As part of our summer reading programming, I decided to have a Winnie the Pooh program. The program was advertised as being for all ages but planned for the expected audience of ages 2-5. Because the turnout for our summer reading storytimes had been so big, we anticipated a large crowd and decided to hold the program in the library’s community meeting room. As had been done with all our summer reading storytimes this year, I accommodated the large crowds by scanning the books I planned to use and projecting the illustrations on the big movie screen.
We first looked at pictures up on the big screen of Winnie the Pooh and his friends, while standing and singing If You’re Happy and You Know It. Piglet was happy (if you’re happy and you know it/clap your hands), Eeyore was grumpy (if you’re grumpy and you know it/stomp your feet), Tigger was bouncy (if you’re bouncy and you know it/jump up and down) and Pooh was hungry (if you’re hungry and you know it/rub your tummy).
Next it was time for our first book, Peek-A-Pooh by Andrea Posner-Sanchez.
The kids stood up again for the next activity, We’re Going On a Heffalump Hunt. I simplified We’re Going On a Lion Hunt and substituted a hunt for a heffalump instead. We slooshed through the mud, swam through a lake, crawled through tall grass, climbed a tree, and crept into a cave, where we might have seen a heffalump! Of course, we were too scared to look and had to run away home.
Our second book, Pooh’s Honey Tree by Isabel Gaines, was next.
Then we counted bees while doing the fingerplay Here is the Hive.
Here is the hive (hold out your fist) but where are the bees?
Hidden away where no one can see.
Watch them come out of the hive,
1, 2, 3, 4, 5! (bring your fingers out of the fist one at a time)
Next, we played a game called Who Has Pooh’s Honey? Because we were using the room’s big screen, I created a powerpoint for the game, but it could also be done on a smaller scale as a flannelboard. I created a picture of a scene with several animals, and asked the question “who has Pooh’s honey?” We then chose each animal and looked at their picture, one at a time, to see if they had Pooh’s honey jar. When we saw a picture of a giraffe, we asked “did Giraffe take Pooh’s honey?” The next picture showed that Giraffe had a beach ball, but no honey. We went through each animal, until finally we determined the culprit (spoiler alert–it was the sun). This could be done as a flannelboard similar to Little Mouse, Little Mouse Are You in the (color) House?, with each animal on the flannelboard having an object behind it. If you would like to see the powerpoint for this, just let me know.
Then it was time for another book, Pooh Loves You by Fran Posner.
By this point, we were all ready to stand up so it was definitely time to do Pooh Bear Pooh Bear Turn Around (with the appropriate motions).
Pooh Bear, Pooh Bear/Turn around
Pooh Bear, Pooh Bear/Touch the ground.
Pooh Bear, Pooh Bear/Tie your shoe
Pooh Bear, Pooh Bear/That will do.
Pooh Bear, Pooh Bear/Go upstairs
Pooh Bear, Pooh Bear/Comb your hair.
Pooh Bear, Pooh Bear/Turn out the light
Pooh Bear, Pooh Bear/Say good night.
It was then time to really rev it up and practice jumping, so we were ready to bounce like Tigger. We did red light/green light jumping, jumping when they saw a green light on the big screen and stopping when they saw a red light. In a smaller group, I use a green paper plate for the green light and a red one for the red light.
Once we were warmed up, it was time to bounce! I played the song The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers and we bounced away to the music.
Finally, it was time for the big finale, the bear parade. In the publicity for the program, I asked those attending to bring a bear with them for the bear parade, and many did. However, it wasn’t necessary to have a bear to enjoy the bear parade. I burned a cd with a good marching song (that shall remain nameless until I can remember the title) that repeated several times, and we marched to the music around the perimeter of the room with our bears. A fun way to end a fun program!
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