C is for Cookie (Preschool)

Opening: Big Books

Book: Who Stole the Cookies from the Cookie Jar?

*The kids really seemed to enjoy seeing the puppets jump up and snatch the cookies from me. I have my ten cookies inside a flannel cookie jar, and I take them out one by one and feed the puppets as I read along.

Fingerplay/Flannel: Five Little Gingerbread Jumping on the Bed

*The kids loved this fingerplay! Instead of jumping up and down like monkeys, we were gingerbread men today. After the second line everybody caught onto what we were singing and it was a big success.

Book: Cow Loves Cookies

*I love this book, but we ran out of time to read it today.

Fingerplay/Flannel: “Which House?”

   Gingerbread man, quiet as a house.

   Where are you hiding, behind which house?

*The kids always enjoy hunting for something, and today we found our gingerbread man hiding behind a gingerbread house.

Book: Cookie’s Week

*The kids went crazy during this book, and it was because I was throwing things out for them to grab. Let me explain....in this book, the adorable cat Cookie gets into all kinds of mischief. For example, on Monday, Cookie fell in the toilet, and water went everywhere! The kids found this hilarious! What I did was have paper cutouts representing all the things that happened to Cookie. After I read the lines and showed the pictures, then I threw out the things in the book. For the water, I had little blue raindrops that "rained" down upon the kids. Tuesday, Cookie knocks over a plant and dirt flies everywhere. For that, I had little brown circles of paper representing dirt, and the dirt flew down onto the kids. As usual, they went wild wanting more and more things to "fall" down upon them.

Action: Cookie Dancing & Feed Cookie Monster

*We ran out of time to feed cookie monster, but check it out here.

Today we had two special guests visit us, two dancers from the local ballet who are performing in “The Nutcracker”. They performed a short dance and then the ballet dancer read the picture book "The Nutcracker" for the kids.

For our craft, the kids got to make their own cookie baker. Here is where we found the craft, and below is what our craft looked like.

Extra Read-Alouds:

CATCH That Cookie!

If You Take a Mouse to the Movies

Who took the COOKIES From the Cookie Jar?

Turkey Trot (Preschool)

Opening: Big Books

Book: Nanette’s Baguette (With real bread for prop)

*For this book, I bought a long loaf of bread, and cut it up into four pieces. I had my volunteer help me read this book. As you read along, Nanette can't help herself and eats the baguette! As I was reading, my volunteer would break a piece of bread off and put it behind her on a plate. This would represent the piece of bread that Nanette had eaten in the story. I would tell the kids to let me know when my bread was being eaten, and they certainly did! The next time I use this story I will buy a much smaller loaf or just a piece of bread so that we can actually eat the bread and not just put the bread behind us on a plate.

File Folder: Turkey Hunt

*This is such an adorable file folder story, and the kids got very excited seeing the turkey change colors before them. Here is where I found this.

Book: 10 Fat Turkeys (With ten turkeys as props)

*The kids loved shaking around as I read the same stanza through the book, gobble gobble, wibble wobble! I also had ten turkeys propped up on the puppet stage, and as each turkey disappeared, one turkey would fly away behind me. The kids found that very amusing! Below is a picture of what some of our turkeys looked like that we had propped up behind me.

Dancing: Shake Your Sillies Out!

*Since our turkeys danced around I decided that we needed to do a little dancing ourselves!

Fingerplay/Flannel: “Turkey, Turkey”

Turkey, turkey, come and play.

What color house are you in today?

*As usual, the kids went crazy telling me what color house to look behind for our turkey. Here is the website where I found this adorable game!

Action: Feeding Animals

*Click here to see what we did for this activity.

Game: Food guessing game APP

*The kids had a lot of fun guessing what food I was showing them.

*For the craft today, the kids got to make their own turkey finger puppet, which is below. Here is the website where the idea came from.

Games:

Scarecrow Knockdown

Normally this is the favorite game, but today I think all the other games won out over this one.

