Baby Lapsit 2-9-18

Even considering last week's success in a themed Baby Lapsit, I went back to no theme this week. After saying hello to all our friends, our first book was Why Cry by Yusuke Yonezu. This book is a good one for babies and toddlers, because it teaches about emotions and normalizes sadness. As children are developing, it's important that they learn it's okay to cry and be sad sometimes, and that these feelings don't last forever. The book also has a cut-out half circle in each page, that turns to a rainbow by the last page.

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)

Our musical lap bounces today were "Noble Duke of York" and "Humpty Dumpty." Since my version of "Humpty Dumpty" repeats the nursery rhyme three times, I suggested to the grownups that their baby's "great fall" be in a different direction each time.

Our second book today was Rainy Day by Dan Yaccarino, from the Happyland series. This book was interesting to read to a room full of babies (and one two-year-old big sister) because it only has words on every other page. The others show Glub Glub performing an action: putting on his rain boots, dancing in the rain, etc. I realized that while babies might not be the ideal audience for a book like this, toddlers or preschoolers might. It leaves lots of room for discussion: "What is Glub Glub doing? How do you think he feels?"

We did two movement songs before saying goodbye today. First, we practiced "Hush Little Baby" with the sign language.

Here is the version of the song that I use, and here is a video showing the correct signs to go with the song.

We also sang "One, Two Hands" by Laurie Berkner today, because she's a storytime goddess and her songs are fantastic. When we sing this song, I like to remind parents that an important part of a baby's development is learning who they are, and where they exist in space. Naming their body parts is an important part of this, and this song helps begin that conversation.

Baby Lapsit 1-12-18

First Baby Lapsit of the new year, and the first time in a while that we've had this program on a Friday. There were several new faces today, so before we got started I had everyone go around and introduce themselves, their baby, and tell us how old their baby is. I like to do this with smaller groups, especially with younger kids, because a lot of them are first-time parents without a lot of parent friends. Also, a lot of the caregivers who attend my Baby Lapsit classes are stay-at-home moms, so it's a great opportunity to break the ice and be social with other parents.

As always, first we sang hello to all our friends. Then, our first book of the day was Roar: A Big Mouth Book of Sounds from the My Little World series. This book is fun because it has a short rhyming verse on each page, each talking about a different animal. Before the holidays, I asked our Lapsit families to fill out surveys about what they would like to see from the program, and an overwhelming number said they wanted to learn more sign language for their babies. So in the new year, I am going to try and teach three or four signs each time. During this book, we learned the signs for lion, goat, puppy, and kitten, as well as scared. I encouraged the grownups to do the signs with me, and help their baby do them as well.

Lion

Goat

Puppy (dog)

Kitten (cat)

Scared

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)

Because I haven't done this program in a while, I hauled out my classic "Noble Duke of York" for our musical lap bouce. Since it is one of the longer songs and I needed to leave plenty of time for community play time, we only did one lap bounce song today. 

Our second book of the day was I Am Kind by Jen Porter. The main character of this book talks a lot about her dog, so I used this opportunity to refresh the sign for "dog," as well as teach the sign for "mom."

This book is part of Porter's "I Am" series (I Am Tidy, I Am Good, I Am Brave), which are simple rhyming verse stories perfect for toddlers. They model good behavior at a level very small children can understand and will want to emulate. 

In keeping with the effort to use more sign language, we did "Hush Little Baby" as one of our movement songs. Here are the signs I use when teaching this song:

And here is the version of the song I use. It's pretty short, so we usually end up doing it 2-3 times so everyone can get the hang of the sign language. 

Next, we did everyone's favorite body part identifying song, "One, Two Hands" by the wonderful Laurie Berkner. 

And finally, we said goodbye to all our friends by playing Peek-a-Boo, singing our goodbye song, having bubbles, and then having a 15-minute community playtime session with toys. It was a great first day back with the babies!

Baby Lapsit 11-21-17: Autumn

I tend to repeat songs from week to week in storytime, especially when I do the same age group for weeks or months in a row. It does help brain development and lets them expect patterns and schedules, but it can get repetitive for a regular reader of my blog. That being said, I feel like there is use in repetition as well; these posts are based off my lesson plans, and might be helpful to you if you are a homeschooling or stay-at-home parent, if you run a daycare or preschool class, or if you are new to library storytime and need some ideas.

So without further ado, here is our semi-fall theme Baby Lapsit for today.

First, as always, we said hello, warmed up our motor skills, and did some stretching. 

The first story we read was Fall is Here! by Frankie Jones. This book doesn't really have a plot, but it's full of cute vignettes of a puppy experiencing the joys of autumn.

Our lap bounce portion began, as always, with "Bumpy Road." 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 unofficial theme of our lap bounce music today was food. First we did "Pop Goes the Weasel" (mulberries), where grownups are encouraged to lift their baby up high at the ending POP. 

