Storytime

Storytime: Zoo

Books

“Gladys Goes Out to Lunch” by Derek Anderson
“From Head to Toe” by Eric Carle
“Animal Strike at the Zoo, It’s True” by Karma Wilson

Five Elephants in the Bathtub

One elephant in the bathtub going for a swim (swimming motion)
Knock, knock (clap twice)
Splash, splash (slap knee twice)
Come on in (motion with hand to come in)

(count up)

Five elephants in the bathtub going for a swim
Knock, knock
Splash, splash
They all fell in (raise both arms)

Source: Storytime Katie

Funky Spunky Monkey (Tune: Itsy Bitsy Spider)

The funky spunky monkey climbed up the coconut tree
(climbing motion)
Down came the coconut and bonked him on his knee
(wave hand down and slap knee)
Along came his mama and kissed away his pain
(blow a kiss)
So the funky spunky monkey climbed up the tree again
(climbing motion)

Source: Jbrary

Five Little Monkeys Swinging in a Tree

Five little monkeys swinging in a tree (hold up 5 fingers)
Teasing Mr. Alligator “You can’t catch me, no you can’t catch me” (shake finger)
Along comes Mr. Alligator, as quiet as can be (put hands together and move slowly)
And snatch that monkey right out of the tree (clamp down hands)

(Count down)

Animal Action by Greg and Steve

 

Craft

For the craft I cut out two eye holes in a paper plate and attached each plate to a popsicle stick. I also cut out all of the elephant pieces (ears, hair and nose). Kids colored their plates, the parts and then glued it all together.

How it Went: This program was held for 3-5 year olds (the majority were 3) and it was a blast, anything that allows the kids to make animal  noises and hop around is sure to be a crowd pleaser. Before reading “Animal Strike at the Zoo It’s True” I did have to give the children a brief explanation of what a strike was, and the children acted out each move while I read “From Head to Toe,” but surprisingly “Gladys Goes Out to Lunch” was the big hit of story time!

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