This was my last set of regular storytimes before our Summer Reading Program begins, so I went with a fairly simple theme of Zoo and Zoo Animals. Many animals can be found at the zoo, and even if a song doesn’t directly show a certain animal in a zoo setting, I think it counts if you *might* find that animal at a zoo!
Early Literacy Tip: Being able to coordinate small muscles in hands and fingers enables children to hold things, cut with scissors, tie their shoes, and fasten buttons. Fingerplays like Kangaroo, the Itsy Bitsy Spider, or Where is Thumbkin develop fine motor skills which also help prepare children to later hold a pencil and manipulate it for writing.
adapted from The Early Literacy Kit: A Handbook and Tip Cards by Betsy Diamant-Cohen & Saroj Ghoting
Welcome Song: Hello, Friends* (TT) (TB) (FT)**
Warm Up Song: Wake Up, Feet* (TT) (TB) (FT)
This is a repeated song that everyone seems to enjoy. I always begin and end with feet and tummies, but find two other body parts to wiggle in the middle. I rotate between elbows, cheeks, hips, noses, arms, chins, thighs, heads, shoulders, ears, knees, and fingers.
Lifting Rhyme: Toast in the Toaster* (TT) (FT)
Intro: Today we are talking about the animals at the zoo! Has anyone been to the zoo before? What kinds of animals did you see?
I bought some finger puppets and looked for the “zooiest” animals, and came up with monkey, snake, and tiger, then got out the much-bigger alligator puppet as a surprise finish!
Let’s say hello like the animals do.
Puppet Song: The Zoo Wakes Up (TT) (TB) (FT)
When monkeys get up in the morning, they always say hello
When monkeys get up in the morning, they always say hello
Oo-oo-ah-ah! That is what they say
Oo-oo-ah-ah! That is what they say
(repeat with other animals)
Source: Storytime in the Stacks
Transition: If You’re Ready for a Story* (TT) (TB) (FT)
Let’s see if your favorite zoo animal shows up in this book!
I skipped three animals, just because otherwise it was too long for my group. We didn’t do the zebra, hyenas, or the chameleon.
Read: The Wheels on the Bus by Jane Cabrera (TT) (TB) (FT)
Those animals sure had fun on the bus! Here’s a bouncy rhyme about animals taking a ride on the bus!
When I got to the sheep & cow verse, I mentioned we were heading to the petting zoo!
Bounce: Hippopotamus on a City Bus (TT) (TB) (FT)
(bounce or slap thighs rhythmically until the last line of each verse)
A hip, a hip, a hippopotamus
Got on, got on, got on a city bus
And all, and all, and all the people said,
“You’re squishing us!” (squish face or hug baby)
Additional verses:
A cow, a cow, a cow got on a bus
Yes, a cow, a cow, a cow got on the bus
And all, and all, and all the people said,“Mooooove over!” (lean far to one side)
A snake…“Sssssssssit down!” (fall thru knees or sit)
A sheep…“Baaaack up!” (lean far back)
Source: Jbrary
Oo, our hippo is hungry now! Can we make a giant hippo mouth with our arms?
Cut for time in my second and third sessions.
Action Song: Noisy Animals Eating (TT)
(tune of Row, Row, Row Your Boat)
See the hippopotamus (extend arms together in front)
Eating fruits and weeds (open arms up and down)
Take a bite, chew it up
Then spit out all the seeds (flick hands out, like spitting)
Additional verses:
See the very tall giraffe, Eating fruits and trees… (extend one arm high, extend hand)
See the wrinkly elephant, Eating fruits and weeds… (extend arm downward, like an elephant’s trunk)
Source: King County (WA) Library System
Flannel Retelling: Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell (TB) (FT)
I used the template at kizclub.com for this one. I spent a lot of time a few years ago painstakingly cutting most of the inner bits with an Xacto knife, then laminated them. The effect is really nice – you can see through bars and such, but the pieces are still sturdy. I tried to leave a little bit of the animal sticking out the boxes that don’t already give a hint go help the kiddos guess what might be inside.
Click here for my one-page “script” for this flannel, based on the book.
Can anyone think of an animal who gets around by jumping, lives in Australia, and carries its babies in a pouch? A kangaroo!
Our local zoo just opened a kangaroo exhibit in the last couple of years, so many of them had seen that. I changed this from an action rhyme (the original instructions had full-body jumps) into a fingerplay.
