Preschool Storytime 1-30-18: Dragons and Monsters

Welcome to the last installment of my January of amazing themed Preschool Storytimes. Today we talked about dragons and monsters, because I found tons of good dragon books and monster songs, and only had one week left before I turn the preschoolers over to Sara for February. So, I decided to do both in one!

After our regular hello, our first book of the day was Dragons Rule, Princesses Drool by Courtney Pippin-Mathur. This book is totally hilarious; princesses invade the dragons' habitat and make everything flowery and glittery. Meanwhile the dragons are just trying to teach the princesses the law of the land, which is basically to breathe fire and burp loudly after every meal.

After the book, we did an action song to the Sesame Street classic, "Games Monsters Play." I like this one because it directs movement, so kids have to practice following directions while they're dancing.

Instead of a second action song, we did a rhyming chant together. I had it written out on the white board so everyone could read and follow along, including grownups. It's similar to "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear," but it's "Dragon, Dragon."

Dragon, dragon, turn around.
Dragon, dragon, touch the ground.
Dragon, dragon, fly up high.
Dragon, dragon, float in the sky.
Dragon, dragon, shake your tail.
Dragon, dragon, show your nails.
Dragon, dragon, give a roar.
Dragon, dragon, sit on the floor.

This chant served the dual purpose of being another great directed movement exercise, and ending in a calm position on the floor so the kids were wound down enough to listen to our second story.

Monster Party by Annie Back is really cute and cleverly written all in rhyming verse. It also very realistically captures all the emotions attached to getting a party invitation, having a great time at the party, and being sad it's over before the cycle begins again with another invitation. The kids loved it.

Our final movement song before saying goodbye was "Ten Little Monsters." The gestures I do with this song is always counting on our fingers up to 10, and then back down to zero. It helps develop fine motor skills, and also helps younger preschoolers make the connection between the word for a number and how many that actually is.

After bubbles, we made a dragon breath craft; SUPER simple to prep and make. Simply punch a hole in the bottom of a green paper cup with a pen, and then tape or glue red streamers to the other side's opening. When you breathe through the bottom of the cup, it looks like your dragon snout is breathing fire!

Make a 2017 Time Capsule

It's 2018 already! Even though we're almost done with the first month of the new year, I thought it would be a good idea to give our kids the opportunity to reflect on 2017 and look forward to what this year has in store for them. This program went through a lot of incarnations before I finally landed on what is below. I borrowed from a lot of websites, from stay-at-home mom blogs to official time capsule sites, and if you are planning your own time capsule program, i encourage you to do the same. Also, don't be afraid to go with your own creative instincts! That's what makes program planning fun.

The original idea for our time capsule vessels was to buy plastic containers, but we have a small yearly budget and I did not want to limit the amount of people who came to this program. In my online research (*cough*Pinterest*cough*) I found the idea of recycling two liter soda bottles into time capsule vessels.

I happen to have a family member who drinks a fairly significant amount of Diet Coke, and they were happy to save their bottles for me. This lead to me standing in the staff kitchen with an impossibly giant knife slicing 30+ bottles in half, while trying not to send myself to the ER for stitches.

The slicing of the bottles was the most time-consuming part of planning. The rest consisted of setting our craft supplies to decorate your capsule, and printing some handouts.

I kept the craft supplies to glitter glue, stickers, and adhesive foam cut-outs. I wasn't exactly ready to clean up paint today.

One of the handouts was information about what a time capsule is, and all the ways you can personalize it to make it special to you. The rest were sheets to fill out about your life in the last year; the idea was to fill them out and put them in your time capsule, then see how your life has changed when you open your time capsule a year or more from now.

I even found out that you can register your time capsule with the official International Time Capsule website! It turns out anyone can do this, whether it's a thousand-year capsule made of titanium being buried in a public place, or a shoe box you plan to keep in the back of your closet. I set out one of our laptops with the website in case anyone wanted to register theirs, and a few people took advantage of this cool opportunity.

I gave out this handout as well, with information about what a time capsule is and why you should want to create one (click to enlarge and read).

