Little Artist Storytime

   

STORYTIME FOR: Berwyn Public Library (Outreach)

Hello/Goodbye Song

We Say Hello/Goodbye Like This (with ukulele)
(Tune: The Farmer in the Dell)
D                                                          A7
We wave hello like this… with our friends in storytime, we wave hello like this.
D                                                         A7
We clap hello like this…with our friends in storytime, we clap hello like this.
D                                                           A7
We stomp hello like this… with our friends in storytime, we stomp hello like this.

Why These Books?

Lily Brown’s Paintings by Angela Johnson, illustrated by E.B. Lewis.  A young girl named Lily Brown loves the world she lives in and loves to paint her world.  As she paints, her renderings come alive like a dream.  This is a sweet book that stimulates the imagination.  Kids love to point out details on the page, and reading this is a great opportunity to talk about self-expression.

Red: A Crayon’s Story by Michael Hall.  The crayon in this story is supposed to be red, but he keeps drawing blue!  And now matter what anyone does to try to help him, all that he draws is blue.  Then one day, a purple crayon asks him to draw a blue ocean…and suddenly the “red” crayon has found his purpose.  This goes over well with kids because they love to correct me…”He’s not red, he’s blue!” and also love the message that you just need to find your true self to make your mark.

Jeremy Draws and Monster by Peter McCarty.  Isolated in his room, Jeremy draws himself a monster, but things don’t go according to plan.  Jeremy’s monster starts making all kinds of demands–without saying thank you–and Jeremy has to draw him a ticket out of town.  This is a silly book that delights the kids.  They love being able to say, “He’s not very nice,” which makes this a great opportunity to talk about manners.  There’s a hidden theme in here that some classes catch onto.  After dealing with the monster, Jeremy decides that it’s okay to go outside and play with the other kids.  I also include this book because I get to point out another way to be an artist, by drawing.

I Ain’t Gonna Paint No More by Karen Beaumont.  A boy’s mom puts his paints away, but then he secretly gets his paints back out and starts to paint all over his body.  He choruses, “I ain’t gonna paint no more, no more, I ain’t gonna paint no more,” yet goes on painting.  Here’s an opportunity to practice prediction skills.  What will he paint next?  Some kids even catch onto the rhyme scheme.  I like to get the kids to say the chorus with me, too.

Extensions

This is the Way We Paint (action  song)
This is the way we stir the paint, stir the paint, stir the paint
This is the way we stir the paint so early in the morning
(dip our brush, paint the paper, blow it dry, frame the picture)
*credit: Storytime Katie

Big Green Monster (flannel puppet)

Big green monster has big scary green face,
Two big yellow eyes,
A long bluish-greenish nose,
Two little squiggly ears,
Scraggly purple hair,
And a big red mouth with sharp white teeth…But…
You’re just a puppet!  You don’t scare me!  So…
Go away, scraggly purple hair,
Go away, two little squiggly ears,
Go away, big yellow eyes,
Go away big red mouth with sharp white teeth,
Go away big green scary face,
And DON’T COME BACK!

The More We Get Together (w/ American Sign Language)
The more we get together, together, together,
The more we get together, the happier we’ll be.
Because your friends are my friends
And my friends are you friends.
The more we get together, the happier we’ll be!

A Fun Magic Coloring Book
Activity with A Fun Magic Coloring Book that stimulates the imagination.

How It Went

The two big hits were I Ain’t Gonna Paint No More and A Fun Magic Coloring Book, though most of the other books and extensions also worked really well.  There’s just something about the combination of rhyme and silliness in I Ain’s Gonna Paint No More that makes it PERFECT for this age.  I had a lot of kids saying they wanted to check it out.  I ended up switching Red: A Crayon’s Story with Lily Brown’s Paintings for groups that were more restless, if I could tell right away.  I love Lily Brown, but it’s a much quieter and sweeter book, so the silliness of Red worked better for some groups.

Do you have little artist stories you love to read in storytime?  Let me know in the comments!