Story Window Storytime Blog: For 1.5-2.5 Year Olds

Peek inside for storytime ideas! Wilmette Librarians share suggestions for age-appropriate books, rhymes, songs, and crafts.

March 10, 2010

Colors

Who is ready to identify colors? The storytime kids are! Meeow and his animal friends are named by the sounds they make in the boldly colored story, Meeow and the Little Chairs, by Sebastian Braun. In the exuberant Mouse Paint, by Ellen Walsh, a lesson in colors, white mice jump into jars of paint, thereby changing the color of their fur. Animals of exotic colors are explored in the toy book Creepy Crawly Colors, by Robin Koontz. The flannel story "Little Red House" demonstrates sizes and colors as the colorful houses diminish in size.

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March 3, 2010

Hide and Seek

The storytime kids enjoy lift-the-flap books where they can be always surprised by what is hidden. Daisy duckling looks for Pip the duck in the farmyard, pigsty, meadow and pond in Jane Simmon's toy book, Daisy's Hide and Seek. A mouse tries on the shoes of all the members of her family as we guess which shoes fit her best in Whose Shoes? by Anna Hines. Cold weather equals mittens and gloves. We named the colors and counted the various mittens along with the flannel board story, "Ten Warm Mittens".

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February 22, 2010

Storytime Fun

Cabrera's bright, energetic and bold illustrations are a favorite of the storytime kids. There are many ways to transport one's baby in the animal kingdom as shown in Mommy, Carry Me Please!, by Jane Cabrera. In this version of the familiar nursery rhyme, a bunny leads four chicks that are somewhat hidden but can be discovered on each page, on their way to a birthday party in One, Two, Buckle My Shoe, by Jane Cabrera. Silly Sally walks upside down, dances a jig and plays leapfrog in the amusing big book Silly Sally, by Audrey Wood. The storytime kids love this story. The children enjoyed examining their faces as I read the flannel board story, "Two Little Eyes".

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February 15, 2010

Valentine's Day Celebration

Valentine's Day is my favorite as I like beautiful valentines, candy, flowers and the colors pink and red! I showed the storytime kids a box of child valentines and my pink Valentine's bear who held a silken heart in his paws to demonstrate the fun of this holiday. Creating and giving away valentines was the motif of the following three stories. In Sweet Hearts, by Jan Carr, panda parents find hidden valentines in a game of hide and seek with their toddler panda. Giving and receiving Valentine's presents is even more fun if you are an animal waiting for your own special surprise such as a tasty bone in Be Mine, Be Mine, Sweet Valentine, by Sarah Weeks. Minka makes her brother Mouse a special valentine using glue, paste, ribbon and paper in Mouse's First Valentine, by Lauren Thompson.

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February 10, 2010

Let's Drive!

Vehicles are alluring to the storytime kids. They make great noises too! Who is Driving? by Leo Timmers had the kids guessing which funny looking animal would drive each vehicle while making interesting driving noises. We enjoyed singing to the Whistle on the Train, by Margaret McNamara, a beautiful pop-up railroad version of the popular song "The Wheels on the Bus". The big book version of Freight Train, by Donald Crews indicated the name of each car on the train, and had us guessing the colors of them. We had fun naming the parts of the "Construction Machinery" flannel board.

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February 3, 2010

Our Bodies

Identifying body parts is very interesting to the storytime kids. Bold colors and patterns made this a fun counting experience as we counted babies from one to ten in Ten Tiny Babies, by Karen Katz. Children of different backgrounds celebrate the functions and parts of the body with delightful illustrations in Here Are My Hands, by Bill Martin, Jr. We sang along to the funny song with the big book Peanut Butter and Jelly, illustrated by Nadine Wescott. I showed the steps of making a snowman with the flannel board story, "Snowman".

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January 25, 2010

Farms

The storytime kids enjoy lift-the-flap books and they enjoy making animal sounds. They also like books about farms. Maisy rides a horse, drives a tractor, cleans the pigsty, and feeds lambs in Maisy at the Farm, by Lucy Cousins. Tiny is actually a large dog with a funny name who looks for missing kittens in a farm setting in the charming Tiny on the Farm, by Carl Meister. A girl who lives on a farm shows us her collection of animals that she loves in I Love Animals, by Flora McDonnell. The children enjoy discovering the parts of their bodies which is why they enjoy the flannel board story, "Two Little Eyes".

