Arbor Day - A Storytime Outline

In celebration of Arbor Day (April 28 or any last Friday of April),  I focused on trees for my last spring storytime. I had a great group of toddlers and a school group visit in my preschool program. We definitely had a lot of fun. Despite being a good number of books about trees, there was not many for the toddler age group. Thus, I focused also on birds.

T = Toddler Storytime
P = Preschool Storytime

BOOKS

Little Robin Redbreast: A Mother Goose Rhyme illustrated by Shari Halpern (T)
I chose this book cause it was great and simple. One little boy was super excited to see a kitty cat in the pictures!

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom written by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault and illus. by Lois Ehlert (T)
How can you :: not :: go wrong with this classic! One girl would say that we had to save the letters after they fell out of the coconut tree. We then had to go straight into singing the Alphabet Song.

The Busy Tree written by Jennifer Ward and illus. by Lisa Falkenstern (P)
This is a nice book about what type of animals live in a tree. The illustrations are a little dark in color so it did make it a little difficult to see small details. 

Mighty Tree written and illus. by Fick Gackenback (P)
This is a good book for the preschoolers and school kids. Trees can be used for products like paper and can be used for a Christmas tree, but it has a far more important job as being a home.

Fall is Not Easy written and illus. by Marty Kelley (P)
The children thought that this was hilarious!

SONGS & RHYMES

Open, Shut Them (T, P)
follow actions
Open, shut them
Open, shut them
Give a little clap
Open, shut them
Open, shut them
Lay them in your lap
Creep them, creep them up to your chin
Open your mouth wide, but don't put your fingers in!
Open, shut them
Open, shut them
Give a big clap
Open, shut them
Lay them in your lap.

Alphabet Song (T)
tune: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
A, B, C, D, E, F, G,
H, I, J, K,
L, M, N, O, P,
Q, R, S,
T, U, V,
W, X, Y, and Z.
Now I know my ABCs,
Next time won't you sing with me.

Way Up High in the Apple Tree
Way Up High in an Apple Tree
An apple smiled at me
I shook the tree as hard as I could
Down fell the apple
Mmmmm it was good

Additional verbs:
frowned, winked, laughed, blew a kiss, etc.
Inspiration source: King County Library System

Five Little Monkeys Swinging From a Tree (P)
Five little monkeys swinging from a tree (hold up five fingers and swing your arm)
Teasing Mr. Crocodile, "You can't catch me!" (but your hands to your ears like antlers!)
Along come Mr. Crocodile, (but your hands together and swim them around slowly)
As hungry as can be
And SNAP! (make your whole arms into a large crocodile mouth and snap your hands together like a big gulp!)

Four little monkeys swinging from a tree
Teasing Mr. Crocodile, "You can't catch me!"
Along comes Mr. Crocodile,
As hungry as can be
And SNAP!

Countdown to one monkey

One little monkey swinging from a tree
Teasing Mr. Crocodile, "You can't catch me!"
Along comes Mr. Crocodile,
As hunger as can be (still!)
And SNAP!
Along go Mr. Crocodile as fat as can be!

Touch Your Nose (T, P)
follow actions

Touch your nose

Touch your chin

That's the way this game begins

Touch your eyes

Touch your knees

Now pretend you're going to sneeze!

Aaachooooo!

Touch your hair

Touch one ear

Touch your two red lips right here

Touch your elbow where it ends

And that's the way this touch game ends.

FLANNEL BOARD

Way Up High in the Apple Tree (T)
I created a large tree to cover my flannel board by making a simple looking trunk and a fluffy tree canopy. For the rhyme I simply placed the number of needed apples to the tree top. While reading the rhyme I tried to promote the "one at a time / taking turns" side of fun by pointing at each toddler to get them to come up and pick and apple. It was mildly successful! The toddlers loved putting the apples back on the tree too at the end of the rhymes.

Five Little Monkeys Swinging in a Tree (P)
The children had a lot of fun doing this fun, especially during the SNAP! portion of the rhyme! I used a flannel board monkeys for this rhyme.

ACTIVITIES

Puppet Petting (T)
My library owns the Baby Birds in Nest puppet from Folkmanis. I walked around the group of toddlers so that they had an up close encounter with the birdies. Each one got to put the little heads. One precocious little girl kept on asking where the mommy bird was. It was super cute!

Eggs Shakers (T)
I pulled out the egg shakers one of my little regulars shout and jumped up. He loves the shakers!

CRAFTS

Tree Coloring Page (T)
The toddlers got another coloring page. In addition, they also had strips of green tissue paper to glue to the tree canopy. There was also a birds nest, to which I had a lot of questions about where the mommy bird was. They had to draw her in.

Miniature Trees (P)
The preschoolers got to make their own miniature tree from a toilet paper roll and construction paper. To make the green canopy stay up right all you have to do is cut two slits on either "ends" of the tube, and you just slip the paper right in. The children also got to add in a birds nest and a squirrel so that we highlighted the roll as tree=home to animals.

PICTURES

Way Up High in the Apple Tree, flannel board,
created by Dorothy WP-CC, 2012

Tree coloring page, Toddler Storytime Craft,
created by Dorothy WP-CC, 2012

Miniature Tree, Preschool Storytime Craft,
created by Dorothy WP-CC, 2012

MORE BOOKS

Leo's Tree written by Debora Pearson and illus. by Nora Hilb (T, P)
If I Were a Tree written by Dar Hosta (T, P)
A Tree for Me written by Nancy Van Laan and illus. by Sheila White Samption (P)
A Tree is Nice written by Janice May Udry and illus. by Marc Simont (P)
A Tree for Emmy written by Mary Ann Rodman and illus. by Tatjana Mai-Wyss (P)
The Apple Pie Tree written by Zoe Hall and illus. by Shari Helpern
Our Tree Named Steve written by Alan Zweibel and illus. by David Catrow (P, SA)
The Alphabet Tree written and illus. by Leo Lionni (P, SA)
Tree Ring Circus written and illus. by Adam Rex (P, SA)