St. Patrick's Day Storytime

I was getting a bit tired of my old storytime stand-bys, so I decided to shake things up by making this week's storytime all about a holiday that I'd never shared with this crowd before:  St. Patrick's Day!  While the first things that come to many people's minds when they think of this holiday are green beer and "Kiss Me, I'm Irish" buttons, there are a lot of really nice kid-friendly symbols that can easily become the focus of this storytime.

Here are the books that I read:

Green by Laura Vacarro Seeger
This books is sparse on text, but the illustrations are full of great things to talk about.  Each two-page spread shows a different shade of green, as well as die-cut shapes that take new form as you turn the page.  As a group we had so much fun looking at and talking about the illustrations that this sparse 36-word book was easily our longest read of the day.

The Story of the Leprechaun by Katherine Tegen
A miserly leprechaun shoemaker is captured and must therefore grant a man three wishes.  Of course, one of these wishes is to know the location of the leprechaun's pot of gold.  The leprechaun tells him, but of course is able to pull off a sneaky trick to keep his gold well hidden.  Many St. Patrick's Day or leprechaun books out there are a bit too long for my storytime crowd, but this book was a good fit for my preschoolers.  Just enough mischief to keep things interesting, and the kids' giggles when she saw the leprechaun's trick made it more than worth the effort.

Good Luck Bear by Greg Foley
One day Bear finds a clover.  His friend Mouse tells him that if he can find a four-leaf clover, then he will have good luck.  Bear spends all day searching with no luck and his other friends are not very encouraging.  Just as Bear fears that he will be unlucky forever, Mouse returns with a surprise for his friend.  I chose this particular book because it does a good job of introducing the shamrock symbol in simple terms.  It's also a fairly quick read, which was welcome by the end of this storytime since our first two books took so long to get through.

Duckie's Rainbow by Frances Berry
Duckie walks home and sees many colors.  Soon purple clouds roll in and it begins to rain.  But the curved pages of this book reveal a beautiful rainbow.  I did not end up needing to read this story and instead talked about rainbows using the flannelboard discussed below, but it would be a great choice for younger or more fidgety groups if you need to substitute a shorter, more simple story.


I also incorporated a few fun rhymes into this storytime.  The first was the action song, "Dance, Leprechaun, Dance."  I didn't come up with this myself, but sadly can't remember what my source for this song was. 

Dance, Dance, Leprechaun Dance

Tune:  “Skip to My Lou”

Dance, dance, leprechaun dance,

Dance, dance, leprechaun dance,

Dance, dance, leprechaun dance,

Do a dance for me!

Bow...

Clap...

Jump…

Search for gold…

Sit...

Suit actions to words

This song was a lot of fun, and I was amused to see that none of the kids really had any idea how a leprechaun should dance without prompting.  I just did the first easy arm-flailing, knee-wiggling dance I could come up with the and kids more or less copied what I did.

We also got out my "Rainbow in a Pot" flannelboard, which was a great way for us to talk about rainbows in a bit more detail after seeing one briefly in The Story of the Leprechaun.  I discuss the flannelboard and the song that goes with it in more detail in this post.

To conclude this storytime we did a very simple art project that was surprisingly full of early learning opportunities.  I cut out lots of dark green hearts using our die-cut machine and gave four to each child.  They were able to glue them onto a lighter green sheet of paper to make a shamrock.  Since the paper was so big I also gave them crayons and let them draw whatever they wanted in the margins.  Many kids chose to draw other symbols of the St. Patrick's Day holiday that we had talked about like rainbows, pots of gold, and leprechauns, but they could choose to draw whatever they wanted and we saw all kinds of fun choices.  I loved the idea of giving the kids a chance to do some free drawing so that they could really get creative and personalize their artwork.  Drawing is also a great skill for kids to work on as these motions are very similar to the motions they will use when they eventually learn to write.  The two shades of green paper were also a subtle nod to the book Green that we had read.

Storytime: Silly Stories

Who doesn't love to laugh?  My goal with Silly Stories storytime was to get a few giggles from the crowd.  Mission accomplished.

Here are the books we read:

Bark, George by Jules Ffeifer
George is a puppy.  One day his mother says, "Bark, George."  But George does not bark.  Instead, he says "meow," "quack," "oink," and "moo."  So George's mother takes him to the vet, and the vet pulls out a host of animals from inside of him.  This book always makes the preschoolers crack up.  The little guys love it when they know something isn't quite right, and a dog making the sounds of another animal instead of going "arf" is a perfect example of this kind of silliness.

