Halloween Night Starts with Halloween Day!

Miss Lucy Jane, my newly published picture book for all ages, is available on Amazon.  Please see my previous post for details.  If you do purchase the book (and I thank you for that!), be sure to email me at janewillisjohnston@gmail.com for suggestions on more ways to enjoy and explore Miss Lucy Jane.   Storytime presentation and craft ideas are included and are great for parents, librarians and teachers.  You can also find news of Miss Lucy Jane and my suggestions on the blog Sturdy for Common Things, a follower of this blog.


Now on to Halloween Night Starts with Halloween Day!  Most of the Halloween books, stories, poems, fingerplays and action rhymes I used for my storytimes at the library were all about pumpkins. PUMPKIN is such a fun word to say and saying it over and over is even more fun!  Make sure everyone knows what a PUMPKIN is and what a JACK-O-LANTERN is.  You could draw one,  make a paper one, carve or draw on a real pumpkin,  look at one in a book,  make pumpkin or jack-o-lantern cookies, or do it all.  Here are a few good Halloween books to start your day.


GOOD BOOKS FOR HALLOWEEN
The Fierce Yellow Pumpkin  by Margaret Wise Brown
The Bumpy Little Pumpkin  by Margery Cuyler
The Mystery Vine by Cathryn Falwell
Pumpkin Eye  by Denise Fleming
It's Pumpkin Time! by Zoe Hall
Apples and Pumpkins  by Anne Rockwell
Plumply Dumply Pumpkin by Mary Serfozo
Mouse's First Halloween by Lauren Thompson
Five Little Pumpkins by Iris Van Rynback
Pumpkin, Pumpkin by Jean Titherington
The Little One Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams
Five Little Pumpkins  by Dan Yaccarino  (This is a Board Book.)


Now everyone should be ready for my PUMPKIN CHANT!  I always taught this right after reading Plumply Dumply Pumpkin. (See booklist above.) I wrote these fun words in 2001 and have used it with great silliness and energy and success with all ages every since.  It always takes quite a few words to describe the suggested movements for my ACTION RHYMES.  (And remember, you can always make up your own movements!)  So let's just start with the CHANT to get to know the words and rhymes and rhythm.  Then I will get down to the  ACTION details, and we will get really silly!

                                                                PUMPKIN CHANT

                                                               Pumpkin, pumpkin,
                                                                   pumpkin bread!
                                                               Pumpkin, pumpkin,
                                                                   pumpkin head!
                                                               Pumpkin, pumpkin,
                                                                   pumpkin pie!
                                                               Pumpkin, pumpkin,
                                                                   pumpkin eye!
                                                               Pumpkin, pumpkin,
                                                                   pumpkin cake!
                                                               Pumpkin, pumpkin,
                                                                   pumpkin shake!
                                                               Pumpkin, pumpkin,
                                                                   pumpkin stew!
                                                               Pumpkin, pumpkin,
                                                                   pumpkin BOO!


                                                                                2001 copyright Jane Willis Johnston


ACTIONS: Sit down on a chair or cross-legged on the floor  All the way through the chant you will keep up a rhythm of PAT PAT, CLAP CLAP, PAT PAT by patting your knees, then clapping you hands, then patting your knees again for the words "Pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin. . ."

For "bread" hold hands flat in front of you, palms up, one lying on top of the other
For "head" put hands on head
For "pie" hold hands in a big circle
For "eye" make "eyeglasses" curving hands around eyes
For "cake" hold hands flat, one palm up, one palm down held five inches above the other hand
For "shake" hold fists up close to ears and shake them as hard as you can
For "stew" curve one arm out and in toward chest in shape of stewpot, stir with other hand

When you get to the last "pumpkin" instead of patting your knees, hold your hands over your eyes and get ready to pull them away to shout BOO! as loudly as you can!!!  

To add a little fun, I usually pause and hold on the non-pumpkin words, and I usually let my voice get a little spooky (if nobody seems worried about that) on "head" and "eye" and "shake" and "BOO!"   Now see how fast you can say the words and do the actions!!


THE JACK O-LANTERN IN THE STORY
Put on your Halloween or any kind of costumes and try out this idea for making up stories using who or what you are all dressed up to be as characters in a circle story. Before you begin this activity, cut BIG shapes from construction paper.  Make squares, circle, triangles, rectangles and whatever other shapes you like.  Give everybody one or two or three shapes.  Sit down in a BIG circle.  Now you are ready to make up a story that will create a JACK-O-LANTERN face in the middle of the circle.

