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!