Luella Frizelle--Our New Biddy Buddy

How in the world did I meet Luella Frizelle? When I received this puppet in a new order batch, I thought her a funky, confused, and oh-so-sweet biddy. Her neck moves wonderfully, and she can high-five! How cool is that?

So, I decided to try Luella in storytime as a stretcher between books and before "Shake Our Sillies Out." It was a fun and easy activity.

Puppet:
Chicken

No props needed.


I introduced Luella Frizelle and explained that she and I had been practicing a song all week long to sing in storytime. I asked the children what sound a chicken makes, and they happily imitated their best chicken clucks. I explained that Luella knew that when I tapped her she was supposed to cluck. So we tried it: I tapped her and she clucked. Easy.

I began the song, "When Chickens Get Up in the Morning," and when I tapped her, she mooed! So I had to interrupt the song and remind Luella that chickens do not moo. The children laughed and I asked them again what kind of sound a chicken makes. "Cluck!" They all shouted. So we tried again . . . and again, Luella mooed!

I asked the children to help me sing the song, very loud, and cluck so that maybe Luella would remember what she was supposed to say. They did--it worked!

I'm going to try this stretcher for a while, using a different animal sound each week and see how it goes.

Wow, I like this chicken!

Crockett Crocodile Brushes His Teeth

Puppet:
crocodile (or alligator) puppet

Props:
small pieces of faux food
paintbrush
hairbrush
toilet brush

toothbrush

(Before bringing Crockett out, hide a few small pieces of food in his mouth. Flat pieces work well. Keep his mouth clamped closed so the children can't see into his mouth.) Introduce Crockett. Ask him if he's brushed his teeth this morning. He nods his head. "Well, it's a good thing you brushed this morning, Crockett, so you'll be nice and minty fresh for us to count your teeth. Boys and girls, how many teeth do you think Crockett has? Let's count, shall we?" Open Crockett's mouth and act shocked. "Crockett! You have a whole orange in your mouth, and an entire strawberry . . . There is NO way you brushed your teeth this morning. Sorry, boys and girls, before we can count Crockett's teeth, he has to go brush. Crockett, go get your toothbrush!"

Crockett disappears into the storytime bag and returns with a paintbrush, then a hairbrush, then a toilet brush, and finally, his toothbrush. (You could continue as long as children are interested.) "That's your toothbrush, Crockett. Good job! Boys and girls, do you know the tooth brushing song? Let's learn it together:

"Brush, brush brush your teeth
brush them everyday
Up and down
and round and round
brush the germs away."

Once we sing this through a couple of times, I brush Crockett's teeth as we sing it to him. He's learning! Finally, we can count his teeth.

House for Mouse

Puppet:
mouse

Props:
Flannelboard
Nine felt houses--all different colors
felt mouse, hidden under one of the houses

Introduce mouse and explain that he is looking for his friend so storytime can start. Tell children to be quiet as mice as we help mouse search. We say the following rhyme:

"Little Mouse, little mouse are you in the _____ house?" Continue until we go through all the houses.

Once found, mouse can say that we're ready for storytime.

Dog Puppet

Use "Where, Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone?" with the dog puppet. It's a good introduction to prepositional words (behind, in front, under, over, top, bottom, etc.). You can move the puppet to match the song.

Berries! A Puppet Feeding Song

(Potentially, a song for when hibernating bear is preparing to sleep in Fall or just waking up in Spring.)

One berry, two berries
three berries, four!
Five berries, six berries
Seven berries more!
Eight berries, nine berries,
Ten berries, then . . .
We count them all over again!

(or let's do it again!)

Carlo Chameleon

As I'm writing this, I have "Carlo, Carlo, Carlo, Carlo, Carlo Chameleon" (a la Culture Club) running through my head. It makes writing easier!

Puppet:
chameleon

Props:
faux food

After reading about chameleons, I learned some important facts I shared with the storytimers:

1) chameleons can't hear very well
2) chameleons have an amazing sense of sight
3) chameleons can't hear very well

With that in mind, I introduced Carlo. The skit went like this:

This is Carlo. He is a chameleon. He's very shy. (Carlo has his head tucked under my left arm.) "Oh, Carlo. It's OK. You can come out, we're with friends."

The thing is, Carlo can't hear very well--chameleons don't have ears like you and I. So when you talk to Carlo, you should probably TALK LOUDLY. Can you tell Carlo good morning, so he feels welcome in storytime today? Maybe a little louder? (Have them get as loud as you want.)

Oh yes, there he is. (Carlo comes out from under my arm.) As I said, Carlo is a chameleon. Can you say "chameleon"? What color is he? Carlo can see very well. His eyes . . . "Carlo!" (he begins chewing my nametag.) I forgot to mention, Carlo loves to chew. (I pull him off my nametag and he chews my finger.) "No chewing, Carlo."

Can you help me tell him no chewing? Loudly, but politely, can you say, "Please, no chewing, Carlo."

Do you think he's hungry? I have some things Carlo may just eat. (Pull food props from my bag.) He spits them all out. Then whispers in my ear. Do you know what Carlo says he wants? A fly! I have a fly right here. (He eats the fly.) Did any of you bring a fly with you today?

We take turns feeding Carlo whatever the children have brought with them to feed him.

Carlo is full. He needs a nap. (We tell him goodbye and put him in the storytime bag.)

THE END

Hooray for Hen!

Puppet: 
hen

Props:
plastic egg
storytime bag

Introduce Henrietta Hen. Since it was a New Year's storytime, we talked a little about "resolutions." I explained that Henrietta's resolution was to lay more eggs in the new year. She wanted to get started, but was having trouble. Would the children be able to help Henrietta lay an egg? I explained the way to help was to sing "The Hen on the Nest."

Hen on the Nest
[tune: Wheels on the Bus]
The hen on the nest goes
cluck, cluck, cluck,
cluck, cluck, cluck,
cluck, cluck, cluck,
the hen on the nest goes
cluck, cluck, cluck
when she lays an egg

We sang it three times, louder each time. Henrietta could not lay an egg. So I thought maybe we should try counting down, like you do on New Year's Eve. We counted 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1! And yelled "You can do it, Henrietta!" It worked. She laid an egg in the storytime bag.

Toad on the Road

A really simple puppet song to pair with Jane Yolen's Hoptoad or frog/toad theme.

Puppet:
toad

The Toad on the Road
[tune: Wheels on the Bus]

The toad on the road goes
hop, hop, hop
hop, hop, hop
hop, hop, hop
the toad on the road goes
hop, hop, hop
off that road!