Food!
Storytime theme: Food
Books used:
Ugly Pie by Lisa Wheeler, illustrated by Heather Solomon
I recently discovered Ugly Pie during my search for relevant books for this food-themed storytime. This book has quickly become one of my favorites, as I have a lot of fun reading it aloud in various Southern-accented voices for the different characters. The story is about Bear, who has a serious hankerin' for pie; but not just any pie, ugly pie! The only ugly thing Bear has in his kitchen is molasses, so he visits a variety of neighbors, friends, and relatives to see if they have any ugly pie to satisfy his craving. Unfortunately, they all are baking pies but not ugly pie, so instead they offer some ugly ingredients to Bear. Once back at home, Bear realizes he can bake his own ugly pie with the procured ingredients from his friends. The delicious aroma of the pie brings his friends & family to his doorstep, and together they enjoy the beautiful "ugly" pie. The story of this book is almost like the opposite of what happens in the classic tale, "The Little Red Hen", where the title character cannot convince her barnyard pals to contribute to the tasks required to make a loaf of bread. I liked this book so much I even used it during a recent job interview that required me to present a book that I would use in storytime. The book's length is a little longer than one I'd normally choose to use in my storytime program, but the lyrical nature of the text (especially the interspersed singing by Bear throughout the story) really helps to keep it from feeling too long and drawn out. This story would work awesome in storytimes with a themes on food, bears, pie, even Thanksgiving. I can't wait for an excuse to read it again!
Rainbow Stew by Cathryn Falwell
Rainbow Stew is a sweet little story told in rhyme about a group of siblings visiting their grandparents who are excited to spend the day playing outside, when suddenly it begins to rain. Their Grandpa tells them that they can work outside in the garden to gather the special ingredients to his perfect rainy-day recipe- "rainbow stew". The family works hard together collecting a variety of colorful vegetables- every color in the rainbow in fact, which is where the stew gets its name. After all the hard work, they wash up, help prepare the vegetables, and then read books as they wait for their lunch of rainbow stew to cook on the stove. Finally, when the stew is done and their tummies begin to rumble- they all tuck into to a comforting, and well-deserved meal.
I really like using this book for food storytimes because it ties in great with a "Rainbow Stew" flannelboard activity that I outline in more detail later in this post. Additionally, there are lots of opportunities to talk about different kinds of fruits and vegetables during the part of the story where the family gathers them from the garden. You can get input from storytime participants to name some fruits and vegetables they know of certain colors, and also contribute some they may not know or didn't mention. Lastly, I really like that this particular book depicts a non-White family, because most of my visiting Head Start classes are comprised of children of color, so I often like present texts to them that not only show them "windows" into cultures and worlds other than their own, but also texts which are "mirrors" that represent kids who look like them and share their experiences.
Jam & Honey by Melita Morales, illustrated by Laura J. Bryant
Jam & Honey is as sweet as it's title suggests. The book is divided into two parts- the first part is told from the perspective of "The Girl" and the second is told from the perspective of "The Bee", but what is interesting is that they depict the same turn of events but from the outlook of these two very different characters.
The girl is out with her mother, out to find some delicious blueberries to pick in order to turn it into jam. As she is picking the sweet berries in their bushes, she encounters a bee who is collecting pollen from the flowers nearby. The girl is a little bit shocked, so she stays very still until the bee makes his way to another flower further away. The girl and her mother make their way home to make blueberry jam and to enjoy it with some honey on toast. The second part of the story follows the mission of a young honey bee to seek out pollen to bring it back to the hive where it will be turned it into the golden sticky stuff. The bee, busily roaming from flower to flower, suddenly encounters the girl. We learn from this unique perspective, that the bee is actually as equally shocked by the presence of the girl, and he takes the advice of his mother bee to stay still until the girl goes away. In the end, he makes his way back to the hive to bring back the fruits of his hard work.
