Originally this was "Let's Go Flying" with a kite theme but it changed over the course of its creation. 

BOOK

Stuck by Oliver Jeffers and A Friend For Ghost by Suzanne Kaufman. 

One little boy greatly enjoyed Stuck but several of the parents enjoyed the latter, which was checked out directly following storytime

RHYME

This rhyme was done towards the end. Scarves were passed out and kids were instructed to wave their scarves in the air for the line "the wind blew hard" and to make wind noises for the line "the wind blew loud".

5 Little Kites

Way up high in the sky so blue
5 little kites flew and flew.
The wind blew hard and the wind blew loud
And the wind blew the green kite off to the clouds.

SCARF SONG

With our scarves out, we sang a generic scarf song.

My Scarf Goes Up and Down (Tune: The Farmer in the Dell)

 

Names are very special and sometimes there are special reasons or stories behind why you were given your name! 

This story time celebrates your name. 

BOOK

My Name by Supriya Kelkar and Always Anjali by Sheetal Sheth.

Originally I had planned to read Tikki Tikki Tembo but upon research, learned that it is viewed as a racist story. So at the last minute, I had to change my books around. 

RHYME

This one involves crowd participation! For this one, each kid can share their name to be used in the rhyme. 

We did a simple beat for this as well - clap and then pat your lap with both hands.

Hickety Pickety Bumble Bee

Hickety pickety bumble bee
Won't you say your name for me?
Rhonda
Let's clap and say it
Rhon-da (clap each syllable)
Let's say it loud!
Rhon-da (clap each syllable again)
Let's say it quiet
Rhon-da (clap each syllable again)

SONG

We sang this song at summer camp all the time. It's a movement building song. So begin with pushing the button with your right hand. Then repeat verse adding a new body part while continuing pressing buttons with the prior body parts.

Hi My Name Is Joe

Hi, my name is Joe
And I work in a button factory
Got a wife, 3 kids and a family
One day, my boss said "Joe
Push the button with your right hand"

Repeat verses with . . . 

left hand, right foot, left foot, head

ACTIVITY

At the end, we looked up our names in a baby name book to see what the meanings of our names were. Unfortunately not all names were in the book I had but it was still interesting!

For an after story time activity, I had coat of arm templates left over from a previous craft that I pulled out. 

They were tied into the theme this way: Hundreds of years ago, in medieval times, some families had a coat of arms. They would be covered in images or symbols - like a family logo.

Kids were instructed to take a coat of arms and design one with that in mind. What symbols define you? What symbols define your family?

 

BOOKS:

James Marshall's "The Three Little Pigs" and "I Am So Strong" by Mario Ramos. These books were perfect for my group! The Three Little Pigs version was a little different than some of the kids had previous heard and despite it being a little long, they listened very well. 

I was especially surprised by the reception "I Am So Strong" got - the group thought it was too funny!! 

In this book, Wolf is searching for reassurance that he is the strongest creature in the woods when he asks the other woodland inhabitants who is the strongest. They don't waste any time fluffing his ego - not little Red, the 3 pigs, the 7 dwarves, no one! That is, until he comes across a toadlike animal that has a different opinion.

SONGS: 

If You're A Wolf and You Know It.
Verses were . . .  

If you're a wolf and you know it, howl at the moon
If you're a wolf and you know it, growl at the night
If you're a wolf and you know it, scratch your fleas
If you're a wolf and you know it, do all three

Three Little Pigs
This one has to be watched. Here's Jbrary performing it: 

ACTIVITY:

For an activity, I had prepared a sequencing game using images from the Three Little Pigs retellings to be put in order. But this was scrapped because our group was a younger for this story time, which was fine. 

CRAFT:

These stand-up wolves were available for kids after story time. They colored, cut them out and then folded them to make them stand up. Some minor edits from parents are needed around the heads to make them stand-up properly.

Access them here to use them with your own group!

This theme was inspired by an article in my local paper about teaching financial literacy. April is also considered financial literacy month so if you're reading this, you might squirrel this away for spring.

BOOK

What is Money by Nadia Higgins and Bunny Money by Rosemary Wells.

These books were perfect for my group!

SONGS

This song had been sung a week or so prior which is why it was incorporated it again. We changed the words from working in a button factory to something else though and I can't for the life of me remember what we changed the words to. 

Hi My Name Is Joe

Hi, my name is Joe
And I work in a button factory
Got a wife, 3 kids and a family
One day, my boss said "Joe
Push the button with your right hand"

Repeat verses with . . . 

left hand, right foot, left foot, head 

Before hand I printed out lifelike coins on cardstock to pass out. Each kid got 4 coins: penny, nickle, dime and a quarter.

For the next song, we each practiced putting them in order. By this time, we were all on the floor, sitting in a circle so it was easy to demonstrate. 

Pennies, Nickels, Dimes and Quarters (Tune: 10 Little Indians)

Pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters
Pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters
Pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters
Put them in that order.

To collect the pretend money back, I pulled out a pig puppet. Then we sang . . .

I Had A Shiny Dime (Tune: The Farmer in the Dell)

I had a shiny dime,
I had a shiny dime,
I put it in my piggy bank
To spend another time.

This was sung with each coin and as each coin was mentioned, kids were invited to drop it into the pig puppet.

 

ACTIVITY

There were 2 activities after story time - 1 was popular and 1 was not. 

1. We brought out the big lego blocks and I challenged the kids to build a bank. 

2. On a table, kids could practice counting out money with dollar bills and coins. 

This one was more popular with the after school crowd.