Baby/Toddler Story Time, 1/17/12

I can't believe it's taken me all day to finally sit down and write up this morning's story time! I had two very small groups today, compared to what we usually get, probably because it was raining until about 10:00 and stayed drizzly through the morning. But there were still over 25 kids at each session. Here's what I shared with them:

Opening Song: Hello, how are you?

Book: The Foggy, Foggy Forest by Nick Sharatt (2008)
I have no sense of whether the group enjoyed this book. It's longer than a lot of  the ones we usually do, and had a bit more story to it. I thought the element of surprise created by each page turn would be more exciting than it was, but the only page that got any sort of real response was the picture of the ogre doing yoga. In the future, I'll definitely stick to reading this one to preschoolers and older.

Rhyme: Wiggle Fingers

Rhyme: Rain is Coming Down
I felt stupid doing snow books and rhymes when it was clearly 55 degrees and raining outside, so I changed things up and grabbed a rain book and rhyme instead of the more wintery things I had planned. I liked the way this rhyme went, and I'll definitely bring it out again on our next rainy day - and definitely this Spring as well. 

 

Book: Rain by Robert Kalan, illustrated by Donald Crews (1978)
The rainbow at the end of this book gets a reaction every time.

Song: I'm a Little Teapot
The new iPod cut the first verse off of this song, but otherwise we made it through.

Song: Shake My Sillies Out 
The iPod let us get through this whole song. Eventually.

Song: There's a Little Wheel a-Turnin' in my Heart 

Flannel Board Song: Five Little Fairies
Again, I didn't have it in me to sing about mittens and snowflakes during such Spring-like weather conditions, so I chose fairies to go with the foggy forest book instead. They liked the flannel board pieces, but not so much the rhyme. Session 2 didn't even pay attention to this one at all.

Song: If You're Happy and You Know It (a cappella)

Song: Itsy-Bitsy Spider
Covering all my rain bases... 

Song: ABCD Medley
This song played beautifully during session 1, but cut out during session 2, forcing me to sing each song featured in the medley without accompaniment. It was not so good.

Song: Monkeys on the Bed 
This was a replacement for the snow-themed Five Little Snowmen Riding on the Sled.

Song: Numbers Are Our Friends
I forgot to do this song in session one, then added it back in for session two when we lost the ABCD Medley and the session started looking like it would run short.

Goodbye Song: We Wave Goodbye Like This