Baby Time

I really love doing Baby Time!  The caregivers are so invested in the early bonding moments they share with their babies and participate enthusiastically.

This post from last week includes Mr. Bear, "Roly Poly", "I Wake Up My Hands", "Going Up and Down in an Elevator", "Charlie Chaplin Went to France" (my new favorite!), and "Robbie Rabbit".


Animal Song with Puppets: "If I Was a Bird"

Book: "Hickory Dickory Dock" from Cat & Mouse by Ian Schoenherr

Prop Rhyme:  "Slowly, Slowly Snail" - I played Kathy Reid-Naiman's version 

My lovely co-woker livened this rhyme up with some puppets while the caregivers and I creeped our fingers up and down baby's arms and body.

Slowly, slowly, very slowly
creeps the garden snail
Slowly, slowly, very slowly
up the garden rail

Quickly, quickly, very quickly
runs the little mouse
Quickly, quickly, very quickly
right up to his house!

Bounce Song:  I used a recorded version of "Hickory Dickory Dock" and these adorable mice (from IKEA).  The babies tick-tocked and the mice ran up and down them as the clock struck, 1:00, 2:00, 3:00, and 4:00

Pre-K Rain

Unfortunately, we are going to have to limit attendance next week to 45 or 50 kids, because there were just too many to do these activities smoothly.

64 kids
5 babies
52 adults
121 total

I don't know if there is any rain in the forecast, but it is officially monsoon season in Arizona so we celebrated it with a rain theme.

Rhymes (skipped the "Good Morning" song since it was going to be a very active storytime)

"Come Under My Umbrella"
Watch video of song here

Come under my umbrella, umbrella, umbrella (make umbrella with hands above head)
Come under my umbrella
It's starting to rain (fingers wiggle moving downward)
With thunder and lightning (clap and spread arms above head)
and thunder and lightning
Come under my umbrella
It's starting to rain

"Rain is Falling Down"

Rain is falling down (wiggle fingers moving downward)
Rain is falling down
Pitter patter, pitter patter (clap hands gently)
Rain is falling down....
SPLASH! (clap above head)

"Itsy Bitsy Spider"

Books:

The Thingamabob by Il Sung Na:  An elephant finds a "thingamabob" and experiments until he discovers what to do with it.

If you have an umbrella, it's fun to OPEN it unexpectedly when reading about how the thingamabob sometimes surprised the elephant.

Tap Tap Boom Boom by Elizabeth Bluemle: It's a mad dash for shelter as rain sweeps into an urban neighborhood.  The subway is a perfect place to go for shelter.

I previously read this book with group of  kiddos (ages 3-5) letting them use rhythm stick to tap together whenever I read, "Tap, tap," and tap above their heads whenever I read, "Boom, boom," - which comes up often.  They quietly held the sticks while I was reading and waited for their cue.

THIS DID NOT HAPPEN in my group today.  The kids were banging incessantly while I read even though I stopped a couple of times and asked parents for their help.  I had to stop this activity, collect the sticks, and read The Big Storm by Nancy Tafuri instead.

Movement Songs:

Here is Sara, a teen volunteer, working hard to put a scarf and a long piece of string into 55 bags (yes, we ran out) to use in our movement activities today:

"Mud Puddle Jump" Listen here
The kids used their pieces of yarn to form a mud puddle in which to walk around, jump into, splash in, and shake the water off.

"The Ants Go Marching"  I always play a little of this video so the kids understand what the song is about before we march like ants using our scarves as umbrellas:

Ending Activity: Make a rainstorm using your hands.

I tell an Arizona monsoon version of this activity.  It's really cool if you actually listen to what's going on:
http://bronxriver.org/puma/images/usersubmitted/file/015_CreateARainstorm.pdf


Evening Family Storytime:

I decided not to try the Tap Tap Boom Boom book in the evening since there are often many little guys there and read The Big Storm by Nancy Tafuri instead.