Silly Sally by Audrey Wood
"Silly Sally went to town, walking backwards upside down."  Silly is right in the title, so you know that this one just has to be good for a laugh.  I especially like the illustrations in this book, and the fact that it's goofy just for the sake of being goofy.

Rhyming Dust Bunnies by Jan Thomas
Four dust bunnies named Ned, Ed, Ted, and Bob always rhyme.  But when Ned, Ed, and Ted list off rhyming words, all Bob can say is, "Look out!"  This book is all about the delivery.  I read Bob's lines with a good sense of sudden panic, which usually inspires giggles.  This book is also a good segue into talking about phonological awareness if you like to incorporate early literacy into your storytimes. 

Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin, illustrated by Betsy Lewis
One day the cows find a typewrite in their barn.  They leave a note for Farmer brown demanding electric blankets.  So begins a silly bit of barnyard labor negotiation that will please kids and adults alike. 

Of course, we had to do some silly activities too.  First, we listened to Raffi's song, "Shake My Sillies Out" and wiggled our waggles away right along with him.

Later we sang and acted out the song, "Icky Sticky Bubble Gum":

Icky, icky, sticky, sticky bubble gum,
Bubble gum, bubble gum,
Icky, icky, sticky, sticky bubble gum,
Makes your hands stick to your face!
Then you stretch it, and yank it, and pull it away!

Put hands on your face.
Pretend hands are stuck, then pull them away from your body.
Repeat as many times as desired with different body parts.

I also like to frame this song with a bit of narrative, which not only helps to set the mood but also gets the kids back to their seats and ready to listen when the song is over.  We hold up an imaginary stick of bubble gum, unwrap it, throw away the wrapper, chew the gum, and blow big bubbles.  When the song is over we throw away our bubble gum, turn on the water at the sink, wash our hands with soap and water, turn off the water, and dry our hands on a towel.


Finally we finished off this storytime with a craft.  We made Dust Bunnies (a la Rhyming Dust Bunnies) out of yarn.

My version of this project was adapted from a blog post that I found here.  This craft definitely required some adult help, but it was totally worth a bit of fussiness.  To make the dust bunnies, you need to make a basic pom-pom.  I had the kids wrap the yarn around their own hands 50 times (an opportunity to practice counting big numbers was a nice bonus).  Then with a grown-up's help they would slide the yarn off of their hands, cut the yarn, and then wrap a new length of yarn around the middle of the loop they had just created.  A grown-up would help them tie a nice, tight knot and fluff out the pom-pom.  They then glued some googly eyes and a paper nose to the pom pom to give their dust bunny a face.

Dancing Storytime

It's January in Wisconsin, and it's been - even for us - unseasonably cold, snowy, and miserable.  This means that everyone is getting a little restless, with just a touch a cabin fever.  The best solution?  A storytime where we can use our dancing shoes!

Here are the books we read:

Hilda Must Be Dancing by Karma Wilson, illustrated by Suzanne Watts

Hilda the hippo loves to dance:  Ballet, rumba, disco, you name it!  Unfortunately, Hilda is also a big animal and her favorite hobby isn't exactly quiet.  Her stomping and swaying is making a lot of noise and is disturbing the other animals.  They try their best to get Hilda to try a new hobby, but nothing works!  Finally, Hilda decides to try swimming and, fortunately for everyone, she discovers the joys of water ballet dancing.  This book has great rhyming text and I love Hilda's dancing costumes in the illustrations.

How Can You Dance? by Rick Walton, illustrated by Ana Lopez-Escriva

I have the kids stand as I read this book.  On each page there is a four-line rhyming poem asking the reader how they would dance if they were a certain object or animal.  After reading this rhyme I ask the kids to try dancing that way.  We probably only spend 10-20 seconds on each page and each type of dance, and the kids were all really good about keeping their own space and getting ready for the next set of instructions as we progressed through the book.

Tanka Tanka Skunk! by Steve Webb

This is a really great book when it comes to rhythm!  The book invites readers to clap along to the beat of the story and introduces readers to the basic concept of syllables.  I use this book as a great way of introducing parents to the concept of phonological awareness (we spend a minute talking about this concept before we even open the book) and I talk to them about all of the reasons why music is so great for young children.  I ask the kids and the parents to all clap along to the beat of the story, and they catch on pretty quickly!  We read most pages twice so that everyone can get a good feel for the beat each time.

