Baby/Toddler Story Time, 4/12

This was the most disorganized morning, and I was barely prepared for the 10:00 session.  I actually went into the room and sang three songs before I realized I hadn't brought any books into the story time room with me! I quickly put on Shake Your Sillies Out (thank God for Raffi!) and snuck out to grab them, but because I was so flustered, I didn't really feel like I was in control for the rest of the session.

Between sessions, though, I regrouped, and did the following program for the second group, which was huge and had at least 45 kids! (I used the same books and most of  the songs, but changed the order around quite a bit.)

Opening song: Hello song

Song: ABC's (a cappella sing-along)
I put the letters up on the flannel board and pointed as we sang. It's a great sing-along because all the adults know it, as do many of the older kids. I think I'll be doing it for a few weeks, just for a change. My goal is to get away from farm animals for a bit, before I get completely sick of them. 

Song: The Wheels on the Bus

Song: If You'd Like to Read a Book

Book: Garden of Opposites by Nancy Davis

This book is really bright and exciting to look at, even if there aren't many words.  I read the words, and then pointed out different interesting things about the illustrations. I don't think the concept of opposites necessarily made sense to the babies and toddlers, but they definitely loved seeing the inside of an apple and they also really liked the sharp gardening scissors which are the opposite of a dull shovel. I had another book on deck, in case this one didn't work, but it worked quite well, and I'd recommend it for a Spring- or flower-themed story time.

Song: Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes


Song: I'm a Little Teapot

Book: Counting in the Garden by Kim Parker

This one is a floral counting book where animals and insects hide among the blossoms and stems of different plants. I got everyone involved by having them count the different animals and bugs with me. Things got a little bit tricky as the numbers got bigger, though, because the inchworms and butterflies blended in so well, I almost couldn't find them all. The parents were very understanding, though, and when I found inchworm number nine, one mom actually said, "Good job!" 

Song: One, Two, I Love You (Numbers Are Our Friends) 

Song: Five Little Ducks (from Where is Thumbkin?)
This is a new one for my story time group, and this version is a little bit faster than I would like, but we used ducks on the flannel board and during the second session, especially, the kids really seemed intrigued. 

Song: Monkeys on the Bed


Rhyme: Five Pretty Flowers (I borrowed this from Mel's Desk, and then adapted it slightly)
I butchered this rhyme completely for session one, so I actually wrote a cheatsheet for session two. I didn't like leaving the ending just hanging, so I added my own verse to the end. Unfortunately, some little fingers couldn't resist "helping" me with the flowers, and the end of the rhyme got cut off by his grown-up coming to get him from the front of the  room. I also think this group is puzzled by rhymes and would rather have songs, which I don't fully understand. Still, though, I think it's a good one. I'm a sucker for rhymes about counting to five, and I do plan to try it again.

Out in the garden

Growing in the sun

Were 5 pretty flowers

And I picked one...

(count down until there are no flowers left)

Out in the garden 

growing in the sun

Are five new flowers I planted

Count them one by one

Book: This is the Sunflower by Lola M. Schaefer, illustrated by Donald Crews

This story is a cumulative rhyme about a sunflower growing night and day in the narrator's front yard. Donald Crews of Freight Train fame is the illustrator, and I love the way he shows the effects of different types of weather and light on everyday things, like flowers and buildings and even grass. There is a page in this book where it's raining that I just absolutely love. I also love the surprise ending, when one sunflower becomes a whole patch.

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

Goodbye Song: Skinnamarink

Family Story Time, 4/11

We had our first real warm day today - over 80 degrees! - and I think it's because of that, that my story time crowd was hyper and distracted. I didn't help, either, by changing our routine, and introducing some new songs.

The theme was animals, and I sort of divided the session in half, with farm animals in the beginning and zoo animals at the end. I had roughly a dozen kids in attendance, and a handful of adults.

Opening song: If You're Happy and You Know It (from Where is Thumbkin?)

Direct quote from a four-year-old as the music began: "I hate this song!" Oops!


Song: Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes


Book: Seven Little Rabbits by John Becker, illustrated by Barbara Cooney

When story time started, and for the duration of this book, I had one baby and four preschoolers in the room. Since the book is very repetitive - "Seven little rabbits / walkin' down the road / walkin' down the road / Seven little rabbits / walkin' down the road / to call on old friend toad" -  I had envisioned a kind of call and  response with the audience, but it didn't quite happen that way.  Instead, they sat perfectly silently and watched me read. One little boy really liked the way the book slowly counts down to one little rabbit walking down the road, but otherwise, I couldn't tell if they were bored or what. But the book is fantastic, and if I'd had  a larger group, with more adults to help me out, that call and  response thing would have worked and been a lot of fun. It would also be awesome to do with a flannel board, but time to work on making those is scarce at the moment.