Decide who will start the story.  That person, who might be dressed up like a robot and have a triangle,  might say "One morning when I was feeling very hungry I ate a great big piece of pizza for breakfast!"  Then the robot will put a triangle out in the circle to start a JACK-O-LANTERN face.  It might be a nose or part of the mouth or an ear.  The robot can put it wherever he wants.  Then it is, maybe, a fairy's turn.  Maybe the fairy has a circle.  So the fairy might say, "When the fairy saw the piece of pizza for breakfast, it made her think of a whole pizza and that made her think of a whole cake and so she baked a big round Halloween cake for lunch."  Or the fairy might say, "When the fairy saw the robot eating breakfast, she knew she was hungry, so she climbed on her magic wheel and rolled down the hill to the bakery for a donut."   Then the fairy will put her circle out to make part of the JACK-O-LANTERN face.  Obviously stories can take you anywhere. And wherever this story takes you, in the end a fine JACK-O-LANTERN will appear!


When you are all finished, you can say the PUMPKIN CHANT again while you are sitting in the circle looking at the JACK-O-LANTERN face as the JACK-O-LANTERN face looks at you!!.


Have a full-of-fun Halloween day and a Halloween night full of sweet dreams of the day!
                                                              

A Good Day for a New Book!

I know it has been a month now since I shared family activities, action rhymes and stories with you.  It has been a special and especially busy time!  My picture book Miss Lucy Jane by Jane Willis Johnston, illustrated by my cousin Emmeline Hall was published!!  Such an amazing journey making a book has been.  The text is a poem I wrote many years ago, and I was delighted when I was able to partner with Emmeline to bring it all to life.  If you are interested in owning it,  Miss Lucy Jane is available from here from Amazon or from me at janewillisjohnston@gmail.com.


Miss Lucy Jane is a fanciful girl "full of dreams and flap-doodle schemes."  Follow her on one week of wonderful, creative adventures.  And search for a mouse in every picture!  You can also find clues  in each picture that will lead you into the amazing world of the next picture. If you would like, please tell your local library about the book and  perhaps they will add it to their collection...and you can check it out!


I will be back soon with October ACTION RHYMES and story ideas.  I hope your family is having a fun fall.  Fill those autumn nights with warm stories and entertaining ideas!


  

A Fine Day for Cats!

Find A Fine Day for Cats in your busy week. 

Cats are most interesting animals and a lot of fun to play with.  They are quite smart, always curious about the world, busy when they are busy and great nappers when they have worn themselves out.  Cats do have minds of their own.  Though cats can become a comfortable part of a home and family, they really believe they are in charge of everything.  They make it clear when they are finished with one thing and ready for something else. They are warm and cuddly and like to cozy up next to you while you are reading a book.  They let you know when they are hungry and when they have had enough.  Cats are definitely nice to have around.  Cats are a lot like children!  Have A Fine Day for Cats...and Children!


BOOKLIST:
Go on a hunt around your house to find any books you have with a cat or two inside.  Take a trip to the library for more cat books.  Here are a few of my favorites.  Be sure to ask the librarian to help you find some of his or her favorite cat books!  Be sure to request through interlibrary loan any titles your library does not own.
Mrs. McTats and her Houseful of Cats  by Alyssa Capucilli
Have You Seen My Cat?  by Eric Carle
My Cat Jack  by Patricia Casey
Kitten red yellow blue  by Peter Catalanotto
Pete the Cat  I Love My White Shoes  by James Dean and Eric Litwin
    (There are more titles in the Pete the Cat series.)
Four Fierce Kittens  by Joyce Dunbar
Angus and the Cat  by Marjorie Flack
Mama Cat Has Three Kittens  by Denise Fleming
Millions of Cats  by Wanda Gag
Three Little Kittens by Paul Galdone
Kitten's First Full Moon  by Kevin Henkes
All for Pie, and Pie for All  by David Martin
Four Hungry Kittens  by Emily Arnold McCully



Curl up together several times during the day for good books and cat naps!




THE STORY OF THAT CAT!
Here is a fun way to create your own story about a cat. 

You be the storyteller and ask everyone else to be the storychoosers.  Start with the following suggestions, if you want, and go from there.  When you come to the questions, wait for an answer from the storychoosers and then repeat it into the story.  So the first line might turn out something like this:

Once upon a time, about (HOW MANY YEARS AGO?), there lived a cat (HOW BIG WAS THE CAT?  WHAT COLOR WAS THAT CAT?  WHAT COLOR WERE THE EYES? HOW LONG WAS THE TAIL?) ) that nobody knew, so everybody just called ( HIM OR HER?) THAT CAT.

(So you put in the choices as you go along:  Once upon a time, about five years ago, there lived a giant orange cat with purple eyes and a very long tail that nobody knew, so everybody called him THAT CAT!)  

