Friday, June 10, 2011

Baby Lap Time, 6/10

I feel like such a liar every time I type the name of this story time. Half the time, the audience is less than 50% babies, and more than half the time, no one actually sits in a lap.

A lovely group today - a few of the moms and nannies discovered that their little ones were all born in the same week, and had a great time making friends and getting to know each other. Later on, a baby tried to climb my leg, and a four-year-old brought me her shoe just to make sure I saw it. Good times all around.

Here's what we had on our agenda:


Opening Song: Clap Along With Me (from Wee Sing for Baby) 

Rhyme: Dance Your Fingers

Rhyme: This is Big, Big, Big

Book: Hooray for Hands! by Begin Smart Books (2009)

Song: Los Pollitos by Elizabeth Mitchell (from You Are My Little Bird)
I have been singing this song non-stop whenever I'm not at work, to the point that I'm sure my boyfriend is sick of it, and/or ready to perform it for an audience. So many of the nannies who attend my story time are native Spanish speakers, so I wanted to make sure I had it down before I shared it with them. It didn't go quite as well as I would have liked, because remembering the Spanish and doing the hand motions is tricky, but it will get better as I do it more in front of a group.

Also, the Elizabeth Mitchell version has different lyrics than the ones I found in a quick Google search. Even the liner notes for her album, which I also found online, are not correct.  Here is what they should be:

Los pollitos dicen,
pío, pío, pío,
cuando tienen hambre,
cuando tienen frío.

La gallina busca
el maíz y el trigo,
les da la comida
y les presta abrigo.

Bajo sus dos alas
se están quietecitos,
y hasta el otro día
duermen los pollitos.

And here is the English version, which follows the Spanish:

All the little chicks say
pío, pío, pío,
When they are hungry
When they are cold

Mama chicken looks for corn and some wheat
To give them dinner
To give them heat

Underneath her wings, 
her chicks she'll keep
Until the morning, 
little chickies sleep.

Book: Bird, Fly High by Petr Horacek (2005)
A little bird hops, hops, hops, flaps, flaps, flaps, and cheeps, cheeps cheeps. Just the right amount of text for babies, and perfectly bright and colorful illustrations. I don't like it as much as Horacek's Butterfly, Butterfly, but it worked well.

Song: Chickadee by Lisa Monet (from My Best Friend)
I knew this song as a kid, but it wasn't until I found it on iTunes the other night that I remembered it. The Latin rhythm and catchy tune had everyone in the room singing and flapping their arms.

Song: I'm a Little Teapot

Song: Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes (from Wee Sing for Baby)
I am amazed every week at the number of kids who pat their heads when they hear the opening chords of this song. 

Book: Hola, Jalapeno! by Amy Wilson Sanger (2002)
Quesadillas, tamales, and guacamole make your mouth water on the unique and colorful pages of this celebration of Mexican food for babies and toddlers! My tongue tripped over some of the Spanish, but most of it's pretty simple, and the back cover offers a pronunciation guide. I especially love "Senorita Quesadilla's" dripping cheese, and the ending, where we're too full to take another bite!

Song: One, Two, I Love You (Numbers Are Our Friends)

Song: Where is Thumbkin?

Song: Old MacDonald (a cappella sing-along with puppets)

Song: ABCD Medley by The Laurie Berkner Band (from Whaddaya Think of That?)


Goodbye Song: We Wave Goodbye Like This

I'm starting to realize that more rhymes and fewer books and songs works best, but I don't have enough rhymes memorized to actually make that happen yet. I'll have to work on that this summer!

Flannel Friday: Daddy's Ties

Father's Day is coming, and I have all my books picked out for next week's story times, but couldn't find a Dad-themed rhyme or song that I really liked. So I came up with my own, and made a flannel board set using clip art to go with it.

Daddy's Ties  
(sung to the tune of "Mary Wore Her Red Dress")

 Daddy wore his purple tie,
purple tie, purple tie.
Daddy wore his purple tie
All day long.

 Daddy wore his yellow tie,
yellow tie, yellow tie
Daddy wore his yellow tie 
All day long.

Daddy wore his blue tie,
blue tie, blue tie
Daddy wore his blue tie 
All day long.
 
Daddy wore his red tie,
red tie, red tie
Daddy wore his red tie 
All day long.
 

I think this is my best flannel board set so far - and it has a lot of possibilities! I just made simple, plain-colored ties because I didn't have the time or supplies to get fancy, but I think it would be fun to make polka-dotted ties, striped ties, plaid ties - even bow ties. It's also the kind of idea that can be extrapolated to other things. I'm already thinking of making a similar set for a grandma or grandpa and who wears many different-colored pairs of glasses.

The clip art I used for this is in a pdf file here. Ties were tricky to find on Google, and I had to recolor the ones I did find in Word. If you're a fan of actual felt, it might be easier to just use a template and make your own cloth ties.
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