Song: Monkeys on the Bed
The size of my audience nearly tripled during this song, which created a sense of chaos that we never fully bounced back from.

Song: Five Little Ducks

I used the flannel board for this song. Unfortunately, I don't know the song as well as I thought, and I was a bit scattered with the hand motions. and the older kids, who are usually my helpers, were laughing themselves silly over one of the toddler's dance moves. I'm determined to try this again, maybe with tomorrow's group.

Song: I Had a Rooster
I love this song, and have since childhood, but it wasn't a hit today at all. Part of it might be that kids who live in the city aren't as familiar with farms as maybe I was at age four, but it also has some loud and almost scary sounds in it, particularly when Pete starts growling like a lion. I also have an incomplete set of farm animals for  the flannelboard, so we started the song with no rooster and never really established a sense of focus. I'll do it again, but not without the  right props.


Book: I Bought a Baby Chicken by Kelly Milner Halls, illustrated by Karen Stormer Brooks

This is a silly book about a family that goes to the pet store and comes home with way too many chicks. All concentration was lost by this point, and the more I played up the humor of the story, the worse it was. But the book is very funny, and if I'd had a big toddler group, we would have done some counting, and I think I would have gotten a bigger laugh at the end when the narrator of the story says it's lucky she didn't go shopping for a cow.

Song: Going to the Zoo
This was a good one. The kids did whatever silly motions I came up with - tapping our knees, waving our arms, pretending to swim - and a couple of them had all the words to the chorus down by the time we were done.

Song:  The Keeper at the Zoo (adapted from here)
We used zoo animal puppets to show which animal we were singing about, and just repeated the verses until we ran out of animals. My puppets are apparently difficult to distinguish, because not even the adults could recognize my monkey. Oh well.

The keeper at the zoo

The keeper at the zoo

Heigh-ho the derry-oh

The keeper at the zoo

The keeper feeds the [lion]

The keeper feeds the [lion]

Heigh-ho the derry-oh

The keeper feeds the [lion]

(Substitute other zoo animals for each subsequent verse)

Book: Zoo Borns by Andrew Bleiman and Chris Eastland

 

This book is awesome - close-up photos of cute little baby animals from all around  the world with little first-person introductions giving the first name of the animal, as well as its species. I should probably have led with this one and done only one other short one, but I didn't, so this book got the short end of the stick. The older kids loved it, but the smaller ones were totally done with me by this point and the noise level in the room just rose and rose.

Song: The Wheels on the Bus
To redeem myself with the little ones who were so lost during the second half of  story time, I did one of their favorite songs. Instant calm and joy overcame us all.

Goodbye Song: Skinnamarink

Saturday Story Time: Chicks & Bunnies, 4/9

Saturday Story Time is not a regular occurrence in my library branch, since we are often so short-staffed, but we have a lot of demand for it, so I'm trying to commit to doing one a month. This was our first one, with a theme of Chicks & Bunnies. I planned two sessions, thinking that this would be a really popular program, but I had two small groups: eight kids in session one at 10:00am, and ten kids in session two at 11:00am.

Opening song: Hello song
For the verses, we clapped our hands and made bunny ears with our fingers.

Rhyme: Flowers Tall and Small

Rhyme: Here is the Beehive

I'm getting tired of these two; it might be time for some new five-finger rhymes.

Song: Monkeys on the Bed

Song: If You'd Like to Read a Book (session 2 only - session 1 was mostly babies, and they seemed restless, so I skipped it)

Book: Wee Little Chick by Lauren Thompson, illustrated by John Butler

This book is adorable. I know it's lame to say books are cute and not say anything more constructive about them, but this one really is absolutely adorable. The wee little chick is the littlest chick in his family, but that doesn't stop him from walking tall, peeping loudly, and finding the biggest seed in the farm yard. I chose this book not only because it went with the theme, but because of the warm and gentle depictions of the various farm animals - especially the pig. Illustrator John Butler manages to humanize the animals without making them look like people, which seems like a really impressive feat to me. If you like this one, also try Wee Little Lamb and Wee Little Bunny by the same author.

Song: Old MacDonald Had a Farm

Flannel Board Rhyme: I went to visit the farm one day...

My cow for the flannel board mysteriously disappeared between sessions, so I was sans cow for session two. I hope she resurfaces, as she is the first animal mentioned on our CD's version of Old MacDonald!

