Gone with the Wind- a Kite Storytime 3-9-16

By Awnali Mills

Every year around this time, I do a kite storytime.  Because my crowd is running a bit younger, I dropped a book and added some songs.  The books I chose were Superduck by Jez Alborough, and Kite Day by Will Hillenbrand.

After a weather check (today was windy—yay!) I pulled a kite out of my magic bag and we were off.  We sang

Whistling Wind (tune: If You’re Happy and You Know It)

If you hear the whistling wind,
Cup your ears.
If you hear the whistling wind,
Cup your ears.
If you hear it in the trees
making music with the leaves
If you hear the whistling wind,
Cup your ears.

If you feel the blustery wind,
Whirl around.
If you feel the blustery wind,
Whirl around.
If you feel it lift your hair
Like a kite up in the air,
If you feel the blustery wind,
Whirl around.
Credit: Durby Peterson

I made up motions on the spot which involved a lot of arm waving and dancing fingers, and hugging ourselves.  The kids and grownups sang along lustily and we were all warmed up and ready for our first book, Superduck.

After Superduck, we did the flannel Color Kites.  Since I had 30 kites, I had plenty to go around.  The rhyme goes: On a breezy spring day/Way up in the sky, / See the many red (orange, yellow, green, blue, purple) kites / Flying high!  After all the children had brought all the kites up and filled up our board, we counted the kites as we took them down.  30 is an awfully big number!

Color Kites was followed by the song My Kite, which we sang while holding our imaginary kites as they swooped up and down.

My Kite (tune: The Farmer in the Dell)
My kite is up so high,
My kite is up so high,
Oh my – – just watch it fly
My kite is up so high.

My kite is falling down,
My kite is falling down,
Oh no – – it’s down so low
My kite is falling down.

The wind has caught my kite,
The wind has caught my kite,
What fun – – I’m on the run
The wind has caught my kite.

My kite is up so high,
My kite is up so high,
Oh my – – just watch it fly
My kite is up so high.
Credit: Preschool Education

Kite Day was read next, followed by the flannel Five Little Kites, which I borrowed from Storytime Katie.

One little kite in the sky so blue,
Along came another, then there were two.
Two little kites flying high above me;
Along came another, then there were three.
Three little kites, just watch them soar,
Along came another, then there were four.
Four little kites, so high and alive
Along came another, then there were five.
Five little kites dancing across the sky,
What a sight to see, way up so high!

Last week, one young man told me how much he missed using the song cube.  I confess to being surprised, but pleased.  I promised him that I would bring it back this week.  I was a little dismayed when I went to planning, because I had some good kite songs I wanted to use, but a promise is a promise.  So I compromised by bringing it in at the end.  We rolled The Itsy Bitsy Spider and started to sing.  The kids surged to their feet and sang their hearts out.  I’m definitely going to have to bring the song cube back more often.  Why spend all the time and effort on planning music if they’re happier with rolling the cube?

For my grand finale, I did an air experiment.  First, we talked about what makes kites move (air) and I asked why we didn’t have kites floating around us all the time (they were stumped.)  I asked where air was (outside) and I explained that air is actually all around us, even if we can’t see it, and that air is very powerful.  I told them that I had an experiment to show just how powerful air actually is.  I pulled the fabric cover off of my experiment materials (I have an inner magician, evidently, who loves a bit of flourish.)  I had a large clear glass vase ¾ full of red dyed water, a clear plastic champagne flute (which we had left over from sparkling cider on New Year’s Day, but any clear glass will work), and a paper napkin.

I let the kids feel the napkin to prove that it was a regular napkin, and that it was dry.  I shoved the napkin down into the champagne flute until it was crunched up in the bottom.  Then, I asked them what they thought would happen if I stuck the glass into the water (it would get wet and turn red.)  I turned the glass upside down and pushed it into the water until the kids agreed that it was all the way in.  Then, I pulled it straight back out.  Of course, the napkin was white and dry.  There were gasps and exclamations of surprise, and one parent said, “Wow!  That’s like magic!”  I explained that the air in the glass was so strong that it wouldn’t let the water get up into the glass to get the napkin wet, showing that air can be stronger than water, and strong enough to hold up kites.  I got this experiment from http://www.preschool-plan-it.com/kite-activities.html#science.  Obviously, it was a big hit!  If you repeat it, be sure that you do a trial run of the experiment beforehand, so you won’t overflow the vase or bowl when you stick the glass down in it, and that you have enough napkin (or paper towel) to stay in the glass and not fall out when you turn it upside down.