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January 19, 2010

Singing Along

The storytime kids love music, singing and making animal sounds. In Barnyard Banter, by Denise Fleming, brightly colored whimsical farm animals make onomatopoeic sounds that were fun for the storytime kids to imitate. Jane Cabrera's child-like illustrations of animals provide a dynamic interactive singing game to the familiar nursery rhyme in If You're Happy and You Know It. We sang the Mother Goose Rhyme along with the big book version of This Old Man. The Mother Goose magnets are always a big hit with the storytime kids!

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December 12, 2009

Where Is It?

The storytime kids enjoy the game of locating and identifying objects hidden behind flaps in lift-the-flap storybooks. A mischievous Frog hides Duck's key to his red truck,by hiding the key under various objects, until Duck happily locates it in Duck's Key Where Can It Be?, by Jez Alborough. Ted the teddy bear is lost while a girl looks for him under flaps, finally locating him drying out on the laundry line in No Bed Without Ted, by Nicola Smee. We had our first snows this week. To celebrate, I read the big book version of the classic story, The Snowy Day, by Ezra Jack Keats, Peter enjoys the snow on a snowy day while making snowballs, tracks in the snow, having a snow fight, and finally bringing a snowball inside the house which soon melts. The storytime kids enjoyed watching the older kids count the bunnies and identify the colors in the flannel board story, "The Five Little Bunnies",

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December 7, 2009

Animal Noisy Fun

Animals are always of great interest to the storytime kids. Simms Taback's beautiful lift-the-flap book, City Animals, had the children guess which animal is partially hidden under the fold. Then we made the animal sounds together. Another example of a fun animal sound book is David Wojtowycz's Can You Moo? The children responded with great delight to the the classic large book version of the beautiful farm story Big Red Barn, by Margaret Wise Brown, again making interesting animal noises. The children always enjoy the exciting Mother Goose magnets. I reminded the adults that we have many Mother Goose books in our picture book section that are sure to amuse the kids!

Posted by Sue at 8:21 PM | TrackBack

November 25, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving

Holidays for children involve being with family and eating yummy foods. We share Thanksgiving meals with family and friends that most likely contains turkey and pumpkin pie. Delicious! One of my favorite Thanksgiving rituals each year is to sing while sharing a picture book version of the standard poem Over the River and Through the Wood, by Lydia Child. Another important aspect of Thanksgiving is to give thanks for what we have. Thank You, Thanksgiving, by David Milgrim, provides ordinary example of nice things children can be grateful for, such as having a family. Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs, by Bryon Barton explores many exciting dinosaurs in prehistoric times. I did the always popular flannel board,"How Do I Put It On," as the children laughed when I dressed the bear incorrectly!

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November 18, 2009

Colorful Colors

Who is ready to identify the colors? The storytime kids are! In the classic title by Ellen Walsh, Mouse Paint, white mice jump into jars of paint, and thereby change the color of their fur, create new colors, and hide from the cat. Jane Cabrera explores what Cat's favorite color is with her bright and vibrant illustrations in Cat's Colors. Generous Maisy brings her friends nice gifts in a pop-up format in With Love From Maisy, by Lucy Cousins. We discovered the colors of the many houses in the flannel board story, "Little Red House".

Posted by Sue at 9:40 AM | TrackBack

November 11, 2009

Fall Changes

Many interesting changes in nature take place in the fall. In the big book Sleepy Bear, by Lydia Dabcovich, we see a bear begin hibernation as trees lose their leaves and birds fly south. Meeow and his animal friends have fun together with brightly colored objects in Meeow and the Little Chairs, by Sebastien Braun. What starts out as a bad day for bird, dog, fox and squirrel due to disappointments, turns out better after all in A Good Day, by Kevin Henkes. Because children love to explore their five senses, I always enjoy doing the flannel board story, "Two Little Eyes".

