Category: Toddler Storytime

January 2018 “Snow Clothes” Toddler Visit

sillylibrarian Leave a comment

It’s been cold and snowy in Illinois. Today, my toddler friends and I stayed warm indoors and shared this fun storytime together. (This month, my preschool and kindergarten friends are enjoying a version of this “It’s Frosty Cold Out!” storytime plus “The Freeze!” song listed below.)

Opening Song: If You Want to Hear a Story
Read-aloud: Under My Hood I Have a Hat by Karla Kuskin
Song: Silly Hat Song
Action Song: If You’re Wearing Red Today
*Flannel Rhyme: Cute Little Snowman
Action Song: Fun with Hands
Dancing Song (with scarves): “The Freeze!” from Carole Peterson: Dancing Feet
Closing Song: We Wave Goodbye

Schools visited: Little Bear Academy

*Cute Little Snowman
A cute little snowman
Had a carrot nose
Along came a bunny,
And what do you suppose?
That hungry little bunny,
Looking for his lunch,
Ate the snowman’s carrot nose,
Nibble, nibble, crunch!

November 2017 “Holiday Food” Toddler Visit

sillylibrarian Leave a comment

It’s been a while since I’ve done a toddler-only storytime. Today, I met some new friends at a local daycare.

Opening: If You Want to Hear a Story
Book: Today is Monday by Eric Carle
Fingerplay: Apples
*Prop Visual: The Colors We Eat On Thanksgiving
Fingerplay: Sausages
Flannel: The Enormous Turnip
Song: “I Feel Crazy so I Jump in the Soup”

Schools visited: Little Bear Academy

*One of my co-workers made a great visual (see photo). The turkey’s stomach circle is clear, so you can put colored sheets of paper in a pocket behind the stomach. I used small squares of different colored construction paper. On one side of the paper, I put a photo of a Thanksgiving food that was the the color of the paper. (The other side was blank, just that color.) Here are the words (food) to go with the visual:
THE COLORS I EAT ON THANKSGIVING
I eat many colors on Thanksgiving…
The turkey is… (brown)
The corn is… (yellow)
The beans are… (green)
The pumpkin pie is… (orange)
The cranberries are… (red)
The potatoes are… (brown) When I peel the potatoes and make mashed potatoes, they are… (white)
So many colors I eat on Thanksgiving!

Storytime Music List

sillylibrarian Leave a comment

Hey guys! I forgot to mention that I compiled a list of the (recorded) music I’ve used at storytime. It can be found as “Storytime Music” under “Storytime Extras” in the sidebar. Or here’s the direct link! I also have several songs I haven’t yet used at storytime but hope to in the future. I haven’t added them into the list yet, but I plan on editing this list as the days go by. Here’s also an opportunity for YOU to share with me YOUR favorite songs to use at storytime. For the present, I won’t be using much music since I’m mostly going into the classrooms to share stories. But I do plan on bringing an ipod and portable speaker for my kindergarten and preschool visits (for a little dance break). Happy Storytiming!

Snowy Days are soon to come

sillylibrarian Leave a comment

Last Friday, I enjoyed doing a 20-minute toddler storytime for my nephew Jackson’s class at Crystal Lake Montessori School!

OPENING:
Opening Song: If You Want to Hear a Story

PROGRAM:
Read-aloud #1 (Story Cards): Oh! by Kevin Henkes
Flannel: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. (Templates available here.)
Song/Fingerplay: Hands Up High
Read-aloud #2 (Story Cards): Disappearing Snowman
*Flannel: Five Little Snowmen
Song: Silly Hat Song
Read-aloud #3 (Sung): Frosty the Snowman by Steve Nelson and Jack Rollins, version illustrated by Richard Cowdrey
Action Song: Fun with Hands
Dancing Song: “The Wiggle Song” from Carole Peterson: Sticky Bubble Gum and Other Tasty Tunes

CLOSING:
Closing Song: We Wave Goodbye

*Five Little Snowmen
Five little snowmen round and fat.
Each one wearing a funny hat.
In the morning, out came the sun.
It looked down and melted one.

Pumpkin Time!

sillylibrarian Leave a comment

(Also: my nephew/godson Jackson’s FIRST storytime!) Hope everyone has a HAPPY HALLOWEEN! 🙂

OPENING:
Opening Song: If You Want to Hear a Story

PROGRAM:
Read-aloud #1: Five Little Pumpkins by Iris Van Rynbach OR Big Pumpkin by Erica Silverman
*Fingerplay: Once there was a pumpkin
Read-aloud #2: Pumpkin Heads! by Wendell Minor OR The Runaway Pumpkin by Kevin Lewis
Fingerplay: Fun with Hands
**Flannel: Pumpkin, Pumpkin
Flannel: Five Little Pumpkins
Read-aloud #3: Plumply, Dumply Pumpkin by Mary Serfozo OR The Ugly Pumpkin by Dave Horowitz
Flannel: Pumpkin Pie Time
Read-aloud #4: Brooms are for Flying by Michael Rex OR What’s in the Witch’s Kitchen? (flap book) by Nick Sharratt
Puppet Story: Go Away, Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley (Puppet available here.)
(Read-aloud #5 (Pop-up): Little Monsters by Jan Pienkowski)
(“Dancing” Song: “Shake My Sillies Out” from Raffi’s More Singable Songs)

CLOSING:
Closing song: We Wave Goodbye

*Once there was a pumpkin
Once there was a pumpkin. (Make a circle with hands.)
And it grew, And grew, And grew. (With each “grew”, make imaginary pumpkin bigger.)
Now it’s a jack-o-lantern And smiles at you! (With a smile, point to each other.)

