I love doing storytimes on baked goods/cooking because they mimic things that kids sometimes do in their real life. This means that the kids are slightly prepped for what we do in storytime and it can give them a great sense of agency. Which means you can have a lot of fun with it! Another thing I love about this kind of storytime is that baking and cooking are all about sequencing — just like sotries! It’s a fun way to talk about sequencing in a way that they can play with.
In this one, I focused on Gingerbread specifically since I did it in Winter, but there are so many great substitute books and rhymes that you can sub in for the ones I chose and could do it any time of year.
Here’s the full storytime script below:
Opening Song: We sang our opening song, and then got started!
Opening Question: What’s your favorite kind of cookie?
Sign of the Day: Cookie!
Transition: I’m feeling wiggly today, do you guys feel that, too? I think it’s because it’s so cold out that I want to wiggle to warm up! Let’s try a quick rhyme to get our hands warm!
Rhyme: Open Them Shut Them
Open, shut them,
Open, shut them,
Give a little clap, clap, clap!
Open, shut them,
Open, shut them,
Lay them in your lap, lap, lap!
Creep them up,
creep them up,
Right up to your chin, chin, chin!
Open wide your little mouth,
But do not put them in!
Repeat first part
Transition: That’s better! You know what also warms me up? Cookies like Gingerbread! During the winter and especially in December, my family loves to bake cookies. We give them as gifts to each other and our neighbors! So the first book we’re going to read is all about Hedgehog who is trying to make the best cookie of all for her best friend, Bear! Let’s see what happens.
Book: The Best Gift for Bear by Jennifer Bell
This is such a sweet book about a Hedgehog’s quest to make a special gift for her friend, Bear. Even though things don’t go as planned, she and Bear end up creating some great memories together! This is a longer one, so I made sure to begin the storytime with it when the kids had the best attention span.
Transition: Did you ever think that Hedgehog could build such a giant gingerbread house for Bear? I sure didn’t! Even though Bear didn’t get the gingerbread house present, they had just as much fun baking together! Let’s see if we can bake together in our next rhyme…Now, do you all know how to make cookies? Yes? Great! So you know that we put flour onto a cookie tray and lay a whole egg right on top of the flour and then put it into the oven and then...[typically a kid or two by this point will say something like “no, no, no, that’s not how you make cookies!] What? That’s not how you do it? Tell me how you make cookies, then! Help me out! [Let them tell you] Ohhhhh! I get it! Ok, maybe we need to do a rhyme to practice how to make cookies!
Rhyme: Stir a Bowl of Gingerbread
Transition: Even though Gingerbread cookies are what we think about during winter, all cookies are great! But what happens when a friend gets a cookie and you don’t??? That’s exactly what happens in our next book.
Book: The Duckling Gets a Cookie?! By Mo Willems
Anytime I want to give the kids a chance to laugh with a book, I always pull out a Pigeon book. They just loooove the humor in this and it’s a nice way to also teach kindness and politeness.
Transition: That book was pretty hilarious, wasn’t it? Duckling got a cookie, but why do you think Pigeon didn’t at first? That’s right, he didn’t ask nicely! Well, our final book is going to be about a well-known cookie, but first, let’s try a rhyme to help us get ready for that last story.
Song: 5 Little Gingerbread Men (follow this link to watch a video of it!)
5 Little gingerbread men on the tray,
One jumped up and ran away.
Catch me, Oh catch me,
Oh catch me if you can!
I’m pretty fast,
I am the gingerbread man!
Repeat with 4, 3, 2, & 1
Transition: Our last story is a classic! We’re going to hear the story of the Gingerbread Man! Do you all remember what the Gingerbread Man says when he’s running away? That’s right! He shouts to the people that are chasing him -“Run, run, run as fast as you can, You’ll never catch me, I’m the gingerbread man!” Can you all practice that with me so that when I point to you during the story you can say it with me? Let’s try it!
Book: The Gingerbread Man w/ Puppets
I’ve been trying to rotate in a classic fairytale/folktale every few storytimes in order to give the kids some foundational stories. Since a lot of these are typically much longer stories I’ve been trying to use felt or puppets for them as an added visual interest and interaction. We have some puppet sets (like the image to the left) based on these traditional tales and they always seem to go over well!
Transition: You all did such a good job helping me tell that story! Great job! Now, I think we have just enough time for our scarves.
Scarves: This session, we used our scarves in The Silly Scarf Song (I use Jbrary’s The Hat Song, but substitute a hat for a scarf!) & Little Snowflakes.
Transition: Thanks so much for spending a little time of your day with me! Now we’re ready to sing goodbye and move on to our craft!
Closing: We closed out with our goodbye song and then went on to craft time!
More Books to Check Out:
Librarian Ginny 