Bedtime Storytime

     

There are so many great books to choose from to do a bedtime storytime. I had all 5 of these on deck ready to go for my 2's and 3's toddler storytime. I knew I wouldn't make it through all 5 but advised the grown-ups about all the great picture books out there with a edtime theme. What are some of your favorites?

I made little dinosaur stickers for each child to wear that said "ROAR!" And while I read Dinosaur vs. Bedtime, each child started to ROAR! when the word came up on the page. It was very exciting and one of the highlights of the story time. I love repetition in storytime!

I also read Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late and Llama Llama Red Pajama. Our craft was based on Llama Llama Red Pajama. I printed the Llama sitting in bed on card stock and provided bits of tissue paper in all kinds of colors for them to make their own custom quilt for Llama. 

A great activity song was My Engery by the Laurie Berkner. A lot of movement and then tiredness when done. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKcs_oefYyk

My transition between craft and the good-bye song is turning on the bubble machine. Usually the kids jump around and try catching the bubbles. Because today's theme was bedtime, I had them lay down on the storytime rug and imagine stars in the sky and wait for the bubbles to come to them. It was a nice peaceful version of bubble-time. (The following week, several children decided they preferred laying back down and make themselves at home on the floor...quite cute!)

Holiday Storytimes

Thinking ahead to the next session of toddler storytimes and reviewing the past seems appropriate for this week between Christmas and New Years. What I've learned is that over planning gives me confidence that I will always have materials/activities no matter the flow of the kids attending. I rarely have time to read more than 2 books, but having the extras there always gives me hope that I can squeeze in 1 more and sometimes I do! And 2, no one has covered their hears and run screaming from the room when I start singing ABC's or the Hokey Pokey(although I wouldn't blame them if I did), so sing on I will!

My last 2 storytimes of the year were themed "Gingerbread" and "Holiday Trees". I wasn't that happy with the selection of gingerbread books to pick from, not because they weren't good books, but most were too long for 2-3 year olds to sit through and be engaged. The two I used were Gingerbread Mouse by Katy Bratun and Maisy Makes Gingerbread by Lucy Cousins which worked perfectly. The kids loved our activity song: Jingle Bells and Stop! by Miss Carole on her Season Sings CD. So glad we had lots of bells for everyone! The decorate your own gingerbread (paper) cookie was a super cute craft.

   

Our Christmas Tree storytime involved a repeat of Jingle Bells and Stop! song...did I mention they LOVED this song? The books I will use again because the kids participated in both. And we made popsicle stick Christmas Tree ornaments with a little help from the moms and dads. (Lesson learned...pre-glue the trees together and tie on the string so all they have to do is glue on the decorations!) Candy canes and special stickers were also handed out at the end.

I can't wait to get back to our next session of storytimes!

Storytime: Turkeys

A book for the youngsters AND the big people: Turkey Trouble by Wendi Slivano.

Turkey knows he'll be in trouble with Thanksgiving around the corner, so he devises several costumes to evade his fate. The book has plenty of repetition in the text. The listeners are almost ready to "read" along, like singing a chorus to a song. There are some humorous lines that only the adults get (chuckling from the crowd). Highly recommend for a read aloud during Thanksgiving season.

A couple other fun Storytime activities: Turkey Hokey Pokey, Old MacDonald had a Farm, 10 Little Turkeys, book: I am a Turkey by Jim Arnosky, bubbles, craft: toilet paper roll turkeys with paper plate feathers (similar to this pinterest post except some real feathers were added).

  

Lots of clapping and lots of smiles!

Storytime: Friends

Today was a blast! It was all about friends and fun. Books:
      
Welcome Song
Song: Make New Friends But Keep the Old (Using sign language, especially "friends" sign).
Book: Unicorn Thinks He's Pretty Great - amazingly some had tasted goat cheese, but not me.
Fingerplay: Ten Little Friends (counting forward and back).
Activity: Hold Still (Yo Gabba Gabba) Lots of wiggling, laughing, and following directions.
Book: Penguin and Pinecone - a sweet story about frienship.
Activity: If You're Happy and You Know It.
Craft: Penguin paper puppet and pinecone friend (wrap an actual pinecone with orange felt strip and have kids color a penguin picture and glue it to a popsicle stick - now they can re-create the story).
Bubbles
Goodbye Song

Storytime: Moon

My first ever, completely on my own Storytime is in the books. What fun!The theme was the moon. I choose a couple classic books to read: Kitten's First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes and Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown with a couple extra books for back-up/check-out options.
  
Before reading we sang our opening song: We Clap and Sing Hello to the tune of Farmer in the Dell and also did a stretching song to get out some energy. In between books we did the fingerplay Zoom, Zoom, Zoom We're Going to the Moon. After searching many CDs for moon songs, I found a song called Circle the Moon (a Ring Around the Rosie type activity) . We sang Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and before craft-time we caught bubbles from the bubble machine.

I was skeptical about doing a craft in storytime. I've read pros and cons about crafts vs. process art  vs free play vs more stories. All these activities are good and have value, but there is limited time. I inherited this storytime structure but I'm embracing it. I see that craft time is a available time in the storytime lineup. It helps the 2-3 year old crowd with their fine motor skills, listening skills, following directions, connections with the theme/story and is a type of play in itself. Do parents need to help sometimes? Sure, the kids are 2. Kids need to learn things like...this is the white paint, the moon is white, let's make a big white circle just like the moon in the sky, just like in the story. I love having a craft!

      
Found on Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/287597126181544314/(I want to try puffy paint too). White paint mixed with flour, dab it on, stamp with bottle caps, and stick stars on the background. Viola!