Storytime Ideas: Drum City

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This is the fifth week of our summer storytime ideas series. Each week we gather in our local park to read great books for kids together with our neighbors. This week we featured Drum City by Thea Guidone which is perfect for the 4th of July.

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Storytime Ideas: Drum City

The Book

Drum City by Thea Guidone is an upbeat march through the city.  As one boy walks around the town beating his drum, the sound is infectious and pretty soon everyone is joining in on the drum parade.

The Group Activities

Everyone was asked to bring a drum.  My aunt sent me a drum my grandmother made long ago to use in her classroom so I used that drum to do my modeling.  I also gathered up a few toy drums from around the house and we made some more drums out of empty containers (see ideas below) just in case families didn’t bring an instrument.

Drumming the ABCs and Names

We practiced naming the alphabet using a set of ABC flashcards.  I held up a letter and everyone called out the letter three times while hitting their drums to a steady beat.

We also tapped out the word parts (syllables) in each of our names.

Examples:  Tay-lor     Ben-ja-min   Da-vid

Skill building:  letter identification, phonemic awareness (syllabication)

Singing and Drumming

Next, we chanted the 4th of July Fireworks poem from The Inspired Treehouse.  At the end of each verse we had a drum jam session.

We also marched around the park drumming and singing Yankee Doodle Dandy.

Skill building: fluency

Follow-Up Activities

Drums + Science+ Water = Fun

I love this idea for taking materials to make drums and other instruments to the pool from And Next Comes L.

Drum Cake

Here is a fun dessert to make.  This mini drum cakes recipe is from Woman’s Day.

Make a Drum

There are lots of way to build your own drums.  A drum that uses balloons and cans from Kids Activities Blog is one of my favorites.

Books about Drums

Here are some more books about drums that you may enjoy exploring.

Be Quiet Mike by Leslie Patricelli is a story about a young boy who was drumming from the very beginning of life.  Then, Mike gets a drum set to put his talents to use.

Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb by Al Perkins follows a group of band playing monkeys who teach us all about our hands.

Tanka Tanka Skunk! by Steve Webb is a rhythmic story about a skunk and elephant who love to drum out the syllables in the other animal’s names.

Teach Your Buffalo to Play the Drums by Audrey Vernick is a silly musical romp about teaching your pet buffalo to find his inner talent and play an instrument.

Jungle Drums by Graeme Base is the story of a little warthog that is given a set of magical bongo drums.  What will he do with these magical drums?

The Leopard’s Drum by Jessica Souhami is an Asante tale from West Africa.  In the story, the Sky-God wants the leopard’s drum and offers a reward to any animal that brings it to him.  Will anyone succeed in getting the drum from the leopard?

For more storytime ideas to go along with the book, Drum City and other great books, follow our Storytime Ideas Pinterest board.
Follow Jodie Rodriguez @ Growing Book by Book’s board Storytime Ideas on Pinterest.

Join us again next week when we feature the book, Superworm by Julia Donaldson.

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