Letter G

Opening Song: “I Am Here & You Are Here” by Peter & Ellen Allard (on Sing It! Say It! Stamp It! Sway It! Vol. 3)

Mystery Bag objects: grapes, glasses, gorilla, and gloves.  We also had a goat, glue, and plastic gears.

Because we’d already talked about the letter, I introduced each story or song by having them guess what G-word it was about.

Story: The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson.  (I told them they’d never be able to guess the G-word here because – gruffalo!)  I don’t know why I’ve never read this in storytime before.  It’s awesome!  Julia Donaldson is a genius with rhythm and rhyme, and this story is so clever.  I was afraid it would go over the heads of the little guys, but it worked, maybe because they just enjoyed the repetition and the language.

Flannel / Song: “The Green Grass Grew All Around” (green and grass).  I did this flannel as a call-and-response.  It really got the adults involved.  I may have to try more call-and-response songs in the future!

Story: Shoes from Grandpa by Mem Fox (grandpa).  I love the cumulative story with all the repetition.  There are some tricky rhymes because of the Australian English, but overall, it works.  The ending got a good laugh from both adults and kids.

Song: “Sticky Bubble Gum” (gum).  I started off by pretending I had put a piece of gum in everyone’s pockets.  I had them take out the gum and start to chew, and then started the song.  I did hands to start and then let the kids pick where the bubble gum went.  Their favorite was mouth, because once something’s stuck on your mouth, you have to mumble, and that’s just hilarious.  You just have to make sure not to do it too early in the song so they know what it is you’re supposed to be saying.  I don’t know why this song is as fun as it is, but the kids love it.  It can last a long, long time if you need it to.

Story: Go Away, Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley.  This is a classic and many of the kids have seen it at home or at school.  For the first half, I mostly read, but for the second half, I have them join me in the “Go away…” parts.  “Let’s all say ‘go away’ to the scraggly purple hair.  Go away, scraggly purple hair!”  Even if they’ve seen it before, the paper engineering is fun to watch.

Closing Song: “See Ya Later”

Craft:  Play with green “goo” (using the OMSI flubber recipe which for some reason I can no longer find from OMSI.  Hmmm.)  I didn’t put out cookie cutters or anything, just globs of the flubber, and everyone had fun.  Some of the adults played, too.  Again, we had a few folks who stayed for quite a long time.  Our Monday storyteller made a few batches and we used them all week.  Since mine is the last storytime of the week, I let the kids who asked take some home in a Ziploc bag.  I’ve made this for my kids at home, and it can last a good month or two if you keep it sealed.

 

The Green Grass Grew All Around

In the wood,
There was a tree.
The prettiest tree
That you ever did see.

Oh, the tree’s in the wood…
And the green grass grew all around, all around,
And the green grass grew all around.

 

And in that tree, there was a branch…
And on that branch, there was a nest…
And in that nest, there was an egg…
And in that egg, there was a bird…
And on that bird, there was a wing…
And on that wing, there was a feather…
And on that feather, there was a flea…

 

Ends with:
Oh, the flea’s on the feather
And the feather’s on the wing
And the wing’s on the bird
And the bird’s in the egg
And the egg’s in the nest
And the nest is on the branch
And the branch is on the tree
And the tree’s in the wood…
And the green grass grew all around, all around,
And the green grass grew all around.

Sticky Bubble Gum

Sticky, sticky, sticky, sticky bubble gum
Bubble gum, bubble gum.
Sticky, sticky, sticky, sticky bubble gum,
Sticking on my hands.

Oh, no!  (Pretend your hands are stuck together.)
1 – 2 – 3 – Unstick!  (Pull hands apart.)

Repeat for other body parts.

 

Possible subthemes: gardening, geese, ghosts, giraffes, goats, goldfish, grandparents, green, gum 

Other possible titles:  

Muncha! Muncha! Muncha!  by Candace Fleming (garden)
My Garden by Kevin Henkes (garden)
Bubble Gum, Bubble Gum by Lisa Wheeler
Gus’s Garage by Leo Timmers