Pajama Party Under the Stars (Preschool and Two's)

Preschool Storytime:

Opening: Big Books

Book: Good Night Owl

*The kids had fun getting to squeak like the mouse all throughout the book. I thought they would enjoy this book more than they did, but they still seemed to like it.

Fingerplay/Flannel: Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed

Book: Everyone Says Goodnight

*I am in love with this book!  It's a great interactive book, because the pages are split.  You have to put away the toys that belong to each animal by turning the page.  Then after that you turn the top part of the page and the animal will close its eyes.  I asked the kids if our animal is asleep or awake, and they enjoyed telling me if our animal had gone to bed yet or not.

Music: Shake Your Sillies Out

Book: Tickle My Ears

*I was worried this book would be too young for the preschoolers, since it's a board book.  Boy, was I wrong!  They went crazy over it!  Throughout the book you have to perform actions to help little rabbit get ready for bed.  After you do something, you turn the page and little rabbit has magically changed!  The kids loved it and I will definitely be using this one again.

Fingerplay/Flannel: Five Little Snowpals

*The kids did this action along with me, but didn't enjoy it as much as I had hoped they would.

Storytelling: Napping House (With Boxes)

*For this story, I read the book and also used boxes. What I did was take the characters from the story, print them out, and tape them to the front of empty boxes. Then, as I read along, my volunteer stacked everyone up. When I came to the part of the story where the flea bit the cat, the my volunteer knocked down the box with the flea and the cat. Each box would then be knocked down until we got to the granny, whose box was then turned around to show a granny who was wide awake. Here is an example of how somebody else did this using blocks. I highly recommend adding this when you tell this story, it really makes it fun and entertaining for the kids!

Fingerplay: Four Little Stars

Four little stars winking at me, one shot off, then there were three.

Three little stars with nothing to do, one shot off, then there were two.

Two little stars afraid of the sun, one shot off, then there was one.

One little star, alone is no fun, it show off, then there was none.

(From Book: Storytime Magic)

*I only used the last two lines of the fingerplay above. What I did was place two stars on my flannelboard and had the kids hold up their hands and have them make them twinkle like stars. After I said the line and took my star off the flannelboard, I then threw out little paper stars onto the kids. This represented the stars taking off! The kids went crazy! Anytime I make things rain down onto the kids they absolutely love it!

Extra Read-Alouds:

Everyone is Yawning

How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night?

Max at Night

Nighty-Night, Cooper

Nighty-Night, Little Green Monster

No Sleep for the Sheep

Pete the Cat and the Bedtime Blues

Roar of a Snore

10 Little Ninjas

Time for Bed, Fred!

For our craft today, the kids made a rabbit to go along with the story we read earlier. They glued the pillow, rabbit and carrots. What I loved the most was a lot of the kids put a carrot in the rabbits mouth! So much fun!

Time for Two's Storytime:

Opening: Big Books

Fingerplay: If You Want to Hear a Story

Book: Tickle My Ears

*The two's really enjoyed this book.  I will definitely be using this one again.

Fingerplay/Flannel: Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed

Book: Everyone is Yawning (With Puppets)

*This book is so precious!  All the animals have cute little mouths that open up to show their mouth and teeth!  I had the animals pop up behind me to correspond with what animal was yawning inside the book.  The two's really liked this lift-the-flap book.

Fingerplay/Flannel: Little Bo Peep Has Lost Her Sheep

*The two's went crazy over this flannel! I am so glad I included it! The website for this is here. What you do is make sheep, and hide them behind objects on your flannelboard. Then you ask the kids to help Little Bo Peep find her sheep! I hid my sheep behind a bush, a tree and a rock. It was so much fun!

Fingerplay: Bear Dancing

*For this I gave out bears that I laminated and put velcro on the back of. The kids danced around with the bears and then placed them on my bed that I had stuck to the flannelboard. I didn't realize they would enjoy placing and pulling the bears off the bed so much! I almost couldn't get them to stop doing that! It was a happy discovery!

Extra Read-Alouds:

Bedtime Pop-Up Peekaboo!

Everyone Says Goodnight

How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight?

Napping House

Nat the Cat Can Sleep Like That

Nighty-Night, Little Green Monster

Sheep Go To Sleep

Time for Bed, Fred!

Tuck Me In!

Wake and Sleep (Sago Mini)

For our craft today, the kids made a rabbit to go along with the story we read earlier. They glued the pillow, rabbit and carrots.