Family Storytime: Squirrels

We started off late fall storytime with a squirrel theme. This was a very enjoyable storytime with a fun theme and a good group turnout. There were so many good squirrel books to choose from and an animal storytime is always a hit. 

We did our bean bag song and started our first story, Ol' Mama Squirrel by David Ezra Stein. This is a story about a very protective mama squirrel who "chooks" everyone away from her babies. They loved pointing out the baby squirrels in each picture as we continued to read. After the group helped me say "chook, chook, chook," we counted five little squirrels on the flannel board.

I read Aw, Nuts! by Rob McClurkan. This story reminded me of Ice Age's Scrat character with always having to chase a nut. 

After going through all of the shenanigans a squirrel has to go through to get his nut, we followed along to "Gray Squirrel" by Learning Station. This was perfect timing because the kiddos were getting antsy by now. We swished our bushy tails, crinkled up our noses, and picked up nuts and put them on our toes. Everyone did great and it was a perfect opportunity to get their sillies out before we read our last story.

I did have another activity in mind where I would have handed out nuts and each in the group has to feed the squirrel puppet. I found a story to go along with it, but I couldn't find our squirrel puppet in time. We needed a movement activity anyway so it all worked out. 

The group loved the illustrations of the dog in That Pup! by Lindsay Barrett George. This is a sweet story about a curious puppy who keeps finding nuts only to find out they all belong to someone else. 

After awing together during our last book, I explained our craft. I had printed out some squirrel clip-art and had the group glue different colored die-cut leaves to make a tail. This was a cute craft that was perfect with minimal prep effort, but adorable and allowed for gluing practice. I also put out crayons in case they wanted to decorate and make scenery around their squirrel. All their squirrel tails were bushy and colorful. This was such a fun one!

Some more squirrel books I would have loved to have read but didn't have time were I Want That Nut! by Madeline Valentine and Bear and Squirrel are Friends by Deb Pilutti. 

Now, "chook, chook" and read a book and create some art!