At our library, we celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month at this week's storytime. If possible, I would recommend asking someone from your community to speak, sing a song, or share an experience. When it's not possible, we librarians can still thoughtfully honor the stories and culture of Latino Americans in storytime. I was super nervous at first, but this ended up being one of my favorite storytimes ever!
Here are the resources I gathered, edited, and created to prepare for the story time.
Action Rhymes
La araña pequeñita
La araña pequeñita
Climbed up the water spout
Down came the rain and washed la araña out
Out came the sun and dried up all the rain
And la araña pequeñita climbed up the spout again.
Flor, Flor, Turn Around
To the rhyme: "Teddy bear, teddy bear, turn around"
Flor, flor turn around
Flor, flor touch the ground
Flor, flor reach up high
Flor, flor touch the sky
Flor, flor touch your nose
Flor, flor touch your toes
Flor, flor touch your head
Flor, flor, go to bed
For this rhyme, I gave each child a flower flannel. I decided to use an image of a marigold (cempasúchil) because it's the traditional flower used in Dia de los Muertos celebrations. They use the flannel to complete the action rhyme, touching the flower to their nose, toes etc. After this rhyme, I transition into a sorting activity on the flannel board (see under flannels).
Mi cuerpo, mi cuerpo (My body, my body)
hace música (It makes music)
Mi cuerpo, mi cuerpo (My body, my body)
hace música (It makes music)
Mis manos hacen clap, clap, clap (My hands go clap, clap, clap)
Mis pies hacen stomp, stomp, stomp (My feet go stomp, stomp, stomp)
Mi boca hace la la la (My mouth goes la la la)
Mi cuerpo hace cha, cha, cha (My body goes cha, cha, cha)
Mi cuerpo, mi cuerpo (My body, my body)
hace música (It makes music)
Mi cuerpo, mi cuerpo (My body, my body)
hace música (It makes music)
In my storytime, we made this rhyme bilingual. I began by going over vocabulary for hands (manos), feet (pies), mouth (boca), body (cuerpo), and music (música).
My bilingual version goes like this:
My body, my body
It makes música
My body, my body
It makes música
My manos go clap, clap, clap
My pies go stomp, stomp, stomp,
My boca goes la, la, la
My cuerpo goes cha, cha, cha
My body, my body
It makses música
My body, my body
It makses música
Books
La Catrina: Emotions/Emociones by Patty Rodriguez and Ariana Stein
Dia de los Muertos written by Roseanne Greenfield Thong and illustrated by Carles Ballesteros -- to be used for a book walk
Dia de los Muetros Numeros: Day of the Dead Counting Book by Duncan Tonatuih
Green is a Chili Pepper: A Book of Colors by Roseanne Greenfield Thong and illustrated by John Parra
Maria Had Little Llama by Angela Dominguez
Flannels
Book Bear
Book Bear, Book Bear
Are you under there?
Are you under the [color] book?
When we play the Book Bear flannel game, we have one bear flannel and several book flannels. Before we begin, we go over vocabulary for each color of book. For this storytime, I went over the colors in both English and Spanish. Then, I ask everyone to close their eyes with "no peeking!" I hide the bear under a book. I ask everyone to open their eyes, and I use the rhyme above. When children guessed a color, I repeated "you think he's under the <color name in Spanish> book? Then, I take the book flannel off the board to reveal (or not) the book bear. We played three rounds. I learned this brilliant game from my co-worker, Erin. Also, this activity pairs very well with Green is a Chili Pepper: A Book of Colors by Roseanne Greenfield Thong and illustrated by John Parra.
Flower Sorting
I created two sets of marigold flannels. One set was large, "grande." The other set was small, "pequeña." I gave a flannel to every child. We talked about the vocabulary for large and small. We also talked about the concepts of bigger and smaller, while comparing our flannels. I place both a small and large flannel on the felt board. Then, I ask everyone with a small flower to come up and place their flannel under the small flower. Next, I ask everyone with a large flannel to come up and place their flannel under the large flower.
Jumping and Counting with Catrinas
I used the song "Jumping and Counting" by Jim Gill to feature all ten Catrinas from La Catrina: Emotions/Emociones by Patty Rodriguez and Ariana Stein. I use a color copier to copy the illustrations. Then I cut, laminate, and attach velcro to the back of each illustration. Voilá, easy flannel to use for counting with the Jim Gill song.
Music with Scarves
“Báte, Báte, Chocoláte”
Báte, báte, chocoláte
Con arroz y con tomate
Uno dos tres CHO
Uno dos tres CO
Uno dos tres LA
Uno dos tres TE
Chocoláte, chocoláte, chocoláte, chocoláte
This rhyme roughly translates as "stir, stir, the chocolate with rice and tomatoes." We're making a molé y'all!
The actions to use with scarves are:
Báte, báte, chocoláte (stir your scarf around like it's a spoon in a pot of stew)
Con arroz y con tomate
Uno dos tres CHO (throw your scarf into the air on CHO)
Uno dos tres CO (throw your scarf into the air on CO)
Uno dos tres LA (throw your scarf into the air on LA)
Uno dos tres TE (throw your scarf into the air on TE)
Chocoláte, chocoláte, chocoláte, chocoláte (gather and squish scarf into your hand, then throw to the sky on the last chocoláte.)
After I explain the whats and whys, we practice this together once. Then, I use Susie Tallman's sing-along version of the rhyme, also titled “Báte, Báte, Chocoláte.”
Playlist
“Báte, Báte, Chocoláte” by Susie Tallman
“If You’re Happy and You Know It” by Maria del Ray
“Jumping and Counting” by Jim Gill
“Recuerdame” by Marco Antonio Solis
Extensions
Resources
Hispanic Heritage Month Website: https://www.hispanicheritagemonth.gov/
What is it: "National Hispanic Heritage Month traditionally honors the cultures and contributions of both Hispanic and Latino Americans as we celebrate heritage rooted in all Latin American countries."
Storyblocks: In Spanish
Storytime Solidarity: Hispanic Heritage Month
Texas State Library and Archives Commission: El Día de los Niños/El Día de los Libros
How it Went
I used the above resources to create both a toddler and a preschool storytime.
With toddlers, the best received book was La Catrina: Emotions/Emociones by Patty Rodriguez and Ariana Stein. Parents and toddlers were mirroring the faces of the various Catrinas, which was both adorable and hysterical. The book that didn't work as well was Maria Had Little Llama by Angela Dominguez. Parents started the book singing with me. By the end, it was just me singing. I'm going to try this book again, but with a shortened song. I'll let you know how that goes! “Báte, Báte, Chocoláte” and “Mi Cuerpo Hace Musica” were both huge hits, too.
With preschoolers, the best received book was Green is a Chili Pepper: A Book of Colors by Roseanne Greenfield Thong and illustrated by John Parra. My audience was on fire, so I shortened this book on the fly; I tried to hit every color once. This worked, and we followed it up with our bilingual version of Book Bear. This was definitely the highlight of the storytime.
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