I think the people who attended this program had a good time, and I hope they come back a few years from now and let me know how they enjoyed looking through their 2017 time capsule!

Preschool Storytime 1-23-18: Names

The next installment in our exciting month of themed storytimes is the theme of names. Mostly, I wanted an excuse to read Chrysanthemum and make name trains. Plus, all kids love to hear their own names as much as possible.

After our regular hello, we learned the American Sign Language sign for "name." I encouraged the kids to practice the sign every time the word "name" came up in our first book.

Name

Our first story was Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes. I have always loved this story, and Henkes in general. This book is a little long to read to a large group so I ended up paper clipping the middle part of the story together so my preschool friends didn't get too wiggly. They were still a little restless, but they sat through the story with minimal disruptions and I think they enjoyed it.

After the story, I passed out egg shakers and we danced to "The Name Game." I chose to do this as a shaker song because in a 30 minute storytime, explaining and playing the name game with 40+ kids is an overwhelming concept. This way, they got to hear the song and enjoy as they played with their shakers. I also saw lots of parents singing along, so I hope that they taught their kids how to play the name game with their own names on the way home today.

Our second story was My Name is Elizabeth by Annika Dunklee. I like this book for preschoolers because it reminds them (or maybe introduced the concept) that we are all in charge of our own identity. The main character likes her name, Elizabeth, and not any shortened versions the people in her life use, like Liz or Betsy. Her preference is accepted by her friends and family, and by the end of the story they are all using her full name.

The next movement song was BINGO, a fun clapping song that everyone knows. Parents and kids sang and clapped along together, which was a fun way to get the energy level in the room back up after sitting for a story.

We said our regular goodbye, and then I passed out the materials to make our special name craft, name trains! This craft was so easy to prep for, and easy for the kids to put together as well. I printed and cut the trains beforehand, as well as making lots of 2-inch squares in different colors. Then it's just a matter of gluing the squares and trains to a larger piece of construction paper and writing the child's name. Some of our ready-for-kindergarten kiddos even wrote their own names, which was so great to see. (Note: All parents gave permission for these pictures to appear online)

Selfie culture: I asked her for a picture and she came over
next to me, waiting for me to turn the camera around.

Books displayed:

• My Father Knows the Names of Things—Yolen 
• From Anne to Zach—Martin 
• My Name is Elizabeth!—Dunklee 
• Chrysanthemum—Henkes 
• Princess Baby—Katz 
• Hello, My Name is Octicorn—Diller 
• Thunder Boy Jr.—Alexie 
• Write On, Carlos!—Murphy 
• Penny and Her Doll—Henkes 
• Jessica—Henkes 
• Wabi Sabi—Reibstein 
• On the Road—Nolan 
• Kuma-Kuma Chan, the Little Bear—Takahashi 
• Santa’s Book of Names—McPhail 
• The Cat with Seven Names—Johnston 
• Phoebe Sounds It Out—Zwillich

Shake, Boogie, and Bop 1-19-18

This program is absolute insanity, in the best way possible. We push all the chairs and tables against the wall and open up our giant program room into one big dance floor for a preschool dance party of epic proportions! I found myself using "calm down" chants two or three times, especially after collecting the egg shakers. Also, I did not use my traditional hello and goodbye today, because there were lots and lots and LOTS of wiggles in the room. I felt it was best to keep everyone moving at all times, so that's what we did!

Below are all the songs I used today, in the order I used them. "The Goldfish" by Laurie Berkner acted as our goodbye song, because transitioning straight from that to bubbles seemed like the best way to structure the end of class. Most of the songs have movements built into the lyrics, except two of the shaker songs--the movement was free shaker play. I have found that musical instruments are a great tool to play music you wouldn't otherwise use during storytime, because it might not have explicit movements to go with it or it might be a little longer. This way, you and the kids can still enjoy these songs, and they will be occupied by their shakers or other instruments at the same time.

Spotify playlist of the songs I used today

"Hello Hello" by Lewis Watson

"Clap Your Hands" by Lucky Millinder

"One, Two Hands" by Laurie Berkner

"Jumping and Counting" by Jim Gill

"Hurry, Hurry, Drive that Firetruck" by the Kiboomers

At this point, I passed out egg shakers.

