This story time was initially built around Jon Klassen's This Is Not My Hat. My goal was for it to be a weekend story time that played off the 2022 Summer Reading theme of oceans but it morphed into something different. Here's the run down of my Hat Story Time . . .
After our good morning songs, we talked about how hats have different purposes and why someone might wear one hat and not another.
On my flannel board, there were 5 different hats that we talked about first: Police Officer, party, Cowboy, Baseball cap and a Scuba Divers helmet (the other hats pictured will come in later!)
Then we read our first book.
BOOK: This Is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen
ACTION RHYME: Hats On Everyone
This was found on Storytime Katie's blog with credit to Perry Public Library.
Hats on police officers starchy and blue (salute)
Hats on fire fighters shiny and new (spray water hose)
Hats on rulers, very grand (look regal)
Hats on astronauts when they land (weightless)
Hats on construction workers on a site (hammer)
Hats on kids right their bike ( handlebars)
Hats on cowboys out in the sun (shade eyes)
Hats on almost everyone (hold hands out to side)
Once that was over, we added the remaining hats to our board, identifying each one as it went up.This set us up for our flannel board activity which was a guessing game.
FLANNEL BOARD: Little Cat, Where Are You?
Chant: Little cat, little cat, where are you?
Are you hiding under the _______ hat?
Before we began, I asked each kid to think of a hat and when the time came, I would point to them and they could respond with which type of hat they thought the cat was hiding under and I would pull it off the board.
A note about my pieces: The images were printed onto cardstock paper with large strips of felt glued to the back. I pressed them under a large stack of books to dry. They should've dried flat, right? NO! They STILL managed to dry wavy. If they'd have been sturdier, I'd have let the kids pull them off the board but they were too precariously stuck to the board for that.
Funnily enough, after going around the entire room having kids each pick a hat, the cat was hiding under the very last hat chosen. This tickled everyone in the room, including me which is why I forgot to sing the next song which was supposed to be . . .
Click HERE for the link of my hats used.
SONG: Silly Hat Song
Instead, we skipped straight to our second book.
BOOK: Hooray For Hat! by Brian Won
For this book, I tried something a little different. Our library recently ordered Move, Play, Learn: Interactive Storytimes with Music, Movement and More by Alyssa Jewell. In this book, she promotes ideas to make your entire storytime interactive, not just different elements. So our group pantomimed this book while also repeating the 2 common refrains: "Hooray for Hat!" and "Go Away, I'm Grumpy"
ACTION FUN: OPPOSITES
Because grumpy and happy are opposites we segwayed into talking about opposites. The group listed some really good ones like "hot and cold", "loud and quiet", "big and small", "right and left" and we acted them out or moved our bodies to fit the different ideas.
SONG: Bread and Butter, Marmalade and Jam
Only because we say "hello" in opposite ways.
MUSIC SONG: If You're Happy And You Know It by Pancake Manor
And that was it! It was a really good storytime, even with the incredibly wide range of ages in attendance (babies to 3rd grade!!). The only thing I wish that had been different is that I wish I'd have remembered to sing the Silly Hat Song! Urgh, oh well.
Happy Storytelling!
💚💛💜
