Storytime: Names

This storytime was for a preschool aged group at my library

Read Aloud Books

Chrysanthemum Written and illustrated by Kevin Henkes

Chrysanthemum loves her name! ...until all the kids at school start to make fun of it. I like this book, of course. But it was WAY too long for this storytime. Even I was getting distracted. Luckily, since I do two storytimes a week, I could throw it out for the second storytime and go with...

Matthew A.B.C. Written and illustrated by Peter Catalanotto

Mrs. Tuttle has 25 students, and they're all boys named Matthew--but she can totally tell them apart. It's shorter, good ABC practice, has some fun vocabulary AND it's funny. And I got to explain that sometimes other kids have the same name as you. So, all in all, much better than Chrysanthemum.

My Name Is Elizabeth! Written by Annika Dunklee, illustrated by Matthew Forsythe

Elizabeth loves her name. So much so, that it actually really bothers her when people keep trying to shorten it! What can she do? This was a great book to start talking about nick-names, and I took the time to let some of the kids share their nicknames. Also, I LOVE the illustrations in this one. Super simple and cute.

Bully Written and illustrated by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

The bull is turning into a bully and hurting all of his friends feelings! Will he stop? To wrap up, I used this book to talk about calling people mean names; even if it's factual, saying mean things can really hurt. Also, throughout the book, the bull is getting bigger and bigger--full of himself. So to make that point, I blew up a balloon each page as the bull got bigger. And when he ego finally deflates? I released the balloon to zoom around the room. The kids LOVED that! I think it was a great book to make a point.

Songs and Rhymes

Hello Song

Song: John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt

John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt

His name is my name too

Whenever we go out,

the people always shout,

“There goes John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt!

Da da da da da”

(we repeated 3x, singing the first part quieter each time,

then yelling the part the people shout, like this video)

Song: The Alphabet

(we sang the alphabet nice and slow, so that kids

could raise their hands/jump when we got to the

letter that starts their name)

Song: Bingo 

There was a farmer, had a dog

And Bingo was his name-o

B-I-N-G-O

B-I-N-G-O

B-I-N-G-O

And Bingo was his name-o

(keep repeating, replacing a letter with a clap each repeat)

Goodbye Song

Games and Activities

Flannel: BINGO!

(My flannel and craft idea came from StorytimeKatie)

I had this up on the flannel board while we sang "Bingo" as a visual cue. Also, I had a puppet dog that helped show the kids when they needed to clap. He was pretty cute.

Craft: Name Train Craft

Cute, right? I mean, I spent a good chuck of time cutting out letters with our fantastic die-cut machine (Like, old-fashioned, pull down the level die-cut. Heck yes.) but it was all totally worth it. The kids had a lot of fun with this one. If I had the money, I'd probably get letter stickers, but this worked out fine.

Here's the file for the train. I printed two to a legal-sized page (8.5" x 14") and cut in half.

Other Book Ideas

Rumpelstiltskin Written and illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky

Tikki Tikki Tembo Written by Arlene Mosel, illustrated by Blair Lent

Twenty-six Pirates: An Alphabet Book Written and illustrated by Dave Horowitz

Princess Baby Written and illustrated by by Karen Katz