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November 4, 2009

Halloween Happenings

What do you think of when you think of Halloween? We think about costumes, trick-or-treating, and candy! My storytime kids looked festive in their Halloween costumes. Sam enjoys pretending to be different folk in various costumes in Where's Sam? by Yves Got. Many cute examples of Halloween costumes are in Sweets and Treats, by Toni Parker. Spot throws a colorful costume party in Spot's Halloween Party, by Eric Hill. We enjoyed a fall flannel board and we sang the classic Halloween song, "Five Little Pumpkins," with the story mit pumpkin puppets.

Posted by Sue at 9:20 AM | TrackBack

October 28, 2009

It's Raining

Rain was most evident this week so we read Who Is Tapping At My Window? by A.G.Deming in which a girl discovers that the gentle sounds she hears on her window turns out to be rain, not various animals. Each flap conceals a noisy animal in the cheerful Peek-A-Moo! by Marie Cinarusti. We made many animal sounds. A cute squirrel is busy hiding acorns when a berry eating bear gives him an idea to eat berries instead in Acorns Everywhere! by Kevin Sherry. In anticipation of Halloween, we did the flannel counting rhyme, "Ten Pumpkins Ready for Halloween!".

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October 21, 2009

Singing Along

Enjoying music is very important to the storytime kids. A zoological version of the classic song "Wheels on the Bus" is the silly, funny The Seals on the Bus, by Lenny Hort, about a bus overrun with seals, snakes and various noisy animals. Illustrator Jane Cabrera creates pages of color that are alive with movement as she depicts the amusing Mother Goose rhyme about a quirky dog in Old Mother Hubbard. We sang another funny Mother Goose rhyme along with the big book version of Sing a Song of Sixpence.

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October 12, 2009

Farm Time

The storytime kids enjoy books about farm animals. Which sounds does each animal make? We determined the correct sounds from Do Monkeys Tweet?, by Melanie Walsh. The always popular Maisy series provided another example of fun in finding hidden farm animals in Maisy at the Farm, by Lucy Cousins. We sang along to the big version of the playful song, Farmer in the Dell. The children enjoyed identifying the colors of the various animals in the flannel version of "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?"

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September 30, 2009

Beginning with Animal Fun

Storytime kids enjoy pretending to be noisy animals. We made noisy sounds when colorful animals popped off the pages in Face to Face Safari, by Sally Hewitt. We enjoyed producing snorts, etc. as I read Bill Martin, Jr.'s Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?, illustrated by the fine artist Eric Carle. The funny high spirited drawings in James Warhola's If You're Happy and You Know It added to our singing fun. Mother Goose magnets provide interesting visuals of these classic songs that we sing weekly.

Posted by Sue at 9:43 AM | TrackBack

September 19, 2009

Where Are You Hiding?

Fall is a time of beauty and the beginning of Preschool Storytimes. It is always a delight to have new as well as familiar children to read stories to. Eric Hill's Spot books are a great favorite with the storytime kids, for they enjoy the lift-the-flap puppy adventures. I read the big book version of Where's Spot? by Eric Hill and we produced many animal sounds. Mother Duck asks various animals to help her find her baby duck but we can see Baby Duck the whole time in Nancy Tafuri's Have You Seen My Duckling? Silly Tumpty tries to hide but is easily spotted because he is a huge blue elephant in the whimsical Where's Tumpty? by Polly Dunbar. We sang and counted along to the flannel board story, "Five Green and Speckled Frogs."

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August 3, 2009

Some Old Favorites

For the concluding storytime, I picked classic stories the storytime kids always enjoy. A longer version of The Itsy Bitsy Spider, by Iza Trapani has delightful illustrations we all enjoyed. Generous Maisy gives all of her friends nice gifts in the nice pop-up book, With Love From Maisy, by Lucy Cousins. Every character walks to town upside down in the hilarious big book, Silly Sally, by Audrey Wood. "Five Little Monkeys Teasing Mr. Crocodile You Can't Catch Me" is a fun hand puppet and song.

Posted by Sue at 8:41 PM | TrackBack

July 20, 2009

Trucks

Trucks are exciting for the storytime kids. We talked about how trucks help us build things such as roads and how they deliver products. In Get To Work Trucks, by Don Carter, a turtle almost stops trucks from performing their tasks. In Hole In the Road ,by Jakki Wood, colorful trucks repair a road. In Easy Street, by Rita Gray, rhyming verses depict trucks repairing a street. We counted along with the flannel board, "10 Fishies."