Now, THAT CAT was (HOW OLD?) and was looking for (WHAT WAS THAT CAT LOOKING FOR?)  THAT CAT looked (WHERE?) and THAT CAT looked (WHERE?) but THAT CAT had no luck finding it anywhere!  Soon THAT CAT decided to climb a (WHAT DID THAT CAT CLIMB?)  and see what there was to see.  When THAT CAT got (HOW HIGH DID THAT CAT CLIMB?) the weather started to change.  (DID IT START TO RAIN OR SNOW OR BLOW OR GET TOO HOT?)  So THAT CAT had to (WHAT DID THAT CAT HAVE TO DO?) to get away from the tricky weather.  Cats do not like to be too wet or too cold or too hot or too windblown!  THAT CAT ran as fast as he could until he came to a (WHAT DID THAT CAT COME TO?  SOMETHING LIKE A CAVE OR A RIVER OR A SWINGSET OR A TREEHOUSE OR A PICNIC?)  in our neighborhood.  And right there THAT CAT found what he was looking for all along (DO YOU REMEMBER WHAT HE WAS LOOKING FOR?)  THAT CAT was very happy.  He decided to settle down then and there. And that is why, to this very day, THAT CAT lives down the road from our house where he cooks and sells (WHAT DOES THAT CAT COOK AND SELL- PANCAKES OR PICKLES OR WHAT?)  to anyone walking by.  Now everybody is so happy to know THAT (REMEMBER THE DESCRIPTION YOU CHOSE AT THE BEGINNING OF THE STORY?)  CAT!


ACTION RHYME:
You can get some good exercise with this ACTION RHYME!  
Stand up, hold your arms out in front  and make a fist for the cat and one for the mouse. 
For the first two lines, swing your arms, twist as far around as you can as your fists chase each other.  Then hold your hands wide apart to show the cat is "large" and clap your hands and hold them together to show the mouse is "thin."
Now swing and twist and make the cat chase the mouse again. 
Rub your tummy when the cat and mouse are hungry, hold your hands in a bowl shape up close to your mouth and lap when they are eating stew.
Lean your head over on one hand and close your eyes when the cat takes a nap. put your other hand across your chest when the mouse sits down in the cat's lap. 
Then MEOW as loudly as you can for the rest of the poem and your swing your arms and twist for the chase again OR run out of the room as fast as you can!
                                     
                                                            CAT AND MOUSE

                                               There was a cat who chase a mouse
                                                       in and out a big old house.
                                               That cat was large, that mouse was thin.
                                                      They ran around and back again.
                                   
                                               That cat was hungry, mouse was, too.
                                                  They stopped to eat a bowl of stew.
                                                  That cat was tired and took a nap. 
                                               That mouse sat down on that cat's lap!

                                                When cat woke up and saw that mouse,
                                      cat MEOWED and chased mouse from that house!!

                                                                                Copyright 2000 Jane Willis Johnston


CAT ACTION RHYME AND ALPHABET ACTIVITY:
Use purchased alphabet flash cards or make your own.  If you make your own, be sure to write the letters in both upper and lower case.  Use one color for all letters that rhyme with B.  Use a contrasting color for all other letters.  With the pre-made cards, make two piles, those that rhyme with B and all of the others.  Figuring that out together is a good activity all by itself!

You could make two cat stick puppets for this or just be the cats yourselves.  Let's start with the rhyme so you understand my idea.  This is based on a nursery rhyme.  Say it together a few times.


                                                              TWO SILLY CATS

                                                       Two silly cats raced up a tree,
                                                       One named A, one named B.
                                                       
                                                        A clapped her paws.
                                                        B clicked his claws,

                                                        A MEOWED a song,
                                                        B danced along.
                                                       
                                                        Two silly cats raced down a tree,
                                                         One named A, one named B! 
                                     
                                                                                 Copyright 2009 Jane Willis Johnston


Find the A card and the B card and set them on the floor so everyone can see.  Make sure everyone knows what the cards say.
Everybody squats down, ready to be cats racing up a tree.  (Or holding cat puppets to make race up a tree.) 
On the first line, stand up, stretch arms. 
On second line, wave one hand for A and then the other for B.
Make your actions fit the words of the next four lines. 
Then squat down as fast as you can for the last lines, remembering to wave hand for A and one for B.

Now, draw another card from each pile, set them out so everyone can see. make sure everybody knows what they say, and do the ACTION RHYME all over again! 


See how fast and how silly you can be!  And learn about letters on such A Fine Day for Cats!




                                 

Have a Happy Home and Family Day!

Greetings and thank you to all of you who follow Every Day Is Storytime!  I have been slow to post my latest theme as I have been busy finalizing my first picture book, Miss Lucy Jane, which will be published and available in September.  The beautiful illustrations are by my cousin Emmeline Hall.  I am very excited and look forward to sharing Miss Lucy Jane with the world come autumn.




