November Sensory Games

For November I only did sensory games with the preschoolers.  This worked out really well, because I feel like the two's don't seem to enjoy the games as much as the older ages do.

1.) Sandwich Word Matching
Credit: In My World
I was really excited to have the kids match the words and build a sandwich.  I don't know if it was due to the low number of kids, but this was the least favorite game.  I will definitely give this one another try, because its just too cute not too!

2.) Apple Seed Counting

Credit: In My World

I was very hesitant but also extremely enthusiastic about this game.  I had apples laid out on the chairs, and the clothespins with seeds hot-glued onto the ends.  The preschoolers came up and got to clip the seeds onto the apples.  I only had one little girl that didn't understand the concept of the clothespin, but it didn't take her long to figure it out!  This is such a great fine motor skill for them, pinching the clothespin and then clipping it to an item.  I have plans to do this game again!

3.) Bear Putt-Putt

I usually do either bowling or putt-putt each month and this month we had bear stories.  So, I decided to let us have some fun with bear!

4.) Turkey Sponge Ball

The kids love putting sponge balls through my box!  This month they got to match the ball to the correct feather on the turkey.  Very easy to do and the sponge balls are a great texture for them to feel and grip.

N is Night Before Thanksgiving (Two's)

Time for Two’s:

Opening: Big Books

Fingerplay: If You Want to Hear a Story

Book: 10 Fat Turkeys

*I love to read this story to the two's, because it's so much fun to see their reaction! You count down from ten turkeys to zero as you read this story. While I'm reading, my volunteer takes down a turkey from the puppet stage behind me. It took a few turkeys disappearing before the two's realized what was happening, but they loved doing the wiggling along with me in the book! This is great to help counting down with your numbers and it has a very cute repetitive phrase all throughout the book also.

Puppets: Feeding Animals

*Bear-Honey, Mouse-Cheese, Elephant-Peanuts, Cow-Grass, Cat-Milk, Pig-Apple

Fingerplay/Flannel: Turkey, Turkey

Turkey, turkey, come and play.

What color house are you in today?

Board Book: Where is Baby’s Turkey?

Action: Turkey Feathers

*We ended storytime with this fun flannelboard. You can make this a great learning activity by calling out for each colored feather. I have included a picture below of the turkey and his feathers.

The craft for our storytime is a shape turkey!  I have to say, we have some very cute turkeys!

Credit: Oriental Trading

Extra Books:

Preschool Storytime:

Book: 10 Fat Turkeys (Special guest doing ASL)

*Normally I get a much bigger reaction out of the preschoolers when I do this, but we only had 10 preschoolers today, so that will tend to dampen the reaction sometimes. I have ten turkeys propped up behind me while I'm reading, and my volunteer will take one down as I read. I have a picture below showing all my turkeys!

Puppets: Feeding Animals

*Bear-Honey, Mouse-Cheese, Elephant-Peanuts, Cow-Grass, Cat-Milk, Pig-Apple

Book: Dragons Love Tacos (Use Novelist App)

*I don't know if you've heard of the Novelist App, but it's amazing!!! This is the first time I've used it in storytime and I was so excited to use it with this book. Unfortunately, the kids didn't enjoy the sound effects. I did have two little boys that adored hearing the dragon sounds. I think if I had a bigger crowd they would have enjoyed hearing all the sound effects much better. I definitely plan on using this app again in storytime, I highly recommend it. It is utterly amazing!

Fingerplay/Flannel: Turkey, Turkey

Turkey, turkey, come and play.

What color house are you in today?

Puppets: Feeding Animals

*Bear-Honey, Mouse-Cheese, Elephant-Peanuts, Cow-Grass, Cat-Milk, Pig-Apple

Book: Bad Kitty Does Not Like Thanksgiving

*This book worked out wonderfully! I had little paper cut-outs of the food to throw out onto the preschoolers. Why? Because bad kitty ends up pulling all the food off the table. Every time that happens I throw out the paper food onto the preschoolers.

*The craft for today was the same one that the two's did. A cute shape turkey!!! We also had games today and you can check out all that we played here!

Extra Books:

M is for Mouse Mess (Preschool and Two's)

Preschool Storytime:

Opening: Big Books

Book: Little Mouse’s Big Breakfast

I like to make this story come to life, so I have made a mouse that I put onto a box. Then, as I'm reading my volunteer will stick all of the food the mouse is eating on the boxes. Why? Because the mouse drops all the food he is stacking when he sees the cat! When that happens my volunteer knocks over all the boxes! Not only does this bring the book visually to life but it is also a lot of fun to knock the boxes over!

Flannelboard: Hiding game with food

*Little mouse, little mouse, where can you be?

Are you behind the grapes?  Let’s see!

Book: Hide and Squeak (With mouse puppet popping up)

*This is an adorable rhyming book about a little mouse playing hide-and-seek! Each time I would read a certain stanza my volunteer would pop up the mouse puppet behind me. My hope was the preschooler kids would holler at me and tell me the mouse was behind me. Thankfully they enjoyed it and loved seeing the mouse pop up and down!

