Usually after Learn and Grow with Rhythm and Flow (LGRF), I host a half-hour program where kiddos can play with musical instruments that we don't use in the storytime and make a DIY instrument of their own with household objects. The first four months that I did this program, it got harder and harder to collect enough recycled objects to make the instruments as the numbers for the program grew. Luckily, around the time I figured that out, we were also trying to spend the rest of our budget before the end of the fiscal year.
I knew I wouldn't be doing the DIY instrument component of the program anymore, but still wanted to keep the spirit of Music Lab alive. So, I requested a large set of musical instruments from Lakeshore Learning, some ribbon bells, and some star-shaped tambourines. Armed with my snazzy new toys, I entered Music Lab today with confidence that the program will be just as fun without a craft component. In addition to the new instruments, I set out our sets of egg shakers and rhythm sticks. 84 people came to LGRF, and the number grew to 101 for Music Lab! Judging by the pictures, it looks like everyone had a great time with the instruments.
Bubbles!
Baby making music
Exploring the ribbon bells
Friends making music
This lil dude bonded with his tiny cymbals
Big group!
They figured out new uses for some instruments, like this tambourine drum
If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Over the last few months I've found this program is best structured as unstructured play time. I lay out egg shakers, rhythm sticks, and other musical instruments, and let the kids explore whatever they're attracted to. I also set up the craft as a station in one corner of the room, so families can drift over a few at a time instead of all at once. Especially since many of the participants just got out of the 30-minute structured program Learn and Grow with Rhythm and Flow, this more relaxed setup has been pretty successful.
All you need for this project are two spoons, a plastic egg, dry beans, and packing or duct tape. Fill the egg with beans (rice would work too, but would be messier), tape a spoon on each side, and you've made your own egg shaker with a handle for little hands to easily grab! We used packing tape because you can still see the color of your egg through the clear tape. Duct tape would be fun if you have colored or patterned tape, or plan to decorate it with markers or stickers.
I was once again too busy running the program to take pictures, but it was fun! I got some very positive verbal feedback from a couple of moms, that they like how I make this program both fun and educational. LGRF and Music Lab will be going on a hiatus for the summer while I focus on teen volunteers and theater day camp, but it'll be back in August!
My Learn and Grow with Rhythm and Flow (LGRF) format is:
Hello Warm Up Motor Skills Heckity Peckity Bumble Bee Movement Song Pass Out Instruments A Capella Instrument Rhyme Movement Songs with Instruments Collect instruments Mellow Movement Song Goodbye Bubbles
Note: This post shows all the songs and chants I use when I run this program with egg shakers. I don't use every song and chant every time; that would make for a several-hour-long program and some very wiggly preschoolers!
Hello
"Hello, Hello"
Since LGRF is so high energy, I like to start the programs with a more mellow good morning song than other storytimes. I like this one because it has built-in movements and stretches.
Warming Up Motor Skills
"Open, Shut Them"
On this song we do the movements described in the lyrics: open our hands, close our hands, clap three times, put our hands in our lap, creep our fingers up to our chin, and don't let them in our mouths.
Heckity Peckity Bumble Bee
The "Heckity Peckity" chant is a great way to practice call-and-response, get to know our new friends by name, and practice counting the syllables of words.
Me and my bumblebee finger puppet
Heckity peckity bumblebee,
Won't you say your name for me?
Bzzzzz (Bee buzzes up to a child and asks their name. Let's say it's Harold.)
Everyone say Harold. (Group says name)
Can we whisper it? (whisper the name)
Can we do it on our legs? (Repeat name and pat thighs with each syllable)
Can we clap it? (Repeat name and clap with each syllable)
Now let's turn off our voice (Do a clicking motion with hand on throat and make clicking sound)
And let's just clap it (Group claps the syllables without speaking)
How many claps was that? (Group answers)
Harold's name is two claps! Who is next?
Movement Song
You could pretty much use any movement songs in this program, but there are several that I've noticed go over extra well when the kids are excited about puppets and instruments, and just need to shake their wiggles out. I usually go with one of these ten...
