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Bouncy Boinging Kangaroo Storytime

 Printable Storytime with Craft Template

 

Kangaroo Books

 

Boing by Nick Bruel (ages 1-7)

Written entirely in dialogue and sound-effects, this picture book shows a mother kangaroo bouncing and encouraging her joey to try a few hops on his own.  The mother boings wildly around the page while a koala, toad, cricket and hare watch, but when the joey tries, he falls flat with a “blomp.”  One by one, the toad, hare and cricket offer their encouragement and bounce around in  example, as the koala slowly climbs down the tree, but the joey still falls flat.  Finally, the koala asks “What do you have in your pocket?  While the other animals look on in stunned disbelief, a veritable counting lesson and color book of goodies emerge from the pouch.  “Try again,” the koala urges, now that the pouch is empty.  This time, the boing bursts out from the page—literally, since a fold-out section at the top opens as the last two pages are separated.  The book ends with the animals encouraging storytime listeners to try as well.

Does A Kangaroo Have A Mother, Too? by Eric Carle (ages 2-5)

“YES!  A Kangaroo has a mother.  Just like me and you.  Does a lion have a mother, too?”  Simple, repetitive text is combined with Eric Carle’s signature illustrations.

It Was You, Blue Kangaroo!  by Emma Chichester Clark. (Ages 3-6)

“Blue Kangaroo belonged to Lily.  He was her very own kangaroo.  Sometimes, when Lily was very naughty, she would say, ‘It was you, Blue Kangaroo!’ And Blue Kangaroo would look at Lily but say nothing.”

 

Josephine Wants to Dance  by Jackie French. Illustrated by Bruce Whatley. (Ages 4-8)

Josephine is a kangaroo who “bounced with the broulgas.../and leaped with the lyrebirds.” Despite her younger brother’s scorn: “Kangaroos don’t dance, Josephine!”  Not to be deterred, Josephine sneaks into town to watch the ballet rehearse.  When the prima ballerina and understudy both injure themselves, Josephine literally leaps at the opportunity and demonstrates that she knows all the steps.  Look for cameo appearances by the cast of Diary of a Wombat and Pete The Sheep Sheep.

Joey by Jack Kent. (Ages 3-8)

Joey’s mother worried that her little kangaroo might get lost.  “So, to keep track of him, she put Joey in her pocket. / It was comfortable in mother’s pocket.  Joey had coloring books and his toys to play with there.  But he was lonely for someone his own age.”  So, Joey invited his friend Billy... and Betty, and Bob.  When the foursome got bored, they brought in a TV, a stereo system, and band instruments.  Mama kangaroo’s pouch stretches larger and larger as she watches with alarm until Betty brings a piano.  “THAT WILL DO!”

Joey Runs Away by Jack Kent. (Ages 3-8)

Joey’s mother has asked him a hundred times (okay, eight) to clean his room.  “But he took one look at the mess and decided it would be easier to run away from home.  So he did.  Once news got out “that Joey’s mother had an empty room,” lots of animals wanted to try out her pouch.

Bronwyn Bancroft, the illustrator, is a Bundjalung artist of the Djanbun Aboriginal clan in Australia.Malu Kangaroo: How the First Children Learned to Surf by Judith Morecroft, Illustrated by Bronwyn Bancroft. (ages 4-9)

Illustrated in the style of Aboriginal dream paintings, this book tells the folklore-ish story of how Malu kangaroo invented surfing.  Gorgeous illustrations in vivid colors plus a surfing kangaroo.  What else do you really want?

The Very Boastful Kangaroo  by Bernard Most (ages 2-7)

This accessible early-reader “is about a very, very boastful kangaroo.  ‘I can jump so, so high!’ he bragged.  ‘No one can jump higher than I can!’”  Indeed, one by one, he out jumps all comers until a tiny young kangaroo bets that he can jump higher than a tree—and does.  After all, trees can’t jump.  Youngsters will be tickled by the hoary old joke, and best of all, the boastful kangaroo gives in with good grace without the usual pedantic moral. This makes a terrific flannel board story.

