Storytime Down Under: Australian Animals

Possum Magic by Mem Fox, Illus. by Julie Vivas
The Adventures of Little Wombat by Charles Fuge, including:
Sometimes I Like To Curl Up In a Ball
Found You, Little Wombat
Swim, Little Wombat, Swim!
Where To, Little Wombat?
Yes We Can! by Sam McBratney, Illus. by Charles Fuge (Kangaroo)
The Biggest Frog in Australia by Susan L. Roth
Wombat Walkabout by Carol Diggory Shields, Illus. by Sophie Blackall
Pouch! by David Ezra Stein (Kangaroo)
The Trouble with Cauliflower by Jane Sutton, Illus. by Jim Harris (Koala)
Snap! by Marcia Vaughan, Illus by Sascha Hutchinson
Bobbie Dazzler by Margaret Wild and Janine Dawson (Wallaby)

I started out this Storytime by showing the kids a simple map of the world and then pointed out North America and Australia. We also looked at photos of wombats, wallabies, kookaburras and Australian possums. I referred back to these pictures when the animals turned up in the stories.

We did an action rhyme (source unknown) in the same way, first viewing each animal and talking about how they move:

Here is Australia

Here's the emu straight and tall,
Nodding his head above us all.
(Raise one arm, fingers down for head)
Here's the long snake on the ground,
Wriggling upon the stone he found.
(Wiggle hand & arm)
Here's the echidna prickly and small,
Rolling herself into a ball.
(Curl body and squat)
Here's the kangaroo jumping around,
covering yards with every bound.
(Jump!)
Here is Australia far away,
That's where our stories come from today.

Cuddly Koalas (Tune is Frere Jacque)

 Cuddly Koalas, Cuddly Koalas (Make ears on top of your head)
Possums too, Possums too ((hands around eyes as a circle)
Wallabies and Wombats, Wallabies and Wombats (right hand to left shoulder then left hand to right shoulder)
Kangaroos, kangaroos (Hands in front like a kangaroo)

From Childfun

Kookaburra Song

Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree
Merry, merry king of the bush is he
Laugh, Kookaburra! Laugh, Kookaburra!
Gay your life must be

Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree
Eating all the gum drops he can see
Stop, Kookaburra! Stop, Kookaburra!
Leave some there for me

Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree
Counting all the monkeys he can see
Stop, Kookaburra! Stop, Kookaburra!
That's not a monkey that's me