Monkeys!
/There was some monkey business going on at the library!
BOOKS:
We read Spunky Little Monkey by Bill Martin Jr. and Michael Sampson and Count the Monkeys by Mac Barnett and Kevin Cornell.
This was a super active storytime. I love it when we get all of our wiggles out! Count the Monkeys is super fun and can be really interactive with the right prompts. The kids got a kick out of trying to predict whether or not they’d see monkeys and helping with the actions. We stayed standing after our between the books activity and went right along and acted out Spunky Little Monkey as I read. Both books get a storytime thumbs up!
ACTION RHYME:
I found this baby on The Library Ann’s website and HAD to do it for this storytime. I’d done a version of Go Bananas before but with different fruit - not just bananas, but this was perfect for monkey storytime.
Bananas of the world: UNITE
(clasp hands overhead)
Peel banana (peel arms down to sides)
Peel peel banana
Peel banana (repeat actions)
Peel peel banana
Cut banana (karate chops to the front)
Cut cut banana
Cut banana (repeat actions)
Cut cut banana
Eat banana (stuff banana pieces into face)
Eat eat banana
Eat banana (repeat actions)
Eat eat banana
Go bananas! (flail arms, turn in circle, shake head, etc.)
Go Go bananas!
Go bananas! (keep going)
Go Go bananas!
SONG:
We listened (and danced) to “Baby Monkey” by Parry Gripp. (Srsly, is there a better song for this that I don’t know? I love Parry Gripp songs)
CRAFT:
Our craft was a monkey face. This was a really simple glue and color activity, nothing crazy or stressful. The monkey’s face is all shapes - a big circle for his head, two little ones for his ears, an oval for a mouth, and a heart for the rest of his face.