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July 15, 2009

Noisy Time

Storytime kids enjoy pretending to be noisy animals. An irresistible canine has a busy day in which he makes friends with various animals making interesting noises in Dog's Noisy Day , by Emma Dodd. Bright illustrations of various animals encourage children to mimic the sounds they make in Can You Growl Like a Bear?, by John Butler. We enjoyed singing the classic song from the big book version This Old Man. Getting dressed is challenging for this age group, therefore the flannel board story "How Do I Put It On?" gets their complete attention.

Posted by Sue at 10:15 AM | TrackBack

July 8, 2009

Parades and the Fourth of July

The storytime kids and I are very excited about the Fourth of July. In honor of patriotic fun we all enjoy, I read several stories about parades. Parade by Donald Crews, depicts the various elements of the July 4th parade such as the marching band, vendors, and spectators like our storytime kids. In Hats Off for the Fourth of July, by Harriet Ziefert, charming illustrations and a rhyming text add interest to this version of the annual parade. Summer is lots of fun, and Bob Raczka's Summer Wonders provides many lovely examples of enjoyment in the warm months, including attending a Fourth of July parade! We did our annual march around the room with instruments to "Sousa's March!" Fun stuff.

Posted by Sue at 12:10 PM | TrackBack

Colors

Identifying colors is always fun for the storytime kids. Colorful animals pop up on each page in the toy book Creepy, Crawly Colors, by Robin Koontz. A child on a farm shows us the animals she loves, along with the sounds they make in I Love Animals! by Flora McDonnell. We enjoyed hearing a familiar nursery rhyme with whimsical illustrations in Jane Cabrera's Old Mother Hubbard. When kittens jump into buckets of paint, they have new colors in the flannel board story "Kittens and Paint".

Posted by Sue at 11:46 AM | TrackBack

May 27, 2009

Transportation

The storytime kids love stories about trucks, trains, and cars. We sang along to a familiar melody as I read the exciting pop-up variation of "Wheels on the Bus" by Margaret McNamara called Whistle on the Train. We all made various vehicle sounds as each one was colorfully depicted in Can You Choo Choo? by David Wojtowycz. A drawbridge is up causing the animals in their colorful vehicles to wait patiently to cross the bridge in the charming The Bridge is Up by Babs Bell. We guessed the colors of the bunnies and counted them in the flannel story, "Five Bunnies".

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May 18, 2009

Mother's Day

Mother's Day honors those loving moms and grandmothers that we treasure. To celebrate this special day, I chose books about animal moms and their babies. A child pig works hard to make her mom feel special by making her food and getting her flowers while making many messes in A Special Day For Mommy, by Dan Andreasen. Animal babies are reunited with their moms, thereby depicting mom's important role for us all in the reassuring book, Where Is My Mommy?, by Jule Downing. The love between a mother and child chimpanzee is portrayed in Mama Love, by Kathy Mallat. We thought of spring as I did the flannel story, "Five Little Flowers".

Posted by Sue at 11:23 AM | TrackBack

Lost and Found

Children like to find lost items, animals or people. It's a fun game to them. Mem Fox uses whimsy and humor to describe various types of sheep in the quest to locate a missing green sheep in Where is the Green Sheep. In Overboard! by Sarah Weeks, a mischievous bunny delights in flinging items everywhere! In Where's Spot?, by Eric Hill, the storytime kids enjoyed looking under book flaps and making animals sounds as the missing Spot is finally located. We sang as I read the flannel board story "Five Green and Speckled Frogs".

Posted by Sue at 9:33 AM | TrackBack

May 4, 2009

Colors

Who is ready to identify the colors? The storytime kids are! In the classic title by Ellen Walsh, Mouse Paint, white mice explore (and jump into) jars of paint, discovering the fun of making new colors, changing the color of their fur, and hiding from the cat in the process. Various animals of vibrant color are identified in the toy book Creepy Crawly Colors, by Robin Koontz. Raindrop, Plop! by Wendy Lewison explores colors and counting as the rain falls on a spring like day. The flannel story "Little Red House" demonstrates both sizes and colors in a fun manner.

