Food

This is what I did for my preschool storytime on Food.

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

I asked the kids about their favorite foods.

BOOK: How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food by Jane Yolen
(Fun and silly book.  The kids were quiet and paid attention and laughed.)

FINGERPLAY: Five Little Jelly Beans
(I used flannel jelly beans on the board and had a dinosaur t-rex puppet.  We repeated the rhyme and counted down and the dinosaur would eat the jellybeans off of the flannel board. I had the kids call out the color that he should eat next. The kids loved the dinosaur puppet and yelling out the color.)

5 little jelly beans
I wish I had more!
I'll eat the (color) one
Now there are four!
4 little jelly beans
Tasty as can be
I'll eat the (color) one
Now there are 3!
3 little jelly beans
Only a few.
I'll eat the (color) one
Now there are 2.
2 little jelly beans
Eating them is fun
I'll eat the (color) one
Now there is one.
1 little jelly bean
The last one for me
I'll eat the (color) one
I'm as happy as be!

FINGERPLAY: Jelly on my head
(I had the kids stand up and then we practiced. They matched the actions to the fingerplay. Then we went through the fingerplay 3 times and we got faster each time.  They seemed to enjoy it.)

Jelly on my head, jelly on my toes
Jelly on my shirt, jelly on my nose
Jelly on my belly, jelly on my knee
Jelly on my elbow, jelly on my ear
Jelly is my favorite food
And when I'm in a jelly mood
I can't ever get enough
Of that yummy, yummy stuff!

BOOK: Wide Mouthed Frog by Keith Faulkner
(Fun pop-up book.  The kids seemed to enjoy the humor of it.  I had them tell me what each animal eats.)

POEM ACTIVITY: Monster's Lunch
(My coworker made a big monster with a see-through stomach and the animals that go with the poem.  As I read the poem I put each animal into his mouth and the kids could see it fall into his stomach. I think they are still too young for this and I needed to practice more.  I was always trying to find the right animal and it messed with the flow of the poem.  Probably won't use again.)

The monster can eat a hearty lunch.
Among his favorites to munch and to crunch
Are alligator eyeballs, armadillos, and bears.
He also adores anaconda in a luscious sauce of pears.
If his stomach still grumbles,
He'll eat a moose,
And perhaps consume a hog, mud turtle, or goose.

But when he's depressed,
Chocolate-covered tarantulas are best.

He enjoys bats because they're chewy,
And slimy slugs are nice and gooey,
And wolverines make a feisty foodstuff.
When you think he's had enough,
He can still consume a whale,
Ingest an ox's tail,
And nibble on a hedgehog or two.

When he's finally through,
With nothing left to chew,
He goes off to sleep,
To dream of sheep,
And mint green jelly,
And other things to put in his belly.

ACTION SONG: Popcorn from the Snack Time CD by Bare Naked Ladies
(I told the kids to get down low like a popcorn kernal then we would jump when the kernel popped and keep jumping.  I played this twice and the kids loved it.  It was alot of fun and it was fun to have a different popcorn song than Raffi.  The kids especially loved jumping non-stop.  I stopped the song before the end because it gets a little long and then had them get back down and we started again.)

FINGERPLAY: Five Ice Cream Cones (can be sung to Frere Jacques)
(I added this at the last minute.  It was ok but not fantastic.  I had 5 ice cream cones with different colored ice cream.  I had the kids count each time and tell me which color to get rid of.  This was pretty good I just felt a little unsure because I hadn't read through the fingerplay yet. I chose not to sing this and I only said each line once.)

Five ice cream cones, five ice cream cones
In the sun, in the sun.
Dripping down my fingers, dripping down my fingers
Run, run, run, now one's done!

BOOK: If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff
(Great story.  Unfortunately I had a smaller version of the book and the kids had a difficult time seeing the pictures so they kept standing up, but they did point to the pictures and laugh but I had to keep encouraging them to sit down.  Next time I will make sure I have a bigger copy of the book.)

ACTIVITY: Food Twister
(I used an instrumental version of the Bunny Hop from the Dance Party Vol. 2 CD by Rich Acocella. This was so much fun.  We had about 20 different plastic Strawberry Shortcake Dance Mats from the Food library storytime box.  I asked the kids how many feet they have, how many hands, etc.  Then I talked about the food that was on the dance mat and we practiced.  Put one hand on the lemon and one on the cupcake, etc.  Then I turned on the music and would call out 2 foods for their hands and 2 for their feet.  then I would have them stand up and shake it off and we would start again.  I intentionally got them all twisted up and there was alot of giggling.  We kept playing until the song was done.  Great idea.  Lots of fun.)

TAKE HOME: Make your own pizza coloring page
(Two white pieces of paper.  One with a circle and the other with a variety of pizza toppings for them to color and glue on the circle.)

MUSIC CDs:
Miss Anna's Music Class Volume II CD by Anna Stange (Clap Your Hands)
Snack Time CD by Bare Naked Ladies (Popcorn)
Dance Party Vol. 2 by Rich Acocella (Bunny Hop Instrumental)