The story is told in rhyme, and has repetitive lines in both the first and second parts. It's lyrical nature really make the story flow, and it adds to the sweet tone of it. I really like the unique storytelling technique of telling the same sequence events from both the perspective of the girl and the bee. I think this can help children to re-think simply being scared of such insects, and to instead think of how the insect might feel about them in a similar situation. Additionally, the story is a good way to talk about where certain foods are from. For example, you can talk a little about where honey comes from or the process of turning blueberries into jam which little ones might not understand/know yet.
Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin, illustrated by Daniel Salmieri
Dragons Love Tacos is a very popular picture book, which many children may already know the story to. The book is really humorous, and it is one of my favorites to use during storytime because it is always sure to get laughs and lighten the mood. This is actually the very first book I ever read when I first started conducting storytimes as a volunteer with the Book for Wider Horizons organization. The story really pushes the idea behind the title- the fact that dragons love, love, love tacos! BUT, they cannot stand spicy salsa with those tacos, because it causes them to breathe fire. During the story, a taco party is thrown for the dragons (they also love parties), and everything is going great until....it is realized that the "totally mild salsa" contains some fine print that says it contains spicy jalapeno peppers! The party is soon turned the ashes as the dragons accidentally destroy everything around them with their fire breathing. In the end the dragons feel guilty and help rebuild what they destroyed, but the taco breaks don't hurt either. Adam Rubin also has another silly food-themed picture book called Secret Pizza Party that would work great during a food storytime and is a little less known that this one if you are looking to share something new.
Activities:
Flannelboard: Five Red Apples
This song is an adaptation of the classic children's song Five Little Monkeys Hanging (Swinging or Sitting, sometimes too) in Tree, where they tease Mr. Alligator, and get chomped up one by one. This song is similar, but instead Five Red Apples tease Mr. Horsey, and one by one he chomps them out of the tree. I like to use one of our horse puppets during this song, who sneaks up to the tree and grabs up each apple- my storytime participants love it!
Five Red Apples
Five red apples hanging in a tree
Teasing Mr. Horsey, "You can't catch me, you can't catch me!"
Along comes Mr. Horsey, as quiet as can be....
And chomps an apple, right out of that tree!
Four red apples hanging in a tree
Teasing Mr. Horsey, "You can't catch me, you can't catch me!"
Along comes Mr. Horsey, as quiet as can be....
And chomps an apple, right out of that tree!
Three red apples hanging in a tree
Teasing Mr. Horsey, "You can't catch me, you can't catch me!"
Along comes Mr. Horsey, as quiet as can be....
And chomps an apple, right out of that tree!
Two red apples hanging in a tree
Teasing Mr. Horsey, "You can't catch me, you can't catch me!"
Along comes Mr. Horsey, as quiet as can be....
And chomps an apple, right out of that tree!
One red apples hanging in a tree
Teasing Mr. Horsey, "You can't catch me, you can't catch me!"
Along comes Mr. Horsey, as quiet as can be....
And chomps an apple, right out of that tree!
No more apples hanging in that tree!
I reuse the tree pictured for most of my flannelboard activities they require one, so I don't have to keep making a bunch of new trees. I linked to the template I used to create the tree in my post about Spring storytimes for my "And the Green Grass Grows All Around" flannelboard. Inspiration for my cute little apples is from Feltboard Magic's "Five Apples in a Basket." You can buy felt pieces and templates from the website, but I just freehanded the apples myself on freezer paper.
Flannelboard: Rainbow Stew
I was inspired by Storytime ABC's post about "Magical Rainbow Stew" to create my own felt pieces for this rhyme. As I mentioned earlier, this song pairs perfectly with the Rainbow Stew book that I used. This rainbow stew is a little more magical than what is created in the book. Taking a page from Storytime ABC's, I purchased a black plastic cauldron (like the kind you see around during Halloween, but since this was out of season for this storytime I just bought this one from Amazon). The basic idea behind the stew is you place the pieces of the rainbow beforehand inside the cauldron before storytime, so they are hidden from view. You take each ingredient, one at a time, place it into the pot, say the rhyme, stir it up with a big spoon, then "magically" pull out a piece of the rainbow from the pot. This might sound a little silly, but my kids loved it a lot, and they really thought I was conjuring up some magic in my cauldron. Probably halfway through this routine, they will start to realize that you are making a rainbow, but it's still a ton of fun to toss in each ingredient and pull out a part of the rainbow until it is complete.
