April Fool's Day Storytime

Books:

Today I Will Fly! by Mo Willems
Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock retold by Eric A. Kimmel
Pickin' Peas retold by Margaret Read MacDonald

Additional Books:

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

Today is April Fool's Day and we had a lot of fun with it at the library. We filled all of the book displays (children's, adult, new books, and staff picks) with Rainbow Magic books and signs that say "Check out Great Non-fiction", or "New Biographies!"

In storytime I decided to run the whole thing backwards, since we always start with the same 2 songs and end with the same 2 songs. Then when the kids where totally confused I pulled out A Tale of Two Cities for our first book (which I said was our last book) and read the opening line "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." I wasn't sure if the kids would pick up on the joke, but they got it pretty fast. They started calling out "that book is too long!" Then when I asked what day it is today many called out "April Fools!". Storytime then went crazy for about 5 minutes, but then everyone settled down and we read stories about tricksters. Despite things getting a little crazy for a few minutes, the kids were really into the storytime. They were laughing louder than usual at the stories and dancing crazier during the songs. Something about the joke released their inhibitions and everyone seemed to get into the spirit of it.

Storytime order:

• If You're Happy and You Know It!
• 10 Little Bubbles
• Last Book: A Tale of Two Cities
• Explanation of April Fools Day
• Book: Today I will Fly
• Scarves: Popcorn Song/ 2 Little Black Birds
• Book: Anansi and the Moss Covered Rock
• Song: Wheels on the Bus
• Song: Shake Your Sillies Out!
• The End. 

Construction Storytime

Books:

The Little Dump Truck by Margery Cuyler
Tip Tip Dig Dig by Emma Garcia
Dinosaur Dig! by Penny Dale
Digger Man by Andrea Zimmerman & David Clemesha

Additional Books:

Bang! Boom! Roar! A Busy Crew of Dinosaurs by Nate Evans & Stephanie Gwyn Brown
Truckery Rhymes by Jon Scieszka

Songs and Rhymes:

Cranes (Action Rhyme)

Cranes reach up,
Cranes reach down,
Cranes reach out,
Cranes reach all around.

Five Little Nails

Five little nails, standing straight and steady
Here I come with my hammer ready!
Bam, bam, bam! That nail goes down.
Now there's just found nails to pound.

(For instructions on how to make your own check out Mel's Desk) 

Construction Song

This is the way we pound our nails, pound our nails, pound our nails.
This is the way we pound our nails, so early in the morning.
This is the way we saw the wood...
This is the way we drill a hole...
This is the way we lay the bricks...
This is the way we stir the paint...
This is the way we paint the walls...

Opposites Storytime

Books:

Polar Opposites by Eric Brooks
The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse retold by Helen Ward
Where is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox

Additional Books:

Octopus Opposites by Stella Blackstone
Go, Dog, Go! by P.D. Eastman
Opposnakes by Salina Yoon

Songs:

Shaker Song

 

We shake shake shake shake... stop!
We shake shake shake shake... stop!
Shake them high!
Shake them low!
Shake them fast!
and shake them s...l...o...w...

(repeat) 

When we sing the shaker song we start by talking about listening because when I say stop we shouldn't hear any shakers. We also talked about opposites. If I say high, what would the opposite of high be? etc.

Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes

Heads, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes
Heads, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes
and eyes and ears and mouth and nose,
Heads, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes!

Now we'll sing in super slow motion:

Heads, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes
Heads, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes
and eyes and ears and mouth and nose,
Heads, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes!

What is the opposite of slow? (fast!) Now we'll sing it super fast - if you can keep up:

Heads, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes
Heads, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes
and eyes and ears and mouth and nose,
Heads, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes!