January Baby/Toddler

I keep the same handout for 3 weeks.  The repetition seems to work well with this age group (babies-2+).  I have ongoing songs and rhymes that I use each week (I have listed those in a separate entry.)  I also read a different book and provide a different music and motion activity weekly.

OPENING SONG: The More We Get Together

OPENING FINGERPLAY: Open, Shut Them

FINGERPLAY: Where is Thumbkin?
(Fun.  The children love this one.)
Where is Thumbkin? (hide thumbs)
Where is thumbkin?
Where is thumbkin?
Here I am! Here I am! (show thumbs)
How are you today sir?
Very well I thank you.
Run away. Run away.(hide thumbs)

FINGERPLAY: Did You Ever See a Baby
(Not my favorite.  The mom's and children didn't seem to enjoy it. Doesn't flow and I stopped using it by the third week.)

Did you ever see a baby, (child sit on your lap)
A baby, a baby?
Did you ever see a baby,
Go this way and that? (rock from side to side)
Go this way and that way, (forward and back)
And that way and this way. (side to side)
Did you ever see a baby,
Go this way and that? (forward and back)

FINGERPLAY: Chubby Little Snowman
(Great winter fingerplay.  I use it every winter and it works nicely with the age group.)
A chubby little snowman
Had a carrot nose. (point to nose)
Along came a bunny
(hold up two fingers on right hand to make bunny)
And what do you suppose? (hold out hands)
That hungry little bunny
Looking for his lunch
(make glasses over eyes)
Ate that little snowman's nose
(pretend to grab nose and eat carrot)
Nibble, nibble, crunch.

ACTION SONG: Humpty Dumpty from the I Love Wiggleworms CD by Old Town School of Folk Music
(a favorite action song for baby/toddler storytime.  Lots of fun.  The kids love being dropped between the legs on the word Fall...)
Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall.
Humpty Dumpty had a great FAAAALL…
(drop child between legs)
Then all the kings horses and all the kings men
they couldn’t put Humpty back together again.
(bounce child on lap)
All the kings horses and all the kings men
they couldn’t put Humpty back together again.
(bounce child on lap)
Repeat Twice.

EXERCISE RHYME: Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes
(Favorite.  I repeat three times.  Regular, fast and slow)

BOOK:
Can You Moo? by David Wojtowycz (Week 1) (Mom's helped alot with this book.  Encouraged children to make sounds.)
Piggies by Audrey Wood (Week 2) (Pretty fun book.  Kids had fun moving their fingers along with the story.)
Dinosaur Roar by Paul Stickland (Week 3) (A little long so I paper-clipped some of the pages together and it helped. Children really loved the dinosaurs and roaring along.)

RHYME: Jack Be Nimble
(This is a fun one.  The children love to be lifted into the air. If the toddler isn't on a lap they "jump" into the air.  They love that too.)
Jack Be Nimble
Jack be nimble,
Jack be quick,
Jack jump over the candlestick.
(bounce baby on knees. lift baby up to jump over)

ACTION SONG: Milkshake Song from the Songs for Wiggleworms CD by Old Town School of Folk Music
(This is a very popular one with my storytime kids.  They love being "stirred" up as they bounce around after we pretend to turn on the blender.)
You take a little milk…Pour some milk.
(Pretend to pour milk)
And you take a little cream…Pour some cream.
(Pretend to pour cream)
You stir it all up.
(make a stirring motion)
You shake it and you’ll sing.
(bounce baby lightly)
ONE TWO THREE FOUR
Milkshake, milkshake, shake it up, shake it up.
Milkshake, milkshake, shake it all up!
Repeat
(Bounce or wiggle baby for “milkshake”)

TICKLE: The Beehive
(This is the first time I used this one and the kids loved it.  Pleasantly surprised.  Definitely will use in the future. Nice because it works for counting and as a tickle.)
Here is the beehive.
Where are the bees?
Hidden away where nobody sees.
Watch as they come out
Of their hive.
(display closed fist)
One, two, three, four, five!
(extend fingers and thumb)
They’re alive!
(shake fingers and tickle child)

FINGERPLAY: Tall and Small
(Love this one.  I used to use it with music but I now just sing it and we repeat it 3 times.  The kids love being TALL and small.)
I’m very, very tall; (arms up high)
I’m very, very small, (curl up small)
Tall, small;
Now I’m a little ball. (curl up like a ball or cuddle child)

