Rivers and Streams – Preschool (But also Infant/Toddler) Storytime

Posted on November 6, 2018 by jeninthelibrary

This is another adapted from one of our system storyboxes.

MOVEMENT: Welcome Song*

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

MOVEMENT: Open Shut Them*

PUPPET:

Before starting into the storytime, kids could pet and say hello to a beaver puppet.

BOOK:

I Know the River Loves Me / Yo sé que el río me ama by Maya Christina Gonzalez

MOVEMENT: “Shake My Sillies Out” from More Singable Songs for the Very Young by Raffi

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

FLANNELBOARD:

Five Little Boats (on the River)
Pattern taken from taken from The Flannel Board Storytelling Book 2nd Edition by Judy Sierra
Words adapted from Felt Board Ideas Five Little Sailboats Felt Board Poem

(to the tune of: “5 Little Ducks”)

Five little boats went out one day
Out on the river and far away
When the waves began to rock
One little boat returned to the dock.

Other verses:
4 little boats…

MOVEMENT: Row Row Row Your Boat

BOOK:

A Brave Bear by Sean Taylor, illustrated by Emily Hughes

MOVEMENT: Twinkle Twinkle

VIDEO:

“River, River, River Run” from A Kid for The Wild: Music Videos Featuring Scenic Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park Animals and Locations

CRAFT: Fish Puppet in a River

Have the kids color in the river scene and the fish puppet. Tape or glue the fish onto a popsicle stick. Cut a slit into the river scene where the dotted line is. Insert puppet into line, and have the fish “frolic” in the river!

The templates for this craft are below:
Fish Puppet Template
River Template

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL IDEAS:

DVD: “Scruffy the Tugboat: Big River Rescue” from The Poky Little Puppy and Friends
Book: Tugboat Bill and the River Rescue by Calista Brill, illustrated by Tad Carpenter
Book: Splash! by Flora McDonnell (they just say that the animals go down to the “water”, so I think you could say “river” instead.)
Book: Solomon Crocodile by Catherine Rayner
Book: The Crocodile and the Scorpion by Rebecca Emberley and Ed Emberley

HOW IT WENT:
I wasn’t sure how Rivers would be as a theme for storytime, but I was pleasantly surprised! The DVD worked really well too.

PRESENTED: Tuesday, October 9 at LM branch

ATTENDANCE: 16 people (adults and children)

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

Flight – Preschool (But also Infant/Toddler) Storytime

Posted on September 14, 2018 by jeninthelibrary

This is another adapted from one of our system storyboxes.

MOVEMENT: Welcome Song*

MOVEMENT: “Clap Your Hands” from Wiggleworms Love You by Old Town School of Folk Music

MOVEMENT: Open Shut Them*

BOOK:

North, South, East, West by Margaret Wise Brown, pictures by Greg Pizzoli

MOVEMENT: “Shake My Sillies Out” from More Singable Songs for the Very Young by Raffi

MOVEMENT: “Two Little Blackbirds” from Music Together

BOOK:

A Plane Goes Ka-Zoom by Jonathan London, illustrated by Denis Roche

MOVEMENT:
Airplane Song
(to the tune of “The Wheels on the Bus”)

The pilot on the airplane says fasten your seatbelts (pretend to fasten seat belt)
Fasten your seatbelt, fasten your seatbelt
The pilot on the airplane says fasten your seatbelts
When flying through the sky.

Other verses:
The children on the airplane go bum pity bump… (move up and down)
The babies on the airplane go waa, waa, waa… (rub eyes and pretend to cry)
The signs on the airplane go ding, ding, ding… (pretend to push sign button above head)
The drinks on the airplane go splish, splash, splish… (pretend to hold a glass and move it)
The luggage on the airplane goes up and down… (move hands up and down)
The exits on the airplane are here, here, here… (using two fingers on each hand, point in front, to side, and behind)

MOVEMENT: “Clap Along with Me” from Wee Sing for Baby by Wee Sing

BOOK:

Planes Go by Steve Light

VIDEO:

“Miffy Wants to Fly” from Miffy and Friends: Miffy’s Adventure

CRAFT: Plane Paper Craft

Kids had these two pieces of an airplane, with a small slit cut into the body so they could put the wings through. They could decorate it with crayons and stickers. The template is below:
Airplane_Cutout_Template

This idea was inspired by Mom Unleashed and Hands On as We Grow

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL IDEAS:

Book: Flight 1-2-3 by Maria van Lieshout
Book: Hooray for Birds by Lucy Cousins

HOW IT WENT:
It’s still rather new to have to pick and plan a craft for storytime, since I didn’t used to do that at my other location. I’m still learning what works best, but one thing I have learned is that a craft doesn’t have to be super-complicated to entertain the kids.

