‘Tis the season when my thoughts turn to baked goods. So why shouldn’t we have a storytime about cookies and, more deliciously, cake?

My first difficulty was coming up with an appropriate puppet to introduce the theme. It’s not like I have a talking cookie lying

Cake + Cookie = AWESOME.

around. Or even a cookie monster (I used to have a Grover, but he went to live on a farm in the country). I wracked my brain, trying to figure out what animal would be appropriate. Lion who eats cookies instead of small children? No. Coyote? Of course not. Hairy Tarantula? Cool, but what does that have to do with cookies? Finally, it came to me. Cookies (and cake) go with milk. Milk comes from a cow. Cow puppet to the rescue!

So Clara the Cow introduces our theme, by telling the kids that not only does she eat grass, but she also really likes cookies. She sits down to listen, and the stories begin:

• Emberley, Rebecca and Ed Emberley. The Red Hen. This is the classic story of the Little Red Hen (or la pequeña gallina roja – the first words I ever learned in Spanish, in preschool), told with cake instead of bread. Simple, and with the common “Not I!” refrain so the kids can help with the telling.
• Carter, David A. Who Took the Cookie From the Cookie Jar? Carter’s is a pop-up version of the classic chant, while Philemon Sturges and Bonnie Lass also have a nice, southwestern-y, non-pop-up version.
• After reading the book, we continue the chant, but using the children’s names. Each child will have a turn to say “who me?” and “couldn’t be” before pointing or saying the name of the child next to them, and we continue. If you’re not familiar with the words of the chant, here they are. Pat legs and clap along in rhythm.

(All): Who took the cookies from the cookie jar?

(All): [Child’s name] took the cookies from the cookie jar!

(Child): Who me?

(All): Yes, you!

(Child): Couldn’t be.

(All): Then who?

(Child names another child, and we continue…)

• Beaumont, Karen. Who Ate All the Cookie Dough? Another VERY participatory story, with a rhyming refrain that has a distinct rhythm. A perfect phonological awareness skills-building book.
• Flannelboard: “Barnaby Bear’s Batter Bowl”. Here’s a version of it, although I made a few changes:
  • In MY version, a mouse is the last animal to arrive, and instead of helping to pull Barnaby out of the bowl, he climbs in and tickles Barnaby’s nose with his whiskers, causing Barnaby to sneeze himself out of the bowl.
  • Also, I changed the animals to ones that were easier for me to make: along with Barnaby Bear and the Mouse, there is an Elephant, a Monkey, and a Rabbit.
  • When Barnaby gets out his biggest bowl, we all use our arms to make giant bowls and pretend to put cake ingredients in. The kids get to practice/expand their food vocabulary.
  • In order to add some print to the flannel, I wrote “BOWL” on the smallest bowl, “BIGGER BOWL” on the next one, and “BIGGEST BOWL” on the largest. I read the words and underline them with my finger.

This is usually enough stuff to get us through a 25 minute storytime. However, I have some additional books stashed away in case I feel like changing things up:

• Nakagawa, Chihiro. Who Made this Cake Baking and construction equipment? Heck yeah!
• Christelow, Eileen. Five Little Monkeys Bake a Birthday Cake.
• Hest, Amy. You Can Do It, Sam! Sam bakes cakes with his mom, and then delivers them to the neighbors all by himself.
• Oh – Babette mentioned this one and she’s RIGHT, it’s PERFECT. But I used it earlier in the year, so I didn’t want to duplicate: Karma Wilson’s The Cow Loves Cookies

Oh boy. I really want cookies now. Do you think Mrs. Fields delivers?

Tags: cake, chants, cookies, cow, flannelboards, preschoolers, rhymes, Storytime