Baby Lapsit 5-18-18

Today after saying hello, our first book was Who Says That, Cat the Cat by Mo Willems. Personally, I'm delighted by every single Mo Willems book, so I was excited to find out he has board books as well. This one invites lots of interaction with animal sounds, and ends with a big hug for Bunny the Bunny.

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 musical lap bounce portion today, I went with my standby theme of "pop:" "Pop Goes the Weasel," and "Popcorn" by Raffi twice through. This morning, I encouraged the grownups to toss their baby into the air a couple of inches for the POPs, instead of just lifting them. A few did, and it sounded from the giggles like the babies had the time of their lives. 

Our second book today was I Love You Through and Through by Bernadette Rossetti-Shustak. That book happened to be an at-home favorite of one of my regular babies who attends with his grandma, so it was fun to read it with them in the room. There's nothing especially remarkable about this book as far as baby-level board books go, but it's very sweet, and I like to pick books about grownup/child love and bonding as much as possible for this storytime.

Finally, it was time to say goodbye to our friends, and finish up with bubbles and toys.

Baby Lapsit 6-8-17: Monsters

As always, I started this session with my usual introduction, which you can view here (as well as the goodbye at the end).

Today's theme was monsters! Like last week, the theme was mostly chosen for my preschoolers and tailored to fit babies as well.

Our first story was Go to Bed, Monster! by Natasha Wing. It's a super cute story about a little girl who draws herself a monster friend when she's avoiding going to sleep. It's great, until she gets tired and the monster refuses to settle down!

After the story it was time for our lap bounce, so I began with my non-musical chant, "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 lap bounce songs for today were "Ten Little Monsters," a kids Halloween song where we practiced our counting, and "Walkin' Ol' Joe." This one was not in the monster theme, but it is one of my lap bounce standbys that the babies always like. When demonstrating this one, I like to show the different speeds you can bounce your baby.

The second story was Leonardo the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems. Usually Mo is a slam dunk, but with slightly older kids. I recognize now that this story went way over the babies' heads and I'm better off to stick with board books for this storytime. However, spoiler alert: the preschoolers loved it.

Our movement song for the day was "Games Monsters Play" from Sesame Street. I encouraged grownups to help their babies do the movements with me as motor skill development exercise. 

Finally, it was time for "Peek-a-Boo," "Skidamarink," and bubbles, followed by community play time. Scroll up for more info about my regular Baby Lapsit conclusion.

Preschool Storytime 6-8-17: Monsters

I have to admit, I got SUPER into monster storytime today. The preschoolers also had a good time, because I asked them to give me their biggest, scariest, loudest monster roar whenever I could.

After we said hello, I introduced the theme and we learned the sign for "monster."

Our first story was Leonardo the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems, which is adorable and just the right humor to catch and keep the interest of a group of preschoolers. I highly recommend it for a preschool class or library storytime.

Next, we did two movement songs. The first was "Games Monsters Play" from Sesame Street, which is a very straightforward movement song. It tells you exactly what to do, from wiggling fingers to flapping elbows. 

The second song was "Jumping and Counting," which is less self-explanatory but just as simple. I love this song for getting the wiggles out, because for some reason, three-year-olds love jumping up and down in place. We (they) just jump during the verses, then we stop and count on our fingers. Then, it's time to jump again.

Here is the version I use, and here is a video I found on Youtube of some kids doing the exercise:

Next, I read Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, which is really more nostalgic for me than anything else. I think the kids did enjoy seeing the pictures though, and having their own short wild rumpus of silly dance moves.

 

After that we did two more movement songs. With "Ten Little Monsters" we practiced counting on our fingers, and I played it twice through because it's so short.

"I Am A Robot" is a very entertaining song. It does tell you what to do, but it's so fast that none of us usually end up being able to follow the directions. Even so, it's fun to do robot dance moves and power down at the end. The powering down is also very useful for getting them to sit back down and be still for a story.

Our final story of the day was Go to Bed, Monster! by Natasha Wing. In this book, a little girl draws a monster to occupy herself because she can't sleep, but he comes to life and ends up keeping her awake long after she gets tired! 

 

After that story we said goodbye, until next time.