ACTION SONG: Go, Go, Go

CLOSING RHYME

MUSIC AND MOTION: Day O (DRUMS) (Week 1) from the Six Little Ducks CD by Kimbo Educational
Flight of the Bumblebee (BEE PUPPETS) (Week 2)
Tiki, Tiki, Tiki Room (STREAMERS) (Week 3) from the Disney Mania CD with Hilary Duff

MUSIC CDs:
Wiggleworms Love You CD by Old Town School of Folk Music (Humpty Dumpty)
Songs for Wiggleworms CD by Old Town School of Folk Music (Milkshake Song)
Six Little Ducks CD by Kimbo Educational (Day O) (DRUMS)
Disney Mania CD by Walt Disney (Tiki Tiki Tiki Room) (STREAMERS)

Weekly Baby/Toddler Storytime Songs

I use these songs every week.

OPENING SONG: The More We Get Together from the Six Little Ducks CD by Kimbo Educational
(A nice calm opening song. I use a childlike puppet called Dewey during storytime to demonstrate for the parents. I rock Dewey back and forth on my lap and use his hands to point to the kids. I stop the song half way through before it changes to something else.)

OPENING FINGERPLAY: Open Shut Them from the Songs for Wiggleworms CD by Old Town School of Folk Music
(A fun fingerplay that the younger kids really enjoy. I repeat it twice and they giggle when we get to the tickling part of the song.)

EXERCISE RHYME: Heads, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes
(This is my middle rhyme right before I read the book. I tell the kids we are going to do our exercises. We do the rhyme 3 times. Regular speed, then fast, then slow. They love standing up and going faster and it helps get all the wiggles out before we read the book.)

CLOSING ACTION SONG: Go, Go, Go from the Miss Anna's Music Class #2 CD by Anna Stange
(This is the kids favorite song! I created a stop sign and taped it to a ruler. I ask what the sign means and then we practice running in place and stopping. Then I play the song twice and the kids run and stop throughout the song. Lots of fun. Plenty of giggling. A perfect song for storytime!)

CLOSING RHYME
(I tweaked the last two lines of this song so that it fit better with the way I do storytimes. We don't end after this rhyme. We still have music and motion and playtime so no "goodbye" necessary.)

Our hands say thank you
with a clap, clap, clap.
Our feet say thank you
with a tap, tap, tap.
Clap, clap, clap
Tap, tap tap.
Roll your hands.
We've had such fun.

Pets

This is what I did for my Pets preschool storytime.

OPENING SONG: Clap Your Hands from the Miss Anna's Music Class Volume II CD by Anna Stange

I started out by showing the kids a bunch of different puppets that they might have as a pet (dog, lizard, rat, rabbit, cat, turtle). I showed them the turtle last and explained that in our first book a little boy wanted a turtle more than anything in the world.

BOOK: My Birthday Pet by Ellen Javernick
(Great book. Kids loved it. Really held their interest and they listened quietly.)

FINGERPLAY: Little Turtle
(This was fun. I repeated it a few times so they could get the hang of it.)

There was a little turtle (Make fist like turtle)
That lived in a box
He swam through the puddles (Pretend to swim)
And climbed on the rocks (Pretend to climb)
He snapped at a mosquito (clap)
He snapped at a flea (clap)
He snapped at a minnow (clap)
He snapped at me (clap)
He caught the mosquito (pretend to catch with hand)
He caught the flea
He caught the minnow
But he didn't catch me! (wave finger back and forth)

BOOK: Pet Wash by Dayle Ann Dodds

FINGERPLAY: Animals
(I had the kids stand up and I talked about how different animals move. How would a rabbit hop, a frog, etc. Then I went through the actions and we repeated the action rhyme about 3 times. Got all the wiggles out and they had alot of fun.)

Can you hop like a rabbit?
(Do motions to match words)Can you jump like a frog?
Can you waddle like a duck?
Can you run like a dog?
Can you fly like a bird?
Can you swim like a fish?
Can you sit really still?
(Sit back down with hands in lap)
Like this!

BOOK: Aaaarrgghh Spider! by Lydia Monks
(I showed them a spider puppet and talked about a little spider that just wants to be a pet. That really got them talking. I now know that spiders are a flash point for little kids. Everyone had a story about "dangerous" spiders biting a family member. Major ick factor. Took me a few minutes to calm them down for the book but they loved it once we got going)

FINGERPLAY: Itsy Bitsy Spider

SONG: Do Your Ears Hang Low from the Sing along with Bob #2 CD by Bob McGrath
(I haven't used this song before. I am glad I finally did. The kids loved it. The song gets faster each time. I went over the actions with the kids a few times and then turned on the music. They laughed and loved that it got faster. I played the song twice.)

