A skyscraper storytime outline perfect for toddler, preschool, or young elementary storytimes. Includes books, a rhyme, a flannel, and a craft.
*Thank you to Deep Space Sparkle for many of the great ideas that make up this storytime, including the two book suggestions and the craft.
*Also, thanks to Adaptive Umbrella and Polly Reedy who wrote the rhyme from 1001 Rhymes & Fingerplays, which was compiled by The Totline Staff.
*Thank you also to melissa.depperfamily.net for the interactive flannel board idea.
Skyscraper Storytime Outline
This skyscraper storytime was for a three-year-old preschool class that was finishing up a unit on buildings. Here’s what we did:
Opening Questions
- What is a skyscraper?
- Have you ever seen a skyscraper?
- How can you tell if a building is a skyscraper?
Nonfiction Book
Thank you to Deep Space Sparkle for the idea to use this book.
I showed pictures from Skyscrapers: A History of the World’s Most Extraordinary Buildings and talked about how we can tell they’re skyscrapers (i.e. lots of windows, really tall, etc.)
This is a nonfiction book for adults, but it has AMAZING photographs of skyscrapers from all over the world. The book is really big, so the pictures are really big, which is perfect for storytime.
Action Rhyme
I found this rhyme on Adaptive Umbrella’s site, and the original source is listed beneath the title.
Building a Skyscraper
(Written by Polly Reedy, from 1001 Rhymes & Fingerplays, compiled by The Totline Staff)
Brick by brick
By brick by brick.
My building’s so high
It’s scraping the sky.
(Place fists one on top of the other, going higher each time.)
Brick by brick
by brick by brick.
My Building will sway
when the wind blows this way.
(Sway left, then right.)
Brick by brick
by brick by brick.
Now I’m ready to stop
And a flag goes on top.
(Open one fist and wave hand left and right.)
Read Aloud Book
Thank you to Deep Space Sparkle for the idea to use this book.
The Shape of My Heart by Mark Sperring
This book isn’t directly about skyscrapers, but it does talk about the shapes we see in around us in real life things. I wanted to focus on real life shapes because skyscrapers are made of squares, rectangles, circles, triangles, and diamonds.
Flannel
On melissa.depperfamily.net, I found this great idea for an interactive flannel experience.
I cut craft felt into different shapes. When it was time for the flannel portion of our storytime, the kids each picked out a shape and added it to the flannel board, where we were able to create a really cool skyscraper.
Craft
Inspired by Deep Space Sparkle’s skyscraper craft idea, I had the preschoolers make cityscapes.
I provided large paper rectangles, small squares, small circles, etc. and let the kids use glue to make skyscrapers. I also pre-cut car shapes, and gave each child a cart to stick in front of their skyscrapers.
This craft idea was inspired by Deep Space Sparkle, but I modified it fit the needs of the three-year-olds I was working with. I highly recommend checking out Deep Space Sparkle’s post if you’re looking to do a similar program or craft with older kids.
Hands-on Activity
After they finished their craft, I let the children build with blocks. We have tons of block options and provided the kids with foam blocks, large cushy blocks, small wooden blocks, and large Duplo blocks to play with.
When the families were ready, they could gather up their drying crafts and head back into the main area of the library because we finished up the storytime with the hands-on activity. I let the kids play as long as their caregivers allowed, as I cleaned the rest of the storytime up.
