Outreach Storytime, Monkey

The schools in the county have had a 5 day weekend due to the deep freeze this winter, so I made sure to do a lot of movement activities with the preschoolers this week during outreach. Nothing says winter like -20 degree wind chills and no recess for weeks.

Opening song: If You're Ready for a Story Take a Seat

 
This is one of my favorite books lately. I love the audience participation aspect and the vocabulary.

Go bananas song- this is a boy scout camp song, the kids just go crazy once I explain to them what it means to 'go bananas'. The song is super long so I pick and choose what lyrics to sing.

Form banana, form form banana. (Arms above head in banana shape.)
Form banana, form form banana.
Peel banana, peel, peel banana. (One arm down.)
Peel banana, peel, peel banana. (Other arm down.)
Go bananas! Go, go bananas! (Jump up and go bananas.)
Go bananas! Go, go bananas!


This is such a classic, but one that doesn't get enough attention. The smallest ones can sing their ABC's but can only pick out the letter in their names, so we are working on letter recognition the next few months.

I wanted to get the kids up and moving, so I handed everyone a magnetic alphabet tile and we put ourselves in alphabetical order. Some kids had the same letter, but we sang our ABCs several times while getting into line.

 

With below zero wind chills for the last week and a half, I needed to get everyone up and moving, so I brought out the parachute as we chanted 'Five Little Monkeys Jumping On the Bed'. I have a smaller parachute, so I had one group sit under the parachute while the other group bounced our finger puppet pals.

Goodbye song: G-O-O-D-B-Y-E