Cats!

I wanted to nail my first story time here at Sebastopol, so I picked a theme I would be especially excited about: Cats! I used my favorite cat books for preschool story time:

Meeow and the Big Box by Sebastien Braun:
I love this book because it covers a variety of concepts, like shapes, colors, handling scissors carefully, prediction, and imagination. And the protagonist, Meeow, is adorable. The book gives us as readers opportunities to ask the audience side questions. When Meeow shares his favorite color is red,  I ask the kids what their favorite color is, or if they can name some red things. When Meeow cuts a hole in the box with scissors, I invite the kids to make a scissor shape with their pointer and middle fingers and pretend to cut, so they can practice their fine motor skills.

Pete the Cat, I Love my White Shoes by Eric Litwin:
A no brainer choice. The original Pete the Cat books are the best!

I'm still learning how to pick the best books for baby story time. I used Pete the Cat for the preschoolers and the babies, and that seemed to work well. I thought Meeow and the Big Box would be too much for the babies, so I tried to pick a sweet story that would also appeal to the adults.

Kitten's First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes
I think this book is really sweet. One parent seemed to really enjoy the story. I felt like I was losing the audience a little bit: I had a majority of babies and a few toddlers. The toddlers started getting very wiggly.

I learned this cute song:

I'm a Little Kitty Cat 

(To the Tune of I'm a Little Teapot)

I'm a little kitty cat, soft and sweet (pretend to pounce)

Here are my whiskers (hand motion whiskers)

Here are my feet (hold up your two paws or hands)

When I go a 'hunting, mice beware (pretend to pounce)

Or you might just have a scare! (pretend to scare)

We did this adorable C is for Cat craft! Our teen volunteers cut out the bodies and heads (I drew those up) before hand. I provided glue sticks, markers, and pom poms (I wanted to see what the kids came up with, with the pom poms). The pom poms were a great idea. Some kids used them as eyes, tails, or noses!