The lovely Miss Erica helped bring this story to life by puppeteering the critters who scamper out of the rain into shelter while I read the book.  The two bears were in the back of the "cave" the whole time but no one seemed to notice so it was a fun surprise when they came out at the end of the book:

Miss Erica (fantastic, creative librarian that she is!):

Check out this week's full Flannel Friday Roundup.  Thanks for hosting, Hannah at Lovin' the Library!

Flannel Friday Roundups on Pinterest

Baby Time

We did some new rhymes in Baby Time yesterday so I wanted to make sure to post everything we did on here so you can do them at home.

36 babies
2 school-age children (with permission)
39 adults
77 total


The Regulars:  Mr. Bear and Roly Poly Beatle:

Roly Poly:
Roly poly, roly poly UP, UP, UP
Roly poly, roly poly DOWN, DOWN, DOWN
Roly poly, roly poly OUT, OUT, OUT
Roly poly, roly poly IN, IN, IN
Roly poly, roly poly CLAP, CLAP, CLAP
Roly poly, roly poly LAP, LAP, LAP

Songs:

"I Wake Up My Hands" Listen to sample here

Animals Song with Puppets:  "Down Grandpa's Farm" by Raffi" using these signs:

Chicken - baby sign language
Sheep - baby sign language
Cow - baby sign language
Dog - baby sign language
Horse - baby sign language

Book: If You're Happy and You Know It by Jane Cabrera

Bounce Rhymes and Fingerplays:

Going Up and Down in an Elevator (to the tune of "Bouncing Up and Down in My Little Red Wagon")
Going up and down in an elevator X3 (bounce)
First floor (lift baby)
Second floor (lift baby higher)
Third floor (lift baby higher)
Dooown!

Charlie Chaplin Went to France:
(My 5 month old goes nuts over this one)

Charlie Chaplin went to France
To teach the babies how to dance
First they did the Ramba
Then they did the kicks
Then they did the Samba
Then they did the splits, the splits, the splits

Watch YouTube video here

There Was a Little Turtle 

There was a little turtle  (make fist, thumb out)
who lived inside a box (cover fist with other hand)
He swam in the water (paddle)
And he climbed on the rocks (walk fingers up baby's arm)
He snapped at a mosquito (snap)
He snapped at a flea (snap)
He snapped at a minnow (snap)
And he snapped at me (snap)

He caught the mosquito (snap)
He caught the flea (snap)
He caught the minnow (snap)
But.... he didn't catch me! (wave finger side to side)

Robbie Rabbit:

Robbie Rabbit is so fat, fat, fat (tickle belly)
His soft little paws go pat, pat, pat (clap hands)
His soft little ears go flop, flop, flop (flop "ears")
And when Robbie runs he goes hop, hop, hop (lift baby up)

We always ends with shakers (or every now and again something a little different) and BUBBLES!

Saturday Jitterbugs

Saturday programming is hit or miss around here, so I was very happy to have over 70 in attendance at today's Jitterbugs program!  Lots of dads too! This program is designed to be an even more active storytime that my weekly toddler one (Wiggle Worms).

Book: Peck, Peck, Peck by Lucy Cousins.
I introduced this woodpecker finger puppet when I introduced myself and our teen volunteer and then put him with the book on the storytime cart.  We did the "Bookworm" rhyme and then I pulled the book out and acted surprised by all the holes the woodpecker pecked when I wasn't looking.  It was pretty funny!
 

 Fingerplay: "Two Little Blackbirds"

Two little blackbirds sitting on a hill (hands behind back)
One named Jack and one named Jill (bring fingers in front)
Fly away Jack
Fly away Jill
Come back Jack
Come back Jill

Do again with these changes:
...sitting on a cloud
...named Quiet and Loud

...sitting in the snow
....named Fast and Slow

My finger puppets:

 

 Letter Fun: We spelled BIRD and then used our bodies to spell it again:

 

 Cube Roll: "There Was a Little Turtle" and "Here is the Beehive"

 Movement Songs:  I LOVED how every single adult stood up and danced before I even encouraged them to do so.  What a great group!

