Shapes.  I just noticed that all three of my latest storytimes have themes that begin with the letter ‘S’.

SONG: Welcome Song

MOVEMENT: “Wake Up Toes” from Morning Magic by Joanie Bartels

MOVEMENT: Open Shut Them*

AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE: sign for “Square” and “Circle”

taken from Costello, Elaine Ph.D.  Random House Webster’s American Sign Language Dictionary.  1994.

BOOK:

Round is a Mooncake: A Book of Shapes written by Roseanne Thong, illustrated by Grace Lin

MOVEMENT: “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” from It’s Toddler Time by Carol Hammett and Elaine Bueffel

COUNT & RHYME SONG:

10 Squares

Counting time, it’s counting time
So let’s all sing a simple rhyme

Ten little squares here we go
Let’s all count them as I put them in rows.
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10

Ten little squares, again we go
Now let’s count them nice and slow
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10

Ten little squares, in neat rows
Let’s count them as away they go
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10

FLANNELBOARD:
Could You Lift Up Your Bottom?

Based on the book of the same name, written by Hee-jung Chang, illustrated by Sung-hwa Chung.

The story starts out with Frog, happy in her favorite hat.  Then along comes a wind and whisks the hat away.  Before Frog has a chance to get her hat back, the very large Elephant sits on it.

Frog politely asks Elephant, “Could You Lift Up Your Bottom?”  But Elephant is too hungry to move, and demands something good to eat, something… round.

But the orange that Frog brings is not enough.  Soon Elephant wants a delicious triangle (a sandwich), a rectangle (chocolate bar), a circle within a circle (a bagel in the book, but I changed it to a donut because it was easier to convey in flannel), and then something round inside of something triangular (an ice cream cone).

None of these satisfy Elephant, and he wants a nap.  But when Frog asks Elephant to move his bottom, he demands something to eat in a… special shape.

Frog finds something, but it is too large to carry.  So Elephant stretches out his trunk, and eats the honey from this very special shape.  But you know what comes with honey?

Bees!  A swarm of bees chase Elephant away.  And, finally, Frog gets her favorite hat back.

MOVEMENT: “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” from Songs for Wiggleworms by the Old Town School of Folk Music

MOVEMENT: My Wiggles*

BOOK:

Go, Shapes, Go! by Denise Fleming

MOVEMENT: “Two Little Blackbirds” from Fingerplays and Footplays by Rosemary Hallum and Henry “Buzz” Glass

VIDEO:

“Puzzle”, “Squares” and “Swan” from Doodle Baby Vol. 1

MOVEMENT: Storytime’s Over

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL IDEAS:
  

Book: What Shape? by Debbie MacKinnon and Anthea Sieveking
Book: Shoes Shoes Shoes by Ann Morris
Book: Ship Shapes written by Stella Blackstone, illustrated by Siobhan Bell
Book: Shape by Shape by Suze MacDonald
Book: Up Close by Gay Wegerif (May be a stretch, but it seems so fun!)
Book: Shoes by Elizabeth Winthrop, illustrated by William Joyce
DVD: “Build a Birdhouse” and “Shape Train” from Curious Buddies: Let’s Build
Flannelboard: Ship Shape

THOUGHTS ON THIS STORYTIME:
I’m not sure I picked the best stories for this storytime.  They all felt like they may be better suited to a preschool storytime, rather than a toddler time.  Or maybe I should have just skipped over a few pages.  It was just an off day today in storytime, as some of them are.

I was really surprised how well the video worked though.  Doodle Baby seemed really soothing, and the kids seemed to enjoy it.

ATTENDANCE:  10 am:  47 people      11 am: 39 people

* For these songs, please see my Storytime Movements & Music page