Books

“Giraffes Can’t Dance” by Giles Andrea
“Where is Green Sheep?” by Mem Fox
“Planting a Rainbow” by Lois Ehlert

ABC Magnets

I like to start and end the Alphabet program by singing our ABCs. To start I put out all of the letter magnets and have the children tell me what letter is missing, that becomes our letter of the day. After we go through the letter and some words that start with it I invite each child up to take two letters off the board and put it into my bag. At first all the children like to swarm up and will grab as many letters as they possibly can, but after a few weeks they begin to understand that they must wait until they hear their name called. To help them stick with two letters only I count out loud (this program maxes out at 12 children so I know I will have enough letters). The children get very excited when it is their turn, plus this helps them learn patience and how to take turns!

Spotted Giraffe

The spotted giraffe is tall as can be
(raise arm up)
His lunch is a bunch of leaves off a tree
(nibble with fingers outstretched)
He has a very long neck and his legs are long too
(point to arm and legs)
And he can run faster than me and you!
(running motion)

Source: Fingerplays & Action Rhymes

Little Seed in the Ground

Little seed in the ground (crouch down)
Sitting so still
Little seed, will you sprout?
Yes, I will! (jump up)

Source: SurLaLune

Our Garden (Tune: The Farmer in the Dell)

We’ll plant our garden seeds (digging motion)
We’ll plant our garden seeds
Heigh-ho, the derry-o
We’ll plant our garden seeds.

The rain will water our seeds (flutter hands down)
The rain will water our seeds
Heigh-ho, the derry-o
The rain will water our seeds.

Our seeds will grow so tall (stretch arms up)
Our seeds will grow so tall
Heigh-ho, the derry-o
Our seeds will grow so tall.

Color I See

Red, red is the color I see
If you’re wearing red, then show it to me.
Stand up, take a bow, turn around
And sit back down

(repeat with other colors)

Source: Everything Preschool

Marching Around the Alphabet by Hap Palmer

This song has become a story time favorite! Every week the children line up on the outside of the alphabet rug and start to march with their adult. When the whistle blows the children stop, bend down and point out which letter they are standing on. I like to participate as well and sometimes I will ask a child what letter they stopped on and the color of the square.

Parachute

The children all grab on and we make some waves (fast, slow, big, small) then I ask the parents to hold on to the parachute. The adults lower the parachute and then pop it into the air, the children then go under (lots of happy squeals) and we gently shake the parachute over their heads. We do this 3 or 4 times, there is always one child that doesn’t want to come out but the parents are pretty good about it. Next I have the children hold on again and place foam letters on the parachute. We shake the parachute and watch the letters fly (again lots of happy squeals)!

ABCs

Craft

I always tell the parents to please do not do the craft for their child, feel free to help them use the glue stick but if they want to put an eye where the foot should be well then that’s just artistic license!

How it Went: I love the book “Giraffes Can’t Dance” but I knew that my two year olds would be too antsy during such a long book. I decided to paraphrase and shortened the book, I ended it right when giraffe started dancing and none were the wiser. One of the little boys actually owns this book and pretty much knew it by heart, even he didn’t seem to mind my edited version.