Fall Storytimes

I haven't been writing about storytimes because I've been so incredibly busy. I've barely been making notes - yikes! I've had a very busy storytime season with two storytimes. I've barely got one hand out of a puppet's keister before I'm putting it back again. I really should just walk around with a puppet permanently affixed to my hand.  It would solve so many issues, like my sometimes-anxiety when interacting with adults. I'm sure they would see the puppet and walk in the opposite direction.

Because I've been so busy giving storytimes I haven't had much time to really reflect on what worked, what made my heart flutter with enthusiasm, and what flopped.  Mostly I've just been writing little notes in my slideshows.

I gave twenty storytimes this past season, which is a little much to throw at anyone all at once. Because of this I will share my favorite books from the storytime season and make a greater effort to include everyone on the journey next season.

While researching preschool storytimes I learned that asking questions was one of the big differences between toddler and preschool storytime.  Sure, wordier books are another important difference, but asking more questions really resonated with me. I made a goal to have at least one important conversation with each storytime group, which turned out to be a challenging goal with the more introverted groups.  Though a couple of these books are more appropriate for toddlers, I chose them to help balance out the wordier books and also initiate conversations.

Here are the top five favorite books from the fall preschool storytime and why they worked so well:

Tuck Me In! by Dean Hacohen and Sherry Scharschmidt



Tuck Me In has beautiful blankie flaps, which I'm sure has a little bit to do with the magic. There is also a phrase we can repeat together each time an animal is tucked in.  Lastly, there's one animal that doesn't have a bellybutton. My storytimes had a great time looking for the missing bellybutton.

The Wonderful Habits of Rabbits by Douglas Florian and Sonia Sánchez



This worked simply because the kids were mesmerized by the pictures and the adults loved the ridiculously adorable ending.

Museum ABC



The kids had a great time guessing what each letter stood for.

One Fox: A Counting Book Thriller



I was delightfully surprised by how many preschoolers figured out why the fox was terrified in the end. It's a simple book but it definitely has a twist that makes you think.

Crunch the Shy Dinosaur by Cirocco Dunlap and Greg Pizzoli



This book is such a great way to talk about shyness and social cues with kids. It's really interactive, and kids get to practice volume level and sing happy birthday.

And here are the top five favorite books of the fall toddler storytime:

Theo & Beau by Jessica Shyba

We spent more time talking about all the steps a bath entails - getting dirty, getting the bath ready, getting into the tub, bubbles, toys, and so on.  We also talked about what kind of toys kids play with in the bath and the colors of their towels and if they had pets and whether their pets took baths with them. If you want to have a conversation with a toddler/preschooler but can't think about how to start one, this is the book for you.

Grumpy Pants by Claire Messer

This is not only a great book for talking about feelings, it's also filled with all kinds of shapes. They're everywhere! Every time someone saw a shape they would shout it out. Next time I read this I'm going to hand out felt shapes for everyone to point to or hold up whenever the shape pops up in the book.

Dog's Colorful Day by Emma Dodd

This is one of my favorites! I've taken a few different approaches with this book, mostly approaches involving color and counting. When I read it for toddler storytime this past fall I noticed I had mostly preschoolers.  So I challenged them to remember the very first mess the dog gets into. They remembered!

Every Color Soup by Jorey Hurley

Whenever I read this at storytime I go into it with the mindset that we are going to make soup together. Real pretend soup! So this becomes more of a discussion than a story. It's a great book to talk about colors and sequencing. I'll ask questions like, "would you put the tomatoes in first without chopping them up?" The kids will yell NO and then we chop things up. Kind of like karate meets soup-making but in the most organic way.

Getting Ready by Cocoretto illustration

This is the perfect example of why impulsive purchases are some times the ones that make the biggest differences in your life. Less than a minute after discovering this book had a zipper I bought it on Amazon. It's not a great book for large storytimes, but if there are about five kids or so it's perfect. I encourage the kids to help me with this book (fold the blanket back, talk about what they eat for breakfast, scratch the bristles on the toothbrush and then pretend to brush their teeth etc.). We spend most of the time zipping and unzipping the zipper on the jacket. It's the best.