Move Over, Rover! by Karen Beaumont is one of my favorite rainy day stories to share with preschoolers and is easily adapted into a short puppet skit. My library branch doesn't own all of the animals in Beaumont's book, so I use what we have on hand and try to include varying sizes of puppets.
Then, I just stack the puppets one on the other inside Rover's dog house, having the children repeat the refrain "Move Over, Rover!" with me. I've tweaked the ending of the version I tell, since we don't own a skunk, and instead have a dinosaur join the mix, scaring the tuna salad out of every animal involved.Props:
I used my favorite building prop, a tri-fold presentation board, to construct a simple house facade. Cardboard rectangles secured with brass fasteners made the roof, and I cut out a large hole in front.
Puppets:
Dog
You can use what you have on hand and adapt. Here's what I used today:
Cat
Mouse
Bunny
Opossum
Dinosaur
I mostly follow the format of this cumulative story, keeping it simple by saying "Rover's in the dog house, sleeping through the storm . . . (the animal) is looking all around to find a place that's warm . . . MOVE OVER, ROVER!"
And I end it with the dinosaur puppet, saying "Crowded in the dog house, snoring all around. What's that sound? ROAR! A dinosaur!" And everyone skit skats out of Rover's dog house.
I hope you enjoy this one.
Happy day,
Miss Lisa
