Baby Lapsit 4-6-18

Today was my first storytime after a three week leave! You might have noticed there are hardly any programs listed for March 2018. This is because I was gone most of the month for recovery from a much-needed surgery. I am now back and ready to get my storytime groove on!
After our usual introduction and hello songs, our first board book today was Llama Llama Easter Egg by Anna Dewdney. It is technically the week after Easter, but I never pass up a chance for 1) a cute Spring story or 2) Anna Dewdney.

And since it's been a while, here is Ludacris rapping Dewdney's original, Llama Llama Red Pajama.(For the record, I don't include this in storytime, but I love it so much in my other life as a childless adult who enjoys hip hop music.)

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)

The musical lap bounces were on the "pop" theme: "Pop Goes the Weasel" and "Popcorn" by Raffi. I like to do "Popcorn" twice through, because it's only about 30 seconds long. By the second time the grownups usually get the hang of when to bounce, when to sizzle, and when to POP!

Our second story was Peekaboo, Pierre by Florence Wetterwald. This little board book is great for grownup/child interactions. You can practice naming directions like up and down while looking for Pierre. It's also a great opportunity to practice counting to three, and playing peek-a-boo. It segued wonderfully into our Peek-a-Boo song later on in storytime.

Before saying goodbye, our final movement songs were my standby classics, "One, Two Hands" and "Peek-a-Boo."

Click here to listen to the version of "Peek-a-Boo" I use.

Today's Baby Lapsit was only about 15 minutes long. Usually I aim more for the 25 minute mark before our 15-minute Community Playtime at the end. Today, since it was my first time back after a long absence, I kept it simple and we ended the entire session after almost exactly half an hour.