It's Lunchtime! A Food Storytime for 2s and 3s

Hello everyone! I am going to try my best to update this blog on a weekly basis so *fingers crossed* that I can manage to stay on top of this with the addition of school and work :) At my job we have rotated storytimes and I am now leading Tales for 2s and 3s starting September 2! It should be a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to leading storytime with a smaller, younger crowd :) The first theme of the fall season is FOOD! Who doesn't love food? This storytime is for 2 and 3 year olds and can be presented at any time throughout the year.

1. Opening Song (to tune of the Mulberry Bush)

This is the way our hands say hello,
With a clap, clap-clap, Clap, clap-clap
This the way our hands say hello,
With a clap, clap-clap, clap-clap

This is the way our knees say hello,
With a tap tap-tap,
Tap tap-tap
This is the way our knees say hello,
With a tap tap-tap, tap-tap

This is the way we wave hello,
Wave hello, wave hello
This is the way we wave hello,
So early in the morning

2. Book: Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Ehlert

3. The Soup is Boiling Up - song from Addison Public Library and adapted in to an activity song

Things you need: Pot or pretend cauldron, soup spoon (I just grabbed one from my kitchen), printed out pictures of broth, carrots, tomato, and broccoli. I used Google image search to find my images. I made one set really big for my flannel board and then I made about 30 smaller sized versions of the pictures. The plan is to pass the images out to children to have them add the ingredients to the soup pot. We really only get about 15 children at the max for Tales for 2s and 3s  but I wanted to make 30 just in case we somehow randomly get a ton of children! It's always good to be prepared. See the pictures below for an example of what I did:

Soup pot!

Flannelboard pieces

These are the larger images I'll put on the flannel board for children to visualize what ingredients go into the pot.

Images of ingredients to pass out to children individually

Before you begin this activity, pass out the small images of the ingredients to each child. Tell children they will be adding the ingredients into the soup pot. Ok, here is the song!

The Soup is Boiling Up (to the tune of The Farmer in the Dell)
The soup is boiling up, (flutter your fingers up above the pot)
The soup is boiling up.
Stir slow, around we go, (pretend to stir)
The soup is boiling up.

(say outloud: "first we cook the broth! Ok everyone, who has broth? Raise the broth high in the air and I'll come to you so you can put it into our pot!" then come around and let children drop their image of broth into the pot)

Now let's sing:

First we cook the broth,
First we cook the broth.
Stir slow, around we go,
First we cook the broth.

(Now we add some carrots! Come around to have children put carrots into the pot like we did with the broth)

Now let's sing:

Now we add some carrots,
Now we add some carrots.
Stir slow, around we go,
Now we add some carrots.

(Now we add some broccoli! Come around to have children put broccoli into the pot like we did with the other ingredients)

Now let's sing:

Now we add some broccoli
Now we add some broccoli
Stir slow, around we go,
Now we add some broccoli

(Now we add some tomato! Come around to have children put broccoli into the pot like we did with the other ingredients)

Now let's sing:

Now we add some tomato
Now we add some tomato
Stir slow, around we go,
Now we add some tomato

Now let's sing the soup is ready now!

The soup is ready now,
The soup is ready now.
Stir slow, around we go,
The soup is ready now.

YUMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!! (pretend to slurp the soup)

4. Fingerplay: I am Hungry from Jbrary!

Lyrics:
I am hungry (I am hungry)
What should I eat? (What should I eat?)
Think I'll have some pizza
(think I'll have some pizza)
Without any meat! (Without any meat).

I am hungry! (I am hungry)
What should I eat? (What should I eat?)
Think I'll have tomato soup
(think I'll have tomato soup)
With lots of heat! (With lots of heat).

I am hungry! (I am hungry)
What should I eat? (What should I eat?)
Think I'll have some ice cream
(think I'll have some ice cream)
Cold and sweet! (Cold and sweet).

This is a fun and simple fingerplay and could even make a nice flannelboard story so that children know what food is coming up next.

5. Song: Spaghetti Legs by Jim Gill on the CD Jim Gill Sings the Sneezing Song and Other Contagious Tunes

6. Book: Lunch by Denise Fleming (use with props)



7. Flannelboard: 5 Hungry Ants (adapted from sunflowerstorytime.com) 

5 Hungry Ants, marching in a line

They came upon a picnic, where they could dine,

They marched into the salad,

They marched into the cake,

They marched into the pepper,

Uh-Oh! That was a mistake!

AAAAACCCCCHHHHHHHOOOOOOOO!!

8. Worms for Lunch by Leonid Gore

I love this book!!  It has flaps you turn to discover what food the specified animal eats. It's pretty cute :)

8. Closing Song (to tune of the Mulberry Bush)

This is the way our hands say goodbye,
With a clap clap-clap,Clap, clap-clap
This is the way our hands say goodbye,
With a clap clap-clap, clap-clap

This is the way our knees say goodbye,
With a tap, tap-tap,Tap tap-tap
This is the way our knees say goodbye,
With a tap tap-tap, tap-tap

This is the way we wave goodbye,
Wave goodbye, wave goodbye,
This is the way we wave goodbye,
Goodbye until next time

Other books to consider:

Slop Goes the Soup by Pamea D. Edwards and Henry Cole

Too Pickly by Jean Reidy