Wiggle by Doreen Cronin, illustrated by Scott Menchin

I like to keep Wiggle in my back pocket just in case I don't have the right audience for Tanka Tanka Skunk (I find that it works best if you have a few 4-year-olds help to lead the younger ones and/or some really awesome, cooperative parents who will actively play along), if everyone is really rambunctious and needs more moving-around time, or simply as a time-filler should we need an extra activity.  Like How Can You Dance? this book is a great one for getting kids on their feet and wiggling in different ways.

This storytime was all about moving and dancing, so we did a few other activities as well.  First, we did the Hokey Pokey!  This song is a bit of a classic, but even if the kids don't know how this dance goes they all catch on very quickly.  For some reason I also find that this song makes the grown-ups in the audience really excited.  I'm not sure exactly why, but I'll take it!

To conclude this storytime, I decided to try something a little different.  We had a dance party!  I put on some music, got out our fancy scarves, and invited the kids to stay in the storytime room and dance for as long as they wanted.  Once I showed the kids what they could do with the scarves they were pretty enthralled.  The CD that I chose to play was Disney's "Dancin' Tunes," which included such dance hits as "YMCA," "The Twist," "Shout," and plenty more, but just about any music would work for this activity.

 

I sincerely regret not getting video of the kids dancing!  It was too much fun.

Since this group of storytimers also generally expects some sort of craft, and because I figured that a few shy kids didn't want to dance, I also put out a coloring sheet and crayons.  Kids could float between coloring and dancing for as long as they wanted.

Cabin fever really must be in full force around here, because this storytime was a big hit!  Everyone had a good time, and there were a few kids who had to be pried away from the dance floor.

STEM for Preschoolers

A few weeks ago (has it really been that long?) I talked a bit about my experience at this year's WLA conference.  Some colleagues and I were able to give a presentation at this conference all about ways to incorporate science into our library programming for preschoolers.  Oftentimes we librarians get so caught up on incorporating early literacy skills into our storytimes that we forget that there are lots of other things that preschoolers could be learning at the same time.  Our goal with this presentation was to share a few ways that we had incorporated STEM concepts (science, technology, engineering, and math) into our own programs and to prove that it really isn't as daunting of a task as you might think.

You don't need to have an impressive science background to teach basic STEM concepts to preschoolers.  At this age children really benefit from being allowed to explore the world around them, make observations and predictions, and ask questions.  In fact, STEM for small ones often looks an awful lot like play!

We can lay a good STEM foundation by working a few basic concepts into our storytimes.  In fact, many of you librarians are probably already doing this without even realizing it!  Have you ever done a storytime that was focused on colors or shapes?  What about the weather, or a certain season?  Have you ever sang a song or done a flannelboard that involved "five little somethings?"  When you do animal storytimes, do you ever talk about the animal (what it eats, where it lives, how big it is, etc.)?  Do you have puzzles or blocks available for kids to play with?  If you answered "yes" to any of these questions then you are already well on your way.

During our presentation we also mentioned a few other activities that we had tried in the hopes of expanding the audience's repertoire a bit.  The first activity, which my supervisor and I use quite often in our storytimes, is a matching game.

The idea is actually pretty simple.  First, we cut lots of like or related shapes, usually using our Ellison Die machine.  Next, we do something to distinguish different "types" of each shape.  In the first example above you can see that we had trucks of several different colors, simply reinforced by writing the appropriate color word on each truck.  In the second example we added a certain number of dots to each heart.  Usually we have four, sometimes five different types or categories for each game.  Magnets are added to the back of each shape.  When it is time for our matching game at storytime, we go around the room and hand each child a shape.  We ask parents to look at the shape with their child and talk about it.  For example, parents might talk to their children about what color truck they have, or they may count how many dots their heart has together.  After everyone has a moment to observe and discuss their shapes, we begin the matching.  We will place one shape on our magnet board and ask the group, "Who has a [shape] (truck, heart, etc.) that looks like this?"  Children who are holding a matching shape are invited to come up to our magnet board and stick their shape up with the others.  We'll count how many of that type of shape there are, make a big deal out of what makes it special (color, number, etc.), and then move on to the next "type" of shape.  This continues until everyone's shapes are on the board.  This activity is great because it incorporates lots of observation and a basic STEM concept like color or number, plus it gives the kids to get up and move around a bit.

