Story Time Theme: Bunny Rabbits

Rather than creating a strictly “Easter” story time, I went with a much broader spring theme for this week with books all about bunny rabbits.  Little White Rabbit and Rhyming Dust Bunnies were both really big hits in each of the classes.  I chose Rhyming Dust Bunnies for my older yoga group and they had a great time practicing rhyming and of course giggling as the dust bunny named Bob could never rhyme with his friends.  And Little White Rabbit is a great story about using your imagination, which is just what we did in story time this week.  Unfortunately, we had really heavy rain all morning yesterday so I only ended up with about 13 kids total between two story times.  But, I had a very large crowd for yoga story time and the kids have a great time with the yoga poses and really like the stories as well – it’s so fun to see them have such a great time.

Opening

• Traditional: Put Your Hands Up In the Air & Open Shut Them
• Yoga: Warm-up (Rock n Roll, Zip up Spine, Deep Breaths, Cat/Cow, pounce from child pose (lunge forward, Dog)

Puppet: Meet Wooly (monkey) and give high fives!

Early Literacy Tip/Story Stretcher: Simple questions as you read the story helps children learn about story parameters (beginning, middle, end) and about predicting, try it the next time you share a story together.

ASL Sign: Rabbit – Cross two “U” handshapes and bend at the large knuckles twice

Book One

• Traditional: Squish Rabbit by, Katherine Battersby
• Yoga: Five for a Little One by, Chris Raschka

Transition

• Traditional (fine motor skills): 5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed
• Yoga Sun Salutations (Mountain, Reach Up, Touch the Ground, Hands at Knees (flat back), Plank Pose, Downward Facing Dog, Walk Toward Hands, Repeat 3x)

Book Two

• Traditional: Little White Rabbit by, Kevin Henkes
• Yoga: Rhyming Dust Bunnies by, Jan Thomas

Transition (changes weekly)

• Traditional (gross motor skills): “Shoo Fly” (Dancing Feet by Carole Peterson)
• Yoga Focus: Shapes (Star, Triangle, Crescent Moon, Table, Ball)

Book Three

• Traditional: A Boy and His Bunny by, Sean Bryan
• Yoga: A Boy and His Bunny by, Sean Bryan

Closing

• Traditional: Shake Your Sillies Out Puppet Show
• Yoga: Cool-down (Bridge, Happy Baby Pose, Star Pose/Deep Breaths)
  • “Cradle Spell of Dunvegan”(Putumayo Presents: Dreamland, World Lullabies & Soothing Songs)
  • Namaste