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.