Baby/Toddler Lap Time, 6/29/12

Opening Song with ukulele: Hello, how are you?
I was going to skip the ukulele in the opening song, but thought better of it after so many nannies asked me if I'd be playing "my instrument" today. As I learn more songs, I might stop playing this one, but it's working for me for now. 

Song: Moon Moon Moon 

Book: Wynken, Blynken and Nod by Eugene W. Field, illustrated by Giselle Potter (2008)
I was iffy about reading this because it's poetry and the illustrations are more dreamlike and less concrete than the books I usually like to read to toddlers. I'm glad I gave it a chance, though, because the entire room seemed almost mesmerized by it.  I think it also helps that the text is so melodic and rhymes so nicely.

Song with flannel board and ukulele: Aikendrum 
This was great! I stood up so I could manage the flannel board and the ukulele at the same time, and the kids seemed to enjoy the silliness of Aikendrum's various food features. I will definitely use this again, and will take it on the road to other branches when I do story time for them in July!

Song: Here We Go Up Up Up

Book: What's Looking At You, Kid? by J. Patrick Lewis (2012)
This is my favorite picture book of 2012 so far. I LOVE it. It's not quite a guessing game, but the rhyming text leaves room for the reader to name the creature it describes. J. Patrick Lewis is so clever with language and there are some lovely turns of phrase in this one. It also really got my 2 and 3 year olds riled up. They were practically climbing into my lap to get a closer look!

Rhyme with Puppets: I'm a Little Bumblebee
I have only ever used this rhyme at the small-group lap time sessions, but it worked just as well in the big room. Kids were excited when the different bugs flew up into the air!

Song: Head and Shoulders, Baby 

Song: I'm a Little Teapot

Song: The Wheels on the Bus

Book: Farmyard Beat by Lindsay Craig, illustrated by Marc Brown (2011)
After my success with this book on Wednesday night, I held onto it to read again today. I said each of the animal sounds myself first, then asked the group to repeat it - and most of them did! I think this would be a lot of fun to read with an older group as well. 


Song:  Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

Book: Five Green and Speckled Frogs by Priscilla Burris (2003)
This was a cute sing-along, even though not everyone knew the words. I've been doing a singing book at every story time, just so I can sneak in a fourth book, and I think it works best when I put that book at the very end of the session.


Goodbye Song: We Wave Goodbye Like This

Flannel Friday: Night Creatures

While refilling my Dream Big - Read display last week, I discovered a non-fiction easy reader called Night Creatures. (It's by Wade Cooper and published by Scholastic. The ISBN is 9780545007191.) Though it's obviously a book intended for kids who are learning to read independently, I thought its simple text would also work well for my babies and toddlers, if the illustrations were more toddler-friendly. I immediately decided to adapt some of the pages into a flannel board.

 (All of the text below is quoted from Night Creatures, with the exception of the "I'm a(n) _______" sentences. I added those in to give the whole flannel board experience some structure.)  The clipart, as always, comes from Clker.com.

I have eyes

like the moon.

They sparkle at night.

I see my prey

in black and white.

I turn my head

from left to right. 

I'm an owl! 

 

By day I look like

moss or bark.

I open my wings 

when it gets dark. 

I'm a moth! 


I hang out in
a cave or tree.
My eyes can see, 
but in the dark.
I get around 
by using sound.
I'm a bat!


 
My fur is long
and black and white.
I walk in gardens 
late at night. 
If you scare me,
I will spray
a stinky smell. 
So stay away!
I'm a skunk!

There are other animals mentioned in the book, including a badger, a fox, a jaguar, and a kangaroo, but I thought those animals were less likely to be familiar to my audience, and I also worried about the concept of animals eating other animals and how that might be received by the parents of little babies. (The page about the fox is nothing but a litany of animals it eats. Like rabbits. And turtles.) So this last little verse is written by me, because I really wanted to have five animals.

 

On my face I wear a mask.

I wash my food before I eat.
I'll eat whatever I can find
with the long fingers on my feet.
I'm a raccoon!

(Source for raccoon information.)

This week's Flannel Friday host is Andrea. Follow all things Flannel Friday at the official website.