Pumpkin Soup Dipping

This was one of the top games. I took our big pot and filled it up with water. Then I dumped foam gourds, pumpkins and acorns that came from the dollar store inside. After that, the kids could scoop out the items and put them in our big bowl to make pumpkin soup! Next time I think I'll have out two pots for them to scoop things out of, it was such a big hit.

Letter Matching

This was also one of the top games. I found the free download for this letter matching game here. I didn't have room on my table to place all the letters of the alphabet, so I decided to spell out storytime. I wanted to make this into a sensory bin, so I hid the acorns inside a bowl of leaves. I taped down the squirrels to the table, and then the kids got to dig out the acorns and match them up to the correct squirrel. They really enjoyed this and I am now on the hunt for the next game!

Turkey Feather Matching

The kids really enjoyed doing this game also. I found the template for this matching game here. We decided to do pom-poms, since they've worked out well for us in the past.

Extra Read-Alouds:

Bear Says Thanks

Dinnertime for Chickies

Lemons Are Not Red

Little Mouse and the Big Cupcake

Mouse Who Reached the Sky

Nanette’s Baguette

Peanut Butter and Jelly by Westcott

Please Say Please!

Run, Turkey, Run!

Thank You! By Ethan Long

10 Fat Turkeys

10 Turkeys in the Road

That’s Not Bunny!

Thanksgiving Graces

Thanksgiving Rules

There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Turkey!

Ugly Pumpkin

What’s For Lunch?

New Books for November (Part 2)

Beautiful Oops

*This book is utterly amazing!  I sat down and looked through it twice, it is so fascinating!  Each page is very entertaining with flaps, crinkles, fold-outs, you name it, this book has got it!  It truly is a beautiful oops!

Peekaboo in the Snow

*This book is part of a series that I love!  In this book, you will play peekaboo with precious winter animals.  A great lift-the-flap book to use with your little one.

Turkey Trot (2's)

Opening: Big Books

Fingerplay: If You Want to Hear a Story

Fingerplay: Five Little Turkeys

Five plump turkeys sitting on the ground.

The first one said “Oh my we’re getting round.”

The second one said, “I smell a pumpkin pie.”

The third one said, “But we won’t cry.”

The fourth one said, “Let’s trot, trot, trot.”

The fifth one said, “Quick, don’t get caught!”

In came the farmer and he turned on the light

And five plump turkeys trotted out of sight!

*I didn't get a chance to do this fingerplay, but I wanted to have five turkeys propped up on my puppet stage. When we came to the end of the rhyme, then I would have the volunteer trot my turkeys out of sight. Here is where I found this great rhyme!

Book: Run, Turkey, Run!

*I love reading this book at Thanksgiving, but it ended up being a little long for this age group. The kids did love patting their legs and stomping their feet.

Fingerplay/Flannel: Five Little Pumpkins

Five little pumpkins sitting near a door:

{Alligator} took one, and then there were four.

Four little pumpkins sitting near a tree;

{Pig} took one, and then there were three.

Three little pumpkins, with nothing to do;

{Duck} took one, and then there were two.

Two little pumpkins, in the pale {November} sun,

{Horse} took one, and that left one.

Being alone wasn’t much fun,

Until {Snake} took him, and then there were none.

*We fed our animals pumpkins today, and the kids really enjoyed it.

File Folder Game: Turkey Hunt

*This is such an adorable file folder story, and the kids got very excited seeing the turkey change colors before them. Here is where I found this.

Book: Who’s Hungry? By Hacochen

*This is a really cute book to read. The kids enjoyed it, but were a little restless by this point.

Puppets: Feeding Animals

*Click here to see what I did with this activity.

Fingerplay/Flannel: Turkey, Turkey

Turkey, turkey, come and play.

What color house are you in today?

*We ran out of time today to hunt for our turkey.

Fingerplay/Flannel: Turkey Feathers

*The kids had a blast helping turkey with his feathers! I have a turkey I place on the flannelboard, but he is featherless. I pass out different colored feathers, and then ask the kids to place them around my turkey. Always a big hit with the 2's.

