As this was the beginning of the Fall storytime session, and due to vacation/illness I didn’t have a lot of planning time, so I pulled out an old storytime standard: apples!

SONG: Welcome Song

MOVEMENT: “Clap Everybody and Say Hello” from Sally Go Round the Sun: songs and rhymes from the parent-child Mother Goose program by Kathy Reid-Naiman

MOVEMENT: Open Shut Them*

LETTER FLANNELBOARD: A is for Apple

BOOK:

Tap the Magic tree by Christie Matheson

MOVEMENT: “Roll Your Hands” from Toddlers on Parade by Carol Hammett & Elaine Bueffel

FLANNELBOARD:
The Apple Tree

(I know there are 4 apples in the image, but I just used three with the group when I did it, hence the rhyme starting with 3…)

Way up high in the apple tree (raise arms up into the air)
3 little apples smiled at me (hold up number of fingers, and smile)
I shook that tree just as hard as I could (use both hands to pretend to shake the trunk of a tree)
And down came an apple! (take an apple off the flannelboard)
CRUNCH! (pretend to eat the apple)
Mmmmm… was it good! (rub belly)

How many apples are left?  2!

Way up high in the apple tree
2 little apples smiled at me….

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

MOVEMENT: Itsy Bitsy Spider

BOOK:

Pepo and Lolo and the Red Apple by Ana Martin Larrañaga

VIDEO:

“Max’s Apple” from Springtime for Max & Ruby

MOVEMENT: Storytime’s Over

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL IDEAS:
 

Book: Apple Farmer Annie by Monica Wellington
Book: Brownie & Pearl Grab a Bite by Cynthia Rylant, pictures by Brian Biggs
Book: Orange, Pear, Apple, Bear by Emily Gravett
Book: Apple Pie ABC by Alison Murray
Book: All for Pie, Pie for All by David Martin, illustrated by Valeri Gorbachev
Book: Ten Red Apples by Pat Hutchins (I want to make this one into a flannelboard as well)
Flannelboard: I Gave My Horse an Apple
DVD: “Chicka Chicka 1 2 3” from Chicka Chicka 123 …and more counting fun!

GREAT RESOURCES FOR MORE IDEAS:
storytime katie – Toddlers: Apples
Library Village – Toddler Storytime – A is for Apple
Pasadena Public Library Kids Blog – Toddler Storytime: Apples
Jen in the Library – Apples – Toddler Storytime (from 2012)

THOUGHTS ON THIS STORYTIME:
There are a lot of good books for toddler apple storytime, but a lot of these had been used recently in storytime, and I didn’t want to repeat them.  So, I thought I would take a try at something new with Tap the Magic Tree.  It was rather long, but I think the interactivity of it made it okay for toddlers.  Rather than bringing the book around and having the kids tap on the page individually, I have them all do it from their seats so everyone can participate at once.  I think this would work better with toddlers if I had used it a little later in the storytime session, when they were used to sitting for longer periods of time.  It wasn’t a bad choice, and I would totally use it again.

One of my colleagues for her toddler storytimes does a letter flannel to get started, and I decided to steal that idea and start using it for some of my storytimes.  I hope she doesn’t mind (imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?), and I’m excited about adding this knew letter knowledge element to storytime.

PRESENTED: Tuesday, October 10, 2017

ATTENDANCE:  10 am:  45 people      11 am: 44 people

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

When I started planning for the fall session of infant toddler storytime I thought I would start off with a seasonal choice and do stories about autumn.  After searching for a bit, however, I couldn’t find many that had a good solid story that would be short enough for the first day of the session.  So I then turned to another great aspect of fall – apples!

MOVEMENT: Welcome Song

MOVEMENT:“Clap Everybody and Say Hello” from Sally Go Round the Sun by Kathy Reid-Naiman.

BOOK:

Ten Red Apples by Virginia Miller
Since ththis works on two levels (it has a story running along the bottom, and a counting aspect along the side), for the most part I just stuck with the story and read that portion, except when it mentions that Bartholomew likes counting the red apples — then the group and I counted together.   

MOVEMENT: “Reach for the Ceiling” from Toddlers on Parade by Carol Hammett and Elaine Bueffel

COUNTING SONG:

Apples – pattern found via Google Image Search

Today we did our counting song, of course, with apples.  I added a few green apples to the mix to brighten things up.

FLANNELBOARD:
“The Apple Tree”

Song and Patterns taken from 2’s Experience Felt Board Fun by Liz & Dick Wilmes

Way up high in the apple tree (lift hands above head)
Four little apples smiled at me.
I shook that tree as hard as I could. (shake hands back and forth)
Down came one apple. 
MMMMmmm… was it  good. (rub tummy)

How many apples do we have left? 3!

Way up high in the apple tree (lift hands above head)
Three little apples smiled at me….

Continue until you’ve eaten all the apples.

For my 10am storytime I actually put five red apples on the flannelboard and we counted that many together.  That seemed to be a bit much, so for the 11am storytime I switched to four and that was much better.

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

BOOK:

Pepo and Lolo and the Red Apple by Ana Martin Larranaga

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

VIDEO:

“The Very Hungry Caterpillar” from The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Other Stories.

I actually thought I would show “Chicka Chicka 1,2,3” as my video, but my hold didn’t come in time.  I remembered the cover of this DVD, and sure enough, the first item that our very hungry friend eats is an apple.  It’s fun to hear the ooohhs and ahhhs when he becomes a butterfly.

MOVEMENT:  Storytime’s Over