Tag: celebration

Happy Birthday to Meeeeeeeeeee!

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Tomorrow (Thursday) is my birthday, so I threw myself a little birthday party storytime on Monday. All of my little “guests” were happy to get bubbles party favors 🙂 What was extra funny was that TWO of the moms had their birthday on Monday!

OPENING:
Opening Song: If You Want to Hear a Story

PROGRAM:
Read-aloud #1: Little Gorilla by Ruth Bornstein
*Fingerplay: Make a Cake
Read-aloud #2: A Birthday for Cow! by Jan Thomas
Flannel: The Enormous Turnip
**Fingerplay: The Quiet Mouse
Read Aloud #3 (Story Cards): Mouse’s Birthday by Jane Yolen
Fingerplay: Birthday Cake
(Read Aloud #4: If You Give a Pig a Party by Laura Numeroff)
Action Song: Fun with Hands
(Fingerplay: Ten Little Fingers)
Read Aloud #5: Don’t Spill the Beans! by Ian Schoenherr (I had the kids whisper, “It’s Ms. Jennifer’s birthday!” every time the bear whispered the secret to a friend.)
Song: Happy Birthday
Activity: Present kids with a colorfully wrapped box. Open up the present (be dramatic and throw the paper everywhere while shaking the box). Inside there are bubbles for everyone! (In the past, I wrapped up stickers.) Hand out the favors at the end of storytime.
(“Dancing” Song: “The Freeze Dance” from Music for Little People: Birthday Party! Singalong)

CLOSING:
Closing Song: We Wave Good-bye Like This

*Make a Cake
Mix the batter, stir the batter
(make a stirring motion with one arm/hand)
Shake some flour in
(make a shaking motion with one arm/hand)
Mix the batter, stir the batter
(make a stirring motion with one arm/hand)
Place it in a tin
(pretend to pour)
Sprinkle some candy in
(pretend to sprinkle)
Pop it in the oven
(open both hands, palms up, and slide them forward)
Open wide the oven door
(pretend to open door)
And out comes the cake!
(open both hands, palms up, and slide them forward)

**The Quiet Mouse
Once there lived a quiet mouse
(Hold out fist with index finger extended)
In a quiet little house.
(Insert index finger into other fist)
When all was quiet as can be,
Out Popped He!!
(Throw arms and hands apart)

***Birthday Cake
Ten candles on a birthday cake
(hold up hands with palms facing out and fingers extended)
All lit up for me
(wiggle fingers)
I’ll make a wish and blow them out
Watch and you will see.
(blow and bend fingers down)

Additional “Birthday” Books: Ask Mr. Bear by Marjorie Flack, Not Last Night But the Night Before by Colin McNaughton, Who Made This Cake? by Chihiro Nakagawa, Birthday Zoo by Deborah Lee Rose, Happy Birthday Bunny! by Elizabeth Garton Scanlon, The Fairytale Cake by Mark Sperring, and The Birthday Queen by Audrey Wood

Get Happy!

sillylibrarian 2 Comments

Happy New Year!!! The beginning of a new year is a great time to do a Happy Birthday and/or Celebrations storytime. Below is an oldie but goodie. Also: you may notice that some major changes are happening on this site (finally!). I am hoping to really start adding to this site this year and make it an even more useful resource for parents, teachers and fellow librarians. The look of the site may continue to change for a little while longer, but I hope to get things settled soon!

As an extra bonus, at the end of this post, I’ve included another “Silly Librarian in Action” video: a snippet of “If You’re Happy and You Know It”. Shout HOORAY! and get happy, people.

Birthdays and Celebrations Funfare with Jennifer: September 1, 2005

Decorate using streamers, balloons, felt cakes, presents…

OPENING:

Play the “Unbirthday Song” (from Disney’s Alice in Wonderland) as children enter. Have bubbles going.
Discuss birthdays and what you can find at parties.
Opening Fingerplay: Ten Little Fingers
Opening Song: Let Everyone Clap Hands with Me

PROGRAM:

Read-aloud #1: Little Gorilla by Ruth Bornstein
Fingerplay: Make a Cake
Read-aloud #2: Gotcha! by Gail Jorgensen (group) OR Fairytale Cake by Mark Sperring (family)
Fingerplay: Birthday Cake
Oral storytelling: Poule and Roach (from Margaret Read MacDonald’s Celebrate the World: Twenty Tellable Folktales for Multicultural Festivals) [I definitely needed to shorten the story for this audience. If I were to do this storytime again, I think that I would substitute this story for another book such as The Birthday Box by Leslie Patricelli or A Birthday for Cow! by Jan Thomas and/or more songs or fingerplays.]

CLOSING:

Song: Hokey Pokey
(Song: Shake My Sillies Out)
Present kids with colorfully wrapped box as a “present for everyone”. But before we can open it, we must sing…
Song: Happy Birthday
Open up the present (be dramatic and throw the paper everywhere while shaking the box). Inside there are stickers for everyone! Hand out stickers individually (a good time to do a count) and wish each boy and girl a “Happy Birthday”. Play “Unbirthday Song” again (and/or Raffi music) while doing this as audience leaves.

Make a Cake
Mix the batter, stir the batter
(make a stirring motion with one arm/hand)
Shake some flour in
(make a shaking motion with one arm/hand)
Mix the batter, stir the batter
(make a stirring motion with one arm/hand)
Place it in a tin
(pretend to pour)
Sprinkle in some raisins in
(pretend to sprinkle)
Pop it in the oven
(open both hands, palms up, and slide them forward)
Open wide the oven door
(pretend to open door)
And out comes the cake!
(open both hands, palms up, and slide them forward)

Birthday Cake
Ten candles on a birthday cake
(hold up hands with palms facing out and fingers extended)
All lit up for me
(wiggle fingers)
I’ll make a wish and blow them out
Watch and you will see.
(blow and bend fingers down)

And, now for the video! Clap your hands!