**Pumpkin, Pumpkin
Pumpkin, pumpkin, round and fat
Turned into a jack-o-lantern just like that!
(Two-sided flannel pieces can be purchased here.)

Five Golden Songs

sillylibrarian Leave a comment

On the fifth day of December, Ms. Jennifer gave to all…
FIVE GOLDEN SONGS!!!!!

At yesterday’s Lincoln Story League (our local kiddie librarian idea swap), I shared five Silly Librarian approved action songs…

Let Everyone Clap Hands Like Me
from Pete Seeger: Children’s Concert at Town Hall (live version)
(Additional verses added here.)
Let everyone clap hands like me —(Clap clap)
Let everyone clap hands like me—(Clap clap)
Come on, join into the game.
You’ll find that it’s always the same.

Let everyone shout “Hooray!”—”Hooray!”…
Let everyone sneeze like me —“Achoo!”…
Let everyone cry like me —“Boo Hoo”…
Let everyone laugh like me—”Ha Ha”…
Let everyone yawn like me—*Yawn*…
Let everyone snore like me—*Snore*…
Let everyone get up and turn around—(Turn around, then sit down!)…

Silly Hat Song
Tune: “This Old Man”
On my head, I wear my hat.
It is such a silly hat
That my head will wiggle waggle to and fro.
Where else can my silly hat go?
Repeat using foot, elbow, knee, etc.
Put hat on appropriate body parts and wiggle!

Hands up High
Tune: “London Bridge”
Move appropriately to words.
(Video presentation here.)
First we wave our hands up high,
Hands up high, hands up high.
First we wave our hands up high.
Then we clap them.
Then we shake our hands down low,
Hands down low, hands down low.
Then we shake our hands down low.
Then we hide them.

If You’re Wearing Red Today
Tune: “Muffin Man”If you’re wearing red today,
Red today, red today,
If you’re wearing red today,
Stand up and shout “Hooray!”
Repeat for other colors

Fun with Hands
Tune: “Row, Row, Row your boat”
Suit actions to words.
Roll, roll, roll your hands,
As slowly as can be.
Roll, roll, roll your hands,
Do it now with me.
Roll, roll, roll your hands,
As fast, as fast can be.
Roll, roll, roll your hands,
Do it now with me.
Clap, clap, clap your hands…
Shake, shake, shake your hands…
Stamp, stamp, stamp your feet…

Get Happy!

sillylibrarian 2 Comments

Happy New Year!!! The beginning of a new year is a great time to do a Happy Birthday and/or Celebrations storytime. Below is an oldie but goodie. Also: you may notice that some major changes are happening on this site (finally!). I am hoping to really start adding to this site this year and make it an even more useful resource for parents, teachers and fellow librarians. The look of the site may continue to change for a little while longer, but I hope to get things settled soon!

As an extra bonus, at the end of this post, I’ve included another “Silly Librarian in Action” video: a snippet of “If You’re Happy and You Know It”. Shout HOORAY! and get happy, people.

Birthdays and Celebrations Funfare with Jennifer: September 1, 2005

Decorate using streamers, balloons, felt cakes, presents…

OPENING:

Play the “Unbirthday Song” (from Disney’s Alice in Wonderland) as children enter. Have bubbles going.
Discuss birthdays and what you can find at parties.
Opening Fingerplay: Ten Little Fingers
Opening Song: Let Everyone Clap Hands with Me

PROGRAM:

Read-aloud #1: Little Gorilla by Ruth Bornstein
Fingerplay: Make a Cake
Read-aloud #2: Gotcha! by Gail Jorgensen (group) OR Fairytale Cake by Mark Sperring (family)
Fingerplay: Birthday Cake
Oral storytelling: Poule and Roach (from Margaret Read MacDonald’s Celebrate the World: Twenty Tellable Folktales for Multicultural Festivals) [I definitely needed to shorten the story for this audience. If I were to do this storytime again, I think that I would substitute this story for another book such as The Birthday Box by Leslie Patricelli or A Birthday for Cow! by Jan Thomas and/or more songs or fingerplays.]

CLOSING:

Song: Hokey Pokey
(Song: Shake My Sillies Out)
Present kids with colorfully wrapped box as a “present for everyone”. But before we can open it, we must sing…
Song: Happy Birthday
Open up the present (be dramatic and throw the paper everywhere while shaking the box). Inside there are stickers for everyone! Hand out stickers individually (a good time to do a count) and wish each boy and girl a “Happy Birthday”. Play “Unbirthday Song” again (and/or Raffi music) while doing this as audience leaves.

