Dinosaur Rhyme

DINOSAURS

Spread your arms,

           WAY out wide,

Fly like a Pteranodon,

           soar and glide!

Bend to the floor,
           head down low,
Move like a Stegosaurus,

           from long ago.

Reach up tall,

           try to be

As tall as Apatosaurus,

           munching on a tree.

Use your claws!

           Grumble and growl!

Act like a Tyrannosaurus

           on the prowl!

          

Rolling Snowballs Song

Another season of story times starts!

This song is sung to the tune "Where is Thumbkin?"

Roll your fists together while singing the word "rolling". Wiggle your fingers while singing the world "melting".

Rolling snowballs!
                         Rolling snowballs!

                         Thick, thick, thick! (hold your hands widely)
                         Thick, thick, thick!

                          Melting, melting snowballs!
                          Melting, melting snowballs!
                          Thin, thin, thin!     (hold your hands together)
                          Thin, thin, thin!

                          Rolling snowballs!
                                                               Rolling snowballs!
                                                               Tall, tall, tall!        (Roll/stretch up high)
                                                               Tall, tall, tall!

                          Melting, melting snowballs!
                          Melting, melting snowballs!
                          Small, small, small!  (Roll/stretch down low)
                          Small, small, small!

Bike Poem

My new bike is big (stretch arms)
And red.
I put my helmet
On my head (pat head).

I pad my elbows (tap elbows)
And my knees. (tap knees)
I ride all around
So that everyone sees!

Interactive Story times

This is for a crowd that is at least three at the very minimum, and works well with kids that are over the age of five too.

It is a program-filler for those times when you have run out of resources and have a stretch of time until your program ends.

Basically, I take a well-known story usually (though I may sometimes make my own up) and assign an action to about three of the words.

Goldilocks and the Three Bears. In this story, I usually get the kids to growl and make bear ears for the word "bears", to make a roof over their heads with their hands when I say "house" and to rub their tummy when I say "oatmeal".

It also works well when there is a lesson for that day -- the stories get the kids to demonstrate that they really understand what I taught them. i. e. Dinos did not eat pizza. :)

5 Little Dinosaurs

This is a favourite with 3-5 year olds. In a museum camp setting I worked in, I used the rhyme to reinforce the rules about not running in the building. The staff there, under my suggestion, made a glove puppet with 5 little dinosaur pom pom heads to go along with the rhyme.

5 little dinosaurs stomped throughout the land.
The first one said, "Isn't life grand?"
The second one said, "I am having SO much fun!"
The third one said, "Let's walk. Don't run!"
The fourth one stood there and rubbed his tummy!
The 5th one said, "I need something yummy!"

The 5 little dinosaurs had teeth that were large and white. They all turned around and they stomped out of sight.

Quiet Butterfly

This is a variation on the bumblebee rhyme. Use any butterfly puppet you may have, or make a butterfly by crossing your wrists and flapping your hands.

See the quiet butterfly
Fly like a kite.
It flaps to the left, (move puppet/hands to the left)
And it zooms to the right.

Now it swoops up!
Then it flops down!
The tired little butterfly
Rests on the ground.

Bumblebee Rhyme

Have caregivers and guardians move their babies along with this rhyme. Toddlers and older preschoolers can move/sway to the rhyme too! This is also a way to use the Folkmanis bee puppet. This image is from the Folkmanis website.

See the buzzing bumblebee.
It's yellow and black!
It zooms quickly forward,
then flies slowly back.

Now it swoops up!
Then it sinks down!
Come tired bumblebee!
Rest on the ground!