*For the craft today, the kids got to make their own turkey finger puppet, which is below. Here is the website where the idea came from.

Games:

Scarecrow Knockdown

The kids had a blast getting to stack the scarecrow up and knocking him down over and over again!

*Monkey Banana Toss

The kids got to toss bananas into the monkey's mouth that we had taped to a round laundry basket.

*Pumpkin Soup

*This was the favorite game of the day! I took a cauldron and put a couple of inches water in it. Then I dumped foam gourds and pumpkins inside. The kids got to scoop out the gourds and pumpkin with a ladle and place them in the bowl. Then do it all over again!

Yum! Yum! Let's Eat! (Preschool)

Book: “Pete the Cat and the Missing Cupcakes”

*This book was so much fun to read! What I did was make ten cupcakes and place them on rulers. I had them propped up behind me on the puppet stage. As I read, my volunteer pulled them down when it was time. Definitely a great book to use with this theme.

Fingerplay/Flannel: “Who Wants a Pancake?”

Who wants a pancake, piping hot?

{Alligator}  takes the one with butter on top.

Who wants a pancake, piping hot?

{Sheep}  takes the one with blueberries on top.

Who wants a pancake, fresh off the griddle?

{Snake} takes the one with syrup in the middle.

Who wants a pancake, piping hot?

{Monkey} takes the one with bananas on top.

*This was a great fingerplay to do. I found this here.

File Folder Storytelling/Book: “Very Hungry Pumpkin”

*I was really hoping that the kids would enjoy this great story more than they did. I had a few kids that loved it, but last year when I told this story, they were amazed! What I did was make pumpkins out of paper, and I placed a hidden pocket on the back of each pumpkin. When the pumpkin ate each piece of food, I tucked that piece of food into the back pocket to make it disappear. Then I held up the new pumpkin, and went on to the next line of the story. To see the full version of this and the website where I found it, click here.

Book: “Worms for Lunch”

*I am in love with this story, but the kids weren't taken off with it like I am. They enjoyed it, but not as much as I had hoped.

Fingerplay/Flannel: “Turkey, Turkey”

Turkey, turkey, come and play.

What color house are you in today?

*As usual, the kids went crazy telling me what color house to look behind for our turkey. Here is the website where I found this adorable game!

Book: “Peanut Butter and Jelly”

*This book is such a great book to make interactive. In the back of the book is a list of hand motions that you can do with each page. Sadly, we ran out of time for this one.

Action: “Feed Rabbit”

Rabbit, rabbit, crunch, crunch, crunch.

How about a carrot for your lunch?

*I had forgotten how much the kids love feeding the animals food! Normally I will feed our puppets food before we do this action, but the kids were already too restless at this point for that. What I did was hand out carrots to the kids. Then I showed them my bunny rabbit and they went crazy! I popped my carrot into the rabbit's mouth and held him while the kids rushed up to feed the rabbit. Here is the website where I found this wonderful idea.

Game: App game of GUESS THE FOOD

*I completely forgot to play this game with the kids, but am planning on doing it next time.

Action: Turn kids into a pizza!!!

*This had to be the favorite part of storytime for the kids. I normally do this during October, which is National Pizza Month. What I do is have the kids sit or lay down on their carpet squares. I have all the pizza toppings cut out of construction paper. I sprinkle them with flour, and then sprinkle the paper toppings out onto the kids. They go crazy over this! We usually do this at least twice a year, and they never tire of it. In the book "Pete's a Pizza", the little boy can't go outside and play. So his parents turn him into a pizza, which is why we do this with the kids. So much fun!

Extra Read-Alouds:

I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie

I’ll Wait, Mr. Panda

Mouse Who Reached the Sky

Nanette’s Baguette

Ten Apples Up On Top!

Ten Hungry Pigs

Craft:
For our craft today the kids made pancakes! For some reason, I can't find my sample. But the kids got to take four small pancakes and glue them to a small saucer. Then they got to choose from all kinds of paper toppings we had laid out. So much fun!