Signs of Spring Toddler Lap Time, 4/5/13

  Signs of Spring Toddler Lap Time, 4/5/13

Book: The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss, illustrated by Crockett Johnson 

Song: One Seed by the Laurie Berkner Band

Book: Planting Seeds by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace 

Song: Sunny Day
I decided not to sing Love Grows again, as it was not a big hit and went instead with Elizabeth Mitchell's Sunny Day. The kids liked this one, and the adults remembered it from previous sessions. 

Book: Ten Little Caterpillars by Lois Ehlert
This book was a bigger hit with this group than it has been with any other. One little boy came right up and pointed out the caterpillar on each page.

Song: One, Two, Three Caterpillars 

Song with Puppet: Flutter, Flutter Butterfly 

Song: Here We Go Up, Up, Up

Song: I'm a Little Teapot

Songs with Foam Flowers: 

• Oh Little Flower (also with flannel board)
• There’s a Little Flower Growing...

Flannel Board: Color Rhymes 

Flannel Board: Five Little Birds 

Song: Chickadee
I normally don't do this song right after the flannel board that uses the exact same words, but it seemed like it would go over well this time, and I was right. It's also nice to have the repetition of the same ideas in a different format.

Song: If You’re Happy and You Know It

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.

Signs of Spring Drop-In Story Time, 4/5/13

Signs of Spring Drop-In Story Time, 4/5/13

Book: Wake Up, It’s Spring! by Lisa Campbell Ernst
The kids liked this book, but the adults seemed extra distracted.

Song: Way Up in the Sky

Book: Inch by Inch: The Garden Song by David Mallett (with recording from Pickin' & Grinnin' Great Folk Songs for Kids )
I thought it was important with a song like this that not everyone knows to expose the kids to a recording rather than try butchering it myself. Unfortunately, the kids were very restless and only a few listened all the way to the end.

Song with Puppet: Mr. Sun

Letter of the Day:  P

• Book: Peanut Butter and Jelly by Nadine Bernard Westcott
  Last time I read this, I said I wanted to change the refrain and sing instead of chant it, but I didn't do that today and it worked great!
• Song: Pigs in the Mud
  This song was a new discovery for me just this morning. It'll be fun for the summer reading theme when we talk about mud!
• Rhyme: Mix a Pancake
  A new action rhyme for us. The motions came from KCLS.
• Flannel Board Song: Five Pirates in a Boat
  This song is one I found on Spotify. Its original title is Eight Rowers in a Boat. I changed the words to suit my needs.

Song with ukulele: ABCs / Twinkle Twinkle Little Star / Baa Baa Black Sheep

Song: I'm a Little Teapot

Song: The Wheels on the Bus

Song: If You're Happy and You Know It

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.

Signs of Spring Baby Lap Time, 4/4/13

 Signs of Spring Baby Lap Time, 4/4/13

Rhyme: Cheek Chin 

Book: Planting Seeds by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace
This was a good baby read-aloud. We didn't count each bunny, but we counted to ten once on the last page.

Song with Puppet: Mr. Sun

Song with Puppets: Did You Ever See?
One little guy was so in love with the puppets he wanted to be right next to me the whole time!

Song: Tony Chestnut
I am always surprised when a group doesn't get this song, but it happened again today.

Rhyme: One Two, One Two
This is a new rhyme for me, and it was a huge hit. I'm definitely adding it to my mental list of surefire baby lap time successes.

Rhyme: Two Little Blackbirds (with stick puppets)
I did this rhyme three times, using the plain birds shown on the flannel board in the photo. I stuck them on popsicle sticks to it was easy to make them fly away and come back. Babies were mesmerized; parents were great at participating!

Book: The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss, illustrated by Crockett Johnson

Bounce Rhyme: One I Love You
This was a new bounce, and it wasn't as well received as I would have thought. I think the last phrase - "bouncing buckaroo" - puzzled some of my non-native English speakers. I wonder if there's something else I could that would rhyme just as well...

Bouncing Song: All the Little Babies

Rhyme with Cow Puppet: Hey Diddle Diddle

Song with Puppets: All the Cows Say... 

Flannel Board Rhyme: Hippety Hop
I normally don't do flannel boards for the babies, but these pieces are nice and big and the  rhyme is short and sweet. It was a success!

Song: Head and Shoulders

Song: If You're Happy and You Know It 


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.