Posted by Sue at 8:25 PM | TrackBack

April 27, 2009

Singing Along

Singing along with books is fun for the storytime kids. A new version of a classic song is the silly and fun The Seals on the Bus, by Lenny Hort, about a bus overrun by seals, snakes, skunks and other animals. Jane Cabrera utilizes her winning illustrations to depict the amusing Mother Goose rhyme, Old Mother Hubbard about an unusual dog. We sang another Mother Goose rhyme along with the big book version of Sing A Song of Sixpence. I did the colorful flannel board story based on the book by Bill Martin called "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?"

Posted by Sue at 10:26 AM | TrackBack

April 20, 2009

Let's Make Moo Sounds

The storytime kids love to make animal sounds. They enjoy peek-a-boo books with flaps such as Marie Cimarusti's Peek A Moo! in which each flap conceals a noisy animal. We made animal sounds as I read Can You Moo? by David Wojtowycz, in which each animal demonstrates its special sound. The classic team of Bill Martin, Jr. and Eric Carle produced another winning story in Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? These colorful zoo animals make plenty of pleasing noises. We sang along with the flannel Mother Goose song, "Mary Had a Little Lamb."

Posted by Sue at 8:25 PM | TrackBack

Hens and Roosters

Spring brings new animal babies into the world. In Hurry! Hurry! by Eve Bunting, an excited rooster encourages every animal to come to the barn to see the hatching of a chicken out of an egg, so exciting to watch. When we read Whose Chick are You? by Nancy Tafuri, we made animal sounds as a swan hatches out of its egg, and proceeds to look for his mama among the various noisy animals. We sing this song weekly but it is nice to see this colorful picture book version of Five Little Ducks, illustrated by Ivan Bates. In keeping with the egg theme, we did the flannel story, "Three Eggs in a Basket."

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April 6, 2009

Spring!

Hooray, spring is here after another brutal Chicago winter! But it still is cold outside. We will keep waiting for warmer days. And yet, there are notable changes outside that we talked about such as green sprouts shooting out of the earth that soon will be flowers. In Fran's Flower, by Lisa Bruce, a little girl thinks her plant needs human food to grow but soon discovers that plants prefer water and sunshine instead. Little Petey makes messes that his helpful brother Sam manages to always fix in Fix-It Sam, by Lori Ries. The loud tapping sound of rain on a window creates confusion as a girl tries to decide who is making the noises and wonders if it could be various animals in the big book version of Who Is Tapping At My Window, by Alhambra Deming. I did the spring like flannel story, "Five Little Flowers", as we counted and identified colors together.

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March 16, 2009

Animals

What makes for a good day? What starts out as a bad day for a bird, fox and squirrel with some disappointments turns into a good day as happy endings occur in A Good Day, by Kevin Henkes. As we counted to the familiar tune of "One Two, Buckle My Shoe", we enjoyed watching chickens hatch out of eggs in Big Fat Hen, by Keith Baker. Lucy Cousins's books are always popular and this toy and movable version called Maisy at the Farm depicts Maisy doing fun things at a farm like feeding the pigs and riding the tractor. Some of us think mice are indeed very nice. I did the flannel story called "I Think Mice are Nice."

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March 10, 2009

Colors

The storytime kids enjoy learning about colors. Bold, exciting rainbow colors and familiar Maisy friends on every page make Maisy's Rainbow Dream,by Lucy Cousins a great read aloud choice. Jane Cabrera is always a popular choice with her vibrant colors and child-like illustrations, as we noted in Cat's Colors. We really enjoyed singing aloud along with the railroad pop-up book written in homage to the popular song, "Wheels on the Bus" called Whistle on the Train, by Margaret McNamara. We counted along with the flannel board story, "Five Owls".

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March 4, 2009

Let's Drive!

Trucks and buses are familiar and exciting to the storytime kids and therefore, truck books are popular. Trucks of all sizes, shapes and colors performing a variety of tasks are depicted in Jonathan London's A Truck Goes Rattley-Bumpa. A day in the life of a truck driver is explored in the colorful picture book Drive, by Nathan Clement. Local author Paul Zelinsky does a toy book version of the classic song in The Wheels on the Bus, that the storytime kids truly enjoyed. We counted along with the flannel board story, "Five Little Owls".

