Storytime Recap: So Happy


As the weather turns colder and grayer, it becomes a bit more difficult to be cheerful and happy. So I thought everyone would enjoy a storytime all about what makes us happiest. As usual, we began our time together with our welcome song, "Clap Everybody and Say Hello." Then I talked a bit about some things that make me happy, like my dogs and cat, or reading a good book. I asked everyone to think about their happy things as I read our first book 100 Things That Make Me Happy by Amy Schwartz.

Each rhyming pair of happiness possibilities evokes such fun responses from the kids. "Chocolate chips, camping trips...hula hoops, double scoops," received the most enthusiastic sounds of approval.

Next I talked about how sometimes getting together with friends can help makes us happy. I asked everyone to join in and sing "The More We Get Together"

The more we get together Together, together The more we get together The happier we'll be Cause your friends are my friends And my friends are your friends The more we get together The happier we'll be.

Afterwards I talked about how sometimes we are happy to do things by ourselves, or we need to be able to find ways to be happy when we are alone. To show this I read Perfect Square by Michael Hall.

This is a great book to show how you can choose to accept changes and find ways to make a hardship into happiness.

Before singing our next song I talked about how sometimes when something bad happens all you can do is keep trying and hope for circumstances to change. Then we sang "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" once with the normal lyrics and then again substituting "the great big hairy spider" in while singing in louder voices.

The itsy-bitsy spider (make climbing motion with hands) Climbed up the water spout (make climbing motion with hands) Down came the rain (wiggled fingers in downward motion) And washed the spider out (cross arms quickly in front of body and away from body) Out came the sun (make arms in circle over head) And dried up all the rain (make arms in circle over head) And the itsy-bitsy spider (make climbing motion with hands) Climbed up the spout again (make climbing motion with hands)

I reminded everyone about how sometimes things aren't going well, but with a little effort and time things can start looking up. On that note I read our next story, A Good Day by Kevin Henkes.

As a follow up to finding joy in simple things, I had everyone stand up to sing "The Bear Went Over the Mountain."

The bear went over the mountain x3 (march in place) To see what he could see. (shield eyes with hand, looking around) And all that he could see, (shield eyes with hand, looking around) And all that he could see, was... (shield eyes with hand, looking around) The other side of the mountain x3 (make triangle above head with arms) Was all that he could see.

I told everyone to stay standing up because I would need their help with the next story, If You're Happy and You Know It: Jungle Edition by James Warhola.

We sang and acted through the pages, with the addition of one verse at the end:

If you're happy and you know it, Wave goodbye. (wave) If you're happy and you know it, Wave goodbye. (wave) If you're happy and you know it, And you really want to show it, If you're happy and you know it, Wave goodbye. (wave)

Then we all sat down to watch our movie for the day, an animation of The Happy Owls by Celestino Piatti.

At the end everyone got a smiley stamp. Stay happy and warm until next storytime!

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