This was our first week of storytimes after our holiday break. This winter/spring I have preschool storytimes, which is just code for expect anything. I think an accurate way to describe all of our storytimes is to simply call them family storytimes. We try to create storytime plans for a specific age group but have all kinds of modifications and backup plans in place in case a majority of the kids are not the age group of the planned storytime.
So I have everything from lapsits to complex preschool activities planned. I had about half toddlers, half preschoolers at both storytimes today and both went beautifully.
When cow wakes up in the morning he always says hello X2
A few things I'm doing differently this spring:
* Playing a song at the beginning of storytime so nobody is walking into a quiet room. Naturally I forgot one of my regular kids does not like loud noises. He was horrified. So I asked him if he thought it was too loud. He nodded his head and I turned it down. He took his hands away from his ears so I'll call that a win. The rest of the families seemed to like the music. They were all be-bopping as I came in and out of the room, rounding everyone up and forcing them to interact with a savage monster kitten encouraging them to give high fives to the puppet as they arrived.
* Asking the kids to guess the theme of the storytime by giving them the titles. This is a simple thing I read about recently that I think the older kids will enjoy.
* One yoga pose and one ASL sign for each storytime. I met with a librarian last week who told me about how she builds a story around the yoga pose instead of showing them the yoga pose and then telling them to do it. I don't have this kind of imagination currently, but I'm definitely receptive to the idea. Today we did the cat pose so I asked them to pretend to be cats. Next I asked them what kinds of things cats do. In the first storytime we all ended up in cat pose like magic. In the second storytime it devolved into a pretend preening session that looked nothing like the pose.
* Giving a bubble parade from the storytime room to our play area. I didn't have time for this in the first storytime, but during the second storytime one kid spotted the bubble machine in the corner where I had tried to hide it. That's all it took. We were doing the bubble parade no matter what. The parade went fairly well but once the bubbles ran out it was a little awkward. So I'm not sure how I feel about it at this point.
* No Hokey Pokey. Muahahaha. Nobody asked about it today so I think I'm going to pull this off. We'll see.
* No Hokey Pokey. Muahahaha. Nobody asked about it today so I think I'm going to pull this off. We'll see.
Here's this week's storytime all about feelings:
Hello Song: When Cows Wake Up in the Morning
This adorable song was a pretty big hit. It goes like this:
This adorable song was a pretty big hit. It goes like this:
When cow wakes up in the morning he always says hello X2
And what does he say? (This is where everyone makes a cow sound, although one child said 'hello,' which is totally something a cow would say.)
And that is what he says.
I did this song with PUPPETS! I hung a bag around my neck and while one hand was holding up the cow, the other hand was finding the next puppet. As long as I stayed focused, this worked out ok. The pig puppet came out a little backwards, but thankfully no one was traumatized. After we sang hello with a few puppets, the puppets went back to sleep in the bag and I tucked them away. I will be tinkering with this during the season to see if I can figure out a better way to keep the puppets awake, but the kids loved it so I'll keep the bag method for the time being.
ASL sign: Happy
Yoga pose: Cat
Quieting Down Fingerplay: Finger Fiddle
Currently my first quieting down fingerplay is the beloved Finger Fiddle, which I may change week to week, but am not sure yet. As we were taking our deep breaths one kid already had his hands together in front of his chest. He was ready for the counting part and remembered it from the last couple seasons! Adorable!
First Book - Pete the Cat and His Magic Sunglasses
Here are a few delightful things that happened while reading this book:
* When I asked the kids, "where do sunglasses go?" during the first storytime I pointed to a couple places on my body that were not appropriate for sunglasses. One of those places was my bottom. A little girl thought this was hilarious. I normally don't get laughs when I try to be funny so this was a huge win for me. So my advice is to definitely point to your bottom when you're asking kids where your sunglasses should go. This may be my first piece of official storytime advice.
* Later, when I asked why everyone thought the squirrel was upset, one kid smugly said, "because he only has one acorn." Naturally everyone looked at him in wonderment when it came true. I have a feeling this kid is going to grow up and become the person who gives away the ending of a movie before his friends have seen it.
* Lastly, whenever I got to the line, "everything's alright" I encouraged everyone to say "alright" with me, and so by the end of the book the entire library could hear that word.
* When I asked the kids, "where do sunglasses go?" during the first storytime I pointed to a couple places on my body that were not appropriate for sunglasses. One of those places was my bottom. A little girl thought this was hilarious. I normally don't get laughs when I try to be funny so this was a huge win for me. So my advice is to definitely point to your bottom when you're asking kids where your sunglasses should go. This may be my first piece of official storytime advice.