I wasn't sure how to "perform" the rhyme part for Rainbow Stew, but I really loved this rendition of it that I found on YouTube, so I did my version in a similar way but using my props. It isn't really a proper song that is sung, but you do keep it kinda lyrical since it is a rhyme (watch the video to see what I mean). I loved being able to use different kinds of props (the cauldron and spoon) in addition to my normal flannelboard pieces, and I'm thinking of ways to incorporate other types of props to my storytime activities in the future. If you have any favorites, please comment at the bottom of the post and let me know- I'm always looking for new ideas!
The cauldron, with the hidden rainbow pieces inside:
Rainbow Stew
Take an apple, (take flannel piece from board)
Put it in the pot, (put it into the cauldron)
Stir it, stir it, stir it a lot. (stir spoon in cauldron)
Take it out now... (stick your hand into cauldron)
What can it be? (grab red rainbow piece)
The prettiest red, you ever did see! (pull out rainbow piece and place on board)
Take an orange, (take flannel piece from board)
Put it in the pot, (put it into the cauldron)
Stir it, stir it, stir it a lot. (stir spoon in cauldron)
Take it out now... (stick your hand into cauldron)
What can it be? (grab orange rainbow piece)
The prettiest orange, you ever did see! (pull out rainbow piece and layer it on top of red piece)
Take a lemon, (take flannel piece from board)
Put it in the pot, (put it into the cauldron)
Stir it, stir it, stir it a lot. (stir spoon in cauldron)
Take it out now... (stick your hand into cauldron)
What can it be? (grab yellow rainbow piece)
The prettiest yellow, you ever did see! (pull out rainbow piece and layer it on top of orange piece)
Take an pear, (take flannel piece from board)
Put it in the pot, (put it into the cauldron)
Stir it, stir it, stir it a lot. (stir spoon in cauldron)
Take it out now... (stick your hand into cauldron)
What can it be? (grab green rainbow piece)
The prettiest green, you ever did see! (pull out rainbow piece and layer it on top of yellow piece)
Take some blueberries, (take flannel piece from board)
Put them in the pot, (put it into the cauldron)
Stir it, stir it, stir it a lot. (stir spoon in cauldron)
Take it out now... (stick your hand into cauldron)
What can it be? (grab blue rainbow piece)
The prettiest blue, you ever did see! (pull out rainbow piece and layer it on top of green piece)
Take some grapes, (take flannel piece from board)
Put them in the pot, (put it into the cauldron)
Stir it, stir it, stir it a lot. (stir spoon in cauldron)
Take it out now... (stick your hand into cauldron)
What can it be? (grab purple rainbow piece)
The prettiest purple, you ever did see! (pull out rainbow piece and layer it on top of blue piece)
My inspiration for the flannelboard pieces are from HaonCreative's etsy shop. The pieces are out of my budget, and I always try to make my own pieces to save money, so I just freehanded the pieces on sheets of freezer paper to achieve a similar look.
Action song: Bananas Unite!
I learned this fun song from the awesome duo, Dana and Lindsey, over at Jbrary. They have a ton of wonderful and super helpful videos over on YouTube, so check them out if you are looking for great songs for storytime! This song is a fun one to get kids up off of their carpet squares and into some fun dancing and movement.
Bananas Unite!