"As I Was Walking to Town One Day" by Carole Peterson Listen to sample here

 Everyone on a walk:

"Beanie Bag Dance" Listen to sample here

"Shake Your Sillys" by Stacy Listen to sample here
I love this version because we shake, jump, kick, clap, dance, and hug

"Sticky, Sticky Bubble Gum" by Carole Peterson Listen to sample here
This song ends with our heads getting "stuck" to the ground:

"Finger Play" sorry- I can't remember where I got this one from...

Bubbles:

Flannel Friday: Caps for Sale

Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina has been in print for over 50 yeras and was a storytime favorite of  mine when I was a kid going to library programs.

Even though it's an older book, it's super interactive and so clever.  (NOTE:  I just read the reviews on Amazon and a few people complained that the publisher cut some text and refrains so it's shorter than the book I remember from my childhood.  No complaints here though!)

This flannel works best with a helper to arrange the pieces while you read the book.

Caps for Sale:

A peddler (cap salesman) walks up and down the streets trying to sell the many caps he keeps stacked on his head.  He decides to take a nap against a tree one afternoon.

At this point, I would turn the flannel board around and have the storytime helper arrange the pieces for the next scene.

When he wakes up, his caps are gone.  He looks to his left, he looks to his right, he looks in back of himself, he looks behind the tree, and finally he looks up and what do you think he sees?

Every time he asks for the caps back, the monkeys mimic him - first he shakes his finger, then he shakes both hands, then he stamps his foot, then he stamps both feet, and finally he get so angry that he throws his own hat on the ground and the monkeys throw down their caps too.  

This whole part is really interactive with the kids.

This flannel is one of the sets I remade while on maternity leave.  Bigger and better!  My almost 3-year-old has been having a blast with personal storytimes:

Flannel Friday: Ten Eggs in a Nest by Marilyn Sadler

 This flannel accompanies the book Ten Eggs in a Nest  by Marilyn Sadler, though it sounds very similar to the flannel rhyme "Ten Fluffy Chicks" that has been done a lot over the past couple years.

That rhyme can be found here Ten Fluffy Chicks

Ten Eggs in a Nest: Gwen the Hen does not count her eggs before they hatch (smart hen!) and patiently waits.  Red Rooster, on the other hand, is so excited that as soon as one egg hatches, he struts over to the store to buy ONE worm with ONE coin for ONE baby chick.

Red returns home to discover that TWO more chicks have hatched so he heads back to the store to buy TWO worms for TWO more baby chicks using TWO coins.

This continues until...

 All 10 baby chicks have arrived

Red Rooster buys worms with coins (this adorable mini cloth bag is perfect for this flannel prop):

Young readers learn how to do (or review) simple addition in this begin-to-read book.  If you are trying to incorporate more STEAM or STEM elements into your storytimes, I think this is a fun way to do that.  

(Some more on STEAM:  http://www.steamedu.com/ or http://showmelibrarian.blogspot.com/p/all-things-steam.html)

Activity: Buy ONE worm with ONE coin

When I do this in storytime, I will probably hand each child ONE "coin" after I read the book.  Their adults will have to tell them it's ok, but after storytime they can use it to buy ONE worm from me (gummy worm). Our library attracts large groups of kids so I'll have to have additional staff around for this activity.

Bringing storytimes home to Grayden, my almost 3-year-old:

Repurposed books (and more suggestions welcomed!)

My sister was given some plush flannel books that are about 7 or 8 inches tall and were kind of beat up.... but I saw the potential:

What the books looked liked before:

Here's the final product:

I removed the paper pages and flanneled over the inside:

I made these worms for a matching game:

Rhyme:

Little color worm 

Which fruit is your home?

(Use Baby Sign Language while saying the colors)

 So you can appreciate the plushness of the books

 I WELCOME ideas on other ways to use these books!  They are pretty neat in person.  Thanks!