Monkey Storyhour

We were MONKEYING around during monkey storytime today!
Puppet:  Monkey puppet with a pretty cute VL poem:

There was a little monkey

Who lived in a tree

He was pretty cute

He was as cute as can be!

      He gobbled up bananas

      He gobbled up bugs

      But he was such a lovin’ monkey

      He liked to give hugs!

He hugged all the babies.

He hugged all their (dads &) moms.

Then he got shy and said “eee eee eee eee.”

And ran up the coconut palm!

My monkey puppet went around the audience gobbling and hugging.

Book:  Big Book of 10 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed, which I cut down to 5 little monkeys.

The Itsy Bitsy Monkey climbed up the coconut tree.

Down came a COCONUT and BOPPED  her on the knee.

OUT came a lion shaking a great big mane

And the Itsy Bitsy Monkey climbed up the tree again.

click to see youtube performance
Book: Jazzy in the Jungle by Lucy Cousins.  I skipped a teeny tiny bit, but this extra big, extra bright book, with its fun die-cut pages, was a major hit just as it was.
Book: From Head to Toe by Eric Carle.  The great Eric Carle gave me and the babies a chance to pretend we were gorillas, snakes, and crocodiles, and let me tell you, I am a pretty terrifying gorilla.
Book:  Do Monkeys Tweet? by Melanie Walsh. You wouldn't think that the babies would get Ms. Walsh's heavy sarcasm, but if I did enough double-takes, they spotted the silliness in this book of mixed up animal sounds.
Songs: We sang lotsa favorites. I got rid of the easel, yay!!!! I'm hanging the songs from a clothesline waaaaaay above those eager little toddlers' heads.

Oh, and thanks to the mom who gave me a great tip about playing a bell before Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  Nothing like watching ten babies stop what they're doing and all look up at you at the same time!