Spots and dots!  We had fun with these two elements during our last Toddler storytime of the Winter session.

SONG: Welcome Song

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

MOVEMENT: Open Shut Them*

AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE: sign for “Polka Dots”

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

BOOK:

Spectacular Spots written and illustrated by Susan Stockdale

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

COUNT & RHYME SONG:

10 Ladybugs

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

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

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

FLANNELBOARD:
Dog’s Colorful Day

Based on the book Dog’s Colorful Day: A Messy Story about Colors and Counting by Emma Dodd

Dog has an adventurous day!  Each interaction he has gives him another color dot on his usually white fur.

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

MOVEMENT: Itsy Bitsy Spider

BOOK:

Where’s Spot? by Eric Hill

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

VIDEO:

“Spots” from Good Morning Maisy

MOVEMENT: Storytime’s Over

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL IDEAS:
 

Book: Ten Black Dots by Donald Crews
Book: Animal Spots and Stripes by Britta Teckentrup
Book: Lots of Dots by Craig Frazier
Book: Spots: Counting Creatures from Sky to Sea by Carolyn Lesser, illustrated by Laura Regan
Book: Spots, Feathers and Curly Tails by Nancy Tafuri
Flannelboard: 5 Green and Speckled Frogs

GREAT RESOURCES FOR MORE IDEAS:
The Wielded Pen – Polka Dotty Monster – Flannel Friday
Storytime ABC’s – Flannel Friday: Monster Mania Fun
Storytimes and More – Spots and Dots Storytime
Literacious – Sensory Story Time Theme: Polka-Dots
Story Time Secrets – 12 Picture Books about Spots and Dots

THOUGHTS ON THIS STORYTIME:

I really liked this theme for storytime.  I went back and looked at the list I keep of books that I think would work for infant or toddler storytimes, and I saw that I had Spectacular Spots on the list, but had never used it.  Since I want to incorporate more nonfiction into my storytimes, it seemed like a fun one to use and there are a lot of other great spot and dot books to go along with it.

I thought Dog’s Colorful Day might be too long as a flannelboard, but I cut the storytelling down to bare bones, and it seemed to work ok.

ATTENDANCE:  10 am:  47 people      11 am: 28 people

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