Chicken Preschool Story Time

Hello storytime colleagues!!  After a hiatus of FAR TOO LONG, we at Fairy Twins Book Time are BACK!  A combination of being insanely busy (read: I -- Sara -- got married!), and some annoying technical difficulties were keeping us away -- but we hope to be back in full force from now on!  HUZZAH!

And so, without further ado, let's get back to storytime goodness.  I'm not going to try to go back and catch up on all the great storytimes we missed -- onward and upward!

Yesterday (2/24/16), I did a chicken storytime for preschoolers!  Mostly because I have so many fantastic chicken songs/rhymes, I wanted to take advantage.

Opening Song: Open Them Shut Them (click on the link for a video of how I do it)

Opening Rhyme: Humpty Dumpty (I STILL need to create a video of my version of Humpty Dumpty -- maybe sometime soon I can make this happen!)

Opening Discussion: Before we started reading books, I pulled felt letters (spelling CHICKEN) out of my magical Dr. Seuss pencil box.  This always takes a bit, because we spend time identifying the letters, and sounding them out, and talking about if anyone's name starts with any of the letters and and and...it's kind of a thing.

Book #1: Chicken Butt by Erica S. Perl, illustrated by Henry Cole

I requested the assistance of my supervisor for this one -- this book really works better for two people, 'cause it's a parent and a kid going back and forth.  I think it's possible that I actually thought it was more hilarious than the kids (apparently my humor has settled at right about kindergarten level).  My kids are usually really good at guessing rhyming words, but for some reason this book was tricky for them?  That's not necessarily a bad thing -- maybe I'll try it again later in the season when they've had more of a chance to try out rhyming!



Action Rhyme: Chicken Chant

I genuinely can't remember where I found this, but I cannot take credit for the whole thing.  However, when I found it it only had the first five verses...and I took some liberties and added more so it would go all the way up to ten.  At some point I'll film it, because it is HILARIOUS.  It's a chant, so you just kind of chant it in rhythm.

Chicken 1, Chicken 2 (hold up fingers for the numbers)
Let's all show our chicken shoes!
Bawk bawk bawk bawk, bawk bawk! Bawk bawk bawk bawk, bawk bawk! (wiggle shoes)
Chicken 2, Chicken 3
Let's all climb the chicken tree!
Bawk bawk bawk bawk, bawk bawk! Bawk bawk bawk bawk, bawk bawk! (mime tree climbing)
Chicken 3, Chicken 4
Let's open the chicken door!
Bawk bawk bawk bawk, bawk bawk! Bawk bawk bawk bawk, bawk bawk! (mime opening door)
Chicken 5, Chicken 6
Let's all do the chicken mix!
Bawk bawk bawk bawk, bawk bawk! Bawk bawk bawk bawk, bawk bawk! (mixing mime)
Chicken 7 and Chicken 8
Let's all do the chicken LATE!
Bawk bawk bawk bawk, bawk bawk! Bawk bawk bawk bawk, bawk bawk! (run around like chicken with it's head cut off)
Chicken 8, Chicken 9
Let's all do the chicken behind
Bawk bawk bawk bawk, bawk bawk! Bawk bawk bawk bawk, bawk bawk! (wiggle butt)
Chicken 9 and Chicken 10
Let's do it all over again
Bawk bawk bawk bawk, bawk bawk! Bawk bawk bawk bawk, bawk bawk! (turn around in a circle)

Book #2: Egg Drop by Mini Grey


This book is possibly a little morbid for preschoolers -- but y'know, I like to push the limits :-D  We had a lot of great conversations during this book.  We talked about why it might be a bad idea to drop an egg, and we talked about why it would have been a good idea for the egg to wait a little while before attempting to fly.  We also all agreed that eggs are yummy.






Action Rhyme: Tall as a Tree

Tall as a tree (stretch really tall)
Wide as a house (stretch side to side)
Thin is a pin (arms to sides)
Small as a mouse! (curl up as small as possible on the ground)

Proceed to do this faster and faster until you collapse on the ground!

Book #3: Is Everyone Ready for Fun? by Jan Thomas

It's really more about cows than chickens, but I basically need no excuse to use this book in storytime. It's a great choice when you think the kids might need some wiggling, because we obviously need to act it out.







Shakey Egg Song: I Know a Chicken

Laurie Berkner's song, I Know a Chicken, is a storytime staple around here for both preschoolers and toddlers.  This week, I tried it (gasp) without the music in the background, and just did it as a call and response after passing out shakey eggs, and it worked actually so much better.  Here's the original song for those of you who don't know it -- it's so amazing.



Closing Rhyme: Tickle the Clouds

Tickle the clouds
Tickle your toes
Turn around
Tickle your nose!
Reach for the ground
Reach up high!
Story time is over,
Wave goodbye!

I got this rhyme from this awesome Jbrary video: Jbrary Goodbye Songs