Another fun thing to try is using a parachute:

The parachute is great because it gets kids to exercise their gross motor skills.  You can also work some basic math into your parachute use pretty easily!  If you bounce balls/wads of paper/plastic frogs on your parachute you can, of course, count the items as you add them to the mix.  You can also talk about more and less, fast and slow, up and down, and other similar broad concepts that kids need to understand before moving on to what we picture as the math and physics learned in school.

If a librarian is interested in going the extra mile in their programming, I highly recommend looking at this blog, maintained a librarian friend of mine at the Madison Public Library.  MPL is really getting into the idea of creating makerspaces at libraries, and my librarian friend has begun a related program for preschoolers called WonderWorks.  The WonderWorks program delivers a different STEM concept each week and a hands-on activity for the kids to try.

Want to know more about STEM and how to incorporate it into your library's programs?  There's plenty of good information to be found out there, but I recommend starting with this article from last month's School Library Journal.

Monster Storytime

To get ready for Halloween, this week's storytime was all about monsters!  Here are the books we read:

When a Monster is Born by Sean Taylor, illustrated by Nick Sharratt
"When a monster is born there are two possibilities.  Either it's a faraway-in-the-forests monster, or it's an under-your-bed monster.  If it's a faraway-in-the-forests monster, that's that.  But if it's an under-your-bed monster, there are two possibilities..."  This story continues in this format, always presenting our monster friend with two possibilities.  While not really a Choose Your Own Adventure story, this book does show us that there are always different choices.  Besides, some of the options that the monster has are just plain silly.  The kids were actually enraptured by this book, and they especially liked it when the story came full circle at the end.

If You're a Monster and You Know It by Rebecca and Ed Emberley
The Emberleys has written lots of fun monster stories.  I picked this one from the bunch because it also lends itself very well to some moving and imaginative play as the kids can snort and growl, smack their claws, and twitch their tails just like a monster does as we read.  I always like to make sure that we have at least one stand-up-and-move activity during storytime since I've found that it helps to keep the kids focused, and this book fit the bill perfectly.

Leonardo the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems
This is actually one of my favorite Mo Willems books of all time.  Leonardo is a terrible monster.  Not a scary monster - a terrible monster.  He's no good at scarring anyone!  So he decides to find the biggest scardy-cat kid in the world, a boy named Sam, and scare the tuna salad out of him to make himself feel better.  Needless to say, that doesn't exactly go as planned.  But perhaps Leonardo and Sam can become friends instead.

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
I ended up not having time for this fourth story, but I always think it's a good idea to have an extra in your back pocket just in case.  This classic book could be a quieter, more soothing choice for your group than If You're a Monster if you think that your group needs it.

We also did a few other activities.  Credit for both of these activities belongs to one of my co-workers, who created them.

First, we had to look for Little Monster under the bed.

There are seven beds, each one a different color.  I put each of the beds up on our magnet board, secretly hiding the little monster underneath one of them.  First we counted the beds and talked about what colors they are.  Next I asked the kids to guess in their heads which bed they thought the monster was hiding under.  After given the kids a moment to make their guess, I said the rhyme:  "Little Monster, Little Monster, are you under the _____ bed?"  Fill the blank in with a color, and remove the bed of that color to reveal if the monster is under the bed.  When I did the activity, I purposely removed all but two of the bed before revealing which bed the monster was under to build suspense.  The activity can be repeated as many times as you want, hiding the monster under a different bed each time.


We also told another story using a flannelboard based on Ed Emberley's book Go Away, Big Green Monster.

In the book, die cuts reveal more and more of the monster's face as you turn the pages, and then parts of his face are taken away as the reader tells him to go away.  Felt pieces made it lots of fun to assemble and take apart the face.  Layering felt pieces is obviously a bit different than using die cuts so I did have to re-order just a couple of the pieces to make the flannelboard work easily, but no harm done there.


As always we did a craft to end our storytime.  We made monster masks!

I found a template for a cute monster mask here.  I enlarged the mask just a little bit to make it a better size (I think I zoomed in to 110%) and then printed the enlarged masks on cardstock.  I cut the masks out and cut string to tie the masks in advance, so all the kids had to do was color.  They loved it!  We had lots of scary, growling, stomping monsters at the library after storytime was all finished.