Posted by Sue at 9:40 AM | TrackBack

February 16, 2009

Be My Valentine

Valentine's Day is a favorite holiday of mine as I love the colors red and pink, valentines, candy and flowers. Lilly tries to figure out where to hide her Valentine candy in Lilly's Chocolate Heart by Kevin Henkes. I showed the storytime kids a valentine, paste, ribbon and lace before I read Mouse's First Valentine by Lauren Thompson, in which Mouse makes his friend a homemade valentine. Animals give each other useful delicious Valentine gifts in the toy book by Sarah Weeks called Be Mine, Be Mine, Sweet Valentine. We enjoyed counting the kittens and naming the colors of the paint in the flannel storyboard story called, "Kittens and Paint".

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February 11, 2009

Chickens

With her happy colors, large animals and simple text, Nancy Tafuri is a favorite author for the storytime kids. In Five Little Chicks, Mother Hen guides her baby chicks to eat corn rather than food that is too big for their little stomachs. We enjoyed making animal sounds as we watched a chick hatch out of its egg and look for its mother among various noisy animals in Whose Chick Are You? Maisy, always popular in our storytimes, goes for a nature walk in this fun pull-the-tab book, Maisy's Nature Walk, by Lucy Cousins. We sang the Raffi tune as I did the cute counting flannelboard, "Five Green and Speckled Frogs".

Posted by Sue at 9:37 AM | TrackBack

February 4, 2009

Trucking Around

Children love to watch trucks do their amazing jobs, thus truck books are always popular at storytimes. Many types of trucks are necessary to repair roads as depicted in the colorful A Hole in the Road, by Jakki Wood. Jon Scieszka created the Trucktown series that has appealing comical illustrations. I read Snow Trucking, which depicts snow trucks enjoying themselves as they work. In the big book version of the classic folktale by Mirra Ginsburg, called The Chick and the Duckling, a chicken wants to imitate a duck but finds that's not always possible due to his lack of swimming skills. We sang and counted along with the flannel board story, "Five Little Ducks," a familiar song to our group.

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January 28, 2009

Pretend to Be an Animal

It is fun for the storytime kids to pretend to be an animal and make animal noises! We made some loud animal sounds along with Can You Growl Like a Bear? by John Butler. We had another opportunity to make animal sounds with Can You Moo? by David Wojtowyez. The children responded with great delight to the classic large book version of the beautiful farm story Big Red Barn, by Margaret Wise Brown. Her illustrations are a delight. We always enjoy singing along with the exciting Mother Goose magnets!

Posted by Sue at 11:22 AM | TrackBack

Very Cold Outside - Brrr!

It was very cold out today so I picked a beautiful Ukrainian folktale called The Mitten, by Jan Brett, a wonderful wintertime illustrator. A boy loses his mitten in the snow and various animals find it and decide that the mitten makes a nice shelter from the cold. Kitty explores how various animals cuddle in Kitty's Cuddles, by Jane Cabrera. Tiny is actually a very large dog who looks for missing kittens in the funny Tiny on the Farm, by Cari Meister. With snow still ever present, we enjoyed seeing the "Let's Build a Snowman" flannel.

Posted by Sue at 9:42 AM | TrackBack

January 12, 2009

Snowing Again!

It snowed again, bringing excitement for the storytime kids! Lois Ehlert creates an unusual snow family in Snowballs, utilizing colorful everyday items to decorate each snow creation. A Winter Day, by Douglas Florian depicts a family during a typical snowy winter day. Ezra Jack Keats wrote the Caldecott Medal winning story, Snowy Day, a favorite of mine, in which Peter depicts many fun activities kids do with snow, such as making snow angels, footprints, and throwing snowballs. We counted and identified colors with the flannel board story, "10 Warm Mittens". Mittens are necessary for snowy days.

