Best of Baby Story Time: Bounces

After reviewing my baby story time plans, and attending a number of baby story times as a mom, I’ve pulled together my list of the best materials and activities I have found for this age group. Today, I'm sharing my list of the best bounces for baby story time.

Bounces are a key component of baby story time and one is that unique to this age group. I have a few favorites:

• All the Little Babies
  Originally found at Baby Songs and Rhymes; lyrics tweaked slightly by me.
  This song to the tune of "Shortnin' Bread" involves bouncing, leaning, and hugging - the perfect way to promote cozy child/caregiver interaction. I have sung this song at almost every baby story time I've ever done, and almost always, every adult in the room sings along.
• Bumpin’ Up and Down
  Original version can be heard here.
  I borrowed this song from Raffi and made it more baby-friendly. This is an especially fun bounce, because it also gives the babies the opportunity to practice a favorite skill - waving to their friends! I especially like to use this song for a colors theme, and for transportation-themed story times.
• A Bouncing We Will Go
  From King County Library System's Tell Me a Story wiki.
  This is another adaptation of a children's favorite, "A-Hunting We Will Go." It starts with bouncing, then moves onto tickling and rocking. Almost any action your group likes to do can be added to the song as well.
• Mother and Father and Uncle John
  Traditional nursery rhyme.
  This nursery rhyme is fun for slightly older babies because they giggle at the sensation of "falling off" a caregiver's lap. The best part of this rhyme is the way the rhythm suggests the galloping motion of a horse, so it's important to emphasize the rhythm as you bounce to the beat.
• Old Joe
  Heard at story time; tune available here.
  This bounce is brand-new to me, but it has quickly become my daughter's favorite. I like to sing the song three times through - first at a slow walking pace, then at a medium trotting pace, and finally at a quick (but still gentle) galloping pace. Each time, I slow way down for the "whoa Joe" and tip my daughter all the way back until she laughs. This is a great alternative for audiences that don't click with Mother and Father and Uncle John and also a great one for farm animals, cowboys, transportation, and fast and slow themes.

A full archive of my baby story times is available here. This is the final post in my Best of Baby Story Time series. Click here to view the full set of posts.

Best of Baby Story Time: Puppets

After reviewing my baby story time plans, and attending a number of baby story times as a mom, I’ve pulled together my list of the best materials and activities I have found for this age group. Today, I'm sharing my list of the best way to use puppets in baby story time.

While puppets are by no means a requirement for a successful baby story time, they can be an opportunity to introduce a little variety and to capture the attention of little ones whose minds have begun to wander.

For one thing, puppets are a great way to introduce animal names and sounds.

• Did You Ever See...? is a great song to use when you have a random hodgepodge of animal puppets. I have used this song to sing about just about any animal going this way and that. Caregivers and older siblings are usually great about calling out the names of the animals, and babies happily track the moving creatures with their eyes. 
• All the Cows Say... (sung to the tune of "Mary Had a Little Lamb") introduces the names of the animals and the sounds they make. It works best with one-syllable animals (cow, dog, duck, pig, cat). Words larger than that mess up the natural rhythm of the song. I also omit the word "little" from the original lyrics to help maintain the proper rhythm. I have used actual cloth puppets as well as homemade stick puppets to share this song.

Puppets also lend themselves well to songs and rhymes involving anything that flies.

• I’m a Little Bumblebee (originally written by Mel of Mel's Desk) works well with insect puppets. I usually use a bee, a ladybug, and a butterfly. At the end of each verse, I invite the caregivers to lift their babies up into the air to "fly away" along with each bug. I used to regularly rotate this rhyme in and out of story time and often got requests for it when it didn't happen to be on my list for a particular session.
• Flutter Flutter Butterfly (sung to the tune of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", originally found at Preschool Education) is a great song to use with a butterfly hand puppet, a homemade paper puppet, or even just two hands held together to form a butterfly. Babies are intrigued by the flapping of butterfly wings, and they will watch intently as the butterfly sails over their heads. It's best not to get too close to babies with the butterfly puppet, as they might get scared, but from a safe distance, it is usually well-received.
• Two Little Blackbirds has been adapted many times over, and each adaptation works great with finger puppets and/or stick puppets. It's especially fun if you can provide each caregiver/baby pairing with a set of puppets either to borrow for story time, or to take home and make.

