Pets

This is what I did for my Pets preschool storytime.

OPENING SONG: Clap Your Hands from the Miss Anna's Music Class Volume II CD by Anna Stange

I started out by showing the kids a bunch of different puppets that they might have as a pet (dog, lizard, rat, rabbit, cat, turtle). I showed them the turtle last and explained that in our first book a little boy wanted a turtle more than anything in the world.

BOOK: My Birthday Pet by Ellen Javernick
(Great book. Kids loved it. Really held their interest and they listened quietly.)

FINGERPLAY: Little Turtle
(This was fun. I repeated it a few times so they could get the hang of it.)

There was a little turtle (Make fist like turtle)
That lived in a box
He swam through the puddles (Pretend to swim)
And climbed on the rocks (Pretend to climb)
He snapped at a mosquito (clap)
He snapped at a flea (clap)
He snapped at a minnow (clap)
He snapped at me (clap)
He caught the mosquito (pretend to catch with hand)
He caught the flea
He caught the minnow
But he didn't catch me! (wave finger back and forth)

BOOK: Pet Wash by Dayle Ann Dodds

FINGERPLAY: Animals
(I had the kids stand up and I talked about how different animals move. How would a rabbit hop, a frog, etc. Then I went through the actions and we repeated the action rhyme about 3 times. Got all the wiggles out and they had alot of fun.)

Can you hop like a rabbit?
(Do motions to match words)Can you jump like a frog?
Can you waddle like a duck?
Can you run like a dog?
Can you fly like a bird?
Can you swim like a fish?
Can you sit really still?
(Sit back down with hands in lap)
Like this!

BOOK: Aaaarrgghh Spider! by Lydia Monks
(I showed them a spider puppet and talked about a little spider that just wants to be a pet. That really got them talking. I now know that spiders are a flash point for little kids. Everyone had a story about "dangerous" spiders biting a family member. Major ick factor. Took me a few minutes to calm them down for the book but they loved it once we got going)

FINGERPLAY: Itsy Bitsy Spider

SONG: Do Your Ears Hang Low from the Sing along with Bob #2 CD by Bob McGrath
(I haven't used this song before. I am glad I finally did. The kids loved it. The song gets faster each time. I went over the actions with the kids a few times and then turned on the music. They laughed and loved that it got faster. I played the song twice.)

BOOK: Please Don’t Tease Tootsie by Margaret Chamberlain
(Nice story. Colorful pictures. Uses rhyme and humor to teach kids not to tease their pets. A mom came up afterwards and asked if she could check out my copy. Always a good sign.)

SONG: Fast and slow (the rabbit and the turtle) from the Rocketship Run CD by Laurie Berkner Band
(Fun song. The kids loved going fast and then slow as the different animals but I ended it early. Towards the end it just drags on.)

BOOK: Pet Shop Lullaby by Mary Ann Fraser
(Cute book that shows the hamster keeping all the other animals up at night. The kids were getting restless by this point but I did have something amazing happen. I talked about how some animals don't sleep at night and this one little girl said, "it's cause their nocturnal". Hello, I was impressed.)

ACTIVITY: The Hampster Dance from the soundtrack, How to Eat Friend Worms CD
(The kids had alot of fun with this. I talked about the noisy hampster and then gave them each a drum and we walked around in a circle beating our drum to the beat of the song. Being noisy hampsters. My drums are empty hot chocolate cans and baby formula containers. They work great and are the right price!)

TAKE HOME: A coloring page that I found at this website. http://funschool.kaboose.com/formula-fusion/pets/printables/pet-coloring-pages.html

MUSIC CDs: Miss Anna's Music Class Volume II CD by Anna Stange (Clap Your Hands) Sing along with Bob #2 CD by Bob McGrath (Do Your Ears Hang Low)
Rocketship Run CD by Laurie Berkner Band (Fast and slow-the rabbit and the turtle)
How to Eat Friend Worms CD (The Hampster Dance)