Book: Whose Chick Are You? by Nancy Tafuri



I really like Nancy Tafuri's books because she draws from a really neat perspective, making me feel like I'm right inside whatever setting she depicts right along with the animals. In this book, an unidentified egg hatches and neither the chicken nor the duck nor the goose nor the bird can figure out who the gray little chick inside belongs to. But the swan mother knows, because it's her baby! This is a toddler-friendly version of The Ugly Duckling, with a theme similar to P.D. Eastman's classic Are You My Mother?

Song: One, Two, I Love You (Numbers Are Our Friends)

Song: Where is Thumbkin?

Rhyme: Hop Your Bunny
I adapted this from a rhyme called Dance Your Fingers.  I first heard it on Wee Sing for Baby.

Hop your bunny up, 

Hop your bunny down,

Hop your bunny to the side,

Hop him all around.

Hop him on your shoulder,

Hop him on your head,

Hop him on your tummy,

And then put him to bed.
(Make bunny ears with two fingers, then follow the rhyme's directions. For "put him to bed" I just lay the "bunny" down on the palm of my opposite hand.)

Book: The Golden Egg Book by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Leonard Weisgard




I couldn't resist this oldie but goodie. I loved the Golden books as a kid, and once I found out this book didn't mention Easter, I realized it was perfect to share in a public library story time. It's a bit on the long side for babies and toddlers, but they seemed to like it anyway. A rabbit finds an egg and just knows there is something inside it. All attempts to make it come out are unsuccessful, so the bunny falls asleep. Then the egg hatches, and the duck who pops out wonders why this bunny won't wake up. A sweet story of friendship, which got an "awww" from a couple of moms. This would have been perfect with a preschool audience. It also reminded me somewhat of The Poky Little Puppy.

Song: The Wheels on the Bus

Closing song: Skinnamarink

Baby Lap Time, 4/8

Baby Lap Time did not have a theme this week.  I just picked some books, and basically stuck with the same songs as last week. Not too many babies actually attended, and we had a lot of preschoolers who lingered after the 10:00 preschool story time and came to this one as well. In all, there were around 15 children, each with an adult.

I'm learning that babies pay much more attention to the books than toddlers. I think I could have read three more and they'd have been just as happy.

Opening Song: If You're Happy And You Know It

Song:  Clap Along With Me

Book: I Love Trucks by Philemon Sturges, illustrated by Shari Halpern (2001, Harper Collins)

A little boy playing with toy trucks in a sandbox sings the praises of every kind of truck imaginable. His favorite truck? The ice cream truck, of course! Bold colors against a  white background make this book a really appealing thing for babies to look at. And of course, the toddlers in the group can't  resist trucks, especially after many of them attended my transportation-themed Baby/Toddler story time on Tuesday.

Song: Open, Shut Them

Wee Sing for Baby has a version of this, but it's a little bit different than the one I know, so I just sing it on on my own. 

Song: Itsy Bitsy Spider

Another sing-along. The moms and nannies know this one well, so I use it to really get them involved.

Rhyme: Here is the Beehive

Book: Big Fat Hen by Keith Baker (1999, Sandpiper)

I have become such a fan of 1, 2, Buckle My Shoe lately. I love Anna Grossnickle Hines's version, but it was checked out, so I went hunting for another one, and now I think I love Big Fat Hen even more. The illustrations are huge and inviting, which is great for baby eyes, and there is actually a lot going on in the pictures that would also make it a good title for one-on-one reading with slightly older kids. The numbers in the rhyme correspond to the number of various insects, as  well as the number of eggs waiting to hatch on each page. And at the end, we get to see a big fat hen, all of her friends, and their many, many chicks. A great twist on the original nursery time, and definitely my favorite of the three books we did today. And I remembered to linger over each page, and let the babies take everything in, which is something I've been working on, so that made me feel good.

Song: Old MacDonald Had a Farm

We have a recording that I use on Tuesdays, but for this one I just sang and used puppets. We sang about the cow, horse, chicken, cat, and dog.)

Song: Where is Thumbkin?

Book: Monkey and Me by Emily Gravett (2008, Simon & Schuster)

I am new to Emily Gravett's books, but they're growing on me. Despite the grammar issue in this book (it should really be Monkey and I!), the repetitive story of a girl and her stuffed monkey going to see various other wild animals, such as penguins, kangaroos, and elephants, is very sweet. I especially love the subtle way the illustrations set us up for the animals - in every other illustration, the little girl mimics the behavior of  the animal that is then shown on the next page. Perfect for babies - and toddlers, too.

Song: One, Two, I Love You (Numbers Are Our Friends)

Song: I'm a Little Teapot

Song: Head and Shoulders Knees and Toes

Song: The Wheels on the Bus

Song: We Wave Goodbye Like This