Baby Time: Some Halloween - ish stuff

Here's the plan for Baby Time tomorrow:

Mr. Bear is still wearing his pumpkin costume:

Book: If You're a Monster and You Know It by Ed Emberley: Monsters sing their own version of this popular song that encourages everyone to express their happiness through movement.

 

Animal Puppet Song:  "If I Was a Bird"

From the Wiggleworms Love You album:

 

Fingerplay/Rhymes:

I saw these rhymes on multiple sites - not sure whom credit originally belongs to...

 

Pumpkin, Pumpkin

 

Pumpkin, Pumpkin sitting on a wall (bounce baby on lap)

Pumpkin, Pumpkin tip and fall (tip over)

Pumpkin, Pumpkin rolling down the street (roll hands)

Pumpkin, Pumpkin, you're so sweet! (hug!

 

I Saw a Ghost

 

I saw a ghost (ASL ghost)

He saw me too (point to self or baby)

I waved at him (wave)

But he said, "Boo!"

 

See sign for "ghost" here

 

Bouncing Song:  "Five Green Goblins"

From the Fisher Price Halloween album.  (This is the goblin version of "Five Little Monkey Jumping on the Bed") 

 

Prop Rhyme: Star Monster

 

A-hunting we will go

A-hunting we will go

We'll catch a monster

and give her a (color) star

And then we'll let her go!

Wiggle Worms - Some Halloween - ish stuff!

 

Here are some activities we did this week in the Wiggle Worms (toddler) programs:

 

Animal Puppet Song:  "If I Was a Bird"

From the Wiggleworms Love You album

 

 

 Letter of the Day:  Pp (for pumpkin)

 

Mr. Bear:  Appropriately, still dressed as a pumpkin!

 

Book:  Spooky Spooky Spooky! by Cathy MacLennan:  Rhyming text and large, whimsical illustrations point out a variety of spooky (lets face it - cute) critters on Halloween night.

When Miss Allison flipped the lights (it gets dark in the book and fireflies appear), my Folkmanis firefly came out:

 

 

Music/Movement/Manipulatives Activity: 

We stomped, clapped, shook, and crept with the monsters in Mr. Eric's "We Are Monsters"

Plush monsters are from Oriental Trading

 

 

Flannel:  Star Monster

 

A-hunting we will go

A-hunting we will go

We'll catch a monster

and give her a (color) star

And then we'll let her go!

Monsters! Pre-K and Family

Theme:  Monsters

 

Here are some of the activities we did in Pre-K and Family Storytime

 

Books:

 

 

Bedtime for Monsters by Ed Vere:  In this funny bedtime story, a monster is licking his lips.... maybe he's thinking of a bedtime snack?  Is it YOU?  We find out at the end that all he wants is a great big slobbery kiss!

 

Laura Numeroff's 10-Step Guide to Living with Your Monster:  A funny, brightly-colored guide with large illustrations.  This guide helps you choose and care for your monster.

 

Monster, Be Good!  by Natalie Marshall.  In my version, the reader is invited to help monsters behave.  I add some pleases, thank yous, and gentle instruction.  Great storytime read for toddlers or family program.

 

 Letter of the Day: Mm for monsters (of course)

 

Which words do or do not start with M?

 

Flannel Activity:  The Alphabet Monster

(source) Poem by Robert Heidbreder

 

I am the Alphabet Monster

and nothing tastes better

to the Alphabet Monster

than eating lots of letters!

 

Each child selected a letter on the way in and held onto it.  The letters are laminated with a small piece of Velcro on the back so they will stick to the flannel.

 

Small flannel letters would have been ideal, but I couldn't get my hands on any.  Next year...

  

The children brought the letters up in groups:

 

ABCDEFG

HIJK

LMNOP

QRSTUV

WXYZ

 

This idea was inspired by Dorothy's Polka Dotty Monster

 

Music:  "ABC Medley" by Laurie Berker

This mellow song works great as a settling activity after the excitement of the Alphabet Monster.  I played the first three songs http://www.laurieberkner.com/music/song-lyrics/128-abcd-medley.html

 

Music / Movement Activity / Big Activity:  "We Are Monsters"

You can here a sample here:  "We Are Monsters" by Mr. Eric

 

Lisa at Libraryland played an almost identical song for her kids last year.

 

The morning group voted to parade outside the storytime room around the library and we really roared it up with the plush little monsters from Oriental Trading

 

 

We are monsters stomping around the room

We are monsters stomping around the room

We are monsters stomping around the room

We stomp, we snort, we ROAR

 

...clapping....

