Let's Visit to Magical Places

For my storytime this week we visited Magical Places. When it comes to planning a storytime like this I find that any book about fun places would work. The Zoo. The Jungle. The Ocean. Your Own Room. However, I managed to find books about other imaginary places. The children loved all the stories, especially the preschoolers.

T = Toddler Storytime
P = Preschool Storytime

BOOKS
Two at the Zoo: A Counting Book written by Danna Smith and illus. Valeria Petrone (T)
A zoo can be a magical place because of all the animals! My favorite memory of reading this book is during to the page where the chameleons/lizards are and a little boy's face lit up and his eyes grew into saucers and mouth as round a moon! Oh, be still my heart!

Lots of Dots written and illus. by Craig Frazier (T, P)
I consider this book a "magical place" book because it shows us how a world has lots of dots (or circles) all around. After reading the story I asked the children to help find dots in our storytime room. We found that our globe, rotary fan, speakers of the CD players were made of dots.

The Moonglow Roll-O-Rama written and illus. by Dav Pilkey (P)
This is one of my new favorite books. If a place where all the animals go to roller skate and fly in the air isn't magical, then I don't know what is!

Harold and the Purple Crayon written and illus. by Crockett Johnson (P)
I love this book and most of the preschoolers had never heard or read the book before! I wish the book was bigger so that the illustrations were more seeable. If I had a humongous white board in my storytime room I would've drawn the entire story! But I was inspired by Erin on her blog LibrErin to simply draw a moon on a sheet of paper at the beginning of the story then drew a window around at the end of the story.

The Wheels on the Bus (Jungle Ed.) written and illus. by Jane Cabrera (P)
We sang this book as part of our in-between-stories song. The jungle can be a magical place too!

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.

Five Little Starfish (P)

Five little starfish by the shore,

The yellow one got lost and that left four

Four little starfish in the sea,

The blue one swam far, far away and that left three.

Three little starfish in the ocean so blue, 

The red one took a seahorse ride and that left two.

Two little starfish in the sun,

The orange one took a dive and that left one.

One little starfish swimming along, 

It was time for him to go home and that left none. 

Inspiration Source: Narrating Tales of Preschool Storytime 

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 BOARDS
Lots of Dots (T, P)
As a flannel activity to connect with the book Lots of Dots, I simply rolled different colored felt through a penny die cut (a die that has four different sized circles) to make all my dots. I then used a leafless tree die cut and cut out little strips of green to use as flower stems. The children had the fun opportunity to create their scenery filled with dots!

Five Little Starfish (P)
This flannel board was inspired by Nicole over at Narrating Tales of Preschool Storytime. She had done Five Little Jellyfish for a Flannel Friday last year that had a really nice rhyme. For our visit to the magical place deep under the sea I took this rhyme and changed it from jellyfish to starfish. The children loved doing this rhyme. I had made two extra just because I couldn't resist, which was a good thing because I needed one because the preschoolers who sit up front all wanted to put a starfish on the board. It made our reciting of the rhyme interesting since we had an extra one the board, but it became an excellent moment to learn about subtraction by one!

ACTIVITIES
Egg Shakers (T)
Egg shakers. Need I say more?!

Bubbles (T) 
Bubbles were another tie in with Lots of Dots. The toddlers :: LOVED :: it!

CRAFTS
Bubbles Coloring Page (T)
The toddlers got to exercise their artistic temperament on a bubbles coloring page. In addition to coloring they also had the opportunity to glue circles onto the page.

(You) and the Purple Crayon (P)
To tie into the amazing book Harold the Purple Crayon the children got to create their own world with a single sheet of paper and a single purple crayon. At the top of the page they could add their name to make their own title. One little boy drew a robot that he could go into and control, and one girl drew a dog that her family will eventually get.

PICTURES
Lots of pictures this time!

Lots of Dots flannel board, Toddler Storytime,
created by Dorothy WP-CC, 2012

Five (or Seven) Little Starfish, Preschool Storytime,
created by Dorothy WP-CC, 2012

My Moon and Window that I drew during the reading of
Harold and the Purple Crayon. 

Bubbles Coloring Page, Toddler Storytime craft,
created by Dorothy WP-CC, 2012

In my little purple crayon world I'm petting a teeny tiny baby giraffe!
(You) and the Purple Crayon, Preschool Storytime craft,
created by Dorothy WP-CC, 2012

OTHER BOOKS 
Goodnight Moon written by Margaret Wise Brown and illus. by Clement Hurd (T)
Jamberry written and illus. by Bruce Degen (T)
Over in the Arctic: Where the Cold Winds Blow written by Marianne Berkes and illus. by Jull Dubin (T, P)
Ferocious Wild Beasts! written and illus. by Chris Wormell (P)
Bats at the Library written and illus. by Brian Lies (P)
My Garden written and illus. by Kevin Henkes (P)
Where the Wild Things Are written and illus. by Maurice Sendak (P)
Imagine A Day written by Sarah L. Thomson and illus. by Rob Gonsalves (P)
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs written by Judi Barrett and illus. by Ron Barrett (P, SA)
When the Sky is Like Lace written by Elinor Lander Horwitz and illus. by Barbara Cooney (P, SA)
Tippintown: A Guided Tour written and illus. by Calef Brown (P, SA)
When the Library Lights Go Out written by Megan McDonald and illus. by Katherine Tillotson (P, SA)
Stellaluna written and illus. by Janell Cannon (P, SA)