Baby Storytime--More Animals!

We had such a fun time with animals last week that we did more animals this storytime as well!

Songs/Rhymes/Bounces

Hands are Clapping
(tune: London Bridges)

Hands are clapping, clap, clap, clap
Clap, clap, clap
Clap, clap, clap
Hands are clapping, clap, clap, clap
Hands are clapping!

Additional verses:
Toes are tapping, tap, tap, tap
Eyes are hiding, peek-a-boo!

Hello Song
(tune: Good Night Ladies)

Hello ________, Hello _______
Hello ________. We're glad you're here today!

The last few weeks have been fairly small, so we have been able to sing the whole song to each individual child!

Little Bear
Little Bear in the the tree
Sitting, oh so still
Won't you come out?
Yes, he will!
He looks to the left
He looks to the right
He looks straight ahead
Then he pops out of sight!

When Cows Get Up in the Morning
(a gentle bounce)

When cows get up in the morning
They always say, "Good Day!"
When cows get up in the morning
They always say, "Good Day!"
"Moo, moo, moo". That's how they say good day.
"Moo, moo, moo". That's how they say good day.

Additional verses with dog and cat

Roly-Poly
Roly-poly, roly-poly out, out, out
Roly-poly, roly-poly in, in, in
Roly-poly, roly-poly touch your nose
Roly-poly, roly-poly touch your toes
Roly-poly, roly-poly up to the sky
Roly-poly, roly-poly fly, fly fly!

Where are Baby's Fingers?
Where, oh where, are baby's fingers?
Where, oh where, are baby's toes?
Where is Baby's belly button?
Round and round it goes!

Where, oh where, are baby's ears?
Where, oh where, are baby's eyes?
Where is Baby's belly button
Round and round it goes!

Toast
I am toast in the toaster (gentle bounces)
I'm getting very hot
Tick-tock, tick-tock (move baby side to side)
Up I
POP! (hold baby up!)

Popcorn Parachute!
You put the oil in the pot
And you let it get hot
You put the popcorn in
And you start to grin
You go sizzle, sizzle, sizzle, sizzle
Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle, sizzle
Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle, sizzle
POP!


Read Aloud

Are You My Mommy? A Pop-up Book by Carla Dijs

Shared Reading

A variety of board books about animals including:

Mommies and Their Babies by Guido Van Genechten

Baby Animals  National Geographic Kids Look & Learn  

Play and Learn Activities

A favorite of the babies is BEACH BALLS! (slightly under inflated)  

They love to crawl after them, lean on them, grab them, mouth them, roll them, and a few can even "throw" them!

November 21--Cats and Dogs

Here's one of my favorite dog books to share with children

Always in Trouble
by Corinne Demas; illustrated by Noah Z. Jones



And a favorite cat book...

Kitten's First Full Moon
by Kevin Henkes

November 20--Babies

A fun book about babies to share with preschoolers and early elementary aged children...

Baby Brains: The Smartest Baby in the Whole World
by Simon James




A great book about babies for parents to share with their little ones...

Ten Little Finger and Ten Little Toes
by Mem Fox; illustrated by Helen Oxenbury

Outreach Storytimes for November

I saw a lot of wonderful children at my outreach storytimes this month!  There was a wide range of ages, so I used a variety of books that best meet their needs.

I read three of the following books to each group...

Bear Says Thanks  by Karma Wilson; illustrated by Jane Chapman

This is the Turkey  by Abby Levine; illustrated by Paige Billin-Frye

Albuquerque Turkey  adapted by B. G. Ford; illustrated by Lucinda McQueen

Thanks for Thanksgiving  by Julie Markes; illustrated by Doris Barrette

I Know an Old Lady who Swallowed a Pie  by Alison Jackson; illustrated by Judith Byron Schachner

Turkeys on the Farm  by Mari C. Schuh

Thank You, Thanksgiving  by David Milgrim

Five Silly Turkeys  by Salina Yoon

Turkey Trouble by Wendi Silvano; illustrated by Lee Harper
(only read this one once...it was a bit over the heads of the preschool children I visited...but a super cute book for older kids)

And sang 2 or 3 of these songs...

Thanksgiving Dinner
(Sung to: "Frere Jacques")

We eat turkey, we eat turkey.
Oh, so good. Oh, so good.
Always on Thanksgiving, always on Thanksgiving
Yum-yum-yum! Yum,-yum-yum!

Other verses:
Mashed potatoes
Homemade biscuits
Turkey dressing
Pumpkin Pie

Run Turkeys!
(Sung to: 1 little, 2 little, 3 little Indians)

1 little, 2 little, 3 little turkeys
4 little, 5 little, 6 little turkeys
7 little, 8 little, 9 little turkeys
10 little tur-r-keys!

Run, run, run little turkeys
Run, run, run little turkeys
Run, run, run little turkeys

Thanksgiving’s almost here!