...shaking....

...sneaking....

stomping....

Pictures from evening Family Storytime:
Thursdays @ 6.  Geared toward children ages 2 to 7 and their families.
Note: No Family Storytime on Oct. 31st.

 Miss Erica dressed up like a monster

Children feeding the Alphabet Monster letters:

Children choosing their plush monsters for the "We Are Monsters" song:

 Marching around the room:

 

 And then we ROAR

Monsters! Baby Time and Wiggle Worms (toddler)

Here are some monster-y activities I did with the babies and toddlers this week:

Mr. Bear (and me)

 

Letter of the Day: Mm

 Flannel:  Alphabet Monster by Robert Heidbreder
(source)

The toddlers all got a letter to bring up to to stick on the large flannel monster.  They brought them up in groups of:

ABCDEFG

HIJK

LMNOP

QRSTUV

WXYZ

The babies just sang the alphabet as I pointed to the letters (that I placed in order on the monster beforehand)

 

Music / Transitional Song: "ABC Medley"

 

This is a great transition medley by Laurie Berkner to settle toddlers after an exciting activity like The Alphabet Monster. 

 

 

Music / Movement:  "Five Green Goblins"

Listen to sample or download here

 

You know the premise:  Five green goblins jumping on the bed...

 

Books:

Monster, Monster by Melanie Walsh (amazon.com).  (Read with babies)  The flaps in this book are in the shapes of silhouettes of people and animals in costumes.  The real monster at the end of this fun, colorful read takes a bite out of the book.  Mmmm

Monster, Be Good by Natalie Marshall.   (Read with toddlers)  This books is colorful with large illustrations and a great read for toddlers who are invited to help the monsters behave.  I add a few of my own pleases and thank yous when sharing this book.

Spiders! Baby Time

With Halloween approaching, I did a couple of spider-y activities with the babies:

Board books for one-on-one reading (not spidery-y)

 

Music and Manipulative Activity:  "Shoo Fly"

We usually end with shakers, but today all the babies got a fly to shoo away.  I use Carole Peterson's version because there is some hand clapping, foot stomping, bouncing, and twirling in between all the shooing.

 

 

Book: I always read a short, interactive book in Baby Time.  This week I read:

 

Bouncing Song:  "Itsy Bitsy Spider" by Halp Palmer

I use the song from this CD. 

 

In this version, the tenacious little spider keeps on climbing until he finds an adorable little baby toe to land on and crawls all the way up the body.  As we sang the song, I took the opportunity to bring Fluffy the Spider (puppet) around to each baby.  She's actually quite adorable!

 

Prop Rhyme:  "The Spider Catches a Fly"

 

The spider catches a fly

The spider catches a fly

Hi ho the dairy-o

The spider catches a fly

 

 

To see how this prop was used in other storytime sessions, see this blog post

 

 

Spiders: Wiggle Worms (toddler)

What a great week in October to read about spiders.  Here are some spider-specific activities I did in the toddler groups this week:

Letter of the Day: Ww for Web

Book:
The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle:  The farm animals keep trying to play with spider, but page after page, she is just too busy building her web.

 

 

I used a prop to build a web as the spider builds a web in the book.  See the details of this prop here: http://storytimewithmisstara.blogspot.com/2013/10/spiders-pre-k.html

 

Web in progress

Completed web:

 

Flannel Activity:

The toddlers helped the spider catch more bugs:

Each toddler was handed a bug (fly, mosquito, beetle, or hornet) and was instructed to hold onto it until invited up.

 

As they brought their bugs up (laminated with Velcro on the back) to stick onto the web, the adults sang:

 

The spider catches a fly

The spider catches a fly

Hi ho the dairy-o

The spider catches a fly

Note:  This activity worked well with the toddlers because there tends to be lower attendance this time of year - Fall Break, cooler weather, etc..  There were only 23 toddlers on Monday and 41 on Tuesday.  I could have pulled it off with the regular larger groups too, but this really was a great week to do such a hands-on activity.

Music / Movement Activity: "Itsy Bitsy Spider"

 

Each toddler picked a spider ring on the way in to hold onto during storytime (and keep).  The spiders helped us sing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" by Hap Palmer from this CD.

 

In this version, these tenacious little spiders keeps on climbing and eventually finds a toe to land on and crawl all the way up to our hair.