Paul thought he didn't like the items individually, he loved them all together on a pizza! Then we discussed each of our favorite pizza toppings.

__________________________

I used this song when we needed just a little movement, replacing the English "jelly" and "biscuits" with the American "Jello" and "Cookies".

"Jello On The Plate"

(to the tune of "Farmer In The Dell)

Jello on the plate, jello on the plate.

Wibble, wobble; wibble, wobble.

Jello on the plate.

Cookies in the tin, cookies in the tin.

Shake them up, shake them up.

Cookies in the tin.

Candles on the cake, candles on the cake.

Blow them out, blow them out.

Candles on the cake.

How It Went

The kids loved talking about what their favorite (and least favorite) foods were. Even though Yummy, Yucky is written for toddlers, they all loved saying whether each item was "Yummy!" or "Yucky!". Worms for Lunch? was also a hit, and I had fun introducing it by saying it was about what they were having for lunch. A few clever kids did think of saying they would eat worms for lunch; gummy worms, that is! Jan Thomas' new book was a huge hit as expected, and Jane Yolen's dinosaur series is always well received.

Keisha Cane is a great book, and surprisingly self-published; unfortunately there are no more copies being made. The Very Hungry Caterpillar is of course a beloved classic, though there were more than I expected that didn't seem familiar with it. One little boy commented very enthusiastically about how much he liked the colorful collages on the endpapers and preliminary pages. Everybody Loves Bacon didn't fare as well as I would have liked; I think it needs an older audience to understand and appreciate the humor.

The kids were very interested in looking at the plush fruits and veggies, and did a good job of naming most of them. They had a lot of fun with the soup song, and we had some *very* creative ingredients in our soup! One boy complained we were making him hungry with all the talk about food 😄

One thing I would add, and I didn't really realize I had overlooked, is a couple of books/activities about pies and cookies to indirectly tie in with the holidays a little more.