Out Came the Sun © 2007 Heather Collins www.kidscanpress.com

Storytime Suggestions for Out Came the Sun

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PPaarrtt ooff YYoouurr SSttoorryyttiimmee PPrrooggrraamm

Out Came the Sun is a collection of nursery rhymes,thoughtfully selected and beautifully illustrated byHeather Collins to encourage babies and toddlers toexplore sounds, rhythms and word patterns. Therhymes tell the comforting and familiar stories of achild’s day: waking up, washing and dressing, eating,playing indoors and out and going to sleep. Out Camethe Sun can help encourage early years literacy – thisread-aloud is at home in any hand!

Reading a nursery rhyme or learning a song from OutCame the Sun is also a great way to introduce fun andage-appropriate games to toddlers. Out Came the Suncan be used as part of a quiet storytime activity for afew children or as part of a larger group exercise.These well-loved rhymes lend themselves to varioustypes of programming and are an excellent way ofexploring family, weather, sounds and daily routines.

The following activities are just a few ways to expandon your storytime program. While all these gamescan be great fun for toddlers, keep in mind to watchfor signs of tiredness – take a break or stop the gamewhen the children seem tired, hungry or bored.

FFiinnggeerr PPuuppppeett oorr SSttiicckk PPuuppppeett PPllaayy

Materials needed:

• Safety scissors

• Photocopies of Out Came the Sun finger puppet cutoutsheet or stick puppet cutout sheet

• Popsicle sticks or plastic drinking straws

• Crayons or markers, if desired

• Clear tape or glue

Toddlers can color the Out Came the Sun characters, butthey will need a grown-up to cut out their puppets.For the finger puppets, cut along the dotted lines,then wrap the base to finger-size and secure the tabswith tape. For the stick puppets, after they have beencut out, tape a popsicle stick or straw to the back.

Slide the finger puppets onto the children’s eager fin-gers, or have the children hold up the stick puppets.Put on a puppet show or make the characters danceas you sing a song together from Out Came the Sun!

Out Came the Sun © 2007 Heather Collins www.kidscanpress.com

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Circle games are an excellent way for young childrento have fun with the songs or rhymes from Out Camethe Sun. Circle games also build socialization skills,such as being part of a group, sharing experiencesand learning to take a turn.

RRaaiinn oonn MMee(“Rain on the Green Grass,” page 13)

Bring all the children into a circle and have them sitcross-legged on the floor. Ask the children what theythink rain feels like. Does it tickle your face? Is itfun to get wet sometimes? Then, have all the childrenbow their heads and close their eyes. The leader (anadult for the first round) will walk slowly around theoutside of the circle “sprinkling” his/her fingers oneach bowed head in turn, as the children in the circlechant or sing the following rhyme:

Rain on the green grass,And rain on the tree,Rain on the housetopBut not on ME!

When the leader gets to the final line in the song,he/she will stop sprinkling on the word “me.” Thechild whose head was touched on the word “me”will be the next leader. Continue until everyone hashad a chance to be the leader.

TTeeddddyy BBeeaarr,, TTeeddddyy BBeeaarr(“Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear,” page 45)

Read the song several times so the group is familiarwith it. Show the children the different actions foreach verse: turn around, touch the ground, tie yourshoes, blow a kiss for “I love you.” Start at a normalpace, then each time you sing the song, make it fasterand faster until the children are moving very quicklythrough all the steps.

Also, ask the children for other actions that the teddybear can do, for example, hop round, get real small(make a tight ball on the floor), wave bye-bye, etc.

UUmmbbrreellllaa(“Rain, Rain Go Away,” page 32–33)

You will need a large bedsheet or parachute to playthis fun circle game.

Have the children hold the edges of the bedsheet orparachute. Tell them you hear thunder, and helpthem shake the parachute or bedsheet. Say “I think it’sgoing to rain. Let’s hold up our umbrella!”

Lift the parachute high above your heads, and let itfall slowly while calling each child to run under. Callout, “Katie, it’s raining! Come under the umbrella!”When everyone is under, play again. This time, haveeveryone get under the umbrella all at once.

Some children don’t like having things put over theirheads or faces, so make sure that all the children arecomfortable and happy while playing this game. Ifsomeone doesn’t want to run under the parachute,you can say, “Adam likes the rain. He’s going to helphold our umbrella!”

These are just a few suggestions on how to incorpo-rate Out Came the Sun into your storytime. Anotherhelpful resource is the brochure “Reading to YourBaby and Toddler with Out Came the Sun.” By using thisbook as part of your program, you’ll find lots ofinspiration for many other ways to engage youryoung audiences!

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by Heather Collins

96 pages

features a ribbon marker

$19.95 US / $24.95 CDN Hardcover Jacket

ISBN: 978-1-55337-881-5