Family Storytime: Hibernation

For this week's storytime, we did a hibernation theme. There were some great books on this theme and it was definitely a fun one.

After our bean bag song, I read Goodnight, Grizzle Grump! by Aaron Blecha. This is a story about a bear who wants to hibernate, but the other animals keep waking him up. The group enjoyed this story and followed along well.

For our first activity, we brought different colored flannel circles/balls to Polar Bear for him to play with while the kids learned their colors. Once everyone had a chance to participate, we counted the balls on the board.

Our next story was A Bed for Bear by Clive McFarland. This is another story about a bear having a hard time sleeping, but because he can't find the perfect hibernating spot. The kids had fun identifying the different animals in the story and they paid attention well.

We danced along to The Wiggles "Rock-a-Bye Your Bear" on The Best of The Wiggles cd and the group really did a great job with the movements.

Our last book was Hibernate with Me by Benjamin Scheuer. This was a cute, short story and a good way to end storytime before they got to the craft.

We made a hibernating bear using construction paper, popsicle sticks, cotton balls, and leaf die-cuts for his triangle cave. I liked how this craft incorporated a triangle shape and used cotton balls for a sensory feel. The group did a good job making their crafts.

Other Books:

A Loud Winter's Nap Katy Hudson

Wide-Awake Bear Pat Zietlow Miller

William's Winter Nap Linda Ashman

Bear Has a Story to Tell Philip C. Stead

Chaucer's First Winter Stephen Krensky

Sleepover with Beatrice and Bear Monica Carnesi

Old Bear Kevin Henkes

Bear Dreams Elisha Cooper

Bedtime for Bear Brett Helquist

Time to Sleep Denise Fleming

Sleep Tight, Little Bear Britta Teckentrup

Hibernation Station Michelle Meadows

Family Storytime: Winter Animals

Despite the bad weather, the turnout was good for this storytime. I was able to register a new child who had dropped in with her parent.

The winter animal theme was a good theme that offered a lot of book and activities to choose from. Because I had mostly real little ones, I read four really short books and we used the flannel board so each child could bring up a different colored ball for polar bear. 

The four books that I was able to read were A Dot in the Snow by Corrinne Averiss, Virgil & Owen by Paulette Bogan, Grumpy Pants by Claire Messer, and A Splendid Friend, Indeed by Suzanne Bloom. 

We also used the flannel board to count penguins and then did a penguin dance to one of the songs on a Sesame Street cd. They liked doing the movement activity in addition to our bean bag song at the beginning of storytime. 

The kids had fun using cotton balls for their polar bear craft.

More Books:

Penguin Problems by Jory John and Lane Smith

Adrift by Jessica Olien

One Very Big Bear by Alice Briere-Haquet

Blown Away by Rob Biddulph

Polar Bear Night by Lauren Thompson

Sailing off to Sleep by Linda Ashman

Mom and Me by Miela Ford

Penguin's Hidden Talent by Alex Latimer

Archie the Daredevil Penguin by Andy Rash

Little Penguin and the Lollipop by Tadgh Bentley

Blue Penguin by Petr Horacek

Baby Polar by Yannick Murphy

The Lonesome Polar Bear by Jane Cabrera

Touch the Sky, My Little Bear by David Bedford

Daddy Honk Honk! by Rosalinde Bonnet

More activities:

If You're Happy and You Know It movement song

Time To Sleep Hibernation Bears Flannel Story

Polar Bear Wore His Red Shirt Flannel Colors

Family Storytime: Polar Bears

This week's storytime theme was polar bears. I usually fit polar bears into an arctic animal theme, but there are tons of book options to give them their own storytime. 

Once we heard and moved along to our bean bag song, we read our first polar bear story. Baby Polar by Yannick Murphy is a sweet story about a young polar bear and mother. It's a bit on the long side, so we started off with this one.

 

Our first flannel board activity was Polar Bear Plays Ball, where we practiced our colors. Different colored flannel circles were handed out and each child had to wait for their color to be called so that polar bear could play. Polar Bear, Polar Bear come out to play...we have a red ball for you today...

Our next story was Polar Bear Night by Lauren Thompson. This bedtime storybook has modern illustrations as a young cub explores the star-filled sky. 

It was time to help Polar Bear get dressed. We added different color felt clothes to polar bear to make his outfit. It was more color practice for the group, which was nice because we had more younger ones in this family storytime.

I wanted some time for us as a group to release some energy so we could sit a little better for our final story, so we did the polar bear stomp. We stomped, twirled, touched our toes, and reached for the sky while The Polar Bear Stomp by The Chenille Sisters for 123 Kids was playing. The song went on just a a little too long, but we still had fun with it.

Of course we couldn't have a polar bear storytime without Bill Martin Jr.'s Polar Bear, Polar Bear What Do You Hear? I love how this book is interactive. My group was a little shy yesterday, but I still hear some animal noises being made. 

 

It was time to make our polar bear craft! We made polar bear faces out of paper plates and tissue paper. We added some color by using pom poms and pipe cleaners.

I did end up reading a short story to those who showed up a little late once they were done crafting. We read Virgil & Owen by Paulette Bogan, a story about a polar bear and penguin friendship.