Welcome to the Storytime at Home series! Every other week, we share a list of book options tied to a kid-approved theme, a craft you can set up to go along with the theme, songs/rhymes you can do during storytime, and additional enrichment activities. All books are available at Richmond Public Library, and crafts will involve items you likely have at home already! Our hope is that we can make it easy for you to share stories with your little ones and create a little bit of library magic at home.
P.S. Love library storytimes? Take a look at all in-library storytime options here. There is a storytime for your child every morning at our various branches!
Okay, now to the fun stuff…
Today’s storytime theme is BUNNIES & RABBITS!
Fluffy bodies, twitchy noses, cute ears, and little hops? Bunnies are so cute and a universally loved animal. This makes them a great theme for a storytime! Not only are most bunny and rabbit books beautifully illustrated and filled with fun stories, they also encourage us to practice our gross motor skills like hopping. Rabbits also like to travel in packs, so rabbit books can be great for practicing counting as well. Bunnies and rabbits can also be quite rascally, and the shenanigans they get up to make for great stories with big laughs and good lessons along the way. As the weather starts to warm up, we’ll start to see more bunnies in our backyards and parks. Help your child learn more about them and imagine what adventures they may go on with a hoppin’ good storytime! The library has some wonderful books about bunnies, and we’ve included some of our favorites below. When you visit, you can also search in our catalog or ask a librarian to help you find the perfect book for you and your child.
Books
Reading to your kiddos turns them into confident thinkers. Making books a regular part of your daily routine is a great way to build children’s love of reading and learning. Storytimes also help build excitement around reading to support their literacy development.
Here are a few book options you can choose from for your rabbit-themed storytime.
Preschool
- Too Many Rabbits by Davide Cali
- Wolfie the Bunny by Ame Dyckman
- Moonlight by Helen Griffith
- Rabbit Magic by Meg McLaren
- Beyond The Burrow by Jessica Meserve
- How To Be A Bigger Bunny by Florence Friedmann Minor
- Ninja Bunny by Jennifer Gray Olson
- Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
- Bunny’s Book Club by Annie Silvestro
- Problem Solved! by Jan Thomas
- Big Bunny by Rowboat Watkins
- Bunny Cakes by Rosemary Wells
- Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems
Toddler/Baby
- One Brown Bunny by Marion Dane Bauer
- The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown
- Hop by Jorey Hurley
- Five For A Little One by Christopher Raschka
- Peek-A-Book Bunny by Holly Surplice
There are many ways to make reading fun and engaging for your little one!
Click here to see some of our favorite tips for bringing stories to life at home.
- Point at the pictures and ask your child what they see. Help build their vocabulary by pointing to pictures and saying the word aloud.
- Ask your child questions about the story: What do you think will happen next? How do you think this character is feeling?
- Read with expression and enthusiasm, and use different voices for different characters.
- Act out what’s happening in the story.
- As your child gets older, count objects in a book, discuss the different colors they see, point out shapes in the story, etc.
- Snuggle up and be patient. Reading is great bonding time for you and your child. Take your time walking them through the story. If your child wants to turn the page or be finished with reading, that’s OK too. You don’t have to read every word or even every page for reading with your little one to be beneficial for their development.
Songs and Rhymes
We love adding songs and rhymes to our storytimes. This is a great way to practice language with your child and support their physical (motor) development through movement.
Here are two songs and rhymes you can use for this themed storytime.
Fingerplay Rhyme: Here Is A Bunny
Do actions in italics as you say the rhyme
Here is a bunny (hold up two fingers like bunny ears)
With ears so funny,
And here is his hole in the ground. (make a circle with the thumb and index finger of your other hand)
When a noise he hears,
He pricks up his ears, (move your bunny ears)
And jumps through the hole in the ground! (put your bunny ear fingers into the hole).
Action Rhyme: Little Rabbit
Do actions in italics as you say it
I saw a little rabbit go hop, hop, hop (hop up and down)
I told that little rabbit to stop, stop, stop (hold hand out to signal stop, or do the ASL sign for stop)
He wiggled his ears and crinkled his nose (wiggle ears then crinkle nose)
And wiggled, wiggled, wiggled right down to his toes. (wiggle and then touch toes)
Arts and Crafts
Adding a craft along with a book is a great way to continue allowing your child to learn, explore, and grow. Crafts are a nice supplement as they encourage motor development, creativity, self-confidence, and more.
In fact, art and craft activities:
- Build fine motor skills. Actions such as painting, coloring, gluing, and cutting develop small muscles in small hands and improve coordination skills as children learn to use both hands at the same time.
- Support early literacy. When children make art, they learn vocabulary and how to follow directions when getting verbal instructions from parents and caregivers. They also boost their communication skills via talking about their work!
- Teach early math concepts. Math skills are used frequently in arts and crafts. Kids learn about and recognize different shapes, count and sort art supplies, and even measure out materials.
- Encourage creativity. Art helps develop creativity, self-expression, problem-solving, and curiosity.
- Boost self-esteem. Doing arts and crafts can give children a sense of achievement and allow them to take pride in their work, which builds confidence.
- Offer bonding time. Kids love spending quality time with parents and caregivers, and arts and crafts are a great opportunity for this.
Here is a craft activity you can do along with the bunny theme.
Toilet Paper Roll Bunny Stamp Craft
Materials Needed
- Toilet paper rolls
- White paint
- Green paint (optional)
- Paper
- Markers
- Paintbrush
Source: Crafty Morning
Directions
- Dip one end of a toilet paper roll into the white paint. Stamp it onto your paper to create the bunny’s head.
- Squeeze one of the toiler paper rolls into a bunny ear shape.
- Dip one end of the ear-shaped tube into white paint. Stamp it twice on top of the head to create the ears.
- Let the paint dry then add face details to your bunny.
- If desired, use fingers or a paintbrush to add green paint to the bottom of your work to look like grass.
Additional Enrichment Ideas
The fun doesn’t have to end at books, songs, and a craft. There are many ways to enrich a storytime with additional activities and lessons. Here are a few ideas for you and your child:
- Need to get some wiggles out? We love moving to Hop Little Bunnies. You can also re-create this color bunny hop activity for more movement!
- Visit a pet store to see bunnies in real life! Pet stores are one of my favorite parenting hacks. From colorful fish to creepy-crawly critters to fluffy friends, here are so many fun things to see and explore.
- Create life-size bunny friends by tracing your little one’s bodies. This also makes a very cute keepsake that capture their size right now.
- Enjoy tasty bunny-themed treats with your kiddos. These are labeled as Easter treats, but can be enjoyed year-round.
We share these Storytime at Home posts twice a month, so be sure to check back soon for more. You can also search “#storytimeathome” to see all past posts.
Have a suggestion for the next theme we cover? Email Sarah at sarah.fenninger@rva.gov and let us know!
