Spring Animals Baby Lap Time, 4/11/13

 Spring Animals Baby Lap Time, 4/11/13

Rhyme: Cheek Chin

Book: Hop! by Phyllis Root
I haven't used this book in a couple of years, and it wasn't as great as I remembered. It rhymes, though, and the babies did seem to enjoy hearing the language.

Rhyme: Hop Your Bunnies

Song: All the Little Babies

Book: In My Nest by Sara Gillingham
This would not have been my first choice for a baby story time book, but it worked out okay.

Rhyme with stick puppets: Two Little Blackbirds
My birds do not stay on my stick puppets because the birds are too large. Next time we might have to do this on the flannel board.

Song: Tony Chestnut

Rhyme: One Two, One Two
We'll keep using this one for a few weeks. It's catching on.

Rhyme: Mother and Father and Uncle John

Song: ABCs

Song: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Song: The Itsy Bitsy Spider

Rhyme with Puppets: I’m a Little Bumblebee
This group liked this rhyme much more than others I have shared it with recently.

Song: Head and Shoulders

Song: Where is Big Toe?
This is the perfect song to plug in when the program is running short and everybody's attention is still with you.

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 Toddler Lap Time, 4/11/13

Spring Animals Toddler Lap Time, 4/11/13

(What you see on the wall behind the flannel board in this photo is part of a diagram of the water cycle that my amazing colleague drew for her Explorers' Club program.)

Song: Way Up in the Sky
We are now doing this song at basically every session, and almost all the kids know the motions, even toddlers I might have thought were too young. It's my new favorite.

Book: Who’s Awake in Springtime? by Phillis Gershator
This book is... just not good. It doesn't make sense and the ending is confusing.

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
I still love this book - we'll use it again in the afternoon session.

Song with Puppets: Did you ever see...?
We sang about the ladybug, bumblebee, and butterfly.

Song: Hands Up High

Song: Head and Shoulders

Songs and Rhymes with Shaker Eggs

• Song: Shake My Sillies  Out 
• Rhyme: Shake, Shake, Shake
• Song: Can You Shake Your Egg With Me?

Song with Puppet: Mr. Sun

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.

Flannel Friday: "Quiet! Quiet!" said the Queen.

I have had a lot of ideas for flannel boards lately, but not a lot of time to make them and take photos and make posts about them. This week, finally, I managed to get my act together to make two flannel boards related to the letter Q. I'll share one this week, and one next week. Today's is called "Quiet! Quiet! said the Queen", and it is an original story that I wrote.  Please feel free to use it, but please give me credit if you post it online.

"Quiet! Quiet!" said the Queen.
by Miss Katie

"Wahoo!" yelled the King.
"Quiet! Quiet!" said the Queen.

"Wahoo!" yelled the King.

"Hooray!" shouted the Prince. 

"Quiet! Quiet!" said the Queen.

"Wahoo!" yelled the King.

"Hooray!" shouted the Prince. 

"Yippee!" cheered the Princess.

"Quiet! Quiet!" said the Queen. 

"Wahoo!" yelled the King.

"Hooray!" shouted the Prince. 

"Yippee!" cheered the Princess.
"Waa! Waa!" cried the Royal Baby.

"Quiet! Quiet!" said the Queen.

"Shhhhh!" whispered the King.

"Shhhhh!" whispered the Prince.

"Shhhhh!" whispered the Princess.

"Zzzzzz..." snored the Royal Baby.

"Quiet! Quiet!" said the Queen.

This week's Flannel Friday host is Kendra at Read Sing Play. For more about Flannel Friday, visit the official website.

Spring Animals Drop-In Story Time, 4/9/13

Spring Animals Drop-In Story Time, 4/9/13

Song with Puppets: When Cows Get Up in the Morning 
I really like this song as an alternative to Old MacDonald. The kids seemed to enjoy it more, too.

Book: In the Spring by Craig Brown
This is a good book for introducing the correct names for the mother and baby animals. The ending, where the farmer's wife has twins, is cute, but not particularly exciting. It went over fine, but it's never going to become a favorite.

Song: Way up in the Sky
We have been doing this song pretty regularly for a few weeks, and this morning, I noticed that many of the little toddlers know all the motions. We sang it twice - as we usually do - to give them a chance to show off! 

Book: Birds by Kevin Henkes
This book was a bit long for my antsy group this morning, though the ones who paid attention showed the usual enthusiasm. The high temperature here today is 88, and it was pretty warm this morning, so I'm not surprised that the kids were a bit distracted.

Rhyme: When Skies Turn Blue
This is the first half of a poem. The kids didn't like it as much as I expected, though they did all of  the motions with me.

Song: Shake My Sillies Out 

Letter of  the Day: Q

• Flannel Board Poem: The Quilt that Grandma Made
• Flannel Board Story: Quiet, Quiet said the Queen
  (I have scheduled Flannel Friday posts about each of these flannel boards - stay tuned!)

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

Song with Ukulele: Itsy Bitsy Spider

Song with Puppet: Mr. Sun

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.