Hello Mr. Turkey
(Sung to: If You’re Happy and You Know It)

Hello Mr. Turkey, how are you? (clap, clap)
Hello Mr. Turkey, how are you? (clap, clap)
With a gobble, gobble, gobble (hand under chin, wiggle fingers)
And a wobble, wobble, wobble (shake body)
Hello Mr. Turkey, how are you? (clap, clap)

Five Nervous Turkeys   My personal favorites!!

(Sung to: My Bonnie)

5 (4, 3, 2, 1) turkeys were getting quite nervous.
Thanksgiving Day soon would be back.
So one turkey put on a duck suit,
And now he says, “Gobble, gobble, quack!”

--from PreschoolEducation.com

Baby Storytime--Animals!

Here is just a quick post about our Baby Storytime from last week.  We had a smaller crowd than usual--probably because of the cold.  We have just one week left in our "fall series".  I almost forgot to teach the parents the following rhyme!  We'll repeat it for a few weeks.  Thankfully it is a very easy rhyme!  (See a October 24 post for our other songs, rhymes and chants!)

In the Morning
(chant and gentle bounce)

When cows get up in the morning
They always say "Good Day"
When cows get up in the morning
They always say "Good Day"
"Moo, moo, moo" that's how they say good day
"Moo, moo, moo" that how they say good day.

We also did dog "woof" and cat "meow"

Read Aloud Book

Kiss, Kiss Good Night by Kenn Nesbitt; illustrated by Rebecca Elliott

Shared Reading

Variety of board books about animals, including:

What do you say  Mandy Stanley

Slide and Find Animals

November 19--Birds

Another tough one for me...I couldn't think of one off the top of my head.  But after one Google search for "bird books for preschoolers" I hit my head thinking, "Duh! I love this book! Why didn't I think of it on my own?"  This another one of those books that I read and read and reread to my daughters.  The reassurance that mom always comes back is sweetly told in the book about three owl babies!

Owl Babies

by Martin Waddell; illustrated by Patrick Benson

Food and Forests and Cows! Oh, My!

Yes, I am very behind with my Picture Book Month posts...so here are three in one!  And all of the themes I had a ready favorite!

Food

Bunny Cakes

by Rosemary Wells

I read this book over and over and over again to my daughter.  She loved it!  We had the best time "acting" this book out.  I'm glad I still love it after all those readings!

Forest

Foggy, Foggy Forest

by Nick Sharratt

A fun book that uses your imagination!  I love the vellum pages!

Cows

The Cow that Laid an Egg

by Andy Cutbill; illustrated by Russell Ayto

A silly story about a cow that thought she laid an egg.  The chick sure showed the chickens at the end who real mother was!

Family Construction Zone

Saturday we launched a new program at the library.  Five different kinds of blocks were purchased and families had the opportunity to visit each block station to do some building.  This was an ideal time for parents/caregivers to interact and talk with their child(ren)...and even throw in some science and math vocabulary!

Each station had a board that named the blocks and gave adults ideas about questions to ask the child while they played and built.  Each also had a list of science and math terms you could use.

The Five Stations

Architectural Blocks

 Unit Cubes

Unit Blocks

 Foam Blocks

 Jumbo Foam Blocks

We didn't get nearly as many families as we had anticipated or hoped...but those that come had a great time and we will definitely be doing the program again!

Turkey Storytime

Another week that I was able to present a storytime twice (a co-worker was out sick one day).  We had a lot of fun talking about turkeys--and what thanksgiving means to turkeys!

Books

Gobble, Gobble, Crash!  A Barnyard Counting Bash  by Julie Stiegemeyer;illustrated by Valeri Gorbachev

Albuquerque Turkey  Adapted by B. G. Ford; illustrated by Lucinda McQueen

Turkeys on the Farm by Mai C. Schuh

Song/Rhymes/Fingerplays

Five Little Turkeys
(sung to: 1 little, 2 little, 3 little Indians)

1 little, 2 little, 3 little turkeys
4 little, 5 little, 6 little turkeys
7 little, 8 little, 9 little turkeys
10 little tur-rkeys

Run, run, run little turkeys
Run, run, run little turkeys
Run, run, run little turkeys
Thanksgiving's almost here!

Five Nervous Turkeys
(sung to:  My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean)

Five turkeys were getting quite nervous
Thanksgiving soon would be back
So one turkey put on a duck suit.
And now he says, "Gobble, gobble, QUACK!"

Continue counting down to 1.

The children LOVED this song!!  It didn't take them long to catch on to "duck suit" and the quack part!  Parents/caregivers seemed to enjoy it too.  We may sing it again next week when we talk about Thanksgiving!  This may be one of my favorite songs to sing with kids!

Play and Learn

Handprint Turkey

Prewriting Activity from overthemoon.com

Blocks

Sorting Buttons

Puzzles

November 15--School

I actually had several school stories on my list.  However, most of them are for an older crowd than preschool.

• Substitute Teacher Plans, by Doug Johnson

• First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg

• Snow Day! by Lester L. Laminack

• What Do Teachers Do After You Leave School by Anne Bowen

• Fine, Fine School by Sharon Creech

• Mouse Views by Bruce McMillan  **This one is appropriate for preschool storytime**

• Miss Bindergarten Series by Joseph Slate