Wee Read - Shake Shake Shake

Early Literacy Tip: Be a good reading role model. Read in front of your kids. Explain how reading and writing help you get things done every day.

Books

Bouncing Babies by Mike Brownlow

Yawn by Sally Symes

What’s on My Head? by Margaret Miller (read together book)

Songs/Rhymes

Head and Shoulders

Head and shoulders, knees and toes,

Knees and toes

Head and shoulders, knees and toes,

Knees and toes

Eyes and ears and mouth and nose

Head and shoulders, knees and toes

Knees and toes!

-- Traditional

An Egg is On My Nose (with egg shakers)
Sung to: “The Farmer in the Dell”
An egg is on my nose,

an egg is on my nose,
Heigh-ho, the derry-o,

an egg is on my nose.
(Repeat using other body parts)

--Storytime Source Page

Shake Your Eggs (with egg shakers)

use shaker eggs
Shake your eggs and shake them high.
Shake your eggs and shake them low.
Shake your eggs and shake them high.
Shake your eggs around you go.

--Librarian Lisa’s Storytimes

Put Your Egg on Your Head (with egg shakers)

Sung to: “There’s a Spider on the Floor”
Put your egg on your head, on your head.
Put your egg on your head, on your head.
Put your egg on your head
Put your egg on your head.
Put your egg on your head, on your head.
continue with toes, tummy, etc.

--Librarian Lisa’s Storytimes

I Wiggle My Fingers

--from Lapsit Services for the Very Young II by Linda L. Ernst. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc, 2001.

Row, Row, Row Your Boat

Row, row, row your boat,

Gently down the stream.

Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,

Life is but a dream!

--Traditional

Eyes and Nose

--Storytime Crafts: Crazy Days by Kathryn Totten. Ft. Atkinson, WI: Upstart Books, 2004.

Wee Read - Pop

Early Literacy Tip: Read alphabet books. Say the different sounds of each letter, as well as a word containing the sound.

Books

• Babies on the Go by Linda Ashman
• A Hug for You by Margaret Anastas
• Five Curious Buddies by Wendy Wax
• Read Together book

Songs/Rhymes

Hands Up High

Hands up high
Hands down low
Hide those hands,

Now where did they go?
One hand up, the other hand too.
Clap them, fold them, now we're through.

--Manly Library

*The link will open a PDF of the songs they use in their toddler groups.

Pop, Pop, Pop

-- Mother Goose on the Loose by Betsy Diamant-Cohen. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc., 2006.

*With scarves

Mix a Pancake

--from Lapsit Services for the Very Young II by Linda L. Ernst. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc, 2001.

*With scarves

Dancing Up and Dancing Down

-- Mother Goose on the Loose by Betsy Diamant-Cohen. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc., 2006.

*With scarves

Jack in the Box

--from Lapsit Services for the Very Young II by Linda L. Ernst. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc, 2001.

Wee Read - Let's Move!

Early Literacy Tip: Be positive. Try rephrasing a request so that it doesn’t include don’t, no, can’t.

Books

Dancing Feet by Lindsey Craig

Dance With Me by Charles R. Smith Jr.

Wiggle Your Toes by Karen Katz

Read-Together Book

Songs/Rhymes

Bend and Stretch

--from Babies in the Library by Jane Marino. Lanham, MD: The Scarecrow Press, 2003.

Can You Kick with Two Feet?

-- Mother Goose on the Loose by Betsy Diamant-Cohen. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc., 2006.

I Wiggle My Fingers

--from Lapsit Services for the Very Young II by Linda L. Ernst. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc, 2001.

Jack in the Box

--from Lapsit Services for the Very Young II by Linda L. Ernst. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc, 2001.

Trot, Trot to Dover 
-- Mother Goose on the Loose by Betsy Diamant-Cohen. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc., 2006.

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear

--from Lapsit Services for the Very Young II by Linda L. Ernst. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc, 2001.

Storytime - Shake It Up

Books

Stretch by Doreen Cronin

Toddler

Do Donkeys Dance by Melanie Walsh

Toddler and Preschool

Wiggle by Doreen Cronin

Preschool

Songs/Rhymes

The Hokey Pokey

You put one arm in,

You take one arm out.

You put one arm in,

And you shake it all about.

You do the Hokey Pokey,

And you turn yourself around.

That’s what it’s all about!

Substitute different body parts. For more advanced children, use left and right.

--Traditional

Head and Shoulders

Head and shoulders, knees and toes,

Knees and toes

Head and shoulders, knees and toes,

Knees and toes

Eyes and ears and mouth and nose

Head and shoulders, knees and toes

Knees and toes!

--Traditional

If You’re Happy and You Know It

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,

And you really want to show it,

If you’re happy and you know it,

Clap your hands.

Repeat with stomp your feet, shout hooray, do all three.

--Traditional

Activities

Move Like an Animal (dry erase board)

I put double sided tape on the back of each card, and hung them on the dry erase board. The children were invited to shout out the name of the animal and imitate their movements. 

Parachute*

Come Under My Umbrella (parachute)

Come under my umbrella,

Umbrella, umbrella.

Gently wave the parachute up and down.

Come under my umbrella,

It’s starting to storm.

Move parachute faster.

There’s thunder and lightning

And wind and rain.

Come under my umbrella,

It’s starting to storm.

--MCLS Kids

Ring Around the Rosie

Lead the group around in a circle.

Ring around the rosy
A pocketful of posies
"Ashes, Ashes"
We all fall down!
Everyone falls down.

--Traditional

London Bridge

London Bridge is falling down,

Falling down, falling down.

London Bridge is falling down,

My fair lady.

--Traditional

To end the parachute session, I instructed the classes to let go on the count of three. Not everyone listened or wanted to let go, but we eventually got the parachute reigned in.

*This was my very first time using the parachute in storytime EVER. I learned some very valuable lessons:

1. Don't use with groups of 20 or more children. I tried to do this with the preschoolers (a class of over 40 children) and it got out of hand FAST.

2. Start with the slow activities and build up. I wanted them to be excited, but once I introduced the faster activities, I couldn't get them to slow down again.

3. Stay away from asking the toddlers to go under the parachute, at least until they've had a few sessions of practice.

A big thanks goes out to MLCS Kids for their parachute ideas!  

Craft

There was no craft today. Instead, we played with the parachute. 

Flannel Friday - Move Like the Animals

After a brief Flannel Friday hiatus, I'm back!

Today's post features a collection of animal movements we used for storytime this week. Each picture is from Open Clip Art Library. They were added to a word document, printed out, and laminated.

I put double sided tape on the back of each, and hung them on the dry erase board side of my flannel board. The children were invited to shout out the name of the animal and imitate their movements.

Don't forget to check out the weekly roundup hosted by Erin at Falling Flannelboards. Keep an eye out for us on Pinterest and chat with the Flannel Friday crew on Facebook!