PRESENTED: Wednesday, August 29, 2018 at SR Branch

ATTENDANCE: 29 people (adults and children)

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

Geese – Toddler Storytime

Posted on June 21, 2016 by jeninthelibrary

When I started thinking of storytime themes, I thought there might be enough books out there to do a storytime about geese. This storytime was presented on 5/31/2016.

SONG: Now it’s Time to Say Hello*
taken from jbrary

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

MOVEMENT: Open Shut Them*

SIGN: ASL sign for “GOOSE”

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

BOOK:

Silly Suzy Goose by Petr Horácek

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

COUNTING SONG:*

10 Geese

FLANNELBOARD:

Goosey Goose Colors
taken from Magical Library Book Bug

Goosey, goosey gander

Please come play with me.

Goosey, goosey “red” goose

Join the flock and me.

Pass out geese to all the children. Then, recite the rhyme and have the children holding that color goose come up and place it on the flannelboard. When they are done, recite the rhyme again, substituting the color red for another color. Continue this until you’ve gone through all the colored geese that you have.

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

BOOK:

Duck & Goose Let’s Dance by Tad Hills, Original Song by Lauren Savage and Ross Gruet

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

VIDEO:

“Duck, Duck, Goose” from Max & Ruby: Everybunny Loves Winter!

MOVEMENT: Now it’s Time to Say Goodbye taken from jbrary

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL IDEAS:

Book: Gossie by Olivier Dunrea (the Padded Board Book version, it’s bigger)
Book: Look Out, Suzy Goose by Petr Horácek
Book: Silly Little Goose! by Nancy Tafuri
Book: A Splendid Friend, Indeed by Suzanne Bloom (or any of the Bear and Goose books by Bloom)
Flannelboard: Three Eggs in a Basket (but change the duck to the goose. The pieces look similar enough that I don’t think anyone would notice.)

GREAT RESOURCES FOR MORE IDEAS
Magical Library Book Bug – Duck, Duck, Goose Preschool Storytime
Librarian vs Storytime – Down by the Bay Flannelboard (I think this one might be fun to use with preschoolers, if I ever repeat the theme.)

THOUGHTS ON THIS STORYTIME:
Duck & Goose Let’s Dance is a board book, but I thought since I could do an activity with it (have the kids dance as instructed by the book), the size might not matter. It seemed to work pretty well, and I would do it again.

ATTENDANCE: 10 am: 33 people 11 am: 29 people

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

Geese – Infant Storytime

Posted on June 21, 2016 by jeninthelibrary

I don’t know why, but I decided that I should do a goose storytime! Let the HONKing begin! I presented this one as the last storytime in my Spring 2016 session on 5/31/2016.

SONG: Now it’s Time to Say Hello*
taken from jbrary

MOVEMENT: Peek a Boo*

BOUNCES:
To Market, To Market*
Trot Trot to Boston*
The Grandfather Clock*

SIGN LANGUAGE: sign for “GOOSE”

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

BOOK:

Gossie by Olivier Dunrea

MOVEMENT: “Clap, Tap and Bend” from It’s Toddler Time by Carol Hammett and Elaine Bueffel

FLANNELBOARD:
Goosey Goosey Gander
idea taken from the Mother Goose on the Loose Feltboard App and this image found during a google search. I found it on the Middleburg-Clay Hill Library Pinterest Page, but I couldn’t find the original source.

Goosey Goosey Gander
Where do you wander?
Upstairs (move goose up the stairs)
and downstairs (move goose down the stairs)
and in my lady’s chamber.

BOUNCE: “Ladies Ride” from Wiggleworms Love You by Old Town School of Folk Music

MOVEMENT: Patty Cake

BOOK:

Silly Little Goose! by Nancy Tafuri

TICKLES:
Round and Round the Garden*
See the Little Mousie*
Round the World*

NURSERY RHYME:

One, Two, Buckle My Shoe
(Pattern taken from The Flannel Board Storytelling Book by Judy Sierra)
One, two, buckle my shoe
Three, four, knock on the door.
Five, six, pick up sticks.
Seven, eight, lay them straight.
Nine, ten, a big fat hen.