Every day, whether it is filled with activities away from your house or busy with lots of house and yard moments, is wonderfully framed with the comfortable look and feel and smell and spirit of the home you create with your family.  Take time to take a few photographs (or make drawings) of favorite spaces in your house, making sure everyone gets to add their special places to the list.  Take a photo (or draw a picture) of each person and pet in your family.  Use your photos or drawings to make a banner all about  The Story of Our Home and Family.   Write under each picture why that place was chosen, who chose it, and what special things you can do there.  Tape your pictures to a string or ribbon and tape your banner across a window or pin it to a curtain.  I hope at least one of the pictures shows an especially good place to read a book!!


BOOKLIST:
Collect books from around your house that have something to do with home and family.  Check your local library for the following titles.  Request them from the interlibrary service if necessary.  Be sure to explore the library shelves for books that look good to you1


Castles, Caves and Honeycombs  by Linda Ashman
I Want to Say I Love You  by Carolyn Buehner
Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother, Too?  Eric Carle
A House for Hermit Crab  by Eric Carle
Big Brother, Little Brother  by Penny Dale
Where's My Mom?  by Julia Donaldson
Ask Mr. Bear  by Marjorie Flack
Moving Day  by Robert Kalan
Peter's Chair by Ezra Jack Keats
What Baby Wants  by Phyllis Root
We Were Tired of Living in a House   by Liesel Skorpen
This Is the House that Was Tidy and Clean  by Teri Sloat
Raise the Roof!  by Anastasia Suen
This Is the House that Jack Built  by Simms Taback
Bunnies on the Go  by Rick Walton
The House That Jack Built  by Jeanette Winter




After you have shared a few books and talked about your own home and family, have fun with my HOME ACTION RHYME.  I wrote it many years ago to use in my Home and Family storytime.  It is one of my favorites because the hand movements flow so smoothly from one to another.  Try it and see how it works for you.  My teaching suggestion is to talk about the individual homes that appear in the poem and who lives in them so everyone knows what you are talking about.  Then read the poem, learn the actions, then put them all together.  Face your child to model the actions, or do them together in front of a mirror, or do both!


                                                                       HOME


                                                               A king lives in a castle,
                                                                   A bird lives in a tree,
                                                          A bear lives in a deep, dark cave,
                                                                   And a fish lives in the sea.

                                                          A mouse lives in a mousehole,
                                                                 A hive is fine for bee,
                                                          A turtle crawls under a shell,
                                                              But a house is home to me!
                                                         
                                                                                Copyright 1999 Jane Willis Johnston


Substitutions:  Replace "king" with queen or prince or princess in the first line.
Replace "house" with any other kind of human home, such as igloo, treehouse,  houseboat, tipi, tent, apartment, trailer, or anything else you can think of.  Be sure to create a motion for your new word.  Take turns being inventive.




ACTIONS;                                                                                                                              
Castle:  Stretch fingers and hold hands on sides of head to show a castle tower.
Tree: Stretch arms way out at your sides.
Cave: Hold arms in arch over your head with hands together.
Sea:  Keep your hands together and make them wave up and down as you bring your arms down in front of you.  You are making a wave and a fish swimming at the same time!
Mousehole:  Now open your hands and touch fingers to make a circle for the hole.
Hive:  Close your hands together into a double fist.
Turtle shell:  Move one hand curved over the other.  Stick out your thumb and little finger of the covered hand to show the turtle's head and tail (unless you want him to stay pulled in under his shell!)
House:  Lift your arms over your head and bring your hands together in a point for a roof.


HOME AND FAMILY ACTIVITIES:
Choose a few small stuffed animals or dolls or action figures, gather up whatever building supplies you have (blocks, legos, boxes, plastic food storage containers, plastic cups, straws, plastic spoons, etc.) and build a differently shaped house for each figure.  Consider their size and shape and what their needs might be.  When you are finished, you will have neighborhood all ready for you to tell a story about each house and who lives inside and what they like to do when they are home.




Get a little exercise by moving all around your house to the rhythm of my poem about going home.
You might want to get a lot of exercise and move in all the ways described in the poem.  Choose a place that is going to be "home" and when you get to the last line, run to that place and plop down!!


                                                     ALL THE WAY HOME

                                       I like to go walking and skipping and riding,
                                       I like to go climbing and jumping and hiding,
                                       I like to see all of the world when I roam,
                                       Then I like to go running all the way home!


                                                                        
                                                                                 Copyright 2003 Jane Willis Johnston




Take a look at your The Story of Our Home and Family banner before you settle down in a cosy corner of your home for a good bedtime book.  Sweet dreams!

