Ready for Fun

This week I thought we would get silly (ok, sillier than usual) at Story time and so I chose some silly books and two by Jan Thomas, including Is Everyone Ready for Fun?, which gave us the title for today's story time. There were plenty of funny, nonsensical action rhymes and songs out there. We did "Crazy Clap" (three times!) which was easy, thanks to Bethany from the Hennepin County Library:

Crazy Clap
A crazy clap A lazy clap
Clap like a duck
A MONSTER clap
A CROCODILE clap
A fairy clap for luck
(Source: The Moon in the Man by Elizabeth Honey)

We also did some other silly "Can you?" rhymes: "Can you Move with me?" and "You Clap and You Stop." Of course we did "Head, Shoulder, Knees, and Toes" as we always do and the kids offered great suggestions as to how to do it. (Today's selections: whisper, LOUD, and CRAZY) Lots of action and lots of giggles and we held everyone's attention. Here are the books we read today:

Is Everyone Ready for Fun? by Jan Thomas
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Looking for a fun engaging book to put toddlers in a sily, giggly mood? This book is it. Three cows are ready for fun and find it...on chicken's couch. One cow asks, "Is everyone ready?" at the start of each new couch activity and the kids in my audience would yell, "yes!" as they jumped, they danced, they wiggled (giggling the entire time) along with cows. We all agreed that chicken sounded a little like our moms, in trying to protect his couch, and stop the fun. In the end, everyone comes together when they all agree on a good use for chicken's couch.

Don't Be Silly, Mrs. Millie! by Judy Cox
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Mrs. Millie's class laughs all day at all the silly things she says from "hang up your goats" first thing to "Put on your bats and kittens, butterfly!" (translation: put on your hats and mittens, good-bye!) Kids paint "on the weasel" in art class, say the "frog salute" and are invited to come "sit on the bug" for story time. The students laugh, calling Mrs. Mille silly and provide the correct sentence. All in all a fun read-aloud book, with bright illustrations based on the SILLY phrase. My storytime audience loved this book, and laughed and had fun yelling out the correct sentences. Very engaging read for toddlers.

What To Do If An Elephant Stands On Your Foot by Michelle Robinson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
In this book you will find instructions on what to do, or rather not to do, if you ever come face to face with a tiger, or are up a tree filled with snakes or if you ever find your foot trapped under an elephant. The title of this book intrigued me...and my storytime audience loved it. Of course, you should never startle an elephant, but how can you not yell "Yeowww!" when one is standing on your foot? This book invites the kids to become engaged in the story, so my audience helped make animal noises, waved their arms and yelled "Help!" when sitting in a lake surrounded by alligators and were on their feet going nuts with the monkeys. Thoroughly enjoyable read-aloud.

Can You Make a Scary Face? by Jan Thomas
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
A little over a year ago, I Grabbed this book for a last minute storytime off the shelf and got lucky - the kids (baby-lapsit & toddler) LOVED it. The readers do all kinds of actions at the suggestions of the cute bug that you see on the front cover. It was the perfect addition to this story time, and by the time I read this one my audience was primed to participate. They can make some very, very scary faces!