MOVEMENT: “Itsy Bitsy Spider” from Children’s Favorite Songs Volume 3 from Walt Disney

MOVEMENT: “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” from Songs for Wiggleworms by the Old Town School of Folk Music

MOVEMENT: Now it’s Time to Say Goodbye
taken from jbrary

HOW IT WENT:
Gossie might have been a little long for the infants, but I think the parents enjoyed it. I was happy that I found a slightly larger board book version of this, because it’s hard to read Dunrea’s goose books in storytime since they are all so small. It’s the Padded Board Book size seen here (though I got my copy from my local bookstore), so it’s 8.2 x 1.2 x 6.6 inches instead of the hardback’s 6 x 0.4 x 6 inches size. I don’t know how much of a difference those two inches made, but it made me feel better about sharing it.

ATTENDANCE: 24 people (adults and kids)

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

Birds – eStorytime

Posted on February 6, 2015 by jeninthelibrary

After one blissfully tech issue free eStorytime, it’s back to having to deal with a few. I think it’s just a matter of doing this enough to figure out what is going wrong, so I know what to do to fix it. But, glitches aside, this was still a great fun time! And I had parents after asking about some of the apps — exactly what we want to happen!!

Opening Slide on Keynote:

APP:

Animal Sounds – Fun Toddler Game by Innovative Mobile Apps/Alligator Apps
(FREE; iOS)

Before storytime I actually had a eStorytime regular asking me what the storytime was going to be about. I used this app to have the children figure out the theme. For this app, I turned of the mirroring function of the iPad so that you couldn’t see the images on my screen. Then I played an animal sound, and had the children see if they could guess what it was. (I also used this same intro for my cats eStorytime, but used a different app).

SONG:

Come Along and Sing with Me

I should have done this prior to doing the bird sound app, but I was so excited to start with that I forgot about our song. I used Keynote to project the lyrics to parents.

APP:

Jerry’s Day Out! by Ink Robin ($2.99 ;iOS)

A cute story of a budgie bird who gets lost in New York, and travels all over the city to be reunited with his friends. The kids especially loved the break dancing pigeons interaction on the app. I really like this story, and think it would be perfect for one-on-one sharing, or with an older audience, but it may have been too long for my preschoolers.

FINGERPLAYS:

Little Robin Redbreast
Little Robin Redbreast (make fist and join thumb & index finger)
Sitting on a rail (rest wrist on edge of other hand)
Nibble nabble goes his head (move thumb & index finger up and down)
Wiggle waggle goes his tail (tilt wrist over other hand)

5 Little Birds
Five little birds without any home (raise left hand fingers)
Five little trees in a row (raise right hand fingers)
Come build your nest in our branches tall (interlace fingers)
We’ll rock you to and fro (sway nest gently)

APP:

Don’t Let the Pigeon Run This App! by Mo Willems from Disney ($5.99 ;iOS)

I selected the Big Pigeon version of the storytelling mode, where the Bus Driver asks kids different questions and then records their answers to place in the story. It is one of the most adorable and funny things hearing the completed story “Don’t Let the Pigeon play the Game” we created.

SONG:
If the iPad’s Disconnected
(to the tune of “If You’re Happy and You Know It”
song taken from Cen Campbell)

If the iPad’s disconnected clap your hands.
If the iPad’s disconnected clap your hands.
I can fix it in a minute
I just have to re-connected it.
If the iPad’s disconnected clap your hands.

MOVEMENT:

“Jump Up, Turn Around” by Jim Gill from Jim Gill’s Sings Moving Rhymes for Modern Times

APP:

Blue Hat, Green Hat by Sandra Boynton from Loud Crow Interactive (iOS, Android, Nook Color; $3.99)

Reading Jerry’s Day Out!, creating our own Pigeon story, and a few technical difficulties meant this storytime was running a little longer than planned. I changed my plan up a little bit to use this shorter story as the last element of the storytime. It wasn’t a hardship at all, since all of Boynton’s ebooks are amazing!

