Bunnies!

So, today's storytime was bunny themed for the upcoming Easter holiday. I had the kids make rabbit eared hats which they enjoyed. But I only got to tell one story because the kids were far more interested in the hats. This is one of those instances where I wonder if I should shift the craft to the end of the storytime but for now I still prefer it as a method to gather a crowd.

This story was good though because it was simple but clever enough for the slightly older girl I had in the audience who was paying the most attention.

SHEEP!

Yesterday I gave a sheep themed storytime and had the kids make woolly sheep by pasting cotton balls onto paper sheep cut-outs. Good fun. Of the sheep stories I read, this was the best--a sheep that just keeps getting bigger because he doesn't stop eating. Excellent. Check him out in all his woolly glory.

A Dancing Good Storytime

Today my storytime theme was dancing. Since my first story, Yoshi's Feast, featured Japanese dance, I had the kids decorate paper fans for a craft. I brought my kimono and Japanese fan to do the dance in the story. The kids enjoyed the craft, perhaps got a little to in to the dancing, but I kept my audience entertained which is the important part.

In Yoshi's Feast, Yoshi's neighbor says he will charge him money for smelling his restaurant's food. Yoshi says if he is charged for the smell, he'll pay with the sound of his money (I brought a money box to shake). Eventually, Yoshi decides to help his neighbor out by doing a fabulous dance to attract customers to the restaurant.

It would be a bit of a complex story for some of the kids with shorter attention spans if I just read it it straight. But that's why I always perform a shorter version with the kimono, fan, and money box as my props.

This second one, Twist With a Burger, Jitter With a Bug, was a good find. It's a short but rhythmic little ditty on dancing.

The last book, Down By the Cool of the Pool features a simple rhyme with a bunch of animals dancing. I decided to do a dancing theme after choosing Yoshi's Feast but not finding any other Japanese stories I wanted to tell. I choose the other two books for a gender neutral approach to dance. Too many books talked about little girls taking ballet, so I was happy I found these.

Mice Are Nice

I did a mouse themed storytime today. I told Frederick by Leo Lionni and If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff. Both are great, and the kids seemed to like all of the stories relatively equally, but I enjoyed the other two stories I told the most. I've never told Mouse Count before but had seen another storyteller use Mouse Paint by the same author. I think I like Mouse Count the best because it manages to be, simple, cute, and clever all at once. I like stories that have a little bit of conflict so the snake is great. Probably the best counting book I've ever read. I love the snake's refrain describing the mice "little, warm, and tasty." And the pile of mice in the jar is irresistably cute.

This second story I have done before. It's in an anthology of mice stories, but my favorite is about a hive of bees landing on a mouse's head and how he climbs into a muddy swamp to get them off. I miss the awesome beehive hat that I borrowed from a storyteller where I used to work. But it's still fun to do the bee voices.

Attack of the Baby Birds!

Today I did a story time featuring three of my favorite children's books. The reason I love all of them is they're absolutely adorable but not the type of sickeningly sweet adorable that makes you want to stick a fork in your eye.

I personally relate to I'm Not Cute because it's the same mantra I stood by as a child. Throughout the story baby owl tries to convince all the creatures of the forest that he's not cute. He's a sleek, scary, hunting machine! But when mama owl finally comes to agree with him, baby owl has a change of heart...

This book is perfect for preschool on up. The illustrations are incredibly fun, and the book also doesn't have too many words while still being a clever concept that both adults and children can appreciate.


Another adorable book but with a bite to it. First the singing chick gets eaten by Fox, then Fox starts singing and gets eaten by Wolf, then Wolf starts singing and gets eaten by Bear! Will the contagious singing ever stop?

Of course, it will, but not before some laughs. The illustrations, once again, are the best, as well as being large and easy for children to see. Though it does get a bit wordy around the middle. I originally abbreviated it and acted it out with puppets to mitigate this problem, but today I succeeded in reading it straight to a two year old. This made me happy since the illustrations are half the fun of this excellent book.

Guji Guji is a bit like the Ugly Duckling, except more for adopted chidren. Guji Guji, the crocoduck, is raised by ducks. When he realizes he's a crocodile he's distraught. But after he saves his family from a gang of hungry crocodiles, he's happy just the way he is and with the people--or rather ducks--who love him.

This one might be a bit long to read straight to a toddler which is why I personally made a felt board and abbreviate the story. But the concept is beautiful and I wouldn't hesitate to read it to any child if I knew they had the attention span.