"Happy Feet" by Joanie Bartels

"It Sure is Hot" from Sesame Street

"Shake My Sillies Out" by Raffi

The great collection of egg shakers.

"Tooty Ta" (I use the Kiboomers version but I love Dr. Jean)

"Tooty Ta" by the Kiboomers

"The Goldfish" by Laurie Berkner

"One Little, Two Little, Three Little Bubbles"

"The Bubble Song" from Yo Gabba Gabba

Baby Lapsit 1-19-18

We had a huge group of babies this morning! Usually we have 6-7 babies, each with one grownup. Occasionally two parents bring one baby, or one parent bring 2-3 kids. Today, we had 13 babies, and many of them came with 2-3 adults! It was the biggest Baby Lapsit I've done in a while, and it was also one of the most fun sessions I've ever done.

After our usual introduction, we read I Love Hugs and Kisses by Sandra Magsamen. It worked well for a first book because it only has a few pages, and the illustrations are bright and eye-catching. It was also a good opportunity to identify animals and what sounds they make (if applicable: pandas do not, to my knowledge, make a distinct sound). We had a couple of older siblings in class today, so this worked out well.

Next it was time for our lap bounce journey and it began, as always, with "Bumpy Road." I have a few regulars who have come to Baby Lapsit continuously since their babies were only a couple months old, and they know this chant by heart now. Grownups are instructed to seat their baby facing forward on their laps and bounce along with me as I demonstrate with a roughly baby-sized teddy bear. Here is the chant:

Bumpy road, bumpy road. (Bounce baby on lap)
Smooth road, smooth road. (Move baby smoothly back and forth)
Bumpy road, bumpy road. (Bounce baby on lap)
Smooth road, smooth road. (Move baby smoothly back and forth)
Rough road, rough road! (Bounce baby higher than before)
Bumpy road, bumpy road. (Bounce baby on lap)
Rough road, rough road! (Bounce baby higher than before)
Hole! (Hold baby under armpits and let them fall between your legs)

I tried a new lap bounce today, that went really well: the old children's music standby, "BINGO." I encouraged everyone to sing along, and we bounced babies on our laps for most of the song. At the missing letters, I encouraged them to hold babies up above their heads, or even gently toss them. The babies had a great time, and I could tell the grownups thought it was fun, too!

video

Our second lap bounce song was "Milkshake," one of my favorite storytime songs because it works with all ages. Makes a great lap bounce because you can "stir" baby (similar to the "smooth road" part of the above chant), and of course bounce and gently shake them while making your milkshake.

For our second book we read the board book How Do Dinosaurs Learn Their Colors? by Jane Yolen. The How Do Dinosaurs... series is adorable, and I'm really happy that they published some board books for the series as well. The board books are better for the baby and toddler level, while still engaging for the kiddos.

While reading this book, we learned the signs for all the colors mentioned. I also took the time before class to print out pictures of the signs, so the grownups could follow along with the color signs, and hopefully retain them well enough to practice at home with their baby.

 

Colors

Red

Purple

Green

Blue

Pink

Yellow

Brown

White

Black

Orange

Rainbow

Our first movement song today was Mr. Jon's awesome version of "If You're Happy and You Know It," tickle bugs and all. We also practiced the sign for "happy" while singing, clapping, stomping, and shouting yippee.

Before singing goodbye, our last movement song was a new favorite of mine, "One, Two Hands." I like to give the parent tip that practicing naming body parts helps babies of all ages start to figure out where their bodies are in space, and how they have control over how they move their bodies. This song is great for practicing body part names.

Then we had our community playtime and said goodbye until next week!

Preschool Storytime 1-16-18: Dance

Next on my list of storytime themes is one quite near ad dear to my heart (read my bio on the Welcome page if you're not sure why), dance. After singing hello to our friends, we learned the American Sign Language sign for "dance."

Dance

Our first book was Color Dance by Ann Jonas. Even though it's older than I am literally...it was published in 1989), I love this book for storytime. It has simple words, shows the relationships between colors, and gives lots of diversity because it represents children of all colors and genders dancing together. This book would also be great for a color themed storytime.

