Family Storytime Spotlight: Sticks and Snow

It’s been awhile since I shared a flow storytime plan! Here’s a fun one involving sticks, hats and snow. I presented this plan to a mixed-age Saturday storytime group on a snowy spring day:

Rhyme: Bread & Butter (Rhythm Sticks)*

My Saturday storytime volunteer passed out rhythm sticks as the families entered the room and we used them right away for our opening song!

Welcome/Introduction

Sing: I Wake Up My Wand… (Rhythm Sticks)

TUNE: I WAKE UP MY HANDS

I wake up my wand with a swish, swish, swish.
A swish, swish, swish!
I wake up my wand with a swish, swish, swish
And now I’m ready for magic!
(repeat with a loopty loop, tap tap tap)

CREDIT: PIGGYBACK

We used this fun song to practice the wand motions for the spell in our storytime book:

Read: Hat Tricks by Satoshi Kitamura

We practiced the incantation a few times before beginning. My volunteer used the top hat/bunny puppet to lead the group in spellcasting while I read the book.

This book is storytime GOLD! Kids love guessing what will come out of Hattie the magician’s top hat next:

Book Excerpt: On one page, Hattie (a bunny dressed in a show jacket and bowtie) enchants a squirrel from a top hat. On the next page, Hattie recites the incantation “Abracadabra, katakurico…” Readers are invited to guess the next animal that Hattie will pull from the hat. A mysterious tail peeks out from the top hat.

Sing: I’m Tapping On My Sticks by Kathy Reid-Naiman (Rhythm Sticks)

Rhyme: Tick Tock Goes the Clock (Rhythm Sticks)

Tick tock, tick tock goes the clock
Waiting for someone to knock, knock, knock!
My oh my…
It’s a cat! (hold sticks to face like whiskers)
Repeat: bunny, duck, walrus, alien

CREDIT: JBRARY

This fun rhythm stick rhyme set the stage super well for our flannelboard! I started with the bunny verse (since we just read a book about a bunny) and ended with the cat verse. Then we tried to find the cat hiding underneath our various felt hats.

Play: Hide and Seek Hats (Flannelboard)

We talked about the different hats and when you might wear them. We looked under each hat for the cat, looking under the winter hat last, which set the stage for…

Read: The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats

Peter’s snowy day adventure ends with a bubble bath. You know what that means… BUBBLE TIME!

Book Excerpt: Peter, a young Black boy, relaxes in a bubble bath after a busy day of playing in the snow.

Play: Bubbles

I played “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies” while my storytime volunteer walked around the room with the bubble machine and the kids danced around catching the “snowflakes.”

Lit Tip: Playing with Bubbles Prepares Kids to Read AND Write!

Grown-ups, did you know that when you play with bubbles, you actually help your child get ready to read and write? Bubbles help your child develop important visual tracking skills and hand-eye coordination. Playing with bubbles TODAY helps your child get ready to read and write letters TOMORROW!

Sing: We Are Clapping, Clapping, Clapping… (Goodbye Song)*

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*Please visit this page to learn more about my regular storytime songs and routines.

What are your favorite rhythm stick songs and rhymes for storytime? I’d love to know in the comments below!