Cats

Since I've gotten through all the holidays we do story times for, now it will pretty much be a random assortment of themes from here on out.  I may go back and do some for past summer themes, but they'll probably be in one post.  Anywho - on to cats!  Cats is one of the themes we have LOTS of books to choose from, which is great and awful all at the same time.  Great to have the options, terrible when you have to weed some out.

Grandma's Cat by Helen Ketterman. The little girl in the story is desperately trying to play with grandma's cat.  After the cat claws her, grandma calms her down, and tells her how to make nice with him.  Eventually the cat comes to her, and they're friends by the end. Anyone whose grandmother has a grumpy old cat can relate to this book.

Mama Cat has three kittens by Denis Fleming. A very repetitive method of storytelling that helps with the twist at the end. Whenever Mama Cat does something, Fluffy and Skinny do it too, and Boris naps.  They do this about 5 times, and in the end, when Mama Cat curls up to nap - what does Boris do?  He stretches, yawns, cleans his paws and then pounces! Right on top of Mama, Fluffy, and Skinny...and then Boris naps.

Kitten's First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes. Kitten really wants a bowl of milk. Then she sees one up in the sky and does everything she can to get it. In the end the poor kitten is banged up, wet, and returns home to find a bowl of milk waiting for her. :) 

If You Give a Cat a Cupcake by Laura Numeroff. Really? Are you not aware of this series of books yet?  The cat asks for things that remind him of other things, that eventually lead him back to the first thing. Great book to use to ask a lot of questions.

The Fat Cat by Margaret Read McDonald. Now normally, I do this as a flannel board. It's a really easy story to tell with how repetitive it is. The kids pick up on it quickly and they like to tell out the parts of the story. Basically a cat is asked to watch this old woman's stew, and when she gets back, he's eaten the stew AND the pot, and then he eats her. So then he goes for a walk, and each person who sees him asks, "Why little cat, what have you been eating? You are so fat!". The cat eats half a dozen villagers before he meets the woodsman, who cuts him open and lets everyone out. They leave the bandaged-up cat out in the middle of nowhere.  

Other good books are:

Francis the Scaredy Cat by Ed Boxall

Five Creatures by Emily Jenkins

Skippyjon Jones by Judy Schachner. You could use this for dogs or cats, but as I have plenty of books for dogs, I chose to put it here.  Skippyjon is a Siamese cat who is convinced he's a chihuahua. He goes on all these adventures in his imagination, saving other dogs in Mexico from some sort of evil.  I've read it to a group once, but that was it.

To round out story time, I totally do Soft Kitty with the kids.  I do it call-and-response, so I sing part of a line and they repeat it.

In case you're not familiar with it, here's the lyrics: 

Soft kitty, warm kitty, 

little ball of fur.

Happy kitty, sleepy kitty, 

purr, purr, purr.

And I have the kids do motions with the song.  Maybe pretend likes they're petting the cat, hugging it, holding it. Then we do happy faces, pretend like we're sleeping, and then the purr.

If you're not familiar with the tune, I'll let Sheldon from Big Bang Theory sing it for you.*

*I know this song existed before BBT.  It's just amusing to watch the clip.