A Horse of Course!

This week we read stories about horses!

Rhyme Cube:  Click here for description.

Sign Language:  Word of the day was “Horse”

Opening Song:

“Open them, shut them,
Give a little clap!
Open them, shut them,
Now put them in your lap!”

First Book: Horses: Trotting! Prancing! Racing! by Patricia Hubbell

Felt Board:  I Gave My Horse an Apple

I gave my horse an apple, (pretend to give something)
And she gave me a neigh. (neigh)
I gave my horse a carrot, (pretend to give something)
And she moved her head this way. (move head up and down)
I gave my horse a sugar lump, (pretend to give something)
She gave me a smile. (smile big)
And then she took me for a ride,
For more than half a mile. (slap hands on thighs like galloping)

(credit: Storytime in a Box)

Fingerplay: 10 Galloping Horses

Ten galloping horses, (hold up ten fingers)
Came through town. (slap hands on legs like galloping)
Five were white, (hold up five fingers)
And five were brown. (hold up five fingers on other hand)
They galloped up, (slap up toward top of thighs)
They galloped down, (slap down toward knees)
Ten galloping horses, (hold up ten fingers)
Came through town. (slap hands on legs like galloping)

(credit: King County Library System)

Second Book:  Are You a Horse? by Andy Rash

Activity:  Giddy-Up!

I had all the kids stand up and pretend to hold onto reins.  I told them to gallop as we sang (to the tune of the William Tell Overture):

“Giddy-up, giddy-up, giddy-up-up-up!
Giddy-up, giddy-up, giddy-up-up-up!
Giddy-up, giddy-up, giddy-up-up-up!
WHOA, Horsie! ”  (we leaned back and paused on this part)

We sang the song a few times, getting faster and faster!

(credit: The Loudest Librarian)

Felt Board:  Colored Horses

I got this idea from Storytime Katie.  I laminated different colored horses, put a little velcro on the back, and gave one to each child.  I told them to wait until I called their color horse and then they could come up and put it on the board.  This is so hard for them!  It’s too exciting to wait! We did a similar activity last week with shells and this time they did honestly get a little better at waiting for their turn.  One little trick I do when a kid comes up with the wrong color is to say “Oh how cool! But your horse is yellow not blue.  Can you go show it to your grown-up until I call the yellow horses up?” This works some of the time!

Here’s the rhyme I came up with:

“If your horse is the color blue,
Gallop it on your shoe!
If you have a blue horse,
Come put it in the barn, of course!”

(yellow –  gallop it on your elbow
green – gallop it on your knee
purple – gallop it in a circle
red – gallop it on your head)

Third Book:  Clip-Clop by Nicola Smee

Ukulele:  She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain

I printed out some clip art to go with each verse of the song and put it up on the wall before we sang.  We also counted the horses to make sure there were six!  The verses we sang were:

She’ll be coming round the mountain,…
She’ll be driving six white horses,…
She’ll be wearing pink pajamas,…
We’ll all come out and greet her,….

The chords I used can be found here.

I have no natural music ability and I make lots of mistakes but the kids seem to still enjoy it.  Jason Poole, a good friend and children’s librarian (who also happens to be a wonderful musician) told me that it’s good for kids to see you make mistakes.  It lets them know that adults aren’t perfect either and the important thing is to not give up!

Goodbye Song:

“Let’s tickle the clouds,
And tickle our toes,
And turn around,
And tickle our nose,
Reach down low,
Reach up high,
Storytime is over,
So wave goodbye!”