Next we pretended to be popcorn with Raffi, which I always like to play twice through because it's so short. Plus, the sizzle-sizzle-sizzle anticipation before the big dramatic POP always gets babies laughing. 

Finally, we finished up with "Milkshake," one of my all-time favorite storytime crowd pleasers. Here is the version of the song I use, followed by an a capella version by Jbrary.

Sticking with the fall theme, our second board book of the day was This Little Turkey by Aly Fronis. A variation on "This Little Piggy," I like this one for its jaunty rhythms and jauntier art.

Our last gesture/movement song was, once again, "One, Two Hands" by Laurie Berkner. Body part identification is one of the most important early learning skills, and I love this song to start kids learning the names of their facial features, hands, legs, and feet. 

After that, we said goodbye until next time!

Baby Lapsit 11-14-17

The first thing we did this morning, as we do every Baby Lapsit, was sing good morning to all our friends. I'm delighted that we have a core group of regulars who know the songs now!

The first book we read this morning was Peekaboo! On the Farm by Cocorette. This was a quick lift-the-flap, where we practiced making farm animal sounds as each one was revealed. 

Our lap bounce portion began, as always, with "Bumpy Road." 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)

There was nothing new for the musical portion of lap bounce this morning, but I did bring out "Hurry, Hurry, Drive That Firetruck," which we haven't heard in a few weeks. We also bounced to "Pop Goes the Weasel," with grownups encouraged to lift their baby up high at the POP!

Penguins are my favorite animal, which made me fall in love with our adorable second book even more than the art and story would have. Penguin Misses Mom by Michael Dahl tells the story of a baby penguin who is nervous about spending the evening with a babysitter when his mom goes out. I don't want to spoil the ending for you, but let's just say it's a happy one.

Because it's been a while since we did Sign Language in Baby Lapsit, we practiced the signs to "Hush Little Baby" as one of our movement/gesture songs. Finally, before saying goodbye, we sang my new favorite, "One, Two Hands."

My version of "Hush Little Baby"

Baby Lapsit 6-15-17: Sleep

I think the parents and caregivers appreciated the theme of this storytime more than the babies did. It can be hard to get your baby to go to sleep, so I approached the subject with humor as well as some solid lullaby tips.

We started out with my usual introduction (this post also contains my usual conclusion).

Our first story was No Nap! Yes Nap! by Margie Palatini. I think I hit the sweet spot in terms of the amount of words on a page for a baby storytime (very few). This book is adorable, short, and relatable for anyone who has ever tried to get a toddler to take a nap. The moms in the group especially got a chuckle out of it.

Our lap bounce portion began, as always, with "Bumpy Road." 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)

For the lap bounce music today, I repeated last week's "Walkin' Ol' Joe," which is always fun because the babies get to pretend they're riding an unpredictable pony.

Our second lap bounce song was "Hurry, Hurry, Drive That Firetruck." It doesn't have anything to do with sleep, but it's one of my favorite songs to do with all ages of storytimers. They can tailor the movements to their ability level, and it is a really fun lap bounce song as well.

Our second story was Llama, Llama, Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney. I love the Llama, Llama books in general, but this one might be my favorite.

And I obviously didn't include it in storytime, but if you haven't seen this video of Ludacris rapping this book, you need to.

For our song with gestures, we learned some signs for "Hush Little Baby." I advised the grownups that while their babies might not be at the point where they can do these signs perfectly yet, it's always helpful to sign to their babies to encourage earlier communication and understanding. This will solidify the concept that words have a meaning, and later on, that marks on a page mean words too. Signing as babies and toddlers encourages early literacy and makes kids better readers later in life!

I like this video even though I don't use this exact version. She signs slowly and clearly, which is what I try to do also when demonstrating.

This is the version I use. It's very short, so I usually do it twice through: once as more of a demonstration, then again so the grownups and kiddos can follow along.

Then it was time to say goodbye and sing "Peek-a-Boo" and "Skidamarink," then have bubbles and community play time (scroll up for my Baby Lapsit conclusion link).

Finally, here is a list of the books I had displayed for sleep storytimes:

• Creak! Said the Bed—Root
• Ten Sleepy Sheep—Root
• No Nap! Yes Nap!—Palatini
• How Does Sleep Come?—Blackmore
• The Sleep Sheep—McQuinn
• Where to Sleep—Radzinski
• Naptime—Mouy
• Sleep Tight, Anna Banana—Roques
• Sleepyheads—Howatt
• Slepy Places—Hindley
• No Go Sleep!—Feiffer
• Very Little Sleeping Beauty—Heapy
• Little Bunny’s Sleepless Night—Roth
• Click, Clack, Peep—Cronin
• Feet, Go to Sleep—Bottner
• Back to Bed, Ed—Braun
• The Princess and the Giant—Hart
• Time Now to Dream—Knapman