Signs of Spring Toddler Lap Time, 4/4/13

 Signs of Spring Toddler Lap Time, 4/4/13

Book: Planting Seeds by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace
I like this book a lot - it has counting, bunnies, and plants! I'll definitely be using it again during the summer.

Song: Love Grows
This is a group of toddlers who normally love to learn motions to new songs. Today, I got 20 blank stares when we sang this song. It just did not work.

Book: The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss, illustrated by Crockett Johnson
This book is a hit with parents. The kids didn't say much, but their eyes were on the book for almost the entire time.

Song: One Seed by the Laurie Berkner Band
This was a huge hit - we did it three times!

Song with Puppet: Mr. Sun
The kids got really excited about this one!

Book: Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert
A flop again, as on Tuesday.

Songs with Foam Flowers: We had more older siblings than usual at this session because of Spring Break, and though there were only three "big kids" they basically took over the entire story time from this point until the end. I couldn't blame them - their responses to everything were age appropriate, but I had some parents questioning whether we had changed the age limit on the sessions. If this happens in the summer, we plan to offer a "big kid" craft for the siblings outside of the story room, so we don't have total chaos.

• Oh Little Flower (also with flannel board)
• There’s a Little Flower Growing...

Song with Puppet: Flutter, Flutter Butterfly

Flannel Board: Color Rhymes
At the end of the rhyme, we said goodbye to each bird by name.

Song: Bumpin’ Up and Down in my Little Red Wagon

Song: Monkeys on the Bed

Song: If You’re Happy and You Know It

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.

Signs of Spring Pajama Story Time, 4/3/13

Signs of Spring Pajama Story Time, 4/3/13*image from mycutegraphics.com

I haven't done this story time in a few weeks, and we have some new kids! I was surprised by how active two of them were - we almost never have kids jumping around and dancing at this story time! These books were not the greatest choices - they would have been fine individually, but together they didn't really work. 

Book: Hurray for Spring! by Patricia Hubbell

Rhyme: Blue is the Lake 

Book: Bunny Days by Tao Nyeu
I like this quirky little story about bunnies who get muddy and dusty and lose their tails, only to have order restored each time by a knowledgeable bear.

Rhyme: Hop Your Bunnies

Book:  Spring Blossoms by Carole Gerber
I suspected that this book was too fact-focused with not enough  story and I was absolutely right.

Flannel Board Rhyme: My Garden 

Song: Shake My Sillies Out

Book: Sleepy Places by Judy Hindley
I asked the kids "Where do you sleep?" One boy took one look at the cover of  this book and announced "In the roses!" This book would normally have gone over well, but they were an antsy bunch tonight, so we quickly read to the end.

Song: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Song: Moon Moon Moon 

Song: Goodnight 

Song: If You're Happy and You Know It


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. 

Signs of Spring Drop-In Story Time, 4/2/13

Signs of Spring Drop-In Story Time, 4/2/13

I walked out of the house without the ukulele yesterday morning and opted not to go back for it. It was actually nice not to have an additional prop to worry about on my first day back after a five-day weekend, but I'll definitely have it with me again on Friday!


Book: Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert
I don't like Lois Ehlert, but this book works well for this group, so occasionally I bring it out.

Flannel Board Rhyme: My Garden
I didn't have a flower rhyme I felt particularly confident in, so I wrote this new one:

Here’s my garden in the sun.
Flowers grow here one by one.
This one is yellow.
This one is blue.
Here’s an orange one.
A pink one, too.
The last one is green -
How many do you see?
Let’s count as we pick them
Ready? Count with me!

Book: In the Tall Tall Grass by Denise Fleming
This book consistently flops. I don't understand why, as it has lots of great onomatopoeia. Perhaps it is just the groups I have tried it with.

Song: Hands Up High

Book: There was a Tree by Rachel Isadora
I wasn't expecting people to know this song, but they did, and they did the entire book with me as a call and response. It was great! 


Letter of the Day: O

• Rhyme: This is Big, Big, Big (opposites)
• Rhyme: There’s a Wide Eyed Owl
• Song with Puppets: Old MacDonald

Songs (without ukulele): ABCs / Twinkle Twinkle Little Star / Baa Baa Black Sheep

Song: Wheels on the Bus

Song: Monkeys on the Bed

Song: If You're Happy and You Know It


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.