Family Storytime: Opposites

I'm always a bit hesitant to do concept themes because sometimes they don't seem to be as fun for the kids or have as many activities to choose from, but it's important and always manageable so one of these themes are always included in each 6-week session. I was pleasantly surprised that this turned out to be one of our best storytimes!

The turnout usually dwindles down a bit when we get towards the end of the storytime session, but it always allows for kids to get more one-on-one interaction. 

After we got through following along to the bean bag song, we read Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion, an opposite book about a white dog with black spots getting so dirty that he turns into a black dog with white spots. We went over some opposite examples before we started reading this one and we pointed out what made the dogs on the cover opposite. This is such a good book for an opposite, animal, dog, or silly storytime. 

Next, we had an activity but we didn't use the flannelboard and didn't use it throughout the whole storytime. We had some other fun activities and the kids didn't even realize that we didn't use the flannel board today. 

Our first activity was using Crocodile. Crocodile was made out of a container and Crocodile is always hungry for something...alphabet letters, numbers, and this time opposites! I used our die-cut machine and cut big and little die-cuts of any patterns we had that matched. This was our big and little opposite activity. "Crocodile, Crocodile you're very neat, what kind of opposite would you like to eat?...Crocodile would like to eat the opposite of a BIG balloon. What is the opposite of a BIG balloon? Who has the small balloon?" I held up a big die-cut (we had a dog, cat, balloon, crayon, etc.) and asked who had the matching little die-cut. Crocodile is always a hit and this time it was a little more challenging than the flannel board because we didn't pay attention to the color of the die-cut, but it's shape and size. 

Our next book was Polar Opposites by Erik Brooks. I mentioned the author's name and we talked about how Erik Brooks was the man who wrote the book. Then we dove right in. This is a cute story about a Polar Bear and a penguin who are opposites in every way but still get along. 

Our next activity was following along to "head, shoulders, knees, and toes." We definitely needed to shake some sillies out and this was a good opportunity to do so. 

This next story was absolutely perfect for this storytime because it had easy opposite examples that we could physically follow along to and try ourselves as a group. Outdoor Opposites by Brenda Williams had us sitting and standing, running and walking, and exploring all sorts of movement opposites. This was so fun to do with the kids. We were in the carpet, then out of the carpet. We were talking, then we were quiet. Such a good book to do as a group!

By this time, the sillies were all gone so I figured let's not waste that and do a short, quick book. Animal Opposites by Petr Horacek kept their attention because it's such a lovely pop-up book. The group had so much fun looking at the pop-up illustrations and it made this another interactive book.

For our craft, I explained that we would be making Harry the Dirty Dog from our first book and had given them black and white die-cut dogs. They could decorate their backgrounds however they liked. They had fun adding spots to their dogs. The craft went a little fast because they weren't so much in a coloring mood, but it was just fine because our storytime was the perfect length. 

Some books I didn't end up reading, but would have been a great addition to an opposite storytime is Double Take! by Susan Hood, Sun Above and Blooms Below by Felicia Sanzari Chernesky, Swing High, Swing Low by Fiona Coward, and Dinosaur Opposites by Paul Stickland. 

I also found a nice action rhyme, "This Is Big." 

This is big, big, big. (Stretch hands far to the sides)
This is small, small, small. (Cup hands together)
This is short, short, short. (Hold palms close vertically)
This is tall, tall, tall. (Hold palms apart vertically)
This is fast, fast, fast. (Roll hands quickly)
This is slow, slow, slow. (Roll hands slowly)
This is yes, yes, yes. (Nod head)
This is no, no, no. (Shake head)

Winter storytime ended very well and in two weeks I'll be ready for spring sessions!