"Bop 'Til You Drop" by Greg and Steve
"It's Time to Stand Up" by Susan Salidor
"The Goldfish" by Laurie Berkner
"Can't Sit Still" by Greg and Steve
"Tooty Ta" by The Kiboomers
"The Freeze" by Greg and Steve
(weird video, but you can hear the song pretty well)
When it's time to pass out the instruments, I tell the kids they must be sitting down calmly in order to get one. If they're extra wiggly, I might do a calming song like "Everybody Do This Just Like Me" or "Eyes are Watching, Ears are Listening," but this is only necessary about half the time. Once they see kids who are sitting down getting handed rhythm sticks or egg shakers, they get the idea and assume the position themselves. Also, since it's impossible to be handed a musical instrument and not make noise with it right away, I don't make them keep it quiet until everyone has theirs.
A Capella Egg Shaker Rhyme
"One, Two, Shake it on Your Shoe"
(To the rhythm of "One, Two, Buckle My Shoe")
One, two, shake it on your shoe (shake eggs near shoes)
Three, four, shake it on the floor (bend down and shake eggs near floor)
Five, six, stir and mix (pretend shakers are the spoon mixing in a large bowl)
Seven, eight, hold them up straight (hold shakers above your head)
Nine, ten, do it all again (shake eggs excitedly)
Movement Songs with Instruments
I can only keep the attention of a room full of preschoolers with musical instruments for so long, so this is the point in the program where I let recorded music do the majority of the work. I encourage the kids and grownups to dance and sing along, as well as follow the directed movements suggested in the lyrics. These songs are all fantastic for working with egg shakers because they acknowledge the instruments and show the kids several different ways to use them.
"Going to Kentucky" by Laurie Berkner
"Shake Your Sillies Out" by Raffi
"Milkshake" by Old Town School of Folk Music
"Shaky Shaky" by The Wiggles
Collect Egg Shakers
I don't try the "only those sitting down can put their instruments away" method for collecting... It does not work. By the end of the second song, they're either over using the instruments or so attached that they will sob if I try to take them away. For this reason, I simply encourage everyone to be good helpers and clean up all the instruments until they're all back in their bin. The prospect of helping me clean up is usually enough to get the clingers to relinquish their toys, especially when it's coupled with the promise that they'll get to play with them again next time.
Mellow Movement Song
The last thing I like to do before singing the goodbye song and having bubbles is one more movement song to help the littles re-compose themselves after the trauma of having to say goodbye to the toys. The best one I've found is Ella Jenkin's "Follow the Leader."
Goodbye
"Until We Meet Again" from Out of the Box
Before singing this song, we learn a vocabulary word: clave. Clave is a type of rhythm used mostly in Afro-Cuban music, characterized by it's three-two beat. When I teach the word to preschool-age kids, I have them count to three, pause, and count to two, then do it again with clapping. The Out of the Box goodbye song uses a clave pattern, so after we learn what the word means, we practice clapping the clave pattern as we say goodbye to our friends.
Bubbles!
The last thing I do at every storytime is blow bubbles. The kids go crazy over them! I play the same songs every time so they get to know that after we say goodbye, we have bubbles for the duration of two songs, and then storytime is over until next time. Our regulars know this is the way it always goes, which is a great introduction to establishing routines in other aspects of life as they grow. One Little, Two Little, Three Little Bubbles Yo Gabba Gabba Bubbles Song
There is a family who regularly attends storytime: a mom, 4-year-old twins, and a toddler who is about 2. The twins, one boy and one girl, are incredibly smart and advanced for their age. The boy could sit down and read an entire picture book from cover to cover when he was three. They are also pretty calm and reserved, preferring to stay on mom's lap or on the outskirts of the group when we sing and dance in storytime.
On Wednesday, the whole family came to Toddlertime, which once again includes a 15-minute toy session at the end. When clean-up was finished the boy twin came up to me with a very concerned look on his face. I knelt to his level and held both of my hands out. He placed one hand in each of mine, very delicately. I asked him what was wrong.
"UM," he said. "I only got to pick up one thing. I wanted to pick up lots of things."
From getting to know this family over the last year, I know it's extra important to this little guy that he has items and experiences that are just his own, because he has to share so much with his twin sister. I told him that if he came back on Friday (today) for Shake, Boogie, and Bop, he could be an extra good cleaner-upper when we played with egg shakers.
