Preschool Storytime
Opening: Big Books
Fingerplay: Bathtub
For this, I printed out random items to hold up and show the kids. I told them that we had to find our bathtub before we could hear our first story. I held up a candy cane, a heart and a lion, before I showed them my bathtub. Every time I held up the wrong item, the louder and more excited the kids became. This is something I've found the kids love doing, telling me that something is wrong and correcting me.
Book: Ten Pigs
*This book is so adorable to read! The kids really liked counting the pigs along with me, and a few of them caught on at the end that the last pig wasn't really a pig at all! The only thing I would change is make a flannel to go along with this, to show all the pigs being stuffed into one bathtub.
Fingerplay: “If You’re Messy and You Know It”
If you’re messy and you know it, clap your hands (repeat twice)
If you’re messy and you know it, then your face will surely show it.
If you’re messy and you know it, clap your hands.
*Stomp your feet, Jump up and down
*I was afraid this would be too young for the kids, but they went crazy with it! We clapped, stomped and jumped. A great fingerplay for this theme.
Book: Get Out of My Bath!
*I was hoping the kids would enjoy this book more, but they did like getting to see the puppets pop up behind me. It's still a great interactive book to use!
Fingerplay: 5 Rubber Ducks (Use puppet stage)
5 rubber ducks came out to play,
Battling the waves in the tub today.
Along came the splash that sent one to shore,
And then he couldn’t play anymore.
4 rubber ducks…
3 rubber ducks…
2 rubber ducks…
1 rubber duck came out to play,
Battling the waves in the tub today.
Along came the splash that sent him to shore,
Now no rubber ducks can play anymore.
*The kids went crazy over this! What I did was have five rubber ducks on the puppet stage behind me. The kids and I would wave our arms up and down while we said: Battling the waves in the tub today. When we said: Along came the splash, we threw our hands up in the air. At this point, my volunteer behind me took the spray bottle and squirted water over the puppet stage. Screams of surprise and delight erupted, which is music to my ears! Then a rubber duck was pulled down behind the stage and we repeated this again four more times. This was by far the hit of storytime and I can't wait to do this again! I found this wonderful idea here.
Book: Dini Dinosaur
*This is my favorite bath time book and it involves a dinosaur too! I've made a flannel to go along with this book, and my flannel has removable clothes to take off Dini as you read along. Each time I took off part of Dini's clothes I asked the kids, is he ready to take a bath? Thankfully the kids informed me quite louldy, no! Finally, when Dini was ready to jump in the tub, I took a loofah I had as a prop and started scrubbing Dini. I purposefully left some mud spots on him and asked the kids if he was clean yet, so that they could tell me he wasn't. Back to scrubbing Dini! I repeated this a couple more times until we got Dini all clean, and then I finished reading the story. A great read-aloud, and the kids loved it!
Fingerplay: Rubber Ducky
Splish, splash in the tub
With my rubber duckies
This funny one jumped on my head!
My rubber ducky red!
Splish, splash in the tub
With my rubber duckies
Here’s a cute wet little fellow
My rubber ducky yellow!
Splish, splash in the tub
With my rubber duckies
This duck’s the best swimmer that I’ve seen
My rubber ducky green!
Splish, splash in the tub
With my rubber duckies
First, upside down, and then upright
My rubber ducky white!
Splish, splash in the tub
With my rubber duckies
This duck can swim and dive down too!
My rubber ducky blue
Splish, splash in the tub
With my rubber duckies
This ducky floats and doesn’t sink
My rubber ducky pink!
Splish, splash in the tub
With my rubber duckies
I’ve played and washed, but now I’m done
With rubber ducky fun!
*This is a great fingerplay to turn into a flannelboard. The kids had a great time telling me what color my rubber ducks were! You can find this wonderful fingerplay here.
Book: Tub Toys
*I really wanted to read this book, but I just ran out of time. My plan was to bring all the items listed in this book, and show them to the kids as I read the book.
Our craft today was Dini the Dinosaur in his bathtub! The kids glued Dini and all the bubbles onto the paper.
Extra Read-Alouds:
Big Red Tub
Hogwash
Who’s in the Tub?
