Tools Story Time
Opening Song: These Are My Glasses by Laurie Berkner Band (I use this song as an opener for every story time! It's so fun and it's pretty much guaranteed to put a smile on the face of even the most apprehensive kids.)
Book: Tools by Taro Miura This is a great book for vocabulary, print motivation, and verbal skills in general. Before we read I tell my audience that we are going to guess who we think might use the tools that we see, and I also casually mention that talking about books is a great way to learn new words and that helps us learn to read! Basically wordless, realistic drawings depict different tools and then the next page reveals the occupation that might use the tools. I paper-clipped many of the pages together and only chose the tools I thought would spark the most conversation, so we ended up with Carpenter, Doctor, Gardener, Cook, and Painter.
Traditional song with many versions available. It is tried and true and everyone always has fun singing it and performing the actions.
"Johnny Works with One Hammer"
Johnny works with one hammer, one hammer, one hammer
Johnny works with one hammer, then he works with two
(Two hammers- both fists on legs; Three hammers- both fists on legs and one foot on the floor; Four hammers- both fists on legs and both feet on the floor; Five hammers- both fists on legs, both feet on floor, nod head up and down.)
Credit: Mrs. Hegna's Storyroom
Book: Tap Tap Bang Bang by Emma Garcia The kids always LOVE to point out that the tools in this book have eyes, which is oh so silly. I like to mention beforehand that I love this book because we get to make tool noises and at the end we have built something! You really have to act this book out, and I always encourage the kids to make the motions and the sounds of the tools along with me. I will often ask what they think we might be building along the way.
Action Rhyme: Carpenters of the world unite! (Put hands together over head.)
Bang the hammer, bang, bang the hammer x2
Saw the wood, saw, saw the wood x2
Turn the screwdriver, turn, turn the screwdriver x2
Paint the walls, paint, paint the walls x2
Shut the door, shut, shut the door x2
And what did we build? (Put arms overhead like the roof on a house.)
We built a house!
Credit: Barb Huff
Activity: 5 Little Whatsits
I got this idea from Mel's Desk, which is my go-to for excellent story time fodder and homemade goodies. I like the notion that not everything need be a rhyme to memorize, and encouraging vocabulary is always a great thing. So, I took Mel's lead and found photo images of familiar tools in Microsoft Office, attached some magnets to the back, grabbed a cookie sheet and voila! I used this differently almost every time. Sometimes I'd point to a tool, ask what it is, what it does, etc. Other times I'd ask the kids which tool was used to cut wood, which was used to hit nails into wood, etc. When we got to the level I always explained it a little more, and showed the kids how silly it might look if the chair I was sitting in wasn't straight!
A great finishing book for story time. It's short and simple enough that even drifting attention spans will be able to focus. I usually read four books in story time, but I just couldn't find four solid books that I loved- so we only did three books and I added more rhymes and songs!
Action Rhyme: Five Little Nails
Five little nails standing straight and steady,
Here I come with my hammer ready!
BAM BAM BAM! That nail goes down.
Now there's just four nails to pound.
You can use your hands and fingers to act out this rhyme, or you can make this super cool paper towel roll thingy to help things along!
Credit: Mel's Desk
Craft: Tool belts!
After searching around for a good craft, I finally merged a few different ideas together and came up with these tool belts. I had some help from staff with cutting out the tools, the belts were easy with the help of a paper cutter, a hole punch and some yarn. Follow the link below to print out the tool pictures!
How It Went: The kids really loved this story time, and I did too! I really liked these books, and I got more and more confident with letting the participants just talk to me and having a bit of a conversation with them about the tools. A bit tricky when you have a lot of kids who want to share, but it really (subliminally) reinforces to their parents how important TALKING is with young children!