Flash forward to today. The Shake, Boogie, and Bop group were fairly raucous. We didn't get to the point in the program where I would have brought out the egg shakers, and I'm glad we didn't, because there were some older boys in there and I was having psychic visions of egg shakers being hurled full-throttle at their brothers' heads. The twins, their baby sister, and their mom were exemplary storytime goers as usual. After we sang our goodbye song and had bubbles, most of the crowd left, but this family stayed behind to chat as they sometimes do.
I brought out the box of egg shakers and set it on the floor. I asked the boy if he would help me sort the shakers and put them back in their box, since we didn't get a chance to use them in class. He and both of his sisters excitedly organized the shakers by color on the floor, then gingerly placed each one back in their bin.
Before they left, I asked him if this satisfied his urge to put away lots of things. He answered with an uncharacteristic yelp of "YES!" He was, however, not nearly as enthusiastic when I suggested he tell his mom he wanted to help clean up lots of things at home, too.
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.
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.
I had some extra time last week because the trains were in our program room, so I used it to plan a full month of Preschool Storytime themes with books, songs, and crafts all having to do with those themes. I am so excited to share them with the kids, and report on them in this blog!
First up was the theme of dogs. I got the idea for this theme from Jbrary's list of favorite 2017 storytime picture books. The book I Got a New Friend was on the list, and I found out we have it in our catalogue! So after making sure I could physically lay my hands on it, I planned a whole storytime around this book.
After saying hello (my introduction did not change with the new year because, why fix what isn't broken?), we learned the American Sign Language sign(s) and Baby Sign for "dog." I explained that the baby sign is for those who might not have very developed motor skills yet. Actually, the three signs can be broken down as baby, toddler, and preschool and up. The most beginning is just panting to imitate a dog, the intermediate is slapping your thigh as if you are calling a dog, and the advanced version is slapping your thigh and snapping. There are a lot of accepted signs for "dog."
Our first book today was Found Dogs by Erica Sirotich. This book was just published in 2017, and has a lot of very pleasing illustrations. It's fun and cartoonish to look at, which I think kept the attention of our especially wiggly group today. I also encouraged the kids to count with me as we saw one, two, three, etc. dogs of different colors and ages, all the way up to ten, and then count down again from ten to one. At the end (spoiler alert), all the dogs find their forever homes and get adopted! This book was an unexpected preschool storytime goldmine. I'm so glad I found it.
Because I wanted to provide a dynamic, educational storytime while simultaneously sticking with the theme, I decided to play the song "I Wanna Be a Dog" by Charlotte Diamond while we shook egg shakers. I figured it's music education, practicing shaking on the beat, and developing gross motor skills, while listening to a cute song about being a dog.
(On the CD recording, she does not include the introduction.)
After collecting the egg shakers, we were still pretty full of wiggles. Luckily, I expected this and planned a calm-down chant that we could say as many times as necessary. I wrote the words out on a white board so the kids and grownups could follow along. We also had a gesture to go with each line.
Call the puppy (Hands by your mouth like you are calling someone)
Give him some milk (Hold out cupped hands)
Brush his fur 'til he shines like silk (Pretend to hold and brush a small dog)
Call the puppy (Hands by your mouth like you are calling someone)
Give him a bone (Hold out cupped hands)
Then scoop him up and take him home! (Pretend to pick up and hug a small dog)
We ended up doing this rhyme four times through. I found that having the words written out where everyone can see them is really helpful. I will definitely be using this technique again.
After we got all calmed down and found our comfy story-listening spot once again, it was time for our second story. I Got a New Friend by Karl Newsom Edwards is also a 2017 book, with adorable illustrations and very few words per page, which makes it a storytime slam dunk. Before we started reading, I asked the kids to listen to the words, and then tell me at the end if they thought it was the little girl, or the puppy, telling the story. Two pages from the end I took a vote, and almost everyone raised their hand when I asked if it was the little girl. I won't spoil this one for you, because I want you to be delighted and surprised when you read I Got a New Friend and find out that it was the puppy speaking all along! (Oops.)