SONG: “Storytime’s Over”*

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL IDEAS:

APP: Angus the Irritable Bull from Watermark LTD (2.99; iOS)
APP: Felt Board by Software Smoothie (for two little bluebirds, or lots of other bird fingerplays (iOS: $2.99)
APP: Pete and the Secret of Flying by Apps4Kids.com (FREE; iOS)
APP: Peepers I Say, You Say… by Once Upon an App ($1.99; iOS)

THOUGHTS ON THIS eSTORYTIME:

This was really fun, and it was especially great to have the kids work together to create a story with the Pigeon App. Since this is my first time using that one, I would like to try it more and see what the different ways of building stories are and which works best for my groups. This was the app that I had a parent ask about at the end of storytime as well. I just wish there was some way to share the stories created on the app somehow – save it so I could send it to parents who participated, etc. I’m sure it doesn’t allow this due to copyright issues.

My tech issue this time was mainly that I had issues going from iPad sound to the cd player sound. I think I just need to make sure I have the tuner on for CD time, but make sure it is off for iPad time. There was a mirroring issue also around this time, but the iPad’s disconnected song made everyone laugh and helped smooth things over.

ATTENDANCE: 8 people (children and adults)

*To see the words to these movements and activities I use frequently, please visit my A-capella Movements Section on my Storytime Movements and Music Page

App prices were correct at the time of writing this blog, but may have changed since. There may also be changes to available platforms for apps as well.

Birds – Toddler Storytime

Posted on November 4, 2014 by jeninthelibrary

Books about birds are fly!

MOVEMENT: Welcome Song*

MOVEMENT: “Clap Your Hands, Clap Your Hands” from Tickles and Tunes by Kathy Reid-Naiman

MOVEMENT: Open Shut Them*

BOOK:

Baby Bird by Joyce Dunbar, illustrated by Russell Ayto

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

MOVEMENT: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

COUNTING SONG:*

10 Birds
These birds were actually from an Easter garland I found at Michael’s. I pulled of the ribbon that was hot glued to the back, and — voila! — insta-adorable-flannelboard!

FLANNELBOARD:
Here Comes the Little Bird

(Flannelboard pattern & rhyme from Felt Board Fingerplays by Liz & Dick Wilmes. Art by Janet McDonnell)

Rhyme from the Book:
Here comes little bird. (Your fist is the bird.)
He’s landing on my HEAD. (Land where you want.)
Bye, bye little bird. (Fly bird away.)
Bye! Bye! Bye! (Wave to bird.)

Way I do the Rhyme:
Here is a little girl
and here is a curious little bird.
Here comes the little bird.
He’s landing on her HEAD.
Where’s your head? Can you show me?
(Have bird land on various other body parts.)
Here comes the little bird.
He’s landing on her tummy.
And when he’s there he likes to give a tickle, tickle, tickle (give tummy a tickle.)
And then he flies away.
Fly, fly little bird. (remove bird from flannelboard.)
Bye! Bye! Bye!

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

MOVEMENT: Itsy Bitsy Spider

BOOK:

Feathers for Lunch by Lois Ehlert

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

VIDEO:

“Let’s Look for Birds” from Baby’s First-Word Stories Outside

MOVEMENT: Storytime’s Over*

HOW IT WENT:
The 10am storytime was really hard. Harder than last week. I have three children who just enjoy running around.. The parents do not try to curb this behavior, and often are just chatting among themselves. It causes a distraction for those who want to participate in storytime — I even had one parent tell me that she was thinking about dropping storytime because she didn’t like it so much. Also, English is not their native language, so even though I talked to them after storytime today, it made it difficult to know if my point was getting across. I usually try to go with the flow in my storytimes and am fairly lenient when it comes to discipline, and only interject when safety is an issue — after all, I am not the parent. But I may need to get a little more rigorous about rules in that storytime. How do you handle this in your storytimes? Any advice would be welcome.

As usual, the 11am storytime was a lot better though. And there were even more people in that group. It’s nice to finish on an up note, because 10 am was really hard you guys.

ATTENDANCE: 10 am: 41 people 11 am: 48 people

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

Birds – Infant Storytime

Posted on November 4, 2014 by jeninthelibrary

It had been a while since I’ve done a bird storytime. I purchased Yuly’s Early Bird a while ago and really wanted to try it out, and figured, so even though it’s fall it’s always the season for birds.

