Sending You My Love Baby Lap Time, 2/14/13

Sending You My Love Baby Lap Time, 2/14/13

 (This week's theme is Valentines and mail.) 

A few babies slept through the entire session. Most of the adults were quiet and seemed puzzled by me. We had a lot of first-timers who did not register for next time, so it will probably be a whole different ballgame again next week.

Rhyme: Cheek Chin

Song: When Lions Get Up in the Morning

Book: My Heart is Like a Zoo by Michael Hall

Rhyme with Stick Puppets: Two Little Lovebugs (based on Two Little Blackbirds)

Rhyme with Puppets: I’m a Little Bumblebee

Song: All the Little Babies

Song: Tony Chestnut

Song: Head and Shoulders

Song: Will You Be My Valentine?

Book: All Kinds of Kisses by Nancy Tafuri
Two groups in a row didn't like this one. I have always had good luck with it before, so it must be an off day.

Song: One Little, Two Little, Three Little Kisses

Song: You Are My Sunshine

Song: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Song: Itsy Bitsy Spider

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.

Sending You My Love Toddler Lap Time, 2/14/13

  Sending You My Love Toddler Lap Time, 2/14/13

 (This week's theme is Valentines and mail.)

Tough crowd today! They weren't especially antsy, but they also weren't at all engaged. A lot of the regulars also didn't make it, so the newbies were more reluctant to participate.  

Book: Where is Baby’s Valentine? by Karen Katz
This was the best of the three books. I'll need to see if I can find more decent lift-the-flap books for this group, because they really love that element of surprise.

Rhyme: Making Valentines
This was cute, but the kids seemed confused.

Song: Love My Mommy

Book: All Kinds of Kisses by Nancy Tafuri
I have never had this book bomb before, but it did today.

Song: One Little, Two Little, Three Little Kisses

Rhyme: I Can Hug
This one looked better on paper than in practice. A lot of the twos weren't here today, and the younger ones just couldn't do the movements.

Song: Here We Go Up Up Up

Song: Put Your Finger in the Air

Song: I'm a Little Teapot

Book: Goose Needs a Hug by Tad Hills
This doesn't work as a group read-aloud because there is dialogue, but the author doesn't specify who is speaking. But it's really cute, and I think three year olds might understand it better. 

Songs with Foam Hearts 

• H-E-A-R-T (based on Bingo)
• Will You Be My Valentine? 
• There’s a Heart Upon...

Song with Puppet: You Are My Sunshine

Song: Skinnamarink

 
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.

Sending You My Love Pajama Story Time, 2/13/13

  Sending You My Love Pajama Story Time, 2/13/13

 (This week's theme is Valentines and mail.)

Book: Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney
This story is almost too sweet, but this group loved it. They especially enjoyed reaching up to show how big their love was. 

Song: Love Somebody
Yet another song from my mom's Girl Scout repertoire. I changed the words from "Love somebody, yes I do. Love somebody and I won't tell who." to "Love my mommy yes I do. Love my mommy and she loves me, too." I stuck my family finger puppets, plus the puppy, into a brown paper bag marked love, then took them out one at a time, asking the room who has a sister, a brother, a mommy, a daddy, or a puppy. Amazingly, all four of  the kids were only children, but they loved the daddy in the tie.

Book: My Heart is Like a Zoo by Michael Hall
Always a hit. One little girl in particular got a lot of giggles out of this one. 

Song: Will You Be My Valentine?

Book: Hug Time by Patrick McDonnell
This one was a tad long, but they stuck with it almost to the end. 

Song: Love Grows

Book: Panda Kisses by Alyssa Satin Capucilli

Song: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Song: Moon Moon Moon 

Song: If You're Happy and You Know It

Song: Goodnight
We sang goodnight to three animal finger puppets - duck, frog, and cow.


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.

Sending You My Love Drop-In Story Time, 2/12/13

 Sending You My Love Drop-In Story Time, 2/12/13

 (This week's theme is Valentines and mail.) 

Book: Secret Valentine by Catherine Stock
This is a good story for toddlers and threes. It has a simple plot and teaches lots of great Valentine vocabulary. The kids liked it, but the adults basically ignored me during the entire thing. 
 
Rhyme with stick puppets: Five Valentines
I used this rhyme last year as well. I printed messages on Valentine hearts and held them up one at a time. They clapped loudly at the end.
 
Book: If You’ll Be My Valentine by Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Fumi Kosaka
This is not Cynthia Rylant's best - it has a lot of forced rhymes that don't really add anything to the story, and the kids were just not into it today.
 
Song: Will You Be My Valentine?
This song is to the tune of The Muffin Man. I learned it when I was in Brownies as a kid and my mom was in charge of our Valentine's Day performance at the nursing home. This morning, we sang it twice using words, then mooed, barked, and roared the next few verses. 

Song: Love Grows
I learned this song from my mom, too. She sings it with her pee wee campers at summer camp. I learned it for the ukulele first thing this morning, and played it three times. Everybody liked it and by the end, they could all sing along.
 
Song: There’s a Little Wheel a-Turnin' in my Heart

Letter of the Day: B

• Song with Puppet: Buzzing Buzzing Bumblebee   
• Song: Row, Row, Row, Your Boat   
• Rhyme: This is Big, Big, Big
• Song: The Wheels on the Bus

Song: I'm a Little Teapot

Song: Sing a Happy Song
Song: Itsy Bitsy Spider

Songs with ukulele: ABCs / Twinkle Twinkle Little Star / Baa Baa Black Sheep
I forgot to sing this when we finished the letter B, so I had to go back for it later. This song perked everybody up - they love it. 

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.