It’s been a while since I’ve blogged (I’ve been working on a grant project that has been taking up a lot of time lately, and which I’ll probably blog about later.  Also, there were some life issues that took a lot of time away as well).  But now, I’m back on the infant/toddler storytime rotation, so expect to see a new post a week (fingers crossed).

Because the first week of Infant Toddler Storytimes for the Summer coincided with the first week of our Read to the Rhythm Summer Reading Challenge I wanted to do something that fit the music theme.  Here’s what I presented:

MOVEMENT: Welcome Song*

MOVEMENT: Peek-a-Boo*

BOUNCE: Ride a Little Pony*

BOOK:

Little White Duck lyrics by Walt Whippo, music by Bernard Zartizky, illustrations by Joan Paley

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

FLANNELBOARD:
Hush Little Baby

Song and Pattern taken from Judy Sierra’s Flannel Board Storytelling Book.
You can find the templates here.  I shrunk the baby and used the man template from another story to create a father, since I’ve used this before for Father themed-storytimes.

Hush, little baby, don’t say a word.
Papa’s gonna buy you a mockingbird
And if that mockingbird won’t sing,
Papa’s gonna buy you a diamond ring
And if that diamond ring turns brass,
Papa’s gonna buy you a looking glass
And if that looking glass gets broke,
Papa’s gonna buy you a billy goat
And if that billy goat won’t pull,
Papa’s gonna buy you a cart and bull
And if that cart and bull turn over,
Papa’s gonna buy you a dog named Rover
And if that dog named Rover won’t bark
Papa’s gonna buy you a horse and cart
And if that horse and cart fall down,
You’ll still be the sweetest little baby in town.

BOUNCE: “Smooth Road to London Town” from A Smooth Road to London Town: Songs from the Parent-Child Mother goose Program by Kathy Reid-Naiman. 

BOOK:

Moo, Baa La La La by Sandra Boynton

TICKLE: Round and Round the Garden*

NURSERY RHYME FLANNELBOARD:
Hey Diddle Diddle

Flannelboard from Little Folk Visuals

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

MOVEMENT: Storytime’s Over*

HOW IT WENT:
This was a nice way to kick off the infant storytime toddler session, even though I didn’t have a lot of time to plan before hand.  Because of that, I took some guidance from a previous Let’s Sing storytime I did.  Instead of reading The Little White Duck I sang it, which was pretty fun.  I wonder if there are better song/stories to use with infants however.  I know there are a lot of good versions of Hush Little Baby, but since I was going to use that for the flannelboard, I wanted something different.  Speaking of the flannelboard, my notecard that I keep the lyrics on fell from the ledge inside the flannelboard that I usually put it on.  It got caught on the stand, so I couldn’t find it when I was already singing the song.  I had a moment of freak out that, “Oh no, I’m going to forget all the words and not be able to rhyme the words correctly!”.  But, the reason I love felt board stories so much is because the pieces help you remember what comes next.  Luckily the song fell into place, and no rhyme was left hanging.    Moo, Baa, La La La doesn’t have a whole lot of song in it, but it’s so cute and since there is singing in the title I thought I could get away with it.  Also, the version I used is the lap-sit size of the board book, so it’s larger and the pictures carry.

ATTENDANCE: 44 people

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