Action: Five Little Mice (Make five mice to go onto puppet stage) 

Five little mice came out to play

Gathering crumbs along the way.

Out came pussycat sleek and fat,

Four little mice go scampering back.

*Repeat until zero mice left.

Credit: https://www.jocolibrary.org/kids/storytime-blog/april-14-mice

Book: Lunch

*I have never used this book in storytime before, but I am so happy I did! This book is super simple for preschoolers, but I turned it into a guessing game for them. I did make all the food for mouse, and as I was reading this book I wore a mouse finger puppet. Why? Because I took each mouse finger puppet and slid the food over my hand, just like you would if you were doing "The Very Hungry Caterpillar". I've included pictures below of the food so that you can see what it all looked like.

The craft is a cute little mouse holding two cookies with different colored squares.

Credit: http://www.kinderbykim.com/journals.htm

Extra Books:

Time for Two’s Storytime:

Opening: Big Books

Book: Hide and Squeak

*This is an adorable rhyming book about a little mouse playing hide-and-seek! Each time I would read a certain stanza my volunteer would pop up the mouse puppet behind me. Usually the two's enjoy seeing a puppet pop up then disappear behind me, but today they went completely crazy over this! I do believe that everyone in the whole building, even on the fourth level, heard them screaming in excitement!

Flannelboard: Wheels on the Bus

Flannelboard: Hiding game with mice and cheese 

Book: Lunch by Fleming

*I have never used this book in storytime before, but I am so happy I did! This book is super simple for preschoolers, but I turned it into a guessing game for them. I did make all the food for mouse, and as I was reading this book I wore a mouse finger puppet. Why? Because I took each mouse finger puppet and slid the food over my hand, just like you would if you were doing "The Very Hungry Caterpillar". I've included pictures above of the food so that you can see what it all looked like.

One little two year-old boy was absolutely adorable, he was so fascinated seeing the little mouse finger puppet pop up through the food! I highly recommend taking the time to make the food out of construction paper, it is truly worth the effort.

*For the craft, the two's did the same cute little mouse as the preschooler did, which is pictured at the end of the preschool post.

L is for Leaves Falling All Around (Preschool and Two's)

Preschool Storytime:

Opening: Big Books

Book: One Leaf, Two Leaves, Count With Me!

*For this, I made a giant tree and put this up on my flannelboard. As I was reading, my volunteer put up ten green leaves. During the story, the leaves changed from green to red or yellow. When that happened, my volunteer flipped the leaves over and the preschoolers loved seeing this happen! What I love about this book is not only does it teach all the seasons of the year but it also teaches counting. You start out counting from one to ten, then you go backwards from ten to one. I also like that on each page there are big numerals to show what number you are on. A great literacy tool to help with numbers and seasons.

Fingerplay/Flannel:

Acorn, acorn, where do you hide?

Are you under the _____ leaf? 

Let's peek inside!

Credit: Literary Hoots

File Folder: Fall Is Not Easy

*I was a little worried that my preschoolers were too young to enjoy this, but they liked it! A few years ago my boss made this story into a file folder story, which makes it much more enjoyable to me.

Fingerplay: Scarecrow, Scarecrow

Scarecrow, scarecrow, turn around

Scarecrow, scarecrow, touch the ground

Scarecrow, scarecrow, clap your hands and touch your knees.

Scarecrow, scarecrow, turn around and stomp your feet.   

Swing your arms so very slow.

Now real fast to scare the crows!

Tap your head, now jump up and down.

Turn around and sit back down.

Credit: Play-and-Learn!

Action: Scarf Dancing

Our craft is an owl with leaves scattered all around him.  The preschoolers adored gluing the leaves down, I think that was their favorite part!

Credit: Glued To My Crafts

Extra Books:

Time for Two's Storytime:

Opening: Big Books

Fingerplay: If You Want to Hear a Story

Book: We’re Going on a Leaf Hunt

*This book is on the premise of "I'm going on a bear hunt", but you guessed it, we are gathering leaves instead! Whenever I find a leaf while I'm reading the book, I stop and ask where my leaf is?  Then the puppet appears behind me with the leaf in its mouth. The two's were astonished when the puppets appeared with leaves for me!

Fingerplay/Flannel:

Acorn, acorn, where do you hide?

Are you under the _____ leaf? 

Let's peek inside!

Credit: Literary Hoots

Fingerplay: Scarecrow, Scarecrow

Scarecrow, scarecrow, turn around

Scarecrow, scarecrow, touch the ground

Scarecrow, scarecrow, clap your hands and touch your knees.

Scarecrow, scarecrow, turn around and stomp your feet.   

Swing your arms so very slow.

Now real fast to scare the crows!

Tap your head, now jump up and down.

Turn around and sit back down.

Credit: Play-and-Learn!

Book: Tap the Magic Tree

* I didn’t read all of this book, because the two's were very active today!

*For the craft, the two's did the same one as the preschoolers, which is at the end of the preschool post above.

Extra Book:

November New Books 2019