We did two short movement songs before saying goodbye: "Do the Dog" from Sesame Street, and the classic "Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone."
"Do the Dog" is from 1994, aka MY era of Sesame Street. I encouraged the kids to follow along with the lyrics and act like dogs, with varried success. They were willing to put up their "paws," bark, howl, scratch, and turn around 3 times, but not so enthusiastic about the idea of getting on all fours and crawling around. I'm thinking that's more of a Toddler Time activity. On the CD recording, the "This Old Man" intro is not played.
The movements for "Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone" are pretty straightforward as well. Pretend to look for your dog, then mime ears and a tale when the lyrics talk about them. The kids had fun with this one.
Since I had the time to plan a craft, we made out very own dog masks today! It was a very fun and easy craft with minimal prep. I simply printed the mask templates, pre-punched holes in the sides to make the parents' lives easier, then provided crayons, scissors, and time to create!
Here is the template I used. If you print it on a regular 8.5x11 piece of paper it's about the right size for a face.
And I wasn't able to get pictures of our littles in their masks because I was too busy having fun, but here is mine:
Here is a list of books about dogs that I displayed:
I Got a New Friend—Edwards
Found Dogs—Sirotich
Shoe Dog—McDonald
Black Dog—Pinfold
Shark Dog!—Adamson
Dog Day—Hayes
Doggy Dog—Raschka
Dog Parade—Joosse
Dog Loves Drawing—Yates
My Dog Spot—Levin
Hello Goodbye Dog—Gianferrari
The Dog Book—Clerci
A final note about the book Hello Goodbye Dog by Maria Gianferrari. I love, love, love this book about a girl in a wheelchair whose dog hates saying goodbye to her. Over the course of the book, the girl gets her dog certified as a service animal so he can stay with her all day at school, and they never have to say goodbye again. Not only is it the most adorable thing in the world, it's a great introduction for preschool age kids to service animals and wheelchair-related disabilities. Yay, diversity in children's literature!
After our usual introduction, we clapped the syllables of individual children's names using the "Heckity Peckity" chant.
Heckity peckity bumblebee,
Won't you say your name for me?
Bzzzzz (Bee buzzes up to a child and asks their name. Let's say it's Harold.)
Everyone say Harold. (Group says name)
Can we whisper it? (whisper the name)
Can we do it on our legs? (Repeat name and pat thighs with each syllable)
Can we clap it? (Repeat name and clap with each syllable)
Now let's turn off our voice (Do a clicking motion with hand on throat and make clicking sound)
And let's just clap it (Group claps the syllables without speaking)
How many claps was that? (Group answers)
Harold's name is two claps! Who is next?
Our movement song today was "Bop 'til You Drop" by Greg and Steve. Here are some funny tweens dancing to it:
Then we did our "Little Clapping Mouse" clapping rhyme. I like to have the words written out on the white board so that grownups, and any of the kids who know how to read, can follow along with me the first time I chant it. I do this one at least twice, and usually all the kids catch on to the words and when to clap (each asterisk is a clap below) by the second time through.
Behind the tree * *
And under the house * *
There lives a teeny * *
Tiny mouse * *
She loves to sing * *
She loves to tap * *
But most of all * *
She loves to clap * *
She claps all night * *
She claps all day * *
She claps to frighten * *
The cat away! * * * * * * * *
And here is a video of the chant, courtesy of Jbrary.
Next it was time for instruments! I used egg shakers again, which are great little maraca-like instruments perfect for little hands to hold onto.
After passing them out and giving the kids a minute or two to shake on their own, we did an a capella rhyme in the vein of "1 2 Buckle My Shoe."
1, 2, shake it on your shoe
3, 4, shake it on the floor
5, 6, stir and mix
7, 8, hold it up straight
9, 10, wave to your friend
This rhyme gives them a chance to see everything you can do with the shakers besides simply shake them. You can mime a lot of different activities like stirring with a bowl and spoon or waving to a friend with a shaker in your hand, and it makes a different rhythm with every movement.
We listened to two recorded songs while dancing with our shakers. First was everyone's favorite egg shaker song, "I Know a Chicken" by Laurie Berkner. Then I played Raffi's "Shake my Sillies Out," because Raffi is the god of children's music and everyone knows it.