Fingerplay: Kangaroo (TB) (FT)
Jump, jump, jump (jump pointer finger)
Goes the kangaroo
I thought I saw one (hold up one finger)
But now I see two! (hold up two fingers)
Mommy and her baby
With his head popping out (wiggle thumb from fist)
He holds on tight (hug self)
As they jump all about! (bounce hand around)
Source: Storytime Katie
Who at the zoo has spots?
Cut for time in the second and third sessions.
Tickle: Spots, Spots, Spots (TT)
(tune of the baseball organ wind up)
Spots, spots, spots, spots, spots, spots, spots, spots (gently poke baby all over)
A leopard has lots of spots
What a lot of spots he’s got
A tiger’s stripes are always nice (slow, tracing fingers up arm)
But a leopard has lots of spots
Spots, spots, spots, spots, spots, spots, spots, spots
(tickle, tickle, tickle!)
Source: Jbrary
Can we move like zoo animals?
Action Game: Zoo Animals Die (TB) (FT)
I have found that I can’t really roll a big storytime die on the ground. It’s too much of a temptation for everyone to grab it, there’s not a lot of space for it to roll, and it’s more of a distraction than a tool. However, I had the (brilliant, IMHO) idea to throw the die up in the air and catch it instead (more like a coin toss). This has the added benefit that I can kind of cheat on what face to show, letting us do all six moves with fewer repeats. It worked! My library has a die with a foam center and clear plastic cover that I use – you can switch out the faces easily. At a previous library, I made the die from an empty square tissue box.
Source: Storytime Sprout
Download a copy of my die faces here.
What does the zookeeper do when the elephants get messy? They give them a bath, of course!
The template for this flannel is from the ever-helpful but now defunct Sunflower Storytime. You can download a copy of it here. I used to tuck each elephant into the bath in a row, but saw another librarian on YouTube stacking them up tall. That’s a lot easier, and it looks a lot funnier to me, too.
Counting Rhyme: Elephants in the Bathtub (TT) (TB) (FT)
One elephant in the bathtub (hold up one finger)
Going for a swim (swimming motion)
Knock, knock (clap, clap)
Splash, splash (pat lap)
Come on in (motion with hand to come in)
(count up)
Five elephants in the bathtub
Going for a swim
Knock, knock
CRASH, CRASH!
They all fell in! (wiggle arms downward; knock flannel pieces to the floor!)
Source: Sunflower Storytime, see moves on Jbrary
Action Song: Zoom, Zoom, Zoom!* (TT) (TB) (FT)
Craft: Animal Dot Painting (TB) (FT)
Okay, so this is a bit of a cop-out craft, but sometimes we need a simple week! I’m doing lots of planning and organizing for my summer programs, so I printed out some animal dot painting coloring pages and called it a day. These were from Two Pink Peonies, and I am borrowing the photo from her, as well.
Play Time
The toddlers have two laundry baskets of baby toys – rattles and cars, sorters and stackers, toy phones and spinners. For the older kids, I have foam blocks, soft food toys, puzzles, and a few other items that are a little more sophisticated than the baby toys. For Family Time, I gauge the overall age of the group and put out what seems right for them. We play for 5-10 minutes at the most, then I ring the bell and ask the kids to help me clean up. I think the clean up bit is good practice for them!
Goodbye Song: See You Later Alligator* (TT) (TB) (FT)
Goodbye Rhyme: Tickle the Stars* (TT) (TB) (FT)
Other books I had available for families to browse (and may work for you on this theme)
My Heart Is Like a Zoo – Michael Hall
Xander’s Panda Party – Linda Sue Park & Matt Phelan
Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? – Bill Martin Jr & Eric Carle
Color Zoo – Lois Ehlert
From Head to Toe – Eric Carle
Fraidyzoo – Thyra Heder
A Sick Day for Amos McGee – Philip C Stead & Erin E Stead
Wild About Us! – Karen Beaumont & Janet Stevens
ZigZag ZooBorns – Andrew Bleiman & Chris Eastland
Where’s Walrus? – Stephen Savage
This storytime was presented in-person on 5/6, 5/7, & 5/8/24.
Storytime Handout:
*Lyrics to these songs can be found on the Repeated Songs & Rhymes page.
**These symbols indicate the program sessions I used the activities for:
(TT) Toddler Time, ages 1-2
(TB) Teddy Bears, ages 2-3.5
(FT) Family Time, ages 0-3.5
Storytime with Ms. Emily Library 