Baby Lapsit 11-7-17

After our usual introduction and hello, Leslie Patricelli struck our storytime again with Tickle! This board book is short and sweet, about a baby who insists he isn't ticklish. Except on his armpits... and his feet... and basically everywhere. I like doing interactive books like this with the Baby Lapsit parents because it shows them how they can interact with their baby while reading at home.

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)

Today's musical lap bounces were the same as last time, because repetition helps babies learn. "Walkin' Ol' Joe," "Milkshake," and "Popcorn" twice.

As I've mentioned before, I love taking the opportunity of storytime to emphasize the awesome diversity we see in our library patrons every day. Our second story today was Clive and his Babies by Jessica Spanyol, an adorable board book about a little boy whose favorite toys are his baby dolls. The book presents it in a very normal way, and shows Clive playing several different games with is babies, both alone and with friends.

 

Clive is also part of a series that includes Clive and His Art, Clive and His Hats, and Clive and His Bags.

Our last movement song was "One, Two Hands" by Laurie Berkner again, because my goal is for it to get stuck in all the grownups' heads. This is possibly a little bit diabolical, but also effective for their babies to start learning the names of body parts and numbers up to ten.

Then, we said goodbye until next week with "Peek-a-Boo," "Skidamarink," bubbles, and community play time.

Baby Lapsit 9-5-17

We took August off from all storytimes and programming, and I honestly had no idea what to do with myself. So excited to get back to the babies!

We sang my regular intro songs and fingerplays this morning, and then moved on to story #1, Look Look Outside by Peter Linenthal. Linenthal has a series of these simply illustrated, simply worded books that I think are great for kids under two because they don't take that long to read, but it still introduces the idea of literacy to them when their attention spans are very short. Also, the art style seems to grab and keep their focus.

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)

Since we missed a month and the parents haven't heard the same old songs for a while, we lap bounced to "Walkin' Ol' Joe," "Pop Goes the Weasel," and "Popcorn." What I like to tell our grownups when I see their eyes glassing over from hearing the same songs week after week is, babies and toddlers strive on repetition! It helps their brain develop patterns that will later contribute to literacy. What is obnoxiously repetitive to us is actually vital to a baby's brain development!

Our second book was Yummy Yucky by Leslie Patricelli. It's literally just a list of edible things (ex. spaghetti) paired on a page with similar but non-edible things (ex. worms). It's a good reminder for people of any age, really. And a very cute, short board book.

Our last song before saying goodbye was "Happy and You Know It," tickle bugs and all!

Artist tip: Mr. Jon is super cool. Almost as good as Laurie Berkner. He;s just a dude with a guitar singing traditional kids songs, but he has a great voice and doesn't have one creepy bone in his body, which is really important for a children's performer.