Finally, if you have no other puppet in your possession, I recommend a sunshine puppet.

• You Are My Sunshine is always a hit at story time, but it becomes even more fun when there is a sunshine puppet to show the babies. 
• Mr. Sun is another wonderful song to sing with a puppet. It has become sort of my signature song, and at my last library, it became a tradition that after story time, kids were allowed to come up and high-five Mr. Sun. Even babies liked to take their turn giving the puppet a tentative pat!

A full archive of my baby story times is available here. Next week, watch for the conclusion of this series: my list of the best bounces for baby story time. If you missed them, also take a look at my lists of best books and best action songs and rhymes.

Best of Baby Story Time: Action Songs & Rhymes

After reviewing my baby story time plans, and attending a number of baby story times as a mom, I’ve pulled together my list of the best materials and activities I have found for this age group. Today, I'm sharing my list of the best action songs and rhymes for baby story time. Each song/rhyme title is linked to the corresponding lyrics/words, and notes about my sources are provided in italics.

Songs

• Go In and Out the Window
  Traditional song. Mama Lisa's World also provides lyrics in English, Spanish, and French, and the tune for the song here.
  Not all songs with motions work well for babies, since their hand-eye coordination is still very shaky, and adults are often too busy with a lap full of baby to make meaningful gestures. This one, however, works very nicely, because folks are free to adapt the motions as they see fit. Adults can swing the babies "in" and "out", lift them up and down, and roll their hands. Older siblings can join in by moving their arms in corresponding movements.  
• Tony Chestnut
  Originally by Roy Jordan; popularized by The Learning Station. Hear their version here.
  This is one of the very first songs I discovered when I first started doing baby lap time. The punny lyrics usually gets a pretty good chuckle out of caregivers and the actions are just tricky enough the first few times that the adults are typically motivated to pay attention so they can learn it. It can be done with baby in a lap, or with baby lying on a blanket on the floor. 
• Where is Big Toe?
  I found this song at Mel's Desk, and Mel found it in The Complete Resource Book for Infants.
  "Where is Thumbkin?" can be tricky for babies because there's little hope of them being able to hold up their fingers one at a time. In this song, caregivers get to find baby's big toe, elbows, tummy, eyes, and hands. It's great for teaching little ones the names of these body parts and because it's a familiar tune, it's likely to be sung by caregivers both in story time and again later on at home. 
• Eyes Nose Cheeky Cheeky Chin
  I sing this to the tune of "Skip to My Lou", but it also works with "Someone's in the Kitchen with Dinah"and "Ten Little Indians."
  Babies become fascinated with faces sometime around 4-6 months of age, and when they do, this song becomes an instant hit. It can be fun to point out the different parts of baby's own face, but babies are every bit as excited to see caregivers pointing to their own faces. This is also a good one to suggest for caregivers to use during diaper changes as it distracts baby from the lower half of her body while she focuses on facial features. 
• A Hat Goes on My Head
  I wrote the words for this song, which is sung to the tune of "The Farmer in the Dell." 
  This song introduces the names of the different types of clothing worn in winter. It's easily adapted for the flannel board, and you can also write your own verses for clothes appropriate to other seasons of the year. Caregivers can point to each body part as it is mentioned, or they can do a simple motion to suggest putting on each article of clothing.

 Rhymes

• Cheek Chin
  I originally found this rhyme on King County Library System's Tell Me a Story wiki.
  This rhyme has always been my follow-up to the hello song at baby story time. It identifies the child's cheek, chin, nose, and toes, and ends with a bit of a lift into the air. It's very easy to learn, and everyone seems to love the final moment where all the babies are held aloft. 
• Let's Make a Noise
  From Stories and Fun for the Very Young.
  The original text for this poem includes just a few everyday sounds, but the concept can be adapted for any object or animal that makes noise. Simply hold up an image and say, "Let's make a noise like a..." and then wait for the caregivers to help you make the noise. This is great for teaching not just animal sounds, but the words we use to convey the sounds made by vehicles, household objects, etc.

A full archive of my baby story times is available here. Also check out last week's post, Best of Baby Story Time: Books. Next week, watch for my list of the best ways to use puppets at baby story time.

Best of Baby Story Time: Books

After reviewing my baby story time plans, and attending a number of baby story times as a mom, I’ve pulled together my list of the best materials and activities I have found for this age group. Today I’m sharing my list of the best books for baby story time.