BOOK: Please Don’t Tease Tootsie by Margaret Chamberlain
(Nice story. Colorful pictures. Uses rhyme and humor to teach kids not to tease their pets. A mom came up afterwards and asked if she could check out my copy. Always a good sign.)

SONG: Fast and slow (the rabbit and the turtle) from the Rocketship Run CD by Laurie Berkner Band
(Fun song. The kids loved going fast and then slow as the different animals but I ended it early. Towards the end it just drags on.)

BOOK: Pet Shop Lullaby by Mary Ann Fraser
(Cute book that shows the hamster keeping all the other animals up at night. The kids were getting restless by this point but I did have something amazing happen. I talked about how some animals don't sleep at night and this one little girl said, "it's cause their nocturnal". Hello, I was impressed.)

ACTIVITY: The Hampster Dance from the soundtrack, How to Eat Friend Worms CD
(The kids had alot of fun with this. I talked about the noisy hampster and then gave them each a drum and we walked around in a circle beating our drum to the beat of the song. Being noisy hampsters. My drums are empty hot chocolate cans and baby formula containers. They work great and are the right price!)

TAKE HOME: A coloring page that I found at this website. http://funschool.kaboose.com/formula-fusion/pets/printables/pet-coloring-pages.html

MUSIC CDs: Miss Anna's Music Class Volume II CD by Anna Stange (Clap Your Hands) Sing along with Bob #2 CD by Bob McGrath (Do Your Ears Hang Low)
Rocketship Run CD by Laurie Berkner Band (Fast and slow-the rabbit and the turtle)
How to Eat Friend Worms CD (The Hampster Dance)

Numbers/Counting

Here is what I did at my Numbers preschool storytime.

OPENING SONG: Clap Your Hands from the Miss Anna's Music Class Volume II CD by Anna Stange
(When I first started preschool storytimes I couldn't find the perfect opening song. I tried shake your sillies out for a while but I didn't think it worked very well. Once I found this song I was thrilled. It's really fun and the kids enjoy it alot-plus it gets all those wiggles out and it is different.)

BOOKS: Math For All Seasons by Greg Tang
(I had the kids help me count the things on the page. I paperclipped the pages that I didn't want to read. It is a fairly long book so I left some of it out.)

FINGERPLAY: Two Little Blackbirds

BOOK: Mouse Went out to Get a Snack by Lyn Rossiter McFarland
(Fun story. The kids seemed to enjoy it and my fellow librarian made flannel board food that went along with the story. So I put those up as we read the things the mouse put on the plate. It was a little tough to do this while reading the book. The food kept falling off the board.)

FINGERPLAY: Hickory Dickory Dock

SONG: Jumping and Counting from the Irrational Anthem CD by Jim Gill
(The kids loved this one. It gave them a chance to jump up and down and get all their wiggles out. Then we would stop and count periodically with the song. My only complaint is that they count very slowly during the song.)

BOOK: Duckie’s Ducklings by Frances Barry
(Wonderful story. The kids kept telling me they could see the baby ducklings hiding behind the mama duck. Really fun and interactive. Kept their attention. Nice bright colors and helps the kids to be in on the joke.)

FINGERPLAY: Spaceship Countdown
(This was a great fingerplay that taught the kids to count down from ten. I had them act out of the words and then we crouched down and counted down from ten and then blasted into the air by jumping. They love it.)

Climb aboard the spaceship
We're going to the moon.
Hurry and get ready.
We're going to blast off soon.
Put on your helmets (pretend)
Buckle up real tight. (pretend)
Here comes the countdown,
Ready (have them crouchdown)
10 - 9 - 8 - 7 - 6 - 5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1
BLAST OFF! (jump into the air)

BOOK: Mouse Count by Ellen Stoll Walsh
(Not the most exciting story but the kids did love the snake, especially the boys. Started to lose their interest but I think it was the timing, storytime was almost over. They needed to get up and move.)

ACTIVITY: I gave each child a blown up balloon and they had to try and keep it in the air and count how many times they hit it. It was just an excuse to use the balloons. They love them. Most of them didn't count but they had fun hitting them. I played Over the Deep Blue Sea in the background (has counting in it and a nice fast beat). The kids loved this activity.

TAKE HOME: I let them keep the balloon.

MUSIC CDs:
Miss Anna's Music Class Volume II CD by Anna Stange (Clap Your Hands)
Irrational Anthem CD by Jim Gill (Jumping and Counting)
Come and Make a Circle CD by Susan Salidor (Over the Deep Blue Sea)