Opening Song: Hello, how are you?
Song: If You'd Like to Read a Book
Book: Bats at the Library by Brian Lies (2008)
I don't know how anyone could have no reaction to this book, but that's what I got. Blank faces.
Rhyme: One Little Ghost
I would definitely use this book again. It got the most attention of any of the three I read today.
Song: Flap, Flap, Flap Little Bats
(I looked at the group and realized most of them couldn't even stand up yet. So I reverted to a toddler story time favorite and did Shake My Sillies Out instead. No one - neither child, nor adult - did the motions with me.)
Song: Horns and Fangs, Knees and Claws
(There was no way babies were doing this one, either, so we did Hands Are For Clapping.)
Book: Stellaluna by Janell Cannon (1993)
It was really masochistic for me to read this, knowing what the outcome would be. Most people in the room didn't even notice that I was reading, and I had to compete with conversations, crying babies, and at least one mom who was reading a different book to her child. But I kept reading, with as much enthusiasm as I could muster for the one little boy in the front row who seemed engrossed, and to prove the point that the age limits exist for a reason. By the end, most of the nannies with babies seemed to get the idea, but it was a total waste of a story time session, and I never want to have another one like it ever again.
Goodbye Song: We Wave Goodbye Like This
With the correct age group, I have no doubt this would have been a great story time. In fact, I'm now considering revamping my story time schedule to eliminate this session altogether and instead shift to a preschool/school-age story time on Thursdays, similar to the Halloween one I did last week.
Find more bat story times on these other sites:
A full description of this, and all my weekly story time programs can be found here.