Trains and Planes Storyhour

Stories:

Max's Ride by Rosemary Wells. I introduced this story by zipping three little airplanes into the air, a red one, a blue one and a yellow one. One went UP, one went OVER, and one I let plummet DOWN. Nothing like flying airplanes to get babies' attention! Then I read this particularly cute board book, with its emphasis on UP, DOWN, and UNDER, demonstrating each one.  Short and fun!

Freight Train by Donald Crews. I printed out all the train cars courtesy of the wonderful folks at KIZCLUB -- imagine making all the pictures of some of the greatest kids' classic available for download, what a great idea. I wish I could say that I then took the trouble of stretching up my clothesline and told the story that way, but I'm afraid that'll have to wait till Friday. I learned the hard way that the train is quite a long one and will NOT fit on top of my easel!

In the Driver's Seat by Max Haynes lends itself perfectly to a great interactive storytime readaloud. From the first page, "Okay, start the engine and rev it up, Brroooom, Brrrrooooom! Now wave good-bye!" it's full of action that the kids can play along with. A favorite. Of mine.

The Little Engine that Could, board book by Watty Piper. (ISBN 0448401010) I asked the moms to help me read the book, and when we got to the "I think I can" chorus, they joined in so beautifully. There's a simple one, TWO, three, four, one, TWO, three, four step that goes along with the "I think I can" and "I thought I could" very nicely.

Play:

Airplanes -- what an easy, fun prop! I had some leftover styrofoam ones from Oriental Trading.

Freight Train from KIZCLUB.com

Train whistle -- this really started the storyhour off right.

Songs:

Wheels on the Bus, of course!

Motor Boat, of course!

Maybe I've said this before, but I'd like to state for the record here that today's babies were among the cutest yet. They were the perfect mix: half of them were sleepy and half of them were really loving The Wheels on the Bus. :)

Alexandria showing her serious side.

"What gives?" Raga asks. "I just had my mundan hair-shaving ceremony, but this baby is balder than I am!"