Katy No-Pocket by Emmy Payne, illustrated by H.A. Rey (ages 1-7)

Poor Katy is a kangaroo with no pocket, so her little son, Joey, has to hop along after her everywhere they go.  Katy asks other animal mothers how they transport their children, but Joey falls off Katy’s back when she hops, and her arms are too short for carrying him.  The wise old owl tells Katy to get a pocket in the city, where Katy meets a carpenter whose apron is covered in pockets.

Pouch!  by David Ezra Stein  (ages 2-7)

Joey is a little kangaroo.  He lived entirely in his mama’s pouch until “...he peeked out and saw the world, and his mama smiling down at him. / ‘Mama,’ said Joey, ‘ I want to hop!’ /  He climped out of the pouch and took two hops to the tall grass. / ‘Who are you?’ / ‘Bee.’ / ‘POUCH!’ said Joey.”  Each time Joey hops out to explore, he gets a little further before returning to his mother’s pouch in a panic.  One day, he meets another little kangaroo.  “‘POUCH!’ said the two kangaroos. / ‘Wait!’ said Joey.  ‘You were afraid of me, too?’”    The joeys giggle and hop off together.  “‘Pouch?’ said the mamas.  ‘No, thanks.’”  The minimal text pairs well with warm-hued watercolors for a cozy toddler/preschool book.

 

Kangaroo Rhymes

The Brown Kangaroo

The brown kangaroo is very funny
She leaps and runs and hops like a bunny
(hop)
And on her stomach is a pocket so wide
(put hand on tummy like a pocket)
Her baby can jump in and go for a ride
(hop other hand into “pocket”)

 

Kangaroo Songs

“Katie the Kangaroo” Track 3 on

Atkinson, Lisa.  The Elephant in Aisle Four : And Other Whimsical Songs.  CD. Albany, N.Y. : A Gentle Wind, 2000.

“Marsupial Sue” Track 2 on

Lithgow, John et al.  Farkle And Friends.  CD. Los Angeles : Kid Rhino, 2002.

 

Kangaroo Craft 

Supplies

  • Brown paper bag
  • Brown card stock
  • Pink card stock (or pink crayons)
  • Small googly eyes
  • Glue
  • Scissors
  • Brown yarn or twine
  • Hole-punch

Prep Instructions

  1. Print the kangaroo template onto brown card stock.
  2. Depending on the age of your group, either cut out the parts in advance, or cut each piece of brown paper so that it has two legs, one tail, and one kangaroo, and let the kids do their own cutting.
  3. Cuff the top of enough paper bags for each child to have one bag.
  4. Punch a hole on either side of the cuffed bag, then tie a piece of twine or yarn to each hole, making the yarn just long enough to fit over a child's head.

 

Directions

  1. Cut out the kangaroo’s body parts
  2. Glue the kangaroo's tail to his back, and each paw to his front 
    *tip: if you only add a dab of glue to the very top of each arm, the kangaroo can poke his paws over the edge of the pouch.
  3. Glue or draw pink tear-drop shapes inside the kangaroo's ears
  4. Put your kangaroo in your “pouch” and wear him around your neck.


Kangaroo Bibliography


Bruel, Nick.  Boing.  Brookfield, Connecticut : A Neal Porter Book-Roaring Brook Press, 2004.

Carle, Eric.  Does A Kangaroo Have A Mother, Too?  HarperCollinsPublishers, 2000.

Clark, Emma Chichester. It Was You, Blue Kangaroo!  New York : A Doubleday Book for Young Readers, 2001.

French, Jackie.  Josephine Wants to Dance.  illustrated by Bruce Whatley.  New York: Abrams Books For Young Readers, 2006.

Kent, Jack.  Joey.  Englewood Cliffs, N.J. : Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1984.

Kent, Jack.  Joey Runs Away.  Englewood Cliffs, N.J. : Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1985.

Morecroft, Judith.  Malu Kangaroo: How the First Children Learned to Surf.  Surry Hills, N.S.W: Little Hare 2008, c2007.

Most, Bernard.  The Very Boastful Kangaroo.  San Diego : Green Light Readers-Harcourt Brace & Company, 1999.

Payne, Emmy.  Katy No-Pocket.  Illustrated by H.A. Rey.  Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1944.

Stein, David Ezra.  POUCH!  New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons-Penguin Young Readers Group, 2009.