* Later, when I asked why everyone thought the squirrel was upset, one kid smugly said, "because he only has one acorn." Naturally everyone looked at him in wonderment when it came true. I have a feeling this kid is going to grow up and become the person who gives away the ending of a movie before his friends have seen it.
* Lastly, whenever I got to the line, "everything's alright" I encouraged everyone to say "alright" with me, and so by the end of the book the entire library could hear that word.
Emoji Faces Activity
This was popular last season so I was eager to do it again. I bring out five emojis I've laminated and put magnets on and ask everyone what emotion each face represents. Then we sing a song I found on the Sunflower Storytime blog that I've tinkered with a bit.
It goes like this:
If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands.
If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands.
If you’re happy and you know it, then your face will surely show it.
If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands.
surprised - say "oh wow"
sad - hug it out
mad - take a deep breath
silly - make a face
scared - shout "I am brave"
Instrument time!
Everyone picks out an instrument from a giant box of instruments and then we make a lot of noise and try to do a few things like count to ten with the instruments and sing a song. Mostly it's just controlled chaos, and it's fantastic.
Quieting Down Rhyme: Quiet Hands
My hands upon my head I'll place
on my shoulders
on my face
at my waist and by my side
then behind me they will hide
then I'll raise them way up high
and let my fingers fly fly fly
clap 123
now let's see how quiet they can be
This is one of my go-to quieting down rhymes. It almost always works.
Second Book: Grumpy Pants
This is a such a great book for lots of reasons. The penguin is wearing lots of shapes, including heart underwear. Heart underwear! Also, the kids get to pretend to be a grumpy penguin, which is a lot of fun.
Song:
I asked everyone for a song to sing. A girl requested "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" in the first storytime. The whole storytime was a giggly, exhausted mess after Mr. Jon's funny version (I have a handful of popular songs ready to play in one of my slides). In the second storytime no one requested a song so I rolled my song cube. Old MacDonald came up, and because it was a small group, the kids took turns picking "animals." They chose robots, fire trucks, and legos. Thankfully, with a little help from the grown-ups we made everything work except legos, and that one stumped everyone. The kid who had seen the bubble machine at the beginning tried to trick me when it was his turn. "Old MacDonald had a Farm, and on that farm he had a..." BUBBLE MACHINE, he shouted. But he couldn't fool me. I quickly came up with "a pop pop here..."
Goodbye Rhyme:
See you later, alligator
gotta go, buffalo
see you soon, raccoon
take care, polar bear
bye bye, butterfly
toodle-loo, kangaroo
gotta scoot, purple newt
gotaa bail, slimy snail
give a hug, ladybug
blow a kiss, goldfish
I added two new animals, "give a hug, ladybug" and "gotta bail, slimy snail," and the hippos and toad are officially on vacation for a little while. Surprisingly, no one noticed the two new animals, and the boy who adored the buffalo didn't show today.
We ended the storytime with no hokey pokey, and no one cried because of it, so we have officially made it through one storytime without it.
I asked everyone for a song to sing. A girl requested "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" in the first storytime. The whole storytime was a giggly, exhausted mess after Mr. Jon's funny version (I have a handful of popular songs ready to play in one of my slides). In the second storytime no one requested a song so I rolled my song cube. Old MacDonald came up, and because it was a small group, the kids took turns picking "animals." They chose robots, fire trucks, and legos. Thankfully, with a little help from the grown-ups we made everything work except legos, and that one stumped everyone. The kid who had seen the bubble machine at the beginning tried to trick me when it was his turn. "Old MacDonald had a Farm, and on that farm he had a..." BUBBLE MACHINE, he shouted. But he couldn't fool me. I quickly came up with "a pop pop here..."
Goodbye Rhyme:
See you later, alligator
gotta go, buffalo
see you soon, raccoon
take care, polar bear
bye bye, butterfly
toodle-loo, kangaroo
gotta scoot, purple newt
gotaa bail, slimy snail
give a hug, ladybug
blow a kiss, goldfish
I added two new animals, "give a hug, ladybug" and "gotta bail, slimy snail," and the hippos and toad are officially on vacation for a little while. Surprisingly, no one noticed the two new animals, and the boy who adored the buffalo didn't show today.
We ended the storytime with no hokey pokey, and no one cried because of it, so we have officially made it through one storytime without it.
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