storytime happiness

Storytime started back up at the beginning of June and the first two were incredibly fun and successful.  Our current storytime is a family storytime and it's only for the months of June and July.  The other full time youth librarian and I decided to each take a month.  I've been having so much fun with this storytime it's going to be tough to hand it over to her in July!

We changed many things for this storytime season. Due to such a large turnout last storytime season, we decided it was best to ticket for family storytime.  We are also offering back-to-back family storytimes even though it's not advertised on our website or in any of our print materials.  We thought the second storytime, which is an exact replication of the first storytime, would be offered this summer on an as-needed basis.  Boy, were we wrong!  The first two storytimes brought in 40+ kids and 30+ adults so we've definitely needed that second storytime.  So far patrons have been very accepting of the ticketing.  We have a stack of two colors of nametags, one for each storytime, and we use those as tickets.  While parents fill out nametags, kids get their hands stamped at the same time so I get a few more precious minutes during storytime, which equates to an additional activity. This was Robert's idea, so thanks to him there's a bit more singing and reading happening in the world!

In preparation of this family storytime, I spent hours researching ways to engage both parents and children, and I'm happy to say I've had much success so far.  I've been incorporating more movements in every story I read, and have also been giving myself extra time to ask questions.  I also created a memory box, which has been so much fun.  A memory box is a decorated shoebox filled with items from the books we read and also a few items that have nothing to do with the books. At the end of storytime I ask a kid to pick out an item from the box and we all decide whether or not it was a part of that storytime's literature. We usually have time for 3-5 items, which is plenty. Robert's mom, Audrey, helped me figure out the best way to do the memory box, as there are several approaches.  The biggest difference with my approach is my memory box is at the end instead of the beginning.  If need be, it can be axed if we run out of time.  I'd rather ax the memory box instead of a book or song.  Thankfully, we haven't needed to do this.  The way my memory box works is one child chooses an item out of the box, stands up and holds it for everyone to look at, and then we make a decision as a group.  This has worked beautifully. Some kids are unsure about standing up and showing off the item.  Because of this, I can ask their adult to help them, which is another way to encourage their participation.  Showing off the item also keeps it out of their mouths (for the most part), and everyone loves shouting their opinions, so even though one child gets to be the star for a moment, everybody is still involved in the process.

Last week I brought the instruments out again, and rather than letting them choose which instruments they want or handing them out of the tub, I organized them on the counter and covered them in a blanket.  When I passed out the instruments I told the group that everyone had to be on their bottoms to receive an instrument.  Many kids immediately sat on their bottoms and waited. There were a few who didn't, which gave me an opportunity to engage the parents/adults.  I was able to use names thanks to the nametags and ask for a little help getting their child to sit down. Parents/adults were happy to help and it was another great opportunity to bring wandering children back to their adults.  This was a huge time saver.  The first storytime of the day was packed so I didn't give kids the option to choose their instrument, but it was easy to pass them out because everyone was on their bottoms.  The second storytime of the day was a bit smaller so I had kids raise their hands for each group of instruments I passed out.  I was so thrilled after back-to-back success with the instruments I could barely contain my glee.  I think I'm ready to bring the parachute back out again...