Arizona Centennial and Craft

We had the joy of presenting one last desert-themed storytime for K-2nd graders as our Summer Reading Program is winding down.

After signing in, each child picked a bandanna to sit on during the program.  To break the ice (smaller groups tend to be shy at first) we sang two songs.

Opening Songs:

"The Princess Pat"

"Shark Attack"

Baby shark doot doot doot da doot (hands do small jaw claps)

Mommy shark doot doot doot da doot (bigger)

Daddy shark doot doot doot da doot (bigger!)

Grandpa shark doot doot doot da doot (tuck fingers in)

Lady swimming (swimming motions)

Uh oh! Lady lost her suit (strategically cover up)

Lady  looking for her suit (hand over eyes, looking around)

Lady found her suit (shimmy back into it)

1, 2, 3 SHARK ATTACK

 Baby shark doot doot doot da doot (hands do small jaw claps)

Mommy shark doot doot doot da doot (bigger)

Daddy shark doot doot doot da doot (bigger!)

Grandpa shark doot doot doot da doot (tuck fingers in)

Lady swimming! (faster than before)

Back stroke!

Doggy paddle!

Lady got away!

Book:  Are You a Horse? by Andy Rash.  Roy receives a saddle for a birthday present and goes in search of a horse.  Lesley used a make-shift puppet stage to give voices (very funny!) to the eight puppets who helped bring this book to life.

State Symbol Game:  Each child got a picture of one of the state symbols.  They would stand up if they thought they had the "state reptile" or "state flower" etc. when I called it out and tried to identify what it actually is.

Flower: Saguaro Cactus Blossom

Gem: Turquoise

Tree: Palo Verde

Bird: Cactus Wren

Mammal: Ringtail

Reptile: Arizona Ridge-Nosed Rattlesnake

Fish: Apache Trout

Amphibian: Arizona Tree Frog

Capital: Phoenix

Flag:  Why is the star copper colored??

Book: The Seed and the Giant Saguaro by Jennifer Ward. A pack rat, carrying fruit from the giant saguaro, is chased by various desert animals and inadvertantly helps spread the cactus seeds.

I made some props to go with this book, so several children got a prop or puppet to bring up when we got to that part in the story. Our special guest (the unveiled "Mr. T":  Tony) spritzed everyone when it started to rain in the book.

The red fruit is sticking to the cactus with Velcro and has little pom pom seeds tucked inside.

Music:  We did "The Beanie Bag Dance" by Greg&Steve using cactus shaped beanbags our teen volunteers cut, stuffed, and glued for this program.  The kids got really creative and got me giggling!

Craft:

The children used tacky glue to add flowers and cactus seeds to their beanbags.

Campfire Sing Along:

(Pretty much the best part!  Thank you, Tony!)

Tony visited us from Admin to play some songs he learned just for this program and he ROCKED IT.  We sat around our "campfire" eating baggies of teddy grahams, chocolate chips, and marshmallows (our version of s'mores) and sang along to "Camptown Races", "On Top of Spaghetti", and "Oh Susanna".

Thank you:

Lesley, for co-presenting

Tony, for dazzling us with your guitar and voice

Janet, for taking pictures