Family Story Time, 7/18

Finally, finally, finally, the Monday story time went well. After months of struggling with an indifferent and seemingly bored crowd, I decided to approach things differently, and I modeled this story time after my successful Baby/Toddler story times on Tuesdays. And it worked like a charm! The audience ranged in age from babies to around five years old, and though some of them got rowdy here and there, it was by far the best Monday story time I've ever done.

Here is the magical recipe I used. (Believe it or not, the farm animals theme that emerged was unintentional!)

Opening Song: Hello, how are you?

Book: The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle (1950)
This was the nice, big board book version. The kids liked watching the progress on the web, even though one little boy in the front insisted the book was too scary.

Song: Itsy Bitsy Spider (a cappella)

Song: You Are My Sunshine (a cappella; with sunshine puppet; sung twice)

Book: Baby Danced the Polka by Karen Beaumont, illustrated by Jennifer Plecas (2004)
Four-year-old boys find this book hilarious. They also had a good time making the animal sounds, though even the savviest couldn't identify the animals from the illustrations.

Song: Shake My Sillies Out

Song: Head and Shoulders

Book: The Little Red Hen by Byron Barton (1993)
This is a tried and true story time favorite. Today, as I was reading I added in some animal sounds to spice things up.

Song: Old MacDonald Had a Farm

Song: The Wheels on the Bus (Raffi version)

Song: ABCD Medley

Song: Chickadee

Goodbye Song: Skinnamarink