Books
“Up, Down, and Around” by Katherine Ayres
“Growing Vegetable Soup” by Lois Ehlert
“The Carrot Seed” by Ruth Krauss
Five Fat Peas
Five fat peas in a peapod pressed
(hold up 5 fingers and intertwine hands)
One grew, two grew and so did all the rest
(raise fingers up 1 by 1)
They grew and they grew and they didn’t stop
(slowly separate hands)
They grew and they grew until they popped!
(clap hands)
Something in My Garden
I downloaded an app to my phone that plays animal noises. I would play the noise and ask the children what animal they thought it was. Then I would hold up a corresponding puppet. The kids loved this but after they learned the puppets were in my bag they kept taking them out for the rest of the storytime. I should have waited until the end to introduce them.
There’s something in my garden, now what can it be?
There’s something in my garden that I can’t really see
Hear it’s funny sound
A (animal) is what I found!
Farmer and His Seeds (Tune: Farmer in the Dell)
The farmer plants the seeds (pretend to plant seeds)
The farmer plants the seeds
Hi, ho the derry-o
The farmer plants the seeds
The sun comes out to shine (circle arms overhead)
The sun comes out to shine
Hi, ho the derry-o
The sun comes out to shine
The rain begins to fall (wiggle fingers down)
The rain begins to fall
Hi, ho, the derry-o
The rain begins to fall
The seeds begin to grow (slowly raise arms up)
The seeds begin to grow
Hi, ho the derry-o
The seeds begin to grow
The farmer picks the veggies (pulling motion)
The farmer picks the veggies
Hi, ho the derry-o
the farmer picks the veggies
Now we’ll have some soup (eating motion)
Now we’ll have some soup
Hi, ho the derry-o
Now we’ll have some soup
Out in the Garden (Tune: Down by the Station)
I bought this wonderful felt vegetables at Target in the dollar section and have been dying to use them! I originally planned to sing the song for each vegetable and have a rabbit puppet “eat” the veggies off of the felt board. The kids were a little crazed at this point and the rabbit was already bouncing around the storytime room. Instead I have the children (who were already clustered around me) a veggie and asked them to feed the rabbit. They really seemed to enjoy it.
Out in the garden early in the morning
See the red tomatoes all in a row
See the hungry bunny coming out to eat them
Crunch, munch, crunch, munch, off he goes
(repeat with other vegetables)
How it went: This storytime got a little bit off track. A child spied the puppets sitting in the basket under the flannel board and instantly started pulling them out. Puppets went flying and children scattered to grab one. I was able to get all of the puppets back for when we needed them but children continued to take them out during the program. Besides the puppet fiasco this theme was very interactive and a lot of fun!