Stars & Hearts

This was the last week of our shape-themed storytimes.  We chose hearts because this is the week of Valentine’s Day, and stars because we weren’t all convinced we wanted to do a full storytime’s worth of hearts.

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

Story: Love Monster by Rachel Bright.  He’s not supposed to be cute, but he’s Just. So. Adorable!  I don’t usually use such a straight narrative for the first story, but it was a reasonably short story and moved pretty quickly, so everyone was (more or less) attentive.  And very glad when Love Monster finally found his perfect match.

 

Story: Nighty-Night, Cooper by Laura Numeroff.  There’s nothing better for a wandering group than a musical book.  The story is not great, but singing silly words to a familiar tune is a pretty sure-fire way to keep the kids’ attention.  After the first song or two, they really got into it and started trying to identify all the tunes in the book.

Song: “Alabama, Mississippi” by Jim Gill from Jim Gill Sings the Sneezing Song and Other Contagious Tunes.  I passed out egg shakers and we danced, sang, and shook along with the CD.

Story: How to Catch a Star by Oliver Jeffers.  This one was another pretty straight narrative, but again kept the kids’ attention.  They loved all his different attempts to catch the star, and were very satisfied by the solution.

 

Story: My Heart is Like a Zoo by Michael Hall.  This one seemed like a must-read for a heart-themed storytime.  There isn’t a lot of story, but it’s fun to see how he uses the hearts, and the kids liked trying to identify the animals (although there are some slightly odd choices.)

Craft: Make something special for someone you love.  Pink, white, red, and purple construction paper; stickers; heart-themed ribbon; heart-themed cupcake papers; stamper markers; glue and crayons.