Baby & Toddler Storytimes

So many great songs go with this storytime, and the babies will love them.  When are babies old enough to start learning their numbers? As young as 12 months old! But shapes are important too. Introduction: Open by counting everyone.  Good attention getter.  If patience is there, count heads, and then count feet. Today we counted feet, heads & hands. Good for body parts vocab too. Books: Rooster Goes Off to See the World by Eric Carle.   Big Book.  I didn't really read this.  I turned the pages, pointed to the creatures on each page, and counted them.  Great to do the animal motions (instead of sounds: cats walk (prance) turtles crawl, fish swim, etc.   Countdown with Milo board book by Austin.   Read this book through (segues in nicely after Motor Boat if you include Rocket Ship) going through the motions of putting on your helmet, pushing buttons, buckling up, etc., THEN do the countdown and BLAST OFF. Big Fat Hen by Kevin Baker. All the moms joined in. Ten Little Caterpilla

B o o k s Animal Opposites  by Peter Horacek is a beautifully engineered board book. I pick a few favorites to share from these lovely pages. Up! Tall and High! early reader by Ethan Long.  Also with lift the flaps and about as short as they come. Big Little by Patricelli. How Do Dinosaurs Go Up and Down?  by Jane Yolen  is about dinosaurs AND it's a lift the flap. But I ended up not using it because it has so much text. S o n g s (to Frere Jacques)This is little, this is little, this is big, this is big, etc. Motor Boat (fast and slow) Hop Little Bunnies (the opposite of sleep) Itsy Bitsy Spider Clap, Clap, Clap Your Hands Pat a cake (or anything) fast and slow)   P l a y s Magic Box.  I cut a slit in a pretty little gift book, tied all my beautiful scarves end to end, and crammed them in there with one tiny edge poking out.  "Oh, what could be in this TINY little box?" I asked, and pulled the scarves out one by one.  Like a magician. A baby magician. Since I gave away