This was one of my favorite storytimes I’ve recently done! It was so fun to talk to the kids about the different types of imagination and how we can grow our creativity!
Here’s the full storytime script below:
Opening Song: We sang our opening song, and then got started!
Opening Question: Who loves to play pretend? I do too! What is your favorite way to play pretend? Do you like to pretend to cook? Or play with your favorite figurine like dinosaurs?
Transition: Sometimes playing pretend means an object turns into something else! A stick could be a magic wand, your best friend might become a dinosaur, or a box could be…well, let’s see!
Book: Not a Box by Antoinette Portis
I had never tried reading this one in storytime before, but dang it was a winner with my group! The kids were howling with laughter at the surprise things the box turned into.
Transition: If you had a box, what would you pretend it was? Those are all great ideas! Now, let’s see what something like our fingers will turn into!
Rhyme: Magic Fingers
One finger one finger – Turn, turn, turn. Turn into a worm! Crawl, crawl crawl!
Two fingers, two fingers – Turn, turn, turn. Turn into a bunny! Hop, hop, hop.
Three fingers, three fingers – Turn, turn, turn. Turn into whiskers! Meow, meow, meow.
Four fingers, four fingers – Turn, turn, turn. Turn into a butterfly! Flutter, flutter, flutter!
Five fingers, five fingers – Turn, turn, turn. Turn into a Dinosaur! Roar, roar, roar!
Transition: That was so fun! I love when we can pretend together like that. Our next book has us doing that, too. And in this book, I’m going to need your help! You’ll use your hands again, are you ready? Let’s go!
Book:Press Here by Henre Tullet
I love reading this book during storytime! It’s a great way to engage when kids are being a little wiggly and have them do the movements with you. They’re always surprised that the book “does magic”!
Transition: Oh my goodness! That was so great! I love books that let you interact so much. I’m so excited to keep playing pretend with you! Our next activity is a felt rhyme about pizza! Let’s see what happens!
Song: The Silly Pizza Song. I made a felt to go along with this and one day I’ll record it!
When I’m feeling hungry and I don’t feel like stopping I think of silly pizzas with all my favorite toppings…
I like mushrooms on my pizza. I like mushrooms pizza, please. Put the mushrooms on my pizza, But don’t forget the extra cheese!
Repeat with more toppings, the sillier the better!
Transition: That sounds like quite the pizza, doesn’t it??? Wow. Ok, now we’ve played pretend in a lot of different ways, but let’s look at one more! Some people have imaginary friends. Do you? It’s a friend who is imaginary or pretend, but you play with them. Well, I happen to know an imaginary friend named Beekle. Isn’t that a fun, silly name? Let’s find out Beekle’s story.
Book:The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend by Dan Santat
This is such a beautiful and fun book to read! The artwork is stunning, but the storyline is just as nice. You get to follow Beekle as he looks for his person. It’s great to talk about social emotional skills, too!
Transition:Aw, that was so sweet, wasn’t it? I’m so glad that Beekle and Alice found each other! Ok, I think we have just enough time to do some imaginative play with our rhythm sticks! Are you ready?
RhythmSticks: We did multiple songs, but the one that fit in the best with the theme was “Tick Tock.”
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 next door! Remember, the craft room is open all the way until 11:45am, so if it feels a little crowded, feel free to grab some books or explore another area of the library and come back to it! (Sometimes we get upwards of 80 people, so we always encourage this)
Closing: We closed out with our goodbye song and then went on to craft time!
Librarian Ginny 