Next, because of the kids dancing with colorful scarves in the book, we danced with our own colorful scarves! I passed out one per child (and any grownup who wanted one) and we waved them to "Get Ready, Get Set, Let's Dance" by Greg and Steve.

Despite looking all week online and in several print resources, I wasn't able to find a calm-down chant that had anything to do with dance. If you have one, please leave it in the comments! So after we collected the scarves, I used a wonderful song that I have been waiting for the perfect opportunity to use. My one reservation is that the character Joe sings it on Parks and Recreation, and I was a little afraid the parents would recognize it from that. Although I saw a small spark of recognition in one of the regular moms' eyes, but this song went really well and did a great job focusing the kids' attention back on me. I will definitely be using it again.

The second book was Everybunny Dance by Ellie Sandall. It worked out great as a storytime book! First of all, it rhymes, which is always helpful to get littles to pay attention. Second, there are movements you can easily ask the kids to do. Whole pages are devoted to "everybunny" dancing, playing instruments, jumping, and running. 

After our second book, I actually paused the storytime action long enough to make a quick craft. We made ribbon dancers today, and I wanted everyone to have theirs to dance with for our last couple of songs. This craft was extremely easy; tongue depressors, clear tape, and short-ish lengths of ribbon I had a volunteer cut for me ahead of time. Not only was it easy and cheap, the kids were absolutely delighted by them. Plus, it only took about five minutes for all 30 kids and their parents to put together. 

Our final movement song before saying goodbye was "Everybody Dance" by Teacher Dan. Everyone swinging their ribbons around as this calypso beat played was the most fun I've had all week!

Here is a list of dance books I displayed today:

• Everybunny Dance—Sandall
• Dance! A Story About Being Happy—Bendall-Brunello 
• Color Dance—Jonas 
• Giant Dance Party—Bird 
• Dance is for Everyone—Zuill 
• Sock Monkey Boogie-Woogie—Bell 
• Spunky Little Monkey—Martin 
• Duck Sock Hop—Kohuth 
• Cats’ Night Out—Stutson 
• Dilly Dog’s Dizzy Dancing—DeRubertis 
• Naughty Toes—Bonwill 
• The All-American Jump and Jive Jig—Proeller Hueston 
• I Got the Rhythm—Schofield-Morrison

Stuffed Animal Sleepover

A stuffed animal sleepover is not an original idea in Libraryland, but it's always adorable and a hit with the kids. This program was totally my programming partner Sara's baby, but she let me co-staff it with her and help take pictures of the animals doing adorable stuff.

If you're not familiar with the idea of this program, here it is: We can't let kids spend the night in the library, but we CAN let their stuffed animals sleep over. So kids dropped off their babies with us on Friday. They gave them a hug and kiss, and filled out an intake form so we would know what their pal likes to eat, read, and watch on TV.

The next morning, Sara and I wheeled a cart full of surprisingly diverse stuffed animals around the library before opening and photographed them getting into mischief of one kind and another.

After taking the pictures, we compiled them into a photo album. When the kids came to pick up their furry friends, they got to decorate the cover of their album and take it home as a reminder of all the fun their animal (or doll or dinosaur or Pokemon) had at their library sleepover!

 In case you can't read the list, here are our sleepover/bedtime book picks:

• Dinosaur vs. Bedtime by Robert Shea
• Chester Raccoon and the Almost Perfect Sleepover by Audrey Penn
• Where's my Teddy? by Jez Alborough
• Clark the Shark Afraid of the Dark by Bruce Hale
• Milk and Cookies by Frank Asch
• Twenty Yawns by Jame Smiley
• Sleepover with Beatrice and Bear by Monica Carnesi
• Sophie Sleeps Over by Marisabina Russo
• Vampirina Ballerina Hosts a Sleepover by Anne Marie Pace
• Who Feels Scared? by Sue Graves
• Sleepover at Grandma's House by Barbara M. Joosse
• Ira Sleeps Over by Bernard Waber