Baby & Toddler Storytimes

Babies don't always get our jokes and they don't always get the point of the story but they love the sound of a good rhyme. We'll be doing rhyme time at storyhour today! Storytime 1 B o o k s Miss Mary Mack big book by Mary Ann Hoberman.  Kinda perfect clapping song. Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Eric Carle. I used the  I used  Kiz Club   Brown Bear figures and sang/chanted this the way Bill Martin does. Try out this readaloud style: JUMP! by Scott Fischer.  Still a Gorilla by Kim Norman  S o n g s Barnyard Dance by the immortal Sandra Boynton. Print out and do as chant.  Babies hard at work! Storytime 2 B o o k s Do Cows Meow? board book Salina Yoon.  V. good.  I put a lot of emphasis on All-I-Know-Is-____-Go-______ to turn it into a refrain. I Howl, I Growl board book Marcia Vaughan.  So this was a bit redundant.  I think I should have plugged a Sandra Boynton in here.  Sometimes I Like to Curl Up in a Ball  by Vicki Churchill. Not only is this written in cute rhymes, but

B o o k s Pet Shop Lullaby  by Mary Ann Fraser lets you read aloud with lots of animal noises, always a good ploy for this age group. This segues right into the turtle puppet poem. To make this work, try reading the book less and acting it out more. Turn off the lights, put the animals to sleep, do a big hush roomwide, and then have the hamster go crazy and make a lot of noise.  Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell. They loved it. An Octopus Followed Me Home by Dan Yaccarino. Unfortunately, babies don't get irony.  But at least there are a lot animals, and it's short. Snuggle Puppy by Sandra Boynton. Cute. Really a little song. Fifteen Animals  by Sandra Boynton. I corralled 15 stuffed animals in my storytime bag, and while reading the book, pulled out the animal. This could really be done with ANY 15 animals. It's a nice little play -- pull it out and show off the animals for this group. They were really noisy by this time and the lapsitters didn't get involved as much as the tod

P l a y s  Props:  Pig, 5 little pigs metalboard, although I only do 3 for the babies. B o o k s Olivia's Opposites , a board book by Ian Falconer. Opposites are always fun with babies, esp. Olivia's.  The concepts of in and out and up and down amuse me and them endlessly. I had an especially good time doing up and down: I throw Olivia up in the air and she landed down on the ground.  For my finale, I brought her in to see everyone and then throw her out the door. I always try to astonish the babies. Let's Dance, Little Pookie  by Sandra Boynton. I really shimmied to this for the audience. Busy Piggies  by John Schindel.  This board book series has jusssst enough rhyming text, and jusssst the right pictures. I love this series esp. because it emphasizes verbs, which can be acted out and grab the babies' attention.    Happy Pig Day! by Mo Willems. The babies listened very well to this fairly long book. Five Little Piggies , a board book by Teresa Imperato. This cute boar

B o o k s The Wheels on the Bus Office lift the flap. The words are a bit different than what I usually sing, so brush up on it! Old MacDonald Had a Farm  Office lift the flap. I pulled the animals out as we went. Small crowd so I let the babies hold them. The Lady with the Alligator Purse Board Westcott.  Love this so much. The Itsy Bitsy Spider board book Trapani.  Lots of new lines make this favorite fun. If You're Happy and You Know It  by Raffi.  I must say, Raffi's words are a bit odd.  If you're banana and you know it? If you're beautiful and you know it? I kind of like just  happy -- clap, happy -- stomp, happy -- hurray.  It's never wrong to sing out about how happy you are. Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed Board Book by Christelow.  We did 5 Little Speckled Frogs instead because Genevieve has just given me such a lovely frogs-on-a-log set. But the monkeys would have done just as well. Row, Row, Row Your Boat by Jane Cabrera.  Pick out a couple pa

        S o n g s We sang Wheels on the Bus right after our Hello Song, and I thought I'd set the mood by having my dinosaur t-rex puppet ride the bus with a GRRR but I was a bit overenthusiastic and one usually cheerful puppy burst into tears. So THEN we had the babies on the bus (who usually go peek-a-boo) go waaa waaa waaa and it was pretty darn funny. B o o k s Snappy Little Dinosaurs  -- pop-up book. Just read  How Do Dinosaurs Go Up and Down by Jane Yolen.  There's something a bit off about this book.  Sometimes the text applies to the fold out and sometimes it isn't.  Either read it all through, be quick, or pick a different one.  She has so many. Duck, Duck, Dinosaur  by Kallie George. I always reading a book in different voices, and this simple trick seems to work on the babies too.   I'm a Dirty Dinosaur  by Janeen Brian .   Rhymes AND the dino goes over the names of all his parts of the body! Quite the megahit!  And you can segue directly into "This is