Baby Story Time – July 28, 2015

Story times with a new crowd in a new neighborhood are always exciting.

A mother came up to me after the program to say that she was new to story times and had attended a program at a different library where the facilitator ran through the material quickly and without any repetition.  She felt lost and a bit embarrassed –  it felt like she was the only person in the room who didn’t know the words to every song. I always try to repeat the material in my story times because I understand the developmental importance of repetition. The patron really appreciated getting a chance to practice new material, and it was a good reminder for me to not race through my programs!

Here’s what we did:

Hello Song: Hello, Friends!

Songs/Tickles:

• Slowly slowly
• Wake up feet
• Head and shoulders
• Roly poly

Book : I Went Walking / Sue Williams

Bounces:

• Here we go a bouncing
• A hippopotamus got on a city bus
• Giddyup horsey

Book 2: Jump! / Scott Fischer

Movement Songs:

• Dancing with bears
• Zoom zoom
• Elevator song

Soothing Songs:

• Orca whale

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Family Story Time – May 15, 2015

For this our last story time of spring, I wanted to go out with a bang, so I tried to plan an extra-special story time that would include all of our favourite songs and activities. To make it extra-special, we did almost the entire story time standing up! We sang our hello song as usual, then sang “when cows wake up in the morning (including a lion and a dinosaur, of course), and then it was up and moving around, even during the stories!

Welcome Song: Hello, Friends

Song: When cows wake up in the morning

Book 1: From Head to Toe / Eric Carle

Hand Rhymes

• I wake up my hands
• Wiggle your fingers
• Open-shut them
• Roly poly

Book 2: Jump / Scott M. Fischer

Action Songs

• Zoom zoom
• The wheels on the bus
• Here we go a marching
• Toast in the toaster
• Elevator song

Cool-down songs:

• Grr-grr went the little brown bear one day (with puppet)

Goodbye Song: Goodbye, Friends!

I know my audience, and what my audience loves best is jumping! So, we jumped to the moon, the people on the bus went up and down, we went a jumping, our toast popped, and our elevators went up and down. Even our second book was all about jumping! We had a delighted, if exhausted crew after story time today, and it was a wonderful note on which to finish off the session.

Baby Story Time – March 27, 2015

I was delighted to see a couple of the mums I met at the drop-in program yesterday at our story time this morning. We even had a few enthusiastic dads attend today, which was lovely.

Welcome Song: Hello, Friends!

Touching Rhymes/Tickles

• The moon is round
• Two little eyes
• Everybody knows I love my toes
• Roly poly

Book 1: Cat the Cat, Who is That? / Mo Willems

Songs/Bounces

• Oh I wish I were a little bar of soap!
• Trot trot to Boston
• Pudding on the plate
• I’m toast in the toaster
• A hippopotamus got on a city bus

Book Two: Jump! / Scott M. Fischer

Movement Songs

• Love somebody yes I do
• Go in and out the window
• Zoom zoom
• The elevator song

Soothing Songs

• You are my little panda bear
• You are my sunshine

Goodbye song: Goodbye, Friends!

I decided that we should finish off with a song to honour the change in the weather today and celebrate the return of the sun!

Jump! is one of my favourite baby time books – I ask all the caregivers to lift baby every time we say jump!, and the babies just adore it.

I was also delighted when a patron came up to me after the program wanting to borrow more Mo Willems books – I love it when a patron connects with something I’ve shared and wants more!

Baby Story Time – November 7, 2014

I’ve started doing a Mother Goose story time program at my branch, and it’s been a great opportunity to expand my baby time repertoire and learn new some great new material. My co-facilitator and I have been introducing each other to new songs and rhymes, and I’ve been incorporating them into my regular baby time programs. There are a few regulars from baby time who are in my MG as well, and it’s nice to see them twice!

Welcome Song: Hello, Friends!

Touching Rhymes/Tickles

• Wake up, feet
• Baby put your pants on
• Say hello, can you touch your nose?
• Roly Poly

Book 1: Sleepyheads / Sandra J. Howatt

Songs/Bounces

• Toast in the toaster
• Oh I wish I were a little bar of soap
• You be the ice cream
• Bumping up and down in my little red wagon
• The grand old duke of york

Book Two: Jump! / Scott M. Fischer

Movement Songs

• Love somebody, yes I do
• Mamma’s little baby loves dancing
• What shall we do with lazy Katie?
• Zoom, zoom, zoom
• The elevator song

Soothing Songs

• Rain is falling down

Goodbye song: Goodbye, Friends!

Oh, Jump! What a winner! We did this as an interactive picture book – caregivers lifted their babies every time we said “jump!” It was adorable – the babies were loving it! As I’ve said before, I love a book with jazzy text, and this one is just so much fun to read. I can’t wait to try it out with my big kids!

Sleepyheads is absolutely beautiful, the illustrations are just so charming. It’s a wonderful bedtime book, but my little wigglers were not in the mood for bedtime, so I shortened it considerably and it was still lovely.