Pet Storytime, Wednesday, August 23 @ 10:30

Books

Pet Shop Lullaby by Mary Ann Fraser lets you read aloud with lots of animal noises, always a good ploy for this age group. This segues right into the turtle puppet poem. To make this work, try reading the book less and acting it out more. Turn off the lights, put the animals to sleep, do a big hush roomwide, and then have the hamster go crazy and make a lot of noise. 
Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell. They loved it.
An Octopus Followed Me Home by Dan Yaccarino. Unfortunately, babies don't get irony.  But at least there are a lot animals, and it's short.
Snuggle Puppy by Sandra Boynton. Cute. Really a little song.
Fifteen Animals by Sandra Boynton. I corralled 15 stuffed animals in my storytime bag, and while reading the book, pulled out the animal. This could really be done with ANY 15 animals. It's a nice little play -- pull it out and show off the animals for this group. They were really noisy by this time and the lapsitters didn't get involved as much as the toddlers. How to switch this out?  I could add the appropriate animal action. "I've got a cat named Bob -- she purrs" and purr her over to a child, "and a dog named Bob" and he barks and runs, and two fish named Bob and Bob," and they swim


Plays
 Turtle puppet & poem. The original Vachel Lindsay:

There was a little turtle who lived in a box.
He swam in the puddles, he climbed on the rocks.
He snapped at the mosquitoes, he snapped at the fleas,
He snapped at the minnows, he snapped at me!

He caught the mosquitoes, he caught the fleas,
He caught those minnows, but he didn't catch me!

I always love snapping at all the little baby mosquito and minnows in the room.

Songs

Any animal songs!