Books

“Cock-a-Doodle Quack Quack” by Ivor Baddiel
“Who Took the Farmer’s Hat” by Joan L. Nodset
“Big Red Barn” by Margaret Wise Brown

The Pigs on the Farm (tune: The Wheels on the Bus)

For this song I had puppets that corresponded to each animal we sang about.

The pigs on the farm go oink, oink, oink
oink, oink, oink
oink, oink, oink
The pigs on the farm go oink, oink, oink
All night long

(repeat with other animals)

The farmer on the farm says “Go to sleep”
go to sleep, go to sleep
The farmer on the farm says “Go to sleep”
So I can get my rest

Open Up the Barn Door

For this rhyme all I did was glue a barn onto a manila folder, then I cut out where the barn door is. I printed the animals in the correct spots on a piece of paper (trial and error). I say the first line, open the door, let the kids tell me what animal and then we make the noise together. Then I just pull that piece of paper out. Make sure your paper is in the correct order before you start storytime.

Open up the barn door, the spring goes boink
There’s a pig in the barn saying oink, oink, oink
Open up the barn door before the clock strikes two
There’s a cow in the barn saying moo, moo, moo
Open up the barn door, it’s a sunny day
There’s a horse in the barn saying neigh, neigh, neigh
Open up the barn door singing tra-la-la
There’s a sheep in the barn saying baa, baa, baa
Open up the barn door, while the sky is blue
There’s a rooster in the barn saying cock-a-doodle-doo
Open up the barn door and don’t get off the track
There’s a duck in the barn saying quack, quack, quack

Parachute

At the end of storytime I brought out the parachute (to many squeals). After our usual round of songs I sing with it I put the farm animal puppets on the parachute and we made them fly.

How it Went: I’ve been on a little bit of a storytime hiatus and my co-worker has been covering my programs for me. I must say it was a treat to be back and see so many smiling faces. “Cock-a-Doodle Quack Quack” was the biggest hit for storytime. I’m not sure the younger children understood “Who Took the Farmer’s Hat” but the preschoolers really enjoyed it. While “Big Red Barn” is one of my favorites I did have to cut it short because the kids were starting to get antsy. Overall this storytime was a big hit and the kids love any program that ends with the parachute.