Fun on a Summer Day!

A beautiful summer day is worth waiting for, and Kansas is celebrating a summer with more thick green grass and full lush trees and bushes and flowers of every color everywhere than we have seen for a long time.  Our yard is busy with bunnies and squirrels and songbirds.  One day this week I counted 20 different kinds of birds coming to our water pans and birdbath.  I know you and your family are enjoying all the surprises nature brings in the summer.  Make sure each day is special and fill your summer with stories to share and stories to keep!!

Book breaks are perfect for resting up and cooling off after time outside.  Gather up any books you have that make you think of summer days and nights.  Check out books from your library.  Always ask for interlibrary loan if your library does not keep these titles in their collection.  Sometimes you can find used picture books very inexpensively on the internet.  I hope you find and enjoy some of my favorites!


BOOKLIST:
Rabbits & Raindrops  by Jim Arnosky
Up, Down and Around  by Katherine Ayres
The Very Lonely Firefly  by Eric Carle
Jack's Garden  by Henry Cole
Jamberry  by Bruce Degen
Waiting for Wings  by Lois Ehlert
Muncha!  Muncha!  Muncha!  by Candace Fleming
Little Bunny Follows his Nose  by Katherine Howard
The Carrot Seed  by Ruth Krauss
Inch by Inch by Leo Lionni
I Love Bugs!  and  Ten Flashing Fireflies  by Philemon Sturges
Bunnies on the Go  by Rick Walton
Bear's New Friend  by Karma Wilson


GOOD WAYS TO USE GOOD BOOKS:
When you read Up, Down and Around, use a lot of movements!  Have everyone stand up and reach up high, then down low, then turn around and around or move your arms in the biggest circles you can draw in the air.  It makes the book all the more fun and provides great exercise.


When you read  Muncha!  Muncha!  Muncha! make sure everyone says those words with great energy and rhythm as they are repeated throughout the silly story.  Examine the illustrations carefully to be sure everyone finds the rabbits each time they outsmart the gardener. 


Bunnies on the Go is a wonderful book for rhyme and for being a good detective.  As soon as you read it once, and everyone knows how it works, read it again right away! 


Use the following action rhyme after you read  The Very Lonely Firefly.  Make sure everyone has a good idea about what a firefly is and what it can do.  Use a few flashlights in a darkened room to be fireflies yourselves, especially if you do not have fireflies where you live.  Here in Kansas we are seeing them every night!

ACTION RHYME:

                                               FIREFLIES, FIREFLIES

                                       Fireflies, fireflies, small and bright,
                                       Flash your winking, blinking light.
                                                      
                                                       Twinkle ON
                                                    like stars at night.

                                                        Twinkle OFF!
                                                    You're out of sight!!

                                                                                       by Jane Willis Johnston  Copyright 1999


Say the words and  reach as high as you can and open and close your hands, waving your arms and stretching your fingers to the rhythm of the words.  For "Twinkle", wiggle your fingers until you say "ON."  Then stretch your fingers out and hold them still.  Now wiggle your fingers again for "Twinkle," then close your hands into a fists when you say "OFF" and then quickly hide them behind your back.  Such fun!  Do it again!!


ACTION RHYME:

                                                         SUMMERTIME 

                                          Summertime wind, summertime sun,
                                          Summertime rain, summertime fun!

                                          Summertime swim, summertime play,
                                          Summertime picnic, summertime day!

                                          Summertime stars, summertime bright,
                                          Summertime moon, summertime night! 


                                                                                     by Jane Willis Johnston  Copyright 2000


Read SUMMERTIME aloud several times, with everyone saying "summertime" together. I made up a tune for these words.  You can, too!  Or just say them in a chant.


Now talk about all the summer things in the rhyme and what actions you can do for them.  I like to wave my arms for the wind, make an arch over my head for the sun, wiggle my fingers and make rain.....and for fun, I hold my hand up next to my face and wiggle my fingers and twist my hands.  That is close to the action for "play" in American Indian sign language. (A fun thing to know.)   I will enjoy thinking about the actions you can create for the last two verses.
 
SUMMERTIME is also fun to use for a march around the room or around the yard.
                                                                                                 

SUN AND WATER PAINT STORIES:
On a really dry hot day, find some paintbrushes (the bigger the better) and fill a bucket with water.  Wear clothes you can get wet in and find some sidewalk in the sun.  Dip your brush into the water and see what you can paint before the sun dries up your picture.  Make up a story about what you paint.  Everyone can add to the story before the drawings disappear in the summer heat.  It might be fun to have things in the story that are supposed to disappear because that is what should happen, especially if there is a little breeze.   When you are finished painting disappearing pictures and stories, paint on yourself and your clothes!  Then give the grass a drink with any water leftover.


