Saturday Storytime February 2019: Rainbows

This storytime is for ages 0-5, but I've decided to structure it as a combination of Toddlertime and Preschool Storytime.

My formula for Saturday Storytime is:

Intro and Hello
Learn Theme Signs
Book #1
Movement Songs
Felt Story/Song
Book #2
Movement Song
Goodbye Song
Bubbles
Take-Home Craft

Intro and Hello
Hello Song
"Hello Friend"
Before turning on the music, I teach the kids (and grownups) the American Sign Language sign for "friends." Then we boogie, wave, and sing hello to all our friends!

Friend

Warming Up Motor Skills

"Open, Shut Them"

Stretching
"Tall/Small"
This is a short, easy stretch the preschoolers especially get a kick out of.

Learn Theme Signs
Our theme this week is rainbows, so we learned the signs for "colors" and "rainbow."

Rainbow

Colors

Book #1
Hideaway Hedgehog and the Magical Rainbow by Lisa McCue
A super cute tale of a mama hedgehog who stumbles into a leprechaun's golden pot to have her babies, this story can easily be brought to a toddler or preschool level depending on how much dialogic reading you incorporate. It's also adorable that each baby has a different magic power corresponding to their unique color.

Movement Song

"I See Something Blue"

I like to play this song and encourage the kids to find things around the room that match the color the singers mention. This song is pretty mellow and slow-moving, which is good for two reasons. One, it gives even the youngest storytimer a chance to find something of that color and point it out. Two, we all get a chance to practice the signs for the four colors named in the song as well as "color" and "rainbow" at the end.

Felt Story/Song

Today we did a felt story that I didn't make up myself, but tweaked from Rainbow Stew and made my own version. I'm probably over-analyzing, but it really bugged me that everything going into the rainbow stew pot was, in fact, a fruit. So Rainbow Fruit Salad was born. Since the chant was the same for each verse, I encouraged everyone to chant and do the motions along with me.

Red fruit: apple

Orange fruit: orange

Yellow fruit: banana

Green fruit: pear

Blue fruit: blueberries

Purple fruit: grapes

(Put apple and red part of rainbow on felt board)

Chop up an apple, put it in the dish. (mime chopping fruit)

Stir and stir as much as you wish. (mime stirring a large bowl)

Look inside, what color will it be? (hand above your eyes as if looking)

The prettiest red that you ever did see! (ASL sign for "red")

~repeat with all other fruits in rainbow order~

(All fruits and rainbow pieces should be on the board)

Chop up all the fruit, put it in the dish. (mime chopping fruit)

Stir and stir as much as you wish. (mime stirring a large bowl)

Look inside, what color will it be? (hand above eyes as if looking)

The prettiest RAINBOW that you ever did see! (ASL sign for "rainbow")

Movement Songs

Today we did our movement songs with scarves, starting with an a cappella rhyme that ends with everyone throwing their scarf into a pile to make a rainbow:

Wave your scarf high, wave your scarf low.

Wave your scarf fast, wave your scarf slow.

Crumple up your scarf and throw it on three.

One, two, three, whee!

"Color Song"

(vid to come)

"The Freeze" by Greg and Steve

This one has nothing to do with colors, but it was so much fun to make up dances with scarves in between freezes!

Goodbye Song

"Until We Meet Again" from Out of the Box
When we sing this song, I help them recall the sign for friends, and teach them a couple others as we sing. After a while, storytime regulars start to look like native signers!

Goodbye

Friend

Meet

Bubbles
I like to play the two following songs while I blow bubbles for the group.
One Little, Two Little, Three Little Bubbles
Yo Gabba Gabba Bubbles Song

Take-Home Craft
Since this is a monthly storytime with a theme, I thought it would be fun to provide families with a craft based on the theme to work on when they get home. I put everything needed for the craft in baggies, including an instruction sheet so they know how to do the project once they get home. It's a rainbow fish that helps the child's fine motor skills develop as they practice going over, under, and over again.

Giving a take-home craft as families leave the storytime room is a good way to extend the learning experience after families have left the library. Also, it's a great way to provide a literacy-based craft without having to clean up afterward.

Books to Display:

• How the Finch Got His Colors—Guertin
• Princess Rosie’s Rainbows—Killion
• Elmer and the Rainbow—McKee
• Ava and the Rainbow (Who Stayed)—Adamson
• Curious George Discovers the Rainbow—Cherrix
• The Leprechaun Who Lost His Rainbow—Callahan
• The Greedy Rainbow—Chandler 

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.

Preschool Storytime 1-23-18: Names

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.

Books displayed:

• My Father Knows the Names of Things—Yolen 
• From Anne to Zach—Martin 
• My Name is Elizabeth!—Dunklee 
• Chrysanthemum—Henkes 
• Princess Baby—Katz 
• Hello, My Name is Octicorn—Diller 
• Thunder Boy Jr.—Alexie 
• Write On, Carlos!—Murphy 
• Penny and Her Doll—Henkes 
• Jessica—Henkes 
• Wabi Sabi—Reibstein 
• On the Road—Nolan 
• Kuma-Kuma Chan, the Little Bear—Takahashi 
• Santa’s Book of Names—McPhail 
• The Cat with Seven Names—Johnston 
• Phoebe Sounds It Out—Zwillich

Baby Lapsit 1-19-18

We had a huge group of babies this morning! Usually we have 6-7 babies, each with one grownup. Occasionally two parents bring one baby, or one parent bring 2-3 kids. Today, we had 13 babies, and many of them came with 2-3 adults! It was the biggest Baby Lapsit I've done in a while, and it was also one of the most fun sessions I've ever done.