• Quiet Loud
  by Leslie Patricelli
  In this slightly larger-than-average board book, Leslie Patricelli makes a list of things that are quiet and things that are loud. Though the concept of opposites is too advanced for babies, onomatopoeia and repetition make this an ideal read-aloud for this age group. The simple, bold images will catch babies’ eyes, and the fact that there is no overarching plot makes it easy to skip pages if your group is particularly antsy. 
• Big Fat Hen
  by Keith Baker
  This large picture book with eye-catching illustrations retells a well-known nursery rhyme, One Two Buckle My Shoe. The huge hens in each picture make this book very visually appealing, even to newborns, and the familar rhyme invites caregivers to participate. The surprise ending also appeals to adults and often recaptures the attention of those whose minds have begun to wander. 
• Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes
  by Mem Fox and Helen Oxenbury
  Rhythmic repetitive rhyming text makes this book as fun to read as it is to hear. The cast of babies from different backgrounds reflects the diversity of story time audiences, and the story sneaks in some diverse vocabulary as well, including the word eiderdown, which I have never seen in any other children’s book. This story also lends itself well to child/caregiver interaction, and it’s great to finish it off by having everyone count their fingers and toes. 
• Hello, Baby
  by Mem Fox and Steve Jenkins
  When I used to do baby story time in six-week spurts, this was always the book I read first during the first session. This one provides great visual representations of animals and also many opportunities to practice making animal sounds. It also has a built-in mechanism for keeping adults engaged because each line of the text is written as a question. The caregivers will often automatically start to answer no to each silly question, but you can also invite them to do so.
• Hello, Day
  by Anita Lobel
  This is one of the few picture books out there that explicitly teaches animal sounds. Though the text is not that exciting, the illustrations are gorgeous - and perfectly sized for groups of babies. This book works well as the first activity of story time, and it pairs nicely with the song When Ducks Get Up in the Morning.
• The Baby Goes Beep
  by Rebecca O'Connell and Ken Wilson-Max
  I have never had the chance to use this book in story time, but I’ve heard it read by others, and have read it to my daughter one-on-one. Hands down, it’s one of the best books for babies out there. Onomatopoeia, bright colors, repetition - all of these features are present - and because the book is so short and formulaic, parents can easily memorize it and chant it at home, using noises their own babies make. I don’t own this book, but I “read” it to my daughter from memory all the time. 
• Baby Faces
  by Margaret Mitchell
  Babies love to look at faces of other babies, and this book gives them that opportunity on every page. The book itself has few words, so it’s easy to make up your own little sayings or phrases to go along with each page, or to lengthen or shorten the amount of time you spend on each face depending on the babies’ interest. 
• The Babies on the Bus
  by Karen Katz
  Singable picture books are great for babies and they encourage lots of caregiver participation. Since most caregivers know the tune, and the words are printed in  a fairly large font, most have no trouble joining right in. The bold, bright pictures of babies on every page also naturally appeal to babies' preference for colorful images. 
• A Good Day
  by Kevin Henkes
  If you're looking for more of a story to share at baby story time, this is probably your best bet. It has a simple, straightforward plot, the entirety of which is conveyed in just a few sentences. The images use a lot of bold lines so it's easy for babies to differentiate the different figures in each picture, and some pages show nothing more than a pattern, which is guaranteed to enthrall even the youngest story time attendee. 
• Baby Parade
  by Rebecca O'Connell and Susie Poole
  This is another one that I've never personally shared in story time, but I have seen it performed by another librarian, and I wished it had been available to me when I was doing baby story time. This book includes lots of pictures of babies, which are always intriguing to little ones. The text introduces interesting vocabulary, as it lists the many ways babies can be carried and transported. This book is hard to find in my local libraries, but it is a must-purchase! 
• Higher! Higher!
  by Leslie Patricelli
  The text of this book includes only five different words, and most pages include just the refrain "Higher! Higher!" The illustrations provide opportunities to comment as much or as little as you want to on the little girl's journey from the swingset into space and back home again. Because the refrain is so easy to learn, caregivers generally pick it up right away and join in with you. It's also fun to encourage everyone to lift their babies into the air each time "Higher! Higher!" is said.

A full archive of my baby story times is available here. See a gallery of these books, with links to Goodreads, on Pinterest. Next week, watch for my list of the best action songs and rhymes for baby story time.