SUMMERTIME BEDTIME:
Do a little stargazing before it is time for bed and say "Thank you" to the summer day.  Share memories of the day in a "sunrise to sunset" story.  Chose a favorite book from your summer day and read it again!  Sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star as you fall asleep.                                            

Good Food, Good Day!

Do fun and different things with GOOD FOOD today!  As we all know, one good tool you can always have in your parenting toolbox is GOOD FOOD! Any way you eat food that is good for you makes a GOOD DAY for your family.  Start by going on a GOOD FOOD HUNT to find things in the  refrigerator, freezer, pantry and cupboards.  Let everyone choose at least one thing to use in the day's meals. Take a look in your cookbooks together and choose a recipe to try. Or create your own recipe! Talk about the different kinds of food: fruit, vegetables, protein foods, dairy and grains.  Keep reading and discover a few new fun ways to have a GOOD TIME sharing  GOOD FOOD for a GOOD DAY!

BOOKS:
(Gather any books you have around the house about food, both children's books and cookbooks.  Check out books from your library.  If your library does not have these titles, apply for them through interlibrary loan.  And remember, many children's books that are not directly concerned with food may have food and meals within the story.  Be good food detectives and see what you can discover about food in lots of books!)


The Little Red Hen  by Byron Barton 
Pancakes, Pancakes!  by Eric Carle
The Very Hungry Caterpillar  by Eric Carle
Eating the Alphabet  by Lois Ehlert
Growing Vegetable Soup  by Lois Ehlert
Feast for 10  by Cathryn Falwell
The Little Red Hen  by Paul Galdone
Spot Bakes a Cake  by Eric Hill
Little Bunny Follows his Nose  by Katherine Howard
The Doorbell Rang  by Pat Hutchins
Blueberries for Sal  by Robert McCloskey
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie  and many other titles in this series by Laura Numeroff
Mouse Mess  by Linnea Riley
Carrot Soup by John Segal


Take a BOOK BREAK during the day whenever someone wants to read and listen.  Decide at the end of the book what food you saw that you like to eat or would like to try.  Maybe from reading books you can make a list of GOOD FOOD ideas to take to the grocery store the next time you go!


ACTION RHYME: 
I wrote this ACTION RHYME to use for my library storytime FOOD, FOOD AND MORE FOOD.    It is fun to learn, fun to do and fun to use for GOOD FOOD IDEAS.  For LUNCH collect a few stuffed animals:  a rabbit, a monkey, a raccoon.  Or, if you don't have those particular animals, look for pictures of them in books or online.  Or, just substitute three animals you do have!  Read the words first, asking your child to repeat each line with you.  Then put the actions with the words, facing each other or in front of a mirror.
                                                                                                                          

                                                                   LUNCH

                                 Rabbits eat carrots with a crunch, crunch, crunch.


(Hold your hands on your head and make floppy rabbit ears, then make your hands into fists and hold one on top of the other in front of your mouth to make a carrot to crunch.)
                                 
                                Monkeys eat bananas by the bunch, bunch, bunch. 


(Hold your fists over your ears too make monkey ears, then flop your hands, fingers down, in front of your mouth to make banana bunches.)
                                  
                                Raccoons eat sweet corn with a munch, munch, munch.


(Hold your hands like glasses over your eyes to make the raccoon's mask, then shape your hands in a long ear of corn in front of your mouth and move it from left to right.)
                                  
                              And I eat ______________________ for my lunch, lunch, lunch!


(Point to yourself, then call out the name of a food you like to eat, hold your hands up to your mouth and pretend to eat your lunch!)



Speak with great rhythm and energy.  I like to nod my head to the beat!  Say the words and do the actions over and over, saying a different food for the last line each time.  Make sure everyone gets a turn or two to choose the food.  You can use different animals and different foods in the first three lines, too.  See how many versions you can create.  HAVE FUN!
                                                               
                                                                                       by Jane Willis Johnston  Copyright 1999



SONG with ACTIONS:
RAINBOW OF FRUIT is great for exploring food, colors and counting, which all lead to vocabulary development and creativity. You can make up your own tune or just say the words.  And it makes an art project for everyone to share before your learn the words.


For my storytime, I made a felt set of the fruit shapes and arranged them in a rainbow shape on the flannelboard as I sang the song. You can make the same number of each fruit, or, as I did, make 6 apples, 5 oranges, 4 lemons, 3 pears, 2 plums, and one bunch of grapes.  That makes a sort of wedge shaped rainbow and allows for a variety of numbers for counting.  However you do it will be fine!  You can use felt (inexpensive felt squares are available at craft stores) or colored paper or color your shapes with crayons or markers.


