Night Creatures Storytime
Scott Bahlmann
(I ended up having such a good time with this! And quite a bit of it was thrown together relatively last minute.)
Opening: Shake My Sillies Out – Raffi
Book: Kittens First Full Moon – Kevin Henkes
(A simple story with lovely large pictures. The group wasn't quite settled down yet, but there were still some devoted listeners.)
Activity: There’s Something in the Nighttime
(Modified from There's Something in my Garden)
(I use the 'Something in my Garden' during book babies, and it was an easy modification for this! I wanted to use a bat, but didn't have one on hand, so I used what I had. I think the kids weren't as excited about the skunk as I was.) =P
There's something in the nighttime
that I can't really see.
There's something in the nighttime,
now what can it be?
Whoo, Whoo
Hear it's funny sound?
Whoo, Whoo
An Owl is what I found!
(Continue with other animals, I used an Owl, a cat, a mouse, and a skunk
'Smell that funny smell? Sniff, sniff, A skunk! You sure can tell!')
Book: Owl Babies – Martin Waddell
(Such cute illustrations, and an adorable story. Tried with some success to get the kids saying 'I want my mommy!' along with the littlest owl. Quite well received.)
Activity: Owl Freeze Game
(modified from the song 'Silly Dance Contest' by Jim Gill)
(I made a two-sided moon/sun visual and explained to the kids that we were going to be owls. That means that if the sun is out we have to be asleep! Then I'd flip it around to the moon for us to be owls flapping our wings. I used a freeze game format, shouting out Sleep! after they'd been flying for a bit and everyone lay down. Loads of fun!)
Fly any way you want to,
Fly any way you please
Fly any way you want to,
But stop when I say Sleep!
(continue with fly as high as you want to,
fly as fast as you want to,
then fly any way you want to again to end.)
Book: Dark Night – Dorothee de Monfreid
(Everyone was really into the storytime at this point, and helped out making the animals noises. A fun simple story, the best kind.)
Activity: Bears Toothache
(Modified from the book The Bears Toothache by David McPhail)
(The audience was really engaged with this, probably because of my huge bear! One little girl came up to stand right beneath it, so I had her hold the string when the bear jumped out the window. Very cute and fun for everyone!)
I was sleeping in my bed last night, when I heard a noise out my window.
'Grrrrrrrrrrooooowwwl'
Do you know what it was? A Bear! This was a nice bear, but it had a toothache, that's why it
was grumpy.
I decided to help out, so I found the hurt tooth and I pulled, and pulled. But it was too stuck!
Then the bear thought chewing on some gum might help to make it loose.
But he just swallowed the gum. No more gum for you bear!
I tried to hit the tooth with my pillow, but the bear ducked!
I guess he didn't want to get hit in the face. I thought I'd try one more thing.
So I got some string and tied it to the tooth. Then I held tight, and the bear jumped out the window.
Look! The tooth! The bear said 'Thank you' and let me keep the tooth because I was such a big help.
What do you do with a tooth? Put it under your pillow! Good night.
Book: A Book of Sleep – Il Sung Na
(I love the illustrations in this book. The story is very simple, but the kids had fun identifying the animals.)
Activity: Bats in the belfry
(I threw this together the night before while at the children's desk. I had four kids ask to make a bat while I was working on it, so I decided that could be a craft for after the storytime! I traced a pattern and copied it onto colored paper. The kids choose the color bat they wanted, colored it, and then I taped on a pipe cleaner loop that bent over for feet so the bats could hang upside down from the kids fingers. Everyone had a great time with it!)
One bat hanging in the belfry,
One bat flew in threw the door.
Two bats hanging in the belfry
snuggled up and flying no more.
(continue with increasing numbers, we went to six)