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December 17, 2008

More Snowy Days

Cold snowy days are here once more. Snow can be thrilling and fun. In Mouse's First Snow, by Lauren Thompson, Mouse and his dad have lots of snow fun with sledding, building ice houses and creating snow mice. Who is Driving?, by Leo Timmers had the kids guessing which animal would drive each vehicle while making the funny vehicle sounds. We sang along with the big book version of This Old Man and did the fingerplays. The flannel board story, How Do I Put It On? by Shigeo Watanabe is always a big favorite because getting dressed is a big accomplishment for my baby group!

Posted by Sue at 12:13 PM | TrackBack

December 15, 2008

Snow Is Here

All children love to play in the snow. In Cleo and the Snow, by Caroline Mockford, Cleo the cat and his puppy friend Caspar have snowy excitement as they go sledding and play outdoors. Various animals note the whiteness of winter snow against their fur in the nicely illustrated Snow, by Manya Stojic. In the big book version of Sleepy Bear, by Lydia Dabcovich, Bear gets ready for his winter hibernation and sleeps until spring. We identified the colors of the snowmen hats in the flannel story "Five Little Snowmen".

Posted by Sue at 6:23 PM | TrackBack

December 3, 2008

Trucking About

Truck books are a favorite with the storytime kids. They are familiar, large, make interesting noises and do various types of work. Easy Street, by Rita Gray depicts how a road is made out of asphalt with the help of many trucks. In Tip Tip Dig Dig, by Emma Garcia, brightly colored trucks create a playground out of a messy area. The kids enjoyed identifying the colors and the names of the trucks. We had another color and name identification (of each car) opportunity with the large book version of Freight Train, by Donald Crews. Due to our small group size, I was able to have the kids move around some trucks and people on a "Construction Machinery" flannelboard.

Posted by Sue at 12:13 PM | TrackBack

November 24, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving

Holidays for children involve being with family and eating yummy food. We talked about sharing Thanksgiving meals with family and friends that would likely consist of turkey and pumpkin pie. The funny version of the classic song, Over the River, A Turkey's Tale by Derek Anderson pokes fun of the classic song, "Over the River". In Anderson's version, smart turkeys outwit some turkey hunters hungry for their Thanksgiving dinner, by finally inviting them to have a delicious vegetarian meal with them, the turkeys! Another important aspect of Thanksgiving is giving thanks and feeling grateful for what we have. Thank You, Thanksgiving by David Milgrim provides examples of ordinary things such as boots, that kids can be thankful for.
Children always enjoy looking for Spot the dog under flaps, so the large book version of the classic Where's Spot by Eric Hill is a delight. With the weather getting colder, counting mittens along with the flannel board story "10 Warm Mittens" is timely.

Posted by Sue at 5:13 PM | TrackBack

November 20, 2008

Potato Fun

The silliest potato book I've ever read is Potato Joe, by Keith Baker. It takes the familiar counting nursery rhyme "One potato, two potato" into absurd situations that are completely enjoyable to read aloud to my group!
Kanga's cookie dough disappears and Kanga asks all the animals where it could be in Who Ate All the Cookie Dough?, by Karen Beaumont. A scared mouse tries to hide a delicious strawberry from a hungry bear in the big book version of The Little Mouse, Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear , by Don Wood. We counted together and identified colors with the flannel board story, " The Five Little Flowers",

Posted by Sue at 11:45 AM | TrackBack

November 12, 2008

Happiness=Storytimes

We are happy to enjoy storytimes together and we can add to our fun by singing along to James Warhola's If You're Happy and You Know It. Warhola happens to be Andy Warhol's nephew and his jungle illustrations to this classic song are joyful and fun. A rooster rushes her fellow farm animals to a barn to witness the birth of a chicken in the colorful Hurry! Hurry!, by Eve Bunting. Singing about food is funny, and indeed, we had some smiles as we sang along to the big book version of Peanut Butter and Jelly , by Nadine Wescott. We sang together and counted on our fingers, pretending they were frogs with the flannel story of the Raffi song, "Five Green and Speckled Frogs".

Posted by Sue at 11:13 AM | TrackBack

October 27, 2008

Dinosaurs Are Cool

The storytime kids love to read stories about dinosaurs and pretend to be scary ones! The big book version of Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs, by Byron Barton, is always a favorite as it shows so many different types of dinosaurs, including small ones. In Tip Tip Dig Dig, by Emma Garcia, brightly colored trucks clear some messy looking land to make a playground. We practiced identifying colors with this book. What starts out as a bad day for the bird, dog, fox and squirrel with some disappointments, turns into a good day in Kevin Henkes, A Good Day. I did a counting flannel called "Ten Little Pumpkins" in honor of the fall season and Halloween being just around the corner!

