Music! Music! Music! Baby Lap Time, 4/18/13

 Music! Music! Music! Baby Lap Time, 4/18/13

 

This was a great group this morning. Lots of smiling, attentive babies, and lots of wonderfully  active and involved mommies! (No daddies this time around.)
 
Rhyme: Cheek Chin

Book: Baby Dance by Ann Taylor
It amazes me how mesmerized the babies are by  rhyming text. Most of them stared at me rather than  the illustrations!

Song: A Bouncing We Will Go
This song is a great idea, which I borrowed from KCLS. It was definitely the best-received bounce I have ever used, even more popular than All the Little Babies!

Book: Hush Little Baby by Shari Halpern
The parents got a kick out of this - some of them didn't seem to know it, but laughed at some of  the rhymes - others sang right along with me!

Song: Tony Chestnut

Rhyme: One Two, One Two
As the adults learn this, they are getting better and better about interacting with their babies as we say it. The clapping in the final verse is a big hit with one of  the babies whose mom told me she only just learned to clap a week ago!

Flannel Board Rhyme: There’s Music in a Hammer
I found a couple versions of this rhyme online and combined them to make my own:

There's music in a hammer when you bang it on a nail.
There's muic in a shovel when you tap it on a pail.
There's music in a kitty-cat when you step upon her tail.
 Meeeeowww! 

Flannel boards are always hit and miss with babies, but whenever I include them, the few kids who are crawling or standing will always come right up to get a closer look. I don't expect a four month old to get much out of the visual aides, but the almost-toddlers really do like them. The parents seemed puzzled by this one, but the rhyme and animal sound make it a fun one anyway.

Rhyme: The Baby in the Cradle

Song: All the Little Babies

Song with Puppets: Did You Ever See a....?

Song: Row, Row, Row, Your Boat

Song: Itsy Bitsy Spider

Song: ABCs

Song: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

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.

Spring Animals Preschool Story Time, 4/12/13

Rhyme: There Was a Little Turtle
I introduced this as a rhyme, but a child informed me it didn't rhyme so it has to be called a poem. This is the second time in two weeks I have been called out about this by a four year old!

Book: Home for a Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown
I love this book so much, and the kids did, too.

Song: Shake My Sillies Out

Book: Guess What I’ll Be by Anni Axworthy
This was a perfect guessing game for this mostly-four-year-old group. 

Song with Poster: Over in the Meadow 
One little girl got really into  this song. Another asked questions after each verse. It was much more successful this time than the last  time I used it.

Books: Big Woods Orchestra by Guido Van Genechten
The kids showed no interest in this book during story time, but then they asked me to read it again during the craft. I read an abbreviated version without all the bird calls, and somehow they seemed to like that better than the first time through when I made all the silly sounds!

Craft: Bird Coloring Page 
Everyone got really into the design of their birds. Even some older girls who didn't come to story time stopped by to do some coloring!


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.

Spring Animals Toddler Lap Time, 4/12/13

Song: Way Up in the Sky

Book: It's Spring! by Samantha Berger 

Flannel Board Rhyme: Hippety Hop Hippety Hay

Flannel Board Song: Mary Had a Little Lamb (with different-colored lambs)

Book: Flip, Flap, Fly by Phyllis Root

Song with Puppets: Did you ever see...?

Song: Hands Up High
I have never seen parents participate so well! These people were on their feet the whole time and super-involved.

Song: Head and Shoulders

Songs and Rhymes with Shaker Eggs: We were such a small group, I gave shakers to the adults, too. That seemed to work pretty well, so I might try to make some more so we can do that every session without worrying we'll run out.

• Song: Shake My Sillies Out
• Song: Can You Shake Your Egg With Me?
• Song with Puppet: Mr. Sun

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.

Spring Animals Drop-In Story Time, 4/12/13

Book: Splish, Splash, Spring by Jan Carr

Song with Puppet: Mr. Sun

Book: A Good Day by Kevin Henkes

Song: Way Up in the Sky

Letter of the Day: R

• Book: My Spring Robin by Anne Rockwell
• Flannel Board Rhyme: Hippety Hop Hippety Hay
• Song with Puppets: Rain, Rain, Go Away

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

Song: Itsy Bitsy Spider

Song: Hands Up High

Song: I'm a Little Teapot

Song: Chickadee

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.