Whatta Croc!

Sample clip art for 5 hungry crocodiles

I've got a mess o' crocodile stories coming up for a storytime I'm doing next week as a special program for a Rotary Club Family Lunch, and I thought I'd share a few of my treasures.
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I got the flannelboard poem of "Five Hungry Crocodiles" from Story Place.  I found the black fish in MSPublisher and right-clicked on it, selected Format Picture, then the "Recolor ..." button and I was able to make five fishies in different colors to print off, laminate, and either glue scrap felt or sticks or whatever you choose to the back.

You could use that or "Five Little Monkeys" - where they tease Mr. Crocodile.
Five little monkeys sitting in a tree,
Teasing Mr. Crocodile, "You can't catch me!"
Along came Mr. Crocodile, quiet as could be and SNAP!

Four little monkeys ... etc.

Eileen Christelow has a book version where they don't get eaten, but, I mean, what's the point of that?!

If you want a nicer ending, try Crocodile and Hen, a Bakongo folktale retold by Joan M. Lexau.  There are two versions of this - different illustrators.  One is an easy reader.  Crocodile learns how he and hen are brother and sister, so he can't eat her, however fat and delicious-looking she might be.  I do this one with puppets.

I also do the Monkey and Crocodile story with puppets and foam balls as mangoes. Monkey is fairly fainting with desire for the mangoes he sees ripening on an island in the middle of the river, but he must get past Crocodile.  After convincing Crocodile to take him across in exchange for his monkey heart (the best and most delicious part of a monkey) which he claims to keep in the mango tree, Monkey throws a hard, unripe mango down to Crocodile, who chokes on it.  For older children, I go on to the part where Monkey has now run out of mangoes and faces starvation if he can't get back.  He persuades Crocodile that he's ready to be eaten for being such a baaaaad monkey, but to swallow him whole because he's afraid of being chewed up (or that whole drown-and-tuck-under-a-log-in-the-water-to-soften-up-for-snacking-later for the zoology-obsessed children).  Claiming he's going to run and jump in the crocodile's mouth, he has Crocodile open his mouth so wide he can no longer see, and then jumps on his back, using him as a springboard to the mainland.  Oh, he's a baaaaad monkey!  Crocodile overacts a bit on the choking, but he's such an emo, ya know?

There are a couple of fun crocodile songs, both of which I plan to use.  One is the familiar Crocodile Song with the hand gestures and the other I found on YouTube billed as The Most Annoying Song Ever (which intrigued me immediately).  It's from a German tv show, but English translations are available.

I'm finishing up with making a Schnipp-Schnapp-Schnappi the little crocodile puppet.

Schnipp-Schnapp-Schnappi, Schnappi Schnappi Schnapp!