After our usual introduction, we read I Love Hugs and Kisses by Sandra Magsamen. It worked well for a first book because it only has a few pages, and the illustrations are bright and eye-catching. It was also a good opportunity to identify animals and what sounds they make (if applicable: pandas do not, to my knowledge, make a distinct sound). We had a couple of older siblings in class today, so this worked out well.

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)

I tried a new lap bounce today, that went really well: the old children's music standby, "BINGO." I encouraged everyone to sing along, and we bounced babies on our laps for most of the song. At the missing letters, I encouraged them to hold babies up above their heads, or even gently toss them. The babies had a great time, and I could tell the grownups thought it was fun, too!

video

Our second lap bounce song was "Milkshake," one of my favorite storytime songs because it works with all ages. Makes a great lap bounce because you can "stir" baby (similar to the "smooth road" part of the above chant), and of course bounce and gently shake them while making your milkshake.

For our second book we read the board book How Do Dinosaurs Learn Their Colors? by Jane Yolen. The How Do Dinosaurs... series is adorable, and I'm really happy that they published some board books for the series as well. The board books are better for the baby and toddler level, while still engaging for the kiddos.

While reading this book, we learned the signs for all the colors mentioned. I also took the time before class to print out pictures of the signs, so the grownups could follow along with the color signs, and hopefully retain them well enough to practice at home with their baby.

 

Colors

Red

Purple

Green

Blue

Pink

Yellow

Brown

White

Black

Orange

Rainbow

Our first movement song today was Mr. Jon's awesome version of "If You're Happy and You Know It," tickle bugs and all. We also practiced the sign for "happy" while singing, clapping, stomping, and shouting yippee.

Before singing goodbye, our last movement song was a new favorite of mine, "One, Two Hands." I like to give the parent tip that practicing naming body parts helps babies of all ages start to figure out where their bodies are in space, and how they have control over how they move their bodies. This song is great for practicing body part names.

Then we had our community playtime and said goodbye until next week!

Preschool Storytime 1-16-18: Dance

Next on my list of storytime themes is one quite near ad dear to my heart (read my bio on the Welcome page if you're not sure why), dance. After singing hello to our friends, we learned the American Sign Language sign for "dance."

Dance

Our first book was Color Dance by Ann Jonas. Even though it's older than I am literally...it was published in 1989), I love this book for storytime. It has simple words, shows the relationships between colors, and gives lots of diversity because it represents children of all colors and genders dancing together. This book would also be great for a color themed storytime.

Next, because of the kids dancing with colorful scarves in the book, we danced with our own colorful scarves! I passed out one per child (and any grownup who wanted one) and we waved them to "Get Ready, Get Set, Let's Dance" by Greg and Steve.

Despite looking all week online and in several print resources, I wasn't able to find a calm-down chant that had anything to do with dance. If you have one, please leave it in the comments! So after we collected the scarves, I used a wonderful song that I have been waiting for the perfect opportunity to use. My one reservation is that the character Joe sings it on Parks and Recreation, and I was a little afraid the parents would recognize it from that. Although I saw a small spark of recognition in one of the regular moms' eyes, but this song went really well and did a great job focusing the kids' attention back on me. I will definitely be using it again.

The second book was Everybunny Dance by Ellie Sandall. It worked out great as a storytime book! First of all, it rhymes, which is always helpful to get littles to pay attention. Second, there are movements you can easily ask the kids to do. Whole pages are devoted to "everybunny" dancing, playing instruments, jumping, and running. 

After our second book, I actually paused the storytime action long enough to make a quick craft. We made ribbon dancers today, and I wanted everyone to have theirs to dance with for our last couple of songs. This craft was extremely easy; tongue depressors, clear tape, and short-ish lengths of ribbon I had a volunteer cut for me ahead of time. Not only was it easy and cheap, the kids were absolutely delighted by them. Plus, it only took about five minutes for all 30 kids and their parents to put together. 

Our final movement song before saying goodbye was "Everybody Dance" by Teacher Dan. Everyone swinging their ribbons around as this calypso beat played was the most fun I've had all week!

Here is a list of dance books I displayed today:

• Everybunny Dance—Sandall
• Dance! A Story About Being Happy—Bendall-Brunello 
• Color Dance—Jonas 
• Giant Dance Party—Bird 
• Dance is for Everyone—Zuill 
• Sock Monkey Boogie-Woogie—Bell 
• Spunky Little Monkey—Martin 
• Duck Sock Hop—Kohuth 
• Cats’ Night Out—Stutson 
• Dilly Dog’s Dizzy Dancing—DeRubertis 
• Naughty Toes—Bonwill 
• The All-American Jump and Jive Jig—Proeller Hueston 
• I Got the Rhythm—Schofield-Morrison

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!