Wild West Storytime

Inspired by the book Fandango Stew by David Davis, I decided to do a Wild West themed storytime.

Story: Fandango Stew by David Davis. A cute Western themed version of Stone Soup. Slim and his grandson Luis ride into the town of Skinflint, where the sheriff tries to get rid of them. Slim offers to make a fandango stew, using one single fandango bean, but suggests that other towns' fandango stews were better because they had salt and pepper, onions, potatoes, etc... Slowly, the stew takes shape, the whole town has a party, and everyone is sad when Slim and Luis have to leave town the next day. If, like me, you have trouble figuring out how to sing the lines that Slim and Luis sing: "Chili's fine and so is barbecue, but nothing's finer than fandango stew," it fits nicely with "She'll be coming round the mountain."

Game: The Sheriff Says. Just a game of Simon Says with a couple of Western phrases thrown in. "The sheriff says reach for the sky!"

Story: Ten Gallon Bart by Susan Stevens Crummel. Bart, the dog sheriff, is ready to retire. He wants to howl at the moon, sleep until noon, and go fishing whenever he wants. Unfortunately, Billy the Kid chooses his last day on the job to come to town. All the townsfolk promise to back up old Bart, but when that mean goat gets to town, everyone disappears. At least until Bart needs them the most. I particularly had fun playing Billy the Kid when he says "I'm BAAAAAAD" and "I'm MAAAAAD" cause I do a pretty great sheep impression.

Game: Hot Potato. I took a pair of pantyhose and cut off a length, tied an egg-shaker into the toe and filled it with scarves. Told all the kids it was my fake rattlesnake and shook the egg shaker to show them. Then we played music by Buck Howdy and played Hot Potato with the rattler.

Craft: I explained a little bit about the history of branding cattle and asked the kids to design their own brands, using either their initial or some of the common brand symbols. Then I had them draw their brands on little circle stickers and go searching for cattle to rustle. I had cut out about 100 cows for two separate storytimes, and I hid them around the meeting room. I have a really cool worksheet for the brand design with examples and other fun stuff, but I can't think of a way to attach it. I suppose if anyone is interested, just leave a comment with your email addy and I will send it to you.