Magical Fall Toddler Storytime

I can’t believe Fall is officially starting on Saturday! My favorite season! This concludes our last Toddler Storytime of the session. A new session (with Ms. Lisa) begins October 25. I had so much fun! Thanks for a fun and memorable 6 weeks!

*Opening: The More We Get Together
*Rhyme: Blackbirds
Book: Hocus Pocus, It’s Fall! by Anne Sibley O’Brien
*Rhyme: Apples
**Flannel: Red, Red Apple, Where Are You?
*Rhyme: Beehive
Book: The Busy Little Squirrel by Nancy Tafuri
*Rhyme: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
***Flannel: 5 Little Acorns
*Rhyme: Round and Round the Garden
“Dancing” Song: “Jumping and Counting” from Jim Gill’s Irrational Anthem
*Closing Song: We Wave Good-bye Like This

Craft: Glue small leaf cut-outs onto a paper that has a bare tree illustration. Also: used woodland creature stickers.

*Rhymes can be found on the August/September 2018 Toddler Rhyme Sheet

**Red, Red Apple, Where Are You? (source unknown)
(Tune: “Are you sleeping?”)
Red, red apple,
Red, red apple,
Where are you?
Where are you?
I’m right behind the (yellow/red/orange/green/brown) leaf.
I’m right behind the (yellow/red/orange/green/brown) leaf.
Peek-a-boo!
Peek-a-boo!
(Repeat with Mr. Pumpkin, Mr. Squirrel, Mr. Bluebird, and Mr. Rabbit)
(Used yellow, red, orange, green, and brown big leaf flannels big enough to hide–then reveal– apple, pumpkin, squirrel, bluebird and rabbit flannels. Also had kids do peek-a-boo action with me at that point in the song.)

***5 Little Acorns (adapted from “5 Little Apples”)
(Chanted to Five Little Monkeys Teasing Mr. Crocodile)
Five little acorns hanging in a tree,
Teasing Mr. Bushy Tail “you can’t eat me”,
Along comes Mr. Bushy Tail as hungry as can be…
and…CRUNCH!
(Chant with 4,3,2,1)
(Used tree flannel, 5 acorn flannels and a squirrel flannel or puppet)

Sleepy Toddler Storytime

Ironically, I’ve been having trouble sleeping this week… the week “Sleepy Stories” is my theme! One more week of this storytime session!

*Opening: The More We Get Together
*Rhyme: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Book: Let’s Sing a Lullaby with the Brave Cowboy by Jan Thomas (Jan Thomas has a song to go with this book on her website!)
*Rhyme: Where is Thumbkin?
*Rhyme: Tommy Thumb
Book: Everyone is Yawning by Anita Bijsterbosch
*Rhyme (with finger puppets): Ten in the Bed
*Rhyme: Round and Round the Garden
Puppet Story: The Napping House from the book by Audrey Wood (See librarian Steven Englefried’s YouTube demonstration.)
“Dancing” Song (with shaker eggs): “I Can Shake My Shaker Egg” from Mr. Eric & Mr. Michael Rockin’ Red
*Closing Song: We Wave Good-bye Like This

Craft: Tuck-Me-In Teddy (Found this craft on this website–scroll to the bottom)

*Rhymes can be found on the August/September 2018 Toddler Rhyme Sheet

I Love Baths! Toddler Storytime

Who doesn’t love a good bubble bath? Another favorite theme of mine…

*Opening: The More We Get Together
*Rhyme: Sometimes
Book: King Bidgood’s in the Bathtub by Audrey Wood
*Rhyme: Tommy Thumb
Flannel: Five Elephants in the Bathtub
*Rhyme: Round and Round the Garden
Book: Ten Pigs: an Epic Bath Adventure by Derek Anderson
*Rhyme (with puppets): Old MacDonald
Flannel: Mrs. Wishy Washy by Joy Cowley
*Rhyme: Hands Up High
*Rhyme: Blackbirds
“Dancing” Song: “Coconut Soap” from Frank Leto’s Time for Music
*Closing Song: We Wave Good-bye Like This

Craft: Pig in a Bathtub coloring sheet (Used dot markers to create “bubbles” for the bath)

*Rhymes can be found on the August/September 2018 Toddler Rhyme Sheet

I Love Trash! Toddler Storytime

This week, we repeated one of my favorite themes: Garbage! Trashy Town is one of my favorite storytime books 🙂