Make a Cake
Mix the batter, stir the batter
(make a stirring motion with one arm/hand)
Shake some flour in
(make a shaking motion with one arm/hand)
Mix the batter, stir the batter
(make a stirring motion with one arm/hand)
Place it in a tin
(pretend to pour)
Sprinkle in some raisins in
(pretend to sprinkle)
Pop it in the oven
(open both hands, palms up, and slide them forward)
Open wide the oven door
(pretend to open door)
And out comes the cake!
(open both hands, palms up, and slide them forward)

Birthday Cake
Ten candles on a birthday cake
(hold up hands with palms facing out and fingers extended)
All lit up for me
(wiggle fingers)
I’ll make a wish and blow them out
Watch and you will see.
(blow and bend fingers down)

And, now for the video! Clap your hands!

Make Many Colorful Splashes!

sillylibrarian Leave a comment

Not only did we cover animals that make a splash, we also got in some counting and color identification. It was quite a wonderful and splashy way to end our storytime year and to introduce our “Make a Splash” Summer Reading theme.

It was also a nice ending to my time here in Burbank. I loved being a part of all your lives and will never forget you! Thanks for coming to storytime and for sharing stories, songs, dancing, puppets and bubbles with me.

Feel free to keep in touch (or keep track of me on this blog!), and have the best summer ever!

Stories Shared:
Little White Duck by Walt Whippo
The Wide-Mouthed Frog: a Pop-Up Book by Keith Faulkner
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? By Bill Martin, Jr. (Finger Puppet Set available here.)

Rhymes (Can be found on Toddler Storytime Rhymes Sheet):
Hands Up High
Blackbirds
If You’re Happy and You Know It
I Clap My Hands
Thank You

Bonus Song:
Five Little Ducks (Flannel pieces can be purchased here. Lyrics and melody can be found here.)

Bonus Song:
If You’re Wearing Red Today
Tune: “Muffin Man”
If you’re wearing red today, Red today, red today, If you’re wearing red today, Stand up and shout “Hooray!”
Repeat for other colors

Music:
Bob McGrath: Bob’s Favorite Street Songs (Rubber Duckie; Put Down the Duckie)
Jim Gill Sings the Sneezing Song and Other Contagious Tunes (Silly Dance Contest)

Wiggly Bugs

sillylibrarian Leave a comment

This week’s storytimes were BUG-tastic! Remember everybody that NEXT WEEK is our LAST storytime of the season! Be sure to come and celebrate our wonderful year together. Storytime will be on hiatus until the fall (date to be determined), but there will still be fun times at the Burbank Public Library this summer.

Registration for our Read-to-Me Summer Program (petting zoo! music! puppets! fun!) starts on June 1st, and the program will run the week of June 13th through the week of July 18th.

Stories Shared:
Bugs! Bugs! Bugs! By Bob Barner (Patterns available here.)
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Butterfly, Butterfly by Petr Horacek
Beetle Bop by Denise Fleming

Rhymes (Can be found on Toddler Storytime Rhymes Sheet):
Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes
Sometimes
Flutter, Flutter Butterfly
The Beehive
Itsy Bitsy Spider
I’m a Little Teapot

Bonus Rhyme:
Apples
Way up high in the apple tree,
(Stretch arms in the air.)
Two little apples smiled at me.
(Hold up two fists.)
I shook the tree as hard as I could.
(Shake fists in the air.)
Down came the apples.
(Drop fists to lap. Mime biting into “apples”.)
Mmm, were they good!
(Pat tummy.)

Flannel:
Five Little Apples
(Chanted to Five Little Monkeys Teasing Mr. Crocodile)
Five little apples hanging in a tree,
Teasing Mr. Slinky Worm “you can’t eat me”,
Along comes Mr. Slinky Worm quiet as can be…
and…CRUNCH!
(Chant with 4,3,2,1)
(Used tree flannel, 5 apple flannels and a worm finger puppet)

Music:
Carole Peterson: Sticky Bubble Gum and Other Tasty Tunes (The Wiggle Song)

Tags: bugs, butterfly, insects, storytime

Families Give You Lots and Lots of Love!

sillylibrarian 2 Comments

This week’s storytimes celebrated families: mommies, daddies and babies, too! Happy Mother’s Day to all the mommies out there:)

Stories Shared:
Does a Kangaroo Have A Mother, Too? By Eric Carle
What Mommies Do Best / What Daddies Do Best by Laura Numeroff
What Shall We Do with the Boo-Hoo Baby? by Cressida Cowell

Rhymes (Can be found on Toddler Storytime Rhymes Sheet):
Five Little Monkeys
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
If You’re Happy and You Know It
Hands Up High
Blackbirds
Old MacDonald
I Clap My Hands

Music:
Jim Gill Sings the Sneezing Song and Other Contagious Tunes (Silly Dance Contest)