Texas Eats

Books to Share

The Best Mouse Cookie by Laura Numeroff.
Eat Up Gemma by Sarah Hayes.
Feast for Ten by Cathryn Falwell.
Hi, Pizza Man! by Virginia Walter.
Lunch by Denise Fleming.
Max's Breakfast by Rosemary Wells.

Books to Display and Booktalk

Corn Is Maize: The Gift of the Indians by Aliki.
Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.
Who Stole the Cookies? by Judith Moffat.
Wolf's Chicken Stew by Keiko Kasza.

Bulletin Board

Books Good Enough To Eat

Create a collage background of pictures of food from magazines and catalogs. Attach die-cuts of fruits, vegetables, and other foods. Attach colorful paper with titles, authors, and call numbers of books about food.

Display

Books Good Enough To Eat

Create a book display of picture books about food and cookbooks for children. Cover a table with a bright tablecloth; baking supplies, and plastic fruits, and vegetables. Add a plastic crate to create height and extra display space.

Nametag and Stamps

As the children enter the storytime room, give them a nametag made from a die-cut of food, and stamp their hands with the Kidstamps' "Mouse and Cookie" or "Leaping Mouse (with Cookie)" by Felicia Bond.

Fingerplays

Tortillitas

(Clap hands while chanting this rhyme from Tortillitas para mama by Barbara Cooney)

Tortillitas para Mama.
Tortillitas para Papa.
Las quemaditas para Mama.
Las bonita para Papa.

Little tortillas for Mama.
Little tortillas for Papa.
The burned ones for Mama.
The good ones for Papa.

Three Brown Buns

(Adapted by Leila Parrish from the traditional rhyme, "Five Brown Buns.")

Three brown buns in a bakery shop. (Hold up three fingers)
Three brown buns with lots of sugar on top. (Shake sugar with other hand)
When along came a man with a penny in his hand, (Wave one finger back and forth)
He bought one bun and away he ran.

Two brown buns…
One brown bun…

No brown buns in a bakery shop,
No brown buns with sugar on top!

Audio Recordings

"Apples and Bananas" on One Light One Sun by Raffi.
"El chocolate" on De Colores and Other Latin American Folk Songs for Children by Jose-Luis Orozco.
"P-I-Z-Z-A" on Friends Like You and Me by Lyle Cogen.

Story

Tell The Very Hungry Caterpillar as a flannel board using illustrations from the book. Save old library copies as they are damaged/discarded or purchase paperback copies. It takes at least two books. Cut out illustrations of the caterpillar, food, etc. and attach felt to the back. Or, make it a Texas story by having the caterpillar eat through tacos, a bowl of chili, a jalapeño pepper, a praline, etc.

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Crafts

Placemats

Materials

Die cuts in various shapes, i.e. food, spoons, forks
Construction paper
Glue
Contact paper

Directions

With an adult's assistance, children glue the die-cut shapes of food and utensils to one side of a piece of construction paper. Parent attaches a label to back, "Made by (Child's name) at (Library Name) Storytime on (date)." The librarian may laminate both sides using contact paper to create a placemat.

Watermelon Slices

Materials

Red and green construction paper
Black ½ inch diameter circle stickers cut in half
Glue

Directions

Precut green and red watermelon slices using the pattern here. With an adult's help, the children attach black stickers to red paper and glue red paper to green to create watermelon slices. Use this as follow-up craft to Lunch by Denise Fleming. Giant Pizza Materials Large circle cut from brown butcher paper Old magazines and catalogs Glue Directions Precut a large circle from brown butcher paper and pictures of all kinds of food from magazines and catalogs. The children as a group glue the food pictures onto the brown butcher paper circle to make a giant pizza. Display the pizza afterwards. Play the "P-I-Z-Z-A" song as an introduction to the craft.

Videos

Pete's a Pizza. (6 minutes)
Very Hungry Caterpillar. (25 minutes)

Professional Resources

Ring A Ring O'Roses by Flint Public Library.
Tortillitas Para Mama: And Others Spanish Nursery Rhymes by Barbara Cooney.

Table of Contents | Texas Families/Ethnic Heritage

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