Bananas unite! (raise hands over your head to make a pointy banana shape)
Peel bananas,
peel, peel bananas. (lower arms one at a time to mimic peeling a banana)
Peel bananas,
peel, peel bananas. (lower arms one at a time to mimic peeling a banana)
Chop bananas,
chop, chop bananas. (mimic one hand as knife and the other as a flat surface and raise knife hand up and down to mimic cutting)
Cop bananas,
chop, cop bananas. (mimic one hand as knife and the other as a flat surface and raise knife hand up and down to mimic cutting)
Mash bananas,
mash, mash bananas. (clap and smoosh hands together to mimic mashing of bananas)
Mash bananas,
mash, mash bananas. (clap and smoosh hands together to mimic mashing of bananas)
Eat bananas,
eat, eat bananas. (pinch fingers of one hand together, and reach into other cupped hand, then bring pinched fingers to mouth to mimic scooping and eating bananas)
Eat bananas,
eat, eat bananas. (pinch fingers of one hand together, and reach into other cupped hand, then bring pinched fingers to mouth to mimic scooping and eating bananas)
Go bananas,
go, go bananas! (act wild and silly, dance around, be goofy)
Go bananas,
go, go bananas! (act wild and silly, dance around, be goofy)
Bananas unite! (raise arms straight above head to make a pointy banana shape again)
Flannelboard: P-I-Z-Z-A
The inspiration for this flannelboard is from Jen in the Library (hey, I'm also a Jen in the library, great minds?). I love that each different slice has a different topping and I made my similarly. I didn't have a template (you can see that the slices don't really line up together), I just freehanded the different pieces. Pizza is a pretty basic shape, so it's not too difficult. I started by making the brown crust, which serves at the foundation for each slice. Then I cut out the cheese using the same point bottom as the crust, but cutting off more of the top part to leave some crust exposed. Then I cut a small piece of red for the tomato sauce and layered it between the crust and cheese pieces. Since there are a lot of elements for each slice, I didn't want to layer too many pieces of felt and make each piece too heavy to stick to the flannelboard.
P-I-Z-Z-A!
(to the tune of B-I-N-G-O!)
There is a treat that's fun to eat,
and pizza is its name!
P-I-Z-Z-A!
P-I-Z-Z-A!
And pizza is it's name!
(I like to then say something along the lines: "Oh this slice looks so yummy, I'm going to eat it up! Then I pretend to gobble up the first P slice.)
There is a treat that's fun to eat,
and pizza is its name!
*clap*-I-Z-Z-A!
*clap*-I-Z-Z-A!
And pizza is it's name!
(pretend to eat the next slice)
There is a treat that's fun to eat,
and pizza is its name!
*clap*-*clap*-Z-Z-A!
*clap*-*clap*-Z-Z-A!
And pizza is it's name!
(pretend to each the next slice)
There is a treat that's fun to eat,
and pizza is its name!
*clap*-*clap*-*clap*-Z-A!
*clap*-*clap*-*clap*-Z-A!
And pizza is it's name!
(pretend to eat the next slice)
There is a treat that's fun to eat,
and pizza is its name!
*clap*-*clap*-*clap*-*clap*-A!
*clap*-*clap*-*clap*-*clap*-A!
And pizza is it's name!
(pretend to eat the next slice)
There is a treat that's fun to eat,
and pizza is its name!
*clap*-*clap*-*clap*-*clap*-*clap*!
*clap*-*clap*-*clap*-*clap*-*clap*!
And pizza is it's name!
(pretend to eat the last slice)
Craft: Paper Pizzas
The template for these paper pizzas is from Storytime Katie, but I executed my craft a little differently than she did. I wasn't crazy about the look of the included pizza toppings on the printable, so I instead created my own toppings out of construction paper. I cut out green bell peppers, brown mushrooms, and black olives and gave three of each to every kid to glue to their pizza. This also helped with the crayon situation- since we are limited on space I have to take some time out of storytime to pass out craft materials to each kid. I try to divide at least 25 portions worth of craft materials before storytime starts to reduce time spent passing things out and counting. Having a bunch of different toppings that need to be colored would mean I'd have to pass out several different colors of crayons to everyone (which we don't even have), and the sharing of colors and such could just eat up even more precious time. Instead I just gave everyone a brown and yellow crayon to color their pizzas, and passed out glue sticks to glue the toppings to the colored-in pizzas and then the pizzas to a paper plate. The most time consuming part for me was cutting out all of the pizza toppings by hand, but the craft was a big hit!
