Storytime stretchers : tongue twisters, choruses, games, and charades

Includes more than forty selections, including action songs, chants, tongue twisters, musical games, and audience participation tales.

Whether you are working with preschoolers or high schoolers, a story stretcher is a great way to create immediate rapport with your audience and within your group. These "two-minute miracles" from storyteller Naomi Baltuck will have children and adults, singing, moving, laughing, and begging for more. For each stretcher, she has included music, hand motions, tips for telling, or other personal touches developed during the countless times she has used it to hold the attention of her audiences.

Time lengths and target audiences are also included so that you can select the best stretchers for every situation. Naomi has gathered these gems from her own childhood, from other storytellers, as well as from her children who bring home new activities from camp. Tried and true, these stretchers are a wonderful way to bring together family, friends, classes, Scout troops, and audiences everywhere.

• Introduction p. 7
• If You Can't Carry a Tune In a Bucket: Chants, Poems, and Other Nonmusical Fun
• Let Me See Your Frankenstein p. 10
• The Rabbits Are Eating the Tomatoes! p. 12
• One Hen, Two Ducks p. 14
• Zelda's Hammer p. 16
• Does Anyone Know? p. 18
• Uncle Joshua p. 19
• Tell It with Me: Audience Participation Stories
• Montana Tex p. 22
• In a Dark, Dark Wood p. 25
• Skippin' Home From School p. 27
• Little Piggy Rap p. 30
• The Bed Just So p. 33
• The Little Red House p. 36
• The Coffin p. 42
• The Dramatic Diagnosis of Doctor Drake p. 46
• Night and Day p. 48
• Sing It High, Sing It Low: Action Songs, Musical Games, and Snappy Choruses
• Move Over p. 54
• Teeter-Totter Woo! p. 56
• Forty Years on an Iceberg p. 59
• Bazooka-zooka Bubble Gum! p. 61
• Road Kill Stew p. 64
• The Dickey Bird p. 65
• Sardines! p. 67
• Swing Low, Sweet Chariot p. 70
• Bill Grogan's Goat p. 72
• I'll Tell My Ma p. 74
• Little Cabin in the Forest Green p. 77
• Hi-Ho-Jerum p. 79
• Pirate Ship p. 82
• Ravioli p. 84
• Little Green Frog p. 87
• Mrs. Murphy's Chowder p. 89
• Purple Lights p. 91
• Mmmm, I Want to Linger p. 93
• May There Always Be Sunshine p. 95
• Keep Breathing p. 97
• Knee Stoppers, Rib Ticklers, and Tongue Twisters
• Knock-Knock p. 100
• American Riddles p. 106
• Traditional Riddles from Many Lands p. 111
• Tongue Twisters and Tanglers p. 115
• Prinderella and the Since p. 117
• The Limerick Song p. 119
• Tree Toad Trials p. 122
• If You Want to Dig Deeper: A Bibliography of Resources p. 125
• Acknowledgements p. 129
• Index of Titles p. 135