Posted by Sue at 8:33 PM | TrackBack

October 20, 2008

Colorful Colors

Children love to identify colors and they love to find hidden objects behind flaps. The big book version of Mouse Paint, by Ellen Walsh is a creative look at the power of mixing colors as white mice mix colorful paint together to create new colors which they utilize to change their fur color. In Cat's Colors, by Jane Cabrera, a cat looks at his colorful world to determine which color is his favorite, finally choosing orange because of his mother's color! Children love the concept of giving presents. In With Love From Maisy,by Lucy Cousins, Maisy gives presents that are hidden under flaps and tabs, to all of her best friends. The flannel board story, "The Little Red House," explores the concepts of colors and sizes as each colorful felt house hides an even smaller house.

Posted by Sue at 6:16 PM | TrackBack

October 15, 2008

Trucks and Cars Go Fast and Far

Racing Cars are exciting, especially ones driven by dogs, giraffes, and hippos! As the animals drove their cars around the race track, we sang the new version of the favorite song "Wheels on the Bus" to Alexander Zane's Wheels on the Race Car. Tom drives a big truck to deliver fruit across the country in the brightly illustrated Truck Driver Tom, by Monica Wellington. Singing Mother Goose rhymes is always a good time. We sang to the big book version of Sing A Song of Sixpence. We pretended (with great enthusiasm) to blow out birthday candles as I did the flannel story, "10 Little Candles".

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October 6, 2008

Spills and Thrills

Toddlers enjoy books that show kids creating mischief because that is fun and funny. Rachel Isadora explores different kinds of toddler behavior in Uh-Oh! in which a child spills food and makes lots of messes. The storytime kids pretended to walk like the various animals along with the amusing Wiggle Waggle, by Jonathan London. We sang together the classic song along with the big book version of The Farmer in the Dell. We enjoyed singing and pretending our fingers were monkeys as we sang "Five Little Monkeys Swinging in the Tree."

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October 1, 2008

Animal Surprises

Singing along with books is always fun for the storytime kids. Old MacNoah Had an Ark, by Sally Lloyd-Jones is a funny version of the Noah's Ark story in which Old MacNoah has a hard time feeding his huge group of animals. We made lots of animal sounds together. The classic Spot series continually amuses the storytime kids. In Spot Goes to the Farm, by Eric Hill, Spot finds many animals hiding under flaps. Paul Zelinsky's creativity produced an astounding toy book with flaps to pull and wheels to turn based on the classic song, The Wheels on the Bus. We sang along to Bill Martin Jr.'s book that we made into a flannel board, called "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?"

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September 25, 2008

Farm Time

Lift-the-flap books are quite exciting for the storytime kids. With her popular Maisy series, Lucy Cousins excels in this genre. In Maisy at the Farm, Maisy notes many types of animals and the ways they move about the page. We made various funny animal sounds as I read John Lawrence's This Little Chick. Bill Martin gives an example of the beautiful art of Eric Carle in the big book version Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? as a Zookeeper sees children disguised as animals while listening to their animal sounds at the zoo. We sang along to the flannel board story, "Mary Had a Little Lamb."

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September 17, 2008

Beginnings

Hooray, storytime has begun for another fun fall session! We played peek-a-boo as I read a popular toy book called Peek A Moo! , by Marie Torres Cimarusti. The always exciting Maisy series provided us with another wonderful example of making learning fun with Maisy's Nature Walk, by Lucy Cousins. Maisy discovers many animals as she strolls around the neighborhood. Cute drawings by Byron Barton heighten the humor of the big book version of the folk story The Little Red Hen.

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August 6, 2008

Toy Books

The storytime kids enjoy toy books that have lift-the-flaps or move-the-tabs capabilities. The kids enjoy playing peek-a-boo with book characters. In No Bed Without Ted ,by Nicola Smee, a little girl won't go to bed until she finds her teddy bear and we