MOVEMENT: Welcome Song*

MOVEMENT: Peek-a-Boo*

BOUNCE: Ride a Little Pony*

BOOK:

Early Bird by Toni Yuly

MOVEMENT: “Clap, Tap and Bend” from It’s Toddler Time by Carol Hammett and Elaine Bueffel

FLANNELBOARD:
Here Comes a Little Bird

(Flannelboard pattern & rhyme from Felt Board Fingerplays by Liz & Dick Wilmes. Art by Janet McDonnell)

Rhyme from the Book:
Here comes little bird. (Your fist is the bird.)
He’s landing on my HEAD. (Land where you want.)
Bye, bye little bird. (Fly bird away.)
Bye! Bye! Bye! (Wave to bird.)

BOUNCE: “Ladies Ride” from Wiggleworms Love You by Old Town School of Folk Music

BOOK:

Nest by Jorey Hurley

NURSERY RHYME FLANNELBOARD:
Jack Be Nimble

(Felt pieces from Little Folk Visuals)

Jack be nimble,
Jack be quick.
Jack jump over the candlestick.

To make this into a bounce, start with the child on one leg, when Jack jumps over the candlestick, lift child into the air and have child land on the other leg.

MOVEMENT: “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” from Songs for Wiggleworms by the Old Town School of Folk Music

MOVEMENT: “Itsy Bitsy Spider” from Children’s Favorite Songs Volume 3 from Walt Disney

FLANNELBOARD:
5 Little Red Birds

(I need to check where this rhyme came from… I’ll add my source as soon as I find it)

Five little red birds, pecking at my door. (hold up five fingers)
One flew away, and Then there were four. (hold up four fingers)
Four little red birds sitting in a tree.
One pounced on a worm and then there were three.
Three little red birds calling, “Coo-coo-coo.”
One flew to a nest and then there were two.
Two little red birds sleeping int he sun.
One woke and hopped away and then there was one.
One little red bird, as lonely as could be.
When it flew away, all that’s left was me!

MOVEMENT: Storytime’s Over*

HOW IT WENT:
Infant storytime was good fun. I think it was the costumes that made things more difficult last week. We are back to being attentive and, as always, adorable. 🙂

ATTENDANCE: 34 people

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

Owls- Toddler Storytime

Posted on December 14, 2012 by jeninthelibrary

Today was the last storytime for this session. My how time flies. Just like the animals I highlighted today — owls! This was actually the first time I did an owl storytime for infants and toddlers, it’s always been taken by other storytellers. Hooray for getting to try out new things.

MOVEMENT: Welcome Song*

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

MOVEMENT: Open Shut Them*

BOOK:

I’m Not Cute! by Jonathan Allen

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

MOVEMENT: Itsy Bitsy Spider*

COUNTING SONG:*

Owls

FLANNELBOARD:
One Night Owl

Pattern via Google Images Search

(to tune of “She’ll Be Coming ‘Round the Mountain)
There was one night owl in the tree:
Hoo! Hoo!
There was one night owl in the tree:
Hoo! Hoo!
Oh, he called up to the sky to an owl flying by,
And the owl came and joined him happily:
Hoo! Hoo!

Repeat with two night owls, three, and four.

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

BOOK:

10 am: Owlet’s First Flight by Mitra Modarressi
11 am: Wow! Said the Owl by Tim Hopgood

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

VIDEO:

MOVEMENT: Storytime’s Over*

ADDITIONAL MATERIALS IDEAS:

Hoot! Hoot! by Richard Powell
Good-Night, Owl! by Pat Hutchins
Any of the other Owl books by Jonathan Allen
DVD: Any Little Bear video with Owl in it.

HOW IT WENT:
For my first time doing owls, this storytime wasn’t too bad. I like reading I’m Not Cute, but after doing so I wondered if maybe some of the other owl books by the same author might work better for a toddler audience. I wasn’t thrilled with Owlet’s First Flight at the first storytime, so I thought I would try a different option for the second. I think they both probably worked equally well.

Since this was my last storytime for the Fall 2012 session, there will be fewer infant toddler storytimes up on my blog, but I will keep updating it with the other age programs that I do.

ATTENDANCE: 10 am: 34 people 11 am: 26 people

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

Jen in the Library

Storytimes, Programs and Library Thoughts

Tag Archives: birds

Rivers and Streams – Preschool (But also Infant/Toddler) Storytime

Flight – Preschool (But also Infant/Toddler) Storytime

Geese – Toddler Storytime

Geese – Infant Storytime

Birds – eStorytime

Birds – Toddler Storytime

Birds – Infant Storytime

Owls- Toddler Storytime