I have to say, this theme was so much fun! I had a blast with all of the stories, fingerplays and craft. I got the most comments on this theme too, which told me that it was a hit with not only the kids but also the parents! Music to my ears. Sometimes you don't always feel like you're doing a good job, or that you're just doing the same thing over and over. I always want to keep things fresh and exciting, but still not forget the favorites either. It's nice to hear every now and then that you're doing things right. I am so blessed to be doing a job that I love and I thank God for that as often as I can.
Time for Two’s Storytime
Opening: Big Books
Fingerplay: If You Want to Hear a Story
Book: Dini Dinosaur
*This is my favorite bath time book and it involves a dinosaur too! I've made a flannel to go along with this book, and my flannel has removable clothes to take off Dini as you read along. Each time I took off part of Dini's clothes I asked the kids, is he ready to take a bath? Thankfully the kids informed me quite louldy, no! Finally, when Dini was ready to jump in the tub, I took a loofah I had as a prop and started scrubbing Dini. I purposefully left some mud spots on him and asked the kids if he was clean yet, so that they could tell me he wasn't. Back to scrubbing Dini! I repeated this a couple more times until we got Dini all clean, and then I finished reading the story. A great read-aloud, and the kids loved it!
Fingerplay/Flannel: Rubber Ducky
Splish, splash in the tub
With my rubber duckies
This funny one jumped on my head!
My rubber ducky red!
Splish, splash in the tub
With my rubber duckies
Here’s a cute wet little fellow
My rubber ducky yellow!
Splish, splash in the tub
With my rubber duckies
This duck’s the best swimmer that I’ve seen
My rubber ducky green!
Splish, splash in the tub
With my rubber duckies
First, upside down, and then upright
My rubber ducky white!
Splish, splash in the tub
With my rubber duckies
This duck can swim and dive down too!
My rubber ducky blue
Splish, splash in the tub
With my rubber duckies
This ducky floats and doesn’t sink
My rubber ducky pink!
Splish, splash in the tub
With my rubber duckies
I’ve played and washed, but now I’m done
With rubber ducky fun!
*This is a great fingerplay to turn into a flannelboard. The kids had a great time telling me what color my rubber ducks were! You can find this wonderful fingerplay here.
Fingerplay/Flannel: Little Duck, Little Duck, Are you Behind the Truck?
*Since we were talking about ducks, we had to hunt for little duck! You can see this game here.
Book: Get Out of My Bath!
*The two's really enjoyed doing all the motions with me and seeing the puppets behind me. I had planned on throwing little blue circles on them when Ellie the elephant squirted the water out of her bath, but I didn't this time.
Fingerplay: 5 Rubber Ducks (Use puppet stage)
5 rubber ducks came out to play,
Battling the waves in the tub today.
Along came the splash that sent one to shore,
And then he couldn’t play anymore.
4 rubber ducks…
3 rubber ducks…
2 rubber ducks…
1 rubber duck came out to play,
Battling the waves in the tub today.
Along came the splash that sent him to shore,
Now no rubber ducks can play anymore.
After each “splash” I’ll replace a duck with a water…blob? Splash? Mark? Drop? One of these:
*The kids went crazy over this! What I did was have five rubber ducks on the puppet stage behind me. The kids and I would wave our arms up and down while we said: Battling the waves in the tub today. When we said: Along came the splash, we threw our hands up in the air. At this point, my volunteer behind me took the spray bottle and squirted water over the puppet stage. Screams of surprise and delight erupted, which is music to my ears! Then a rubber duck was pulled down behind the stage and we repeated this again four more times. This was by far the hit of storytime and I can't wait to do this again! I found this wonderful idea here.
Book: Bath Time by David Bedford
*I ran out of time to read this book, but it's a great lift-the-flap book to use with this age.
We had bubbles today and the two's did awesome with them! It was so much fun watching the two's try to catch the bubbles and seeing the parents happiness watch their kids. My goal is to bring out the bubbles once a month with this age.
Extra Read-Alouds:
Bathtime Peek-a-Boo!
Mrs. Wishy-Washy’s Farm
Splish, Splash, Baby!
