Family Story Time – Birthday Celebrations

(Presented by Francine Joy Allen as an idea for a multi-age story time)

Standard opening song for Family Story Time “The More We Get Together” (traditional children’s folk song, sung to the tune of “Did you ever see a lassie?”, and made popular by Raffi. “The More We Get Together’ has no known copyright, according to The Mudcat Café Digital Traditional Folk Song Database. Retrieved at http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=137642)

“The more we get together, together, togetherThe 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.We’ll sing and we’ll dance and then listen to a storyThe more we get together the happier we’ll be.”

Action-Song “Boys and Girls Come Out to Play” (The lyrics are changed to better suit the birthday theme. Original lyrics retrieved at http://www.rhymes.org.uk/a114-boys-and-girls.htm . Music to this rhyme may be found on the album “150 Fun Songs for Kids” by Countdown Kids (Digital Version, Copyright 2004.)

“Girls and boys, come over to play, It’s time to celebrate our birthdays.Let’s invite all our friends by nameTo join us for birthday treats and games.”

“Come with a whoop, and come with a call, Come with a good will, come one and all.Ring the doorbell. Step into the hall. A birthday cake later will serve us all.”(Kids can clap and skip while the Story Leader sings. This song also can be a good opportunity for kids to try any simple musical instruments available, such as bells or tambourines. The Story Leader should introduce kids to the 6/8 count by having them count to six in unison rapidly a few times before trying the instruments.)

Fingerplay: Pat-A-Cake (Variation from the original words, retrieved at http://www.rhymes.org.uk/pat_a_cake_pat_a_cake.htm)

“Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker-man.Bake us a birthday cake as fast as you can.(Clap hands, flipping them from side to side at each clap.)Pat it, and roll it, and mark it with a ‘B’(Do each of these hand-motions as they are being recited.)for a happy birthday for my friends and me!”(You can do a happy wave with one or both hands in the air on this line.)

Story: Happy Birthday, Bertie! by Marcus Pfister – Bertie and his Daddy bake a cake and decorate for Bertie’s birthday. Later, Bertie and his friends have fun playing birthday-party games, and are eager for the cake and presents. But where has Daddy hidden his present for Bertie? Kids of all ages can try to guess what’s about to happen by looking at the pictures on each page.

Group Song: “Happy Birthday to Us” (The variation on the third line to better include everyone at one time.Music originally by Patty Smith Hill and Mildred J. Hill. Rights to lyrics disputed since 1930s, according to “History of the Happy Birthday Song”, by Espie Estrella at web site About.Education, retrieved at http://musiced.about.com/od/historyofmusic/a/happybirthday.htm,)

“Happy Birthday to Us!Happy Birthday to Us!No matter when our birthdays are,Happy Birthday to Us!”(Almost everyone knows the “Happy Birthday” song, but children and their favorite grownups can have fun at home, singing it to different tempos and beats, such as syncopated, bluegrass-style, etc.)

Craft (Please see attached page.)

Play-activity: Simon Says - This well-known game can be played with or without the children being “out” if a non-competitive version is desired. For multiple ages, the web site Birthday Party Ideas 4 Kids suggests having an older helper demonstrate actions which younger children can imitate. The site also has play-ideas for kids of various ages and their caregivers, and most of the games suggested can be done any time, whether with groups or just informally with one or two players. (Retreived at http://www.birthdaypartyideas4kids.com/party-games.htm)

Other birthday-themed book-suggestions:

Infants and toddlers

Bear’s Birthday: A Barefoot Board Book , by Stella Blackstone. – This board book features counting and rhyming in a short story describing the birthday-games and feast Bear and his friends enjoy together.

Preschool through Early Elementary Grades

Happy Birthday, Hamster , by Cynthia Lord. Illustrated by Derek Anderson. – Hamster’s friend Dog invites him on a shopping trip, and Hamster is excited, thinking –at first – that they will shop for birthday-treats. Will he ever get to have a

birthday-celebration? This book is suited for older preschoolers through early elementary school-aged children, but is better suited to an at-home reading than a large-group reading because of the narration being alternated by the characters commenting on the narration in cartoon-bubbles. It is also a good choice for a more individualized or small-group reading because the two-page illustrations have many celebration-related things for children to notice, and the refrain “which would you choose?” invites comment and discussion between children and caregivers.

Happy Birthday, Tacky!, by Helen Lester. Illustrated by Lynn Munsinger. – Tacky has a different style from his oh-so-couth penguin-friends, but they always appreciate one-another, and in this addition to the popular “Tacky” series, Tacky the unconventional penguin again saves the day when things don’t go as planned. This book is suited for small or individual story-readings because of having plenty of visual detail, which invites conversation between children and caregivers. It is also a somewhat longer story than Happy Birthday, Bertie and Happy Birthday Hamster, but still can be enjoyed by older preschoolers, possible in “installments” rather than in one sitting.

Upper Elementary Grades/Newly Independent Readers

Battle Bunny , by Jon Scieszka and Mac Barnett and Alex. Pictures by Matthew Myers but mostly Alex. – A simple birthday story featuring cute forest animals gets turned into a wacky superhero/supervillain action-story in which our hero is hard-pressed to reclaim his birthday. Although some libraries classify this book as a picture book, it seems more like a graphic novel, with the authors and illustrators having crossed out and written over the simple birthday story, and having drawn over the ‘original” illustrations. It is a story to inspire kids to do their own story-writing (without defacing books, of course!), and both School Library Journal and Booklist (both of which give starred reviews) recommend it to independent readers up to 4th or 5th grade.

Good-Bye Song – “You’ll Say Good Bye And I’ll Say Good Bye” (To the tune of “You’ll Sing a Song” by Ella Jenkins from her album of same title)

“You’ve had some funAnd I’ve had some funWe’ve all had fun together.Next time you come,We’ll all have more funIn warm or wint’ry weather.”

“We’ve had some storiesAnd we sang some songsAnd played and danced together.Next time you come,We’ll all have more funIn warm or wint’ry weather.”

“Now you say Good ByeAnd I’ll say Good ByeWe’ll all say Good Bye togetherNext time you come,We’ll all have more funIn warm or wint’ry weather.”

Craft: Color and draw things onto this birthday cake that you might like to see on your next birthday cake.