Cats Storytime

This week my preschool storytime was all about one of my favorite animals:  Cats!

The following books were all part of the repertoire for this story.  Depending on the group we read three or four of these stories, selected in the moment to match the audience's mood:

Mama Cat Has Three Kittens by Denise Fleming
While Mama cat and two of her kittens do all of the things that cats like to do (licking their paws, stretching, digging in the sand) the third kitten, Boris, naps.  But when Mama and the other kittens curl up to nap, what does Boris do? 

Kitten's First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes
When Kitten sees the full moon for the first time, she mistakenly thinks that it is a bowl of milk. Then the little kitten sets off to find it. What a night! This is one of my favorite picture books of all time.  I love the black and white illustrations and the classic home/away/home format.

What Will the Fat Cat Sit On? by Jan Thomas
Will the fat cat sit on the cow? What about the chicken or the pig? This silly story got a lot of laughs and is a good excuse to make lots of animal noises.

Kittens! Kittens! Kittens! by Susan Meyers, illustrated by David Walker
Posy by Linda Newbery, illustrated by Catherine Reiner
Both of these books are more sweet depiction of things that cats like to do than they are story.  But both books also have illustrations that are lots of fun to look at.  Kittens has longer, rhyming text while Posy has very few words.  I kept both books on hand and determined which one to used based on the mood of the group.


I've been on a real fingerplay kick lately, so we did this one together:

Four Little Kittens

Four little kittens standing in a row

(extend left fingers upward, palm out)
They nod their heads to the children, so.
(bend fingers forward)
They run to the left, they run to the right,
(wiggle fingers to the left & right)
They stand up and stretch in the bright sunlight.
(stretch fingers slowly)
Along comes a dog who’s in for some fun,
(move right fist slowly toward stretching fingers)
M-e-o-w, see the kittens run.
(run left fingers behind back)

As I was looking around for other songs, rhymes, etc. for this storytime I debated long and hard if we should sing "Soft Kitty." It's a cute song and I can see how it might be a good calming activity, but given it's hilarious appearances on "The Big Bang Thoery" I wasn't sure I could do it with a straight face.

Have you seen Pete the Cat yet?  He's a popular figure these days, so I was excited to have him make an appearance at storytime.  I made a flannelboard to help tell the story of Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons, which was recently awarded a Theodore Seuss Geisel Honor.

To make Pete, I actually photocopied a page from the book and enlarged it until I liked his size, and then cut him out to make a template.  I traced the shape onto blue felt and cut it out.  I then cut out the shape of Pete's shirt using the same (trimmed) template and glued it to Pete's body on only the outside edges.  This allows his shirt to open, so at the end of the story we can find his belly button!

Also, you should know that after you've read this story for awhile the word "button" starts to sound a little funny.  If you'd like to hear the whole book read aloud and hear the tune of Pete's song, look for the song download on the right-hand side of this page.  And because I'm in a video-sharing mood, here's the book trailer:

After all of this cat-related fun, it was time for a craft!  We made cat faces using paper plates and construction paper cutouts.  I pre-cut all of the shapes, so all the kids needed to do was glue the pieces onto the plate and add any desired details with crayons. 

Elephant Storytime

This week's storytime was all about elephants!  Did you know that elephants are the largest animal that lives on land?  And that they can use their large ears to fan themselves on hot days?

Here are some of the elephant stories we read:

Peanut by Linas Alsenas
Mildred is very lonely.  But one day she finds a stray puppy.  But is it really a puppy?  Peanut doesn't like to eat dog food, and he doesn't roll over or play fetch.  But he is great at watering Mildred's plants and is an excellent couchwarmer...

When the Elephant Walks by Keiko Kasza
When the elephant walks, he scares the bear.  When the bear runs away, he scares the crocodile.  When the crocodile swims for his life, he scares the wild hog.  The story continues in this fashion until a mouse appears.  Who could possibly be afraid of a mouse?

Elmer by David McKee
All of the elephants in the jungle are gray except for Elmer, who is a patchwork of different colors.  But one day Elmer decides that he is tired of being different and paints himself to look just like the other elephants. 

What to Do if an Elephant Stands on Your Foot by Michelle Robinson, illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds
The story's narrator gives advice on how to avoid encounters with various jungle animals.  But when these instructions aren't heeded encounters with other animals are the result.  This story has a linear progression with lots of different animals just like When the Elephant Walks and is an absolute hoot, but is just a little wordier.  Use the former with more restless groups or if you simply have less time.  If you have time, feel free to use both!