I got all my egg shakers back in a somewhat orderly fashion, and then we sang our goodbye song and had bubbles. Click here for my rhythm and music storytime closers.
I am so excited to roll out this brand new program! The official description on our website is, "Children ages 3-5 will learn the basics of rhythm and beat, how to work with instruments, and what makes music happen in this upbeat program." Pretty catchy, right? I wrote it. Anyway...
My vision for this program is to help preschoolers grasp the basics of what it means to clap on the beat, how to keep basic rhythm, and understand what is happening in music as they listen. It sounds incredibly complicated for a three-year-old, but I'm pretty sure my dance teachers did this with us and I'm much more musically inclined as an adult because of it.
So we began this morning with what will become my usual Rhythm & Flow introduction. We only do one hello song and "Open, Shut Them" to warm up our fingers, because "Hello Hello" has built in stretches.
I want this storytime to include even more interaction between me and the group of kids than a regular storytime would, so I am getting to know the kids individually using a bumblebee finger puppet and this fun chant:
Heckity peckity bumblebee,
Won't you say your name for me?
Bzzzzz (Bee buzzes up to a child and asks their name. Let's say it's Harold.)
Everyone say Harold. (Group says name)
Can we whisper it? (whisper the name)
Can we do it on our legs? (Repeat name and pat thighs with each syllable)
Can we clap it? (Repeat name and clap with each syllable)
Now let's turn off our voice (Do a clicking motion with hand on throat and make clicking sound)
And let's just clap it (Group claps the syllables without speaking)
How many claps was that? (Group answers)
Harold's name is two claps! Who is next?
I like this one because they are starting to associate counting syllables with words they say every day, like their names. It's also a fun way to get to know your storytime regulars. Here are some videos of people doing Heckity Peckity. Including Jbrary, who are awesome.
Next, we did a movement song with music because we had a lot of wiggles to shake out. I picked "Can't Sit Still" by Greg and Steve today, because it is vaguely directed movement but still allows plenty of opportunity to get the sillies out and be ready to move on to another activity.
Where I would usually put a second movement song in a regular storytime, we did a clapping chant instead. I love this one that I got from Jbrary, "Little Clapping Mouse."
Before the program, I wrote out the whole rhyme on a rolling white board so grownups and any reading children could follow along. I added two asterisks to the end of each line to indicate where the claps go, like this:
Behind the tree * *
And under the house * *
There lives a teeny * *
Tiny mouse * *
She loves to sing * *
She loves to tap * *
But most of all * *
She loves to clap * *
She claps all night * *
She claps all day * *
She claps to frighten * *
The cat away! * * * * * * * *
Having the words written out in a place storytimers can see them makes it easier for them to follow along right away, instead of me needing to teach the rhyme aloud. We did it two times through as a group. The kids got the hang of when to clap by the second time.
Another vision I had for this program was the use of a musical instrument every time. Today we used egg shakers, which are noisemakers similar to maracas, but great for teeny tinies because they fit perfectly in their hands.
As I passed them out, I gave the kids time to shake them on their own and start to explore everything they could do with them. Then we sang an a capella version of "Happy and You Know It" using the shakers. Each verse below is the full, usual verse of the song with the clapping, stomping, and hooray-ing substituted with the following words:
If you're happy and you know it, give a shake (*shake shake*)
If you're happy and you know it, give a clap (tap shakers together *clap clap*)
If you're happy and you know it, give a tap (tap shakers on legs *tap tap*)
If you're happy and you know it, do all three (*shake shake, clap clap, tap tap*)
Then we did two recorded songs with the egg shakers: "I Know a Chicken" and "Milkshake." "I Know a Chicken" is great because it mentions egg shakers specifically, and gives direction on how to use the shakers. Laurie Berkner strikes again!
After we gave all the shakers back, I launched right into our goodbye song. We used the same one that I do for Preschool Storytime and Toddler Time, for the simple reason that I love it. I also like to see the kids copying me when I demonstrate the sign language.
All in all, my first completely original storytime went really well. There were 75 people in the room which was a little overwhelming, but they all had a good time and so did I!