The idea I shared with the children was that if you eat a rainbow of fruit every week you will be healthy, and being healthy can help make you happy!

                                                   
                                                     RAINBOW OF FRUIT

                                                          Red, red apples,
                                                      Orange, orange oranges,
                                                Yellow, yellow lemons in the tree.
                                                        Green, green pears,
                                                           Blue, blue plums,
                                                     Purple, purple grapes I see.
                                                      A rainbow of fruit for me.
                                                                        
                                                                               by Jane Willis Johnston  Copyright 1998


My method of teaching this song/rhyme is to put out the apples in a curve and sing "Red, red apples."  (Use the floor or the back of a couch.  You do not need a flannelboard!)  Then I trace over the line of apples with my finger and ask everyone to repeat and sing with me.  Then I put out the oranges and sing that line, then go back to the apples and ask everyone to repeat and sing with me the first two lines.  I go on in that way until we have learned the whole song.   On the last line, I hold my hands above my head and then bring them down to my sides to make a rainbow arch, and then point to myself.  And then we sing it one more time!!


BE AS CREATIVE AS YOU CAN BE:  Of course, there is more than one fruit of any color, so  think of other fruit to substitute and find out how many different RAINBOWS OF FRUIT you can make!


FOOD FUN MEAL ACTIVITIES:

FUNNY BREAKFAST FOOD
Serve a breakfast that includes 3 or 4 items.  Then get really silly!  Starting with you, everyone takes a turn re-naming a food items.  For example, blueberries could become JUICY BLUE BOFFLE BUDS.  Pancakes could be called BOUNCY FRIED FRISBEES.  (The non-throwing kind of Frisbees, of course!)  Orange juice just might be thought of as FUNNY RUNNY WHAT'S'IT.  And yoghurt could turn into SQUISHY SQUOOSY PUDDING.  All this could well make for an exciting start to your GOOD FOOD DAY!

TRAVELING LUNCHBOX
Pack a lunchbox with a variety of family favorite foods so there is no doubt everyone will eat a good lunch, add a timer set for 3 minutes, grab a towel or blanket or tablecloth and march around the house or yard  until the timer goes off.  Plop down, set out your picnic, reset the timer for 5 minutes and start eating!  When the timer goes off, re-pack the box, reset the timer for 3 minutes and take off marching until the timer tells you to stop and eat again.  Don't forget to reset the timer before you start to eat.  Do this as many times as everyone is enjoying it or until the food runs out! If you are indoors, you night find yourself picnicking behind the couch or under a table or on a bed.  Anything is possible and fun is guaranteed!! 

STORY IN A RECIPE
Dig out an old recipe from your family or a friend.   Choose something you have not made for a long time.   Tell your children the stories connected with the recipe: the people, when you first ate it or made it, if it was a part of a family tradition or holiday, maybe even who liked it and who did not.   Let everyone help with the cooking and serve it for dinner.  Ask everyone to help re-tell the stories of the recipe around the table.  Then tell the story of your making the recipe together on your GOOD FOOD DAY!


A GOOD FOOD DAY MAKES FOR A GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP!

                                    

Make Your Day Count!

Make Your Day Count! 
The wonderful thing about numbers and counting is that they are all around you in so many different ways.  The sounds and shapes and ideas of numbers are some of the most important things you can share with your child.  And the nice part is that your house and yard and neighborhood are full of numbers to be discovered.  Just start counting and you can't stop!


BOOKS:
ALL BOOKS ARE COUNTING BOOKS!   The books listed here were written to explore and teach numbers, often within a story.  My favorite counting books include big examples of the numerals, not just the number words.  But any book offers many opportunities to count things.  So after you read any book together, go back through the pictures and count things.  Take turns choosing what you will count on each page: people, trees, stars, toys, doors and windows, flowers, words in the text, blue things, red things, whatever you find interesting.  Some picture books have page numbers.  Or you could just count the pages yourself.  Count the number of letters in the title or in the author's name.   Share a book with your child and count your day away!

(If you library does not have a book, be sure to ask for it through their interlibrary loan service.)

The Completed Hickory Dickory Dock by Jim Aylesworth
Big Fat Hen   by Keith Baker
Potato Joe  by Keith Baker
Duckie's Ducklings  by Frances Barry
The Water Hole  by Graeme Base
1, 2, 3, to the Zoo  by Eric Carle
Over in the Meadow  by Jane Cabrera
Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed!  by Eileen Christelow
ROAR!  A Noisy Counting Book  by Pamela Duncan Edwards
Fish Eyes  by Lois Ehlert
Turtle Splash!  by Cathryn Falwell
Over in the Meadow by Ezra Jack Keats
Ten Red Apples  by Virginia Miller
One Duck Stuck  by Phyllis Root


ACTION RHYME:
For this ACTION RHYME I use the tune to the traditional song A-Hunting We Will Go.  You can find the song on the internet.  Sing the song together a few times, clapping as you go, so everyone knows the tune and connects with the rhythm.  You can even march and clap and really get into it!  When you are ready, try using my words for A-Counting We Will Go!   Be sure to clap along while you sit, stand or march.  Make sure your child can see your actions to enjoy and, when he/she is old enough, to make the movements with you.
                                                      
                                                  A-Counting We Will Go!

