Books
“Bears and a Birthday” by Shirley Parenteau
“The Cake that Mack Ate” by Rose Robart
“How Do Dinosaurs Say Happy Birthday” by Jane Yolen & Mark Teague
Happy Birthday
You can sing the happy birthday song to all of the children or to a character in the book. We sang it to Big Brown Bear!
It’s You Birthday (Tune: Skip to My Loud)
It’s your birthday (point to child)
What’ll I do? (shrug shoulders)
It’s your birthday, what’ll I do?
It’s your birthday, what’ll I do?
What’ll I do for you dear?
Share my cookie (hold fists together)
break it in two (separate fists)
Share my cookie
break it in two
Share my cookie
break it in two
That’s what I’ll do for you dear
Wrap your present (roll hands)
with ribbons of blue
Wrap your present
with ribbons of blue
Wrap your present
with ribbons of blue
That’s what I’ll do for you dear
Give you a hug (hug self of child)
and kisses too
Give you a hug
and kisses too
Give you a hug
and kisses too
That’s what I’ll do for you dear
Pat-a-Cake
Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake (clap hands and tap thighs)
Baker’s man
Bake me a cake as fast as you can
Roll it (roll arms0
Pat it (tap thighs)
And mark it with a B (draw B on child’s stomach or hand)
And put it in the oven for baby and me
Ten Little Candles
10 little candles on a chocolate cake (hold up 10 fingers)
Puff, puff (blow on 2 fingers and lower them)
Now there are 8
8 little candles on candlesticks
Puff, puff
Now there are 6
6 birthday candles and not one more
Puff, puff
Now there are 4
4 birthday candles, red, white and blue
Puff, puff
Now there are 2
2 little candles standing one by one
Puff, puff
Now there are none
How it Went: The first book was a little difficult to get through because one child was very upset this morning. Once he calmed down the stories were better received. Children were excited to talk about their birthdays, cake and presents. One girl’s birthday is coming up and her mom told me that she felt like the storytime was all about her! After the program I put out some gently used books and each child was able to pick one as a “birthday” present. While my little ones loved it, I think this theme would go over better this a preschool or kindergarten age group.