We also did two action rhymes/fingerplays.  I don't remember exactly where I learned this first rhyme, but it was a hit with the kids who were ready to stand up and move a little bit:

An Elephant Goes

An elephant goes

Like this and that.
      (stomp)
He’s terribly big
      (reach high)
And he’s terribly fat.
      (reach wide)
He has no fingers,
      (wiggle fingers)
He has no toes,
      (point to toes)
But goodness gracious
What a nose!
      (wave arm like an elephant's trunk) 

This next fingerplay can be done sitting down, but will still likely get a very enthusiastic response.  It was a hit with my storytime group, anyway!  I found this rhyme on Storytime Katie's blog.  Her version of Elephant Storytime has a lot of fun ideas if you 're looking for more elephant activities.

Up a Hill

Here comes a turtle up a hill,

Creepy, creepy, creepy, creepy.
      (crawl fingers up arm)
Here comes a rabbit up a hill,
Boing, boing, boing, boing.
      (bounce fingers up arm)
Here comes a snake up a hill,
Slither, slither, slither, slither.
     (slide fingers up arm)
Here comes an elephant up a hill,
Thud, thud, thud, thud.
     (clap hand up arm)
Here comes an elephant down a hill.
Thud, thud, thud, thud.
     (clap hand down arm)
CRASH!
     (clap hands loudly)

To finish our storytime we made our own patchwork elephants, just like Elmer.  I found a simple outline of an elephant and printed it out on white paper.  The kids were given glue sticks and lots of cut-up tissue paper to glue onto their elephants.  The craft is simple and requires very little prep, but tissue paper crafts always prove popular at my library and the kids got a kick out of picking out just the right colors to include in their patchwork elephants.

Trucks Storytime

Last week's storytime was all about trucks!  We talked about trucks of all kinds - trailer trucks, dump trucks, fire trucks, and even ice cream trucks!

Here are a few of the books we read:

I Love Trucks by Philemon Sturges
A little boy who loves trucks goes through a long list of different kinds of trucks.  The text is very brief, but I like to open with this story because we get to see lots of different kinds of vehicles pretty quickly.  With so many good truck books to choose from, I actually turned this book into a flannelboard by copying the pictures, laminating them, and sticking a magnet on the back.  I then read the text from the book and stuck the trucks up on my magnet board as we went.  With a cooperative group I also like to give the kids a change to help me place the trucks on the board.

Minerva Louise and the Red Truck by Janet Morgan Stoeke
Minerva Louise is a chicken with a big imagination.  She hitches a ride on her favorite red truck and gets to see all kinds of fun things on the road - including a crew of construction vehicles.

My Truck is Stuck by Kevin Lewis
A dump truck hauling a great big load of bones gets stuck in a pothole.  Can a car get the truck un-stuck?  What about a moving van?  Or a Jeep?  Or a school bus?  And keep a close eye on the illustrations.  What is happening to all of the bones in the truck?

Trashy Town by Andrea Zimmerman
Follow Mr. Gilly as he collects all of the trash in Trashy Town and puts it in his garbage truck.  This book has great rhythm.  I also like to point out the bold words "Stop" and "No" on each page as we come to them.  It's a good way to smoothly incorporate a little print awareness into the telling of the story.


We also did an action song: 

Hurry, Hurry, Drive the Fire Truck

Hurry, hurry, drive the fire truck.

Hurry, hurry, drive the fire truck.
Hurry, hurry, drive the fire truck.
Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding!

Hurry, hurry, turn the corner…

Hurry, hurry, climb the ladder…
Hurry, hurry, squirt the water…
Slowly, slowly, back to the station…

Suit actions to words.

And an action rhyme:

Open the Truck Door

Open the truck door, climb inside,

I get to help my mommy drive.

Fasten the seat belt, shut the door,

Start the engine, hear it roar.

Turn the corner, step on the gas,

If the road’s clear then we may pass.

Suit actions to words.

For our craft project, we made trucks using colored paper cut into simple shapes.  We crumpled tissue paper and glued it at the top of the truck's trailer to be the truck's load:

I got the inspiration for this craft project here.  The kids loved crumpling up the tissue paper!  The kids also got some good gluing practice, and as a bonus the project lent itself well to talking about shapes and colors.