                                     A-counting we will go, a-counting we will go!
                                     We'll see the sun, and count to one.......1!
(Stop clapping, look up, shading your eyes, then hold up one finger and say "1" very loudly.)
(Start clapping again.)   A-counting we will go!

                                     A-counting we will go, a-counting we will go!
                                      We'll find a shoe, and count to two.......1, 2!
(Stop clapping, lean over and touch your shoes, then hold up two fingers and count "1, 2.")
(Start clapping again.)  A-counting we will go!

                                      A-counting we will go, a-counting we will go!
                                      We'll climb a tree, and count to three.......1, 2, 3!
(Stop clapping and make climbing motions with arms and legs, then hold out arms to be a tree, then hold up three fingers and count "1, 2, 3!")
(Start clapping again.)   A-counting we will go! 

                                       A-counting we will go, a-counting we will go!
                                        We'll close the door, and count to four.......1, 2, 3, 4!
(Stop your rhythmic clapping and clap one big clap for closing a door, or, better yet, go find a door and close it, then hold up four fingers and count "1, 2, 3, 4!")   
(Start clapping again.)    A-counting we will go! 

                                        A-counting we will go, a-counting we will go!
                                        We'll take a drive, and count to five......1, 2, 3, 4, 5!
(Stop clapping and hold your hands as if on a steering wheel and make a driving motion, then hold up five fingers and count "1, 2, 3, 4, 5!" )  
(Start clapping again.)    A-counting we will go!

Now be creative together and think up rhymes for 6, 7, 8, 9, 10!


ACTIVITIES:
COUNT WITH THE CALENDAR:  Not only does a calendar have numbers to recognize and to read, it has boxes perfect for writing in more numbers.  Every day choose something around the house to count: the number of pictures on your walls, windows in a room, beds in your house, pieces of mail in your mailbox, people in your family, spoons in the drawer, etc.  Write the number on the calendar with a note of what you counted.  Review all that you counted when you get to the end of a week or the month.  Take turns choosing what to count each day!


COUNTING CARDS:   Make your own flash cards up to 10 until your child is ready for up to 20!  This is so much better than the one you buy because you make them with your child, choosing a different color for each number, drawing the right number of circles or whatever shape you like on each card.  I believe as soon as a child can recognize a number or a letter, that child is READING.  Both your child and you should think in those terms.  Now, use your beautiful, homemade COUNTING CARDS to create and play lots of games.  The simplest game is to place the COUNTING CARDS one the floor or table and then put with each card the number of correct objects such as blocks or cars or crackers.   What ideas can you put into action with your COUNTING CARDS?  How about making a second set together and find matching numbers? The possibilities are endless!

FIND, COUNT AND COME BACK!     Here is a good game for using your COUNTING CARDS.  It teaches counting, memory, taking turns and vocabulary building.  It was one of my mother's favorites to play with her kindergarten students.  Children much younger than five love it and learn from it, too!

Everyone who wants to play sits together on a couch or wherever you decide is home base.  Take turns telling each other what to find, to touch and count before coming back to  home base.  Start with just one thing so it is easy to remember and so everyone learns the game.  DISPLAY THE NUMBER 1 COUNTING CARD.  Now, Player 1 tells Player 2:  FIND A CHAIR.  So, Player 2 gets up, finds and touches a chair, counts "1" (counting loudly makes it more fun!) and then comes back to sit down.  Now Player 2 tells Player 3: FIND A STUFFED ANIMAL.  After everyone gets the idea and has success, make it more challenging by adding a item.  DISPLAY THE NUMBER 2 COUNTING CARD.  Now, Player 1 tells Player 2, FIND A WINDOW AND A PILLOW.  So,. Player 2 has to find and touch and count "1" for the window and then find and touch and count "2" for the pillow and then come back and sit down.  Have fun and create lots of ways to use this game.


                                                        *********************
YOU CAN COUNT ON IT!   A day filled with seeing numbers, hearing numbers, experiencing the ideas of numbers will always make for easy sharing times in your family.  Before you go to bed on a busy COUNTING DAY, make up a good COUNTING SONG to put everyone to sleep!