What to Wear?  A Storytime about Clothing

Books:

 Joseph Had a Little Overcoat by Simms Taback.  This was a last-minute substitution that went over better than I expected.  I had planned to read Froggy Gets Dressed by Jonathan London but couldn't find a copy.  The die-cut elements get a bit small for group viewing but the kids still seemed engaged by the end, which pleasantly surprised me with the younger family storytime group.

Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing by Judi and Ron Barrett.  The preschool group thought this was absolutely hilarious, so much so that I frequently had to pause to wait for the laughter to subside before continuing.  The family group liked it, too, but some of the humor was above the younger kids' heads.

Pete the Cat by Eric Litwin.  The book reviewer in me sighs a bit at this book's continued popularity but there is no doubt that kids freaking love it.  I had one boy that was so beside himself with glee that he stood, grinning, the whole time I read and boy, did he get into the singing and finger-snapping that we do on Pete's song.  New this time was a magnet board set I made for the story.  I made an over-sized Pete (about two feet high--I drew him standing upright on two feet to minimize the number of shoes I had to make and also to make him compatible with the Pete and His Four Groovy Buttons book) and four pairs of shoes in the colors mentioned in the book.  As Pete's shoes change color, I would remove one pair and slap another pair on Pete quickly.  There were audible gasps (of delight, I hope) as I put up the large Pete on the magnet board, which was gratifying!

Puppet Friend:

Instead of an actual puppet, I brought a teddy bear this time and a variety of doll clothes in which to dress him.  He even had underwear, which of course went over well.

Songs & Rhymes:

"Olivia Wore Her Red Dress"--I used the tune from "Mary Wore Her Red Dress" with a large, two-dimensional magnetic Olivia the pig doll.  I had previously made Olivia a green shirt, black skirt, yellow tights, red boots, and pink hat for Olivia, and I also used the red sunglasses that came with the doll (she came with many other outfits, all of which are mostly red).  As we added a piece of clothing we sang about it using that tune.

"Hat and Shirt, Pants and Shoes"--Sung to the tune of "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes."  I'm not sure where I found this, so apologies if you are the author.
Hat and shirt, pants and shoes, pants and shoes.
Hat and shirt, pants and shoes, pants and shoes.
Oh, I can get dressed by myself!
Hat and shirt, pants and shoes, pants and shoes.

"B-O-O-T-S" by Laurie Berkner--For my first group, I couldn't find my CD so we sang it acapella.  It worked surprisingly well that way but went better with the next group when I found the music.  I had printed out clip art to go along with the different boots mentioned in the song and added each one to the magnet board as the song went on.

A note about using music and rhymes--I always try to post a "lyrics sheet"  for the adults present at storytime.  I think this allows more adults to participate (which always helps) and lets kids see, even if they can't yet read, that there is a connection between the written and spoken (or sung) word.

Crafts:

Dress-Up:  I have a pretty extensive collection of dress-up clothes, hats, and shoes (some dating back to my own childhood) that I brought in and I put out a full-length mirror.  I had intended to take photos but didn't have a working camera available.  We did have a newspaper photographer present however, and she took a charming photo of a few of the kids playing dress-up that was published in the local paper.  I didn't have many "boy-ish" dress-up pieces but plenty of boys didn't let that stop them.  I was amazed at how much time some of the kids spent at this activity.

Make an Outfit for Pete:  I had drawn a black and white outline of Pete the cat and had also drawn black and white outlines for a shirt and shorts for Pete.  The kids colored the shirts and shorts, cut them out, and glued them onto Pete.  I also had buttons and a few other odds and ends for them to glue on Pete's clothes.  I will try to post the Pete pages soon as printable PDF files.  Stay tuned.

Fabric Collage:  As a crafter, I have way, way too much fabric.  I cut up a large variety of types and textures of fabrics into small bits (1-2 inches mostly) and put the scraps out with glue, more buttons, and 8 x 10 cardboard pieces that I bought at our local recycled materials teacher store, The I. D. E. A. Store, which is an amazing and inspiring local resource.