*Opening: The More We Get Together
*Rhyme: Hands Up High
*Rhyme: Blackbirds
Book: Smash! Mash! Crash! There Goes the Trash! by Barbara Odanaka
**Prop and Bonus Rhyme: If You See a Piece of Garbage, Pick it Up! (I filled a small can full of crumpled scrap paper. I dumped in on the floor, and sang this song while the kids helped my put the garbage back in the can. Really fun!)
*Rhyme: If You’re Happy and You Know It
Flannel: Five Little Garbage Trucks (found on this site; more garbage-theme fun also there)
*Rhyme: If You’re Wearing Red Today
Book: Trashy Town by Andrea Zimmerman
*Rhyme: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Dancing Song (with bean bags): “Take That Bean Bag” from Me and My Bean Bag
*Closing: We Wave Goodbye

Craft: For a simple craft, we glued cut-out clip art images of a garbage truck and a trash can to a piece of paper. We also glued onto the paper some paper shreds (“garbage”). I played “I Love Trash” and other songs from Sesame Street: Platinum All-Time Favorites during craft time.

*Rhymes can be found on the August/September 2018 Toddler Rhyme Sheet

**Bonus Rhyme:
If You See a Piece of Garbage, Pick it Up!
(To the tune of “If You’re Happy and You Know It”)
If You See a Piece of Garbage, Pick it Up!
If You See a Piece of Garbage, Pick it Up!
If You See a Piece of Garbage,
If You See a Piece of Garbage,
If You See a Piece of Garbage, Pick it Up!

 

Bark! Meow! Toddler Storytime

Here’s one of my favorite themes: Dogs and Cats!

*Opening: The More We Get Together
*Rhyme: Where is Thumbkin?
Book: Bark, George by Jules Feiffer
Prop: Swallowing “George” Puppy (with finger puppets inside; I put on latex gloves and removed the animals from inside George)
*Rhyme: Old MacDonald
**Flannel: Five Little Cats
Book: What Will Fat Cat Sit On? by Jan Thomas
*Rhyme: Apples
Puppet Story: Who Said Meow? from the book by Maria Polushkin (See librarian Steven Englefried’s YouTube demonstration.)
*Rhyme: Beehive
Dancing Song: “Animal Action” from Greg and Steve’s Kids in Motion
*Closing: We Wave Goodbye

Craft: Dog and Cat popsicle stick puppets

*Rhymes can be found on the August/September 2018 Toddler Rhyme Sheet

**Five Little Cats (Source Unknown)
5 little cats were playing near the door.
One ran away, and that left 4.
4 little cats were underneath a tree.
One heard a dog bark, and that left 3.
3 little cats were wondering what to do.
One chased a butterfly, and that left 2.
2 little cats were sitting in the sun.
One ran to chase his tail, and that left 1.
1 little cat was looking for some fun.
He heard his mommy calling… and now there are none!

Wow! Color Toddler Storytime

I’m filling in for a 6-week session of the in-house baby and toddler storytimes at the Poplar Creek Public Library. This blog actually started when I was doing toddler storytimes in California, so I feel like I’m going back to my roots in a way. I’m excited to repeat some of my favorite storytimes, maybe tweaking them a bit to add in some new books or flannels. Back in the day, I didn’t post the order I did my stories, rhymes, and songs. So this time around, I’ll be sharing my actual plans.

We started last Thursday with a fun Color theme. I loved meeting new friends, acting silly, and dancing with scarves. I’m already looking forward to next time!

*Opening: The More We Get Together
*Rhyme: If You’re Wearing Red Today
Book: Wow! Said the Owl by Tim Hopgood
*Rhyme: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
**Flannel: Little Mouse House
*Rhyme: If You’re Happy and You Know It
***Visual Prop: Baa, Baa [insert color] Sheep & Sing “Baa, Baa, Black Sheep” song
Book: Where is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox
Flannel: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin
Dancing Song (with scarves): “Dancing Scarf Blues” from Carole Peterson: Dancing Feet
*Closing: We Wave Goodbye

Craft: Doily Sheep

*Rhymes can be found on the August/September 2018 Toddler Rhyme Sheet

**Little Mouse, Little Mouse, Are you in the [insert color] house?
(Underneath different colored flannel houses, I place different flannel animals. Using a cat puppet, we go in search of the mouse flannel… This time, under the houses that didn’t have the mouse, I put all sheep flannels. That was pretty silly!)

***Created “flash cards” of colorful sheep. One side of each card has a colored sheep. The other side of the card is blank… except the Black Sheep card. On back of Black Sheep card, there is an illustration of three bags. We chanted “Baa, Baa, [insert color] Sheep, have you any wool?” (Show side with colored sheep.) “No, sir, no, sir, no bags full.” (Show empty back side of card.) UNTIL you get to the Black Sheep. Then say, “Yes, sir, yes, sir, three bags full.” (Show the illustration of the three bags.) We sang the traditional rhyme. Then, we counted the bags on the back of the card.

Weird Summer

Here’s another summer school/camp program:

“Weird” books are always popular!

Storytelling: “At Midnight” (I learned this “boo baby” story from storyteller Priscilla Howe)
Nonfiction Book: Weird But True! 9 (National Geographic Kids)
Fiction Book: If… by Sarah Perry
Fiction Book: Rot by Ben Clanton

Reminder: I’ll be performing at the Streamwood Farmer’s Market this Friday, July 27th at 11:30 am at the Poplar Creek Public Library. I’ll be repeating my farm-themed Story Sparklers program.

The Dog Days of Summer

So, this summer, I’ve been keeping busy reading stories to kids visiting the library as part of their summer school program and also to kids participating in an apartment community summer camp. I’ve been repeating some old programs, but I also came up with some new ideas, too.

Here’s my “Dog Days” theme:

Nonfiction Book: “Hank’s Home Run” from Five-Minute True Stories: Animal Rescue by Aubre Andrus (plus book talk other animal books including National Geographic’s 125 True Stories of Amazing Animals and Five-Minute True Stories: Animal BFFs)
Fiction Book: Dog Breath by Dav Pilkey
Activity: My Dog Spot! Mad Libs

Story Sparklers V

I hope that everyone had a fantastic 4th of July! I spent my holiday sharing farm stories at Crystal Lake’s annual Lakeside Festival. This was my FIFTH year bringing storytime to the fest. I had a really fun audience and a great turnout. Miss Illinois Teen, Rachel Hodson, also visited to say hello to the kids and to assist with the event. She’s a big supporter of reading and was great with the kids. So nice to have her there.

For anyone interested, I will be repeating this farm-themed storytime at the Streamwood Farmers Market on Friday, July 27th at 11:30 a.m. The Farmer’s Market will be located in the parking lot of the Poplar Creek Library (where I work!) at 1405 Park Avenue, Streamwood. It’s a drop-in outdoor storytime– no need to register; just show up for fun and stories!

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

PROGRAM:
Read-aloud #1 (Big Book): Click Clack Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin
Song with Puppets: Old MacDonald
Puppet Story: Who Said Meow? from the book by Maria Polushkin (See librarian Steven Englefried’s YouTube demonstration.)
**Fingerplay: The Beehive
Flannel Story: The Goat in the Chile Patch (from Multicultural Folktales: Stories to Tell Young Children edited by Judy Sierra)
***Action Song: Fun with Hands
Storytelling: “The Little Red Hen” (This is a traditional folktale, possibly of Russian-origin. Children dressed up and acted out the parts. I used a singing refrain from storyteller Heather Forest’s sound recording Sing Me a Story.)

CLOSING:
****Closing Rhyme: Thank You

*If You Want to Hear a Story (Tune: “If You’re Happy and You Know It”)
If you want to hear a story, clap your hands!
If you want to hear a story, clap your hands!
If you want to hear a story,
if you want to hear a story,
if you want to hear a story, clap your hands!
Other verses:
“nod your head,”
“rub your tummy,”
“sit real still,” etc.

**The Beehive
Here is a beehive
Make a fist.
Where are the bees?
Hidden away where nobody sees.
Watch as they come out of their hive—
One, two, three, four, five,
Extend fingers one at a time.
They’re alive! Buzzzzzz!
Wiggle your fingers.

***Fun With Hands
Suit actions to words.
Tune: “Row, Row, Row your boat”.

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…

****Thank You
My hands say thank you
With a clap, clap, clap
Clap hands
My feet say thank you with a tap, tap, tap
Tap feet
Clap, clap, clap.
Tap, tap, tap.
Clap hands, then tap feet
Turn myself around and bow,
Thank you!
Turn around, bow, then smile

April 2018 “Outer Space” Second Grade Visits

Sigh. It’s my last month of class visits for this school year. I’ve really enjoyed sharing stories with these enthusiastic and appreciative second graders. I hope that many will come visit me at the library this summer!

Song: Boom Chicka Boom
Book: The Three Little Aliens and the Big Bad Robot by Margaret McNamara
(Poetry Book Bite: “The Earth” or “Pluto” from Comets, Stars, the Moon, and Mars by Douglas Florian)
Nonfiction Book Bite: booktalked various “space” books (such as 50 Things You Should Know About Space by Professor Raman Prinja, Eclipses by Martha E.H. Rustad, and Astronaut Handbook by Meghan McCarthy)
Storytell: “At Midnight” (I learned this “boo baby” story from storyteller Priscilla Howe)

Schools visited: Heritage, Laurel Hill