Builders and Diggers Baby Lap Time, 5/2/13

Builders and Diggers Baby Lap Time, 5/2/13

This is a hard theme to use with babies, if you want to do an entire story time centered on the theme. But it works fine if you interpret "construction" to include anything with buildings, and if you don't worry whether every activity suits the theme.  (The monkey in the picture is Girl Monkey, a present from my husband for Easter, which served as my "baby" for lap time this week.)

Book: I Love Tools by Philemon Sturges
I decided to use this book with the babies at the last minute. I don't think they understood much of it, but the bold illustrations got their attention, and we did introduce some new vocabulary. 

Song: Dump Truck Song
This was a huge hit! 

Song: Tony Chestnut

Rhyme: One Two

Book: My City by Rebecca Emberley
This is a bilingual book, but I only read the English vocabulary. I modeled again how to read these simple board books aloud, and though the adults didn't seem to know what to make of it, everybody clapped at the end.

Song with Stick Puppet: I'm a Builder
I like to sing at least one new puppet song each session if I can - usually connected to the theme, because that is typically pretty easy to do. This was a great one, which I found at the last minute, and used with one of my construction worker flannel board pieces. The babies got a kick out of all the adults singing "Tap-a-tap-a-tap-tap."

Rhyme with Cow Puppet: Hey Diddle Diddle
This is another favorite. I tap my knees, then lift the cow into the air, while the babies get lifted up by their caregivers.

Bouncing Song: All the Little Babies

Song: Itsy Bitsy Spider

Song with Sun Puppet: Mr. Sun

Song: Row Your Boat

Song: Where is Big Toe? 
I always throw this song in when I feel like story time is running short and I don't have a clock to look at. 

I use the same hello and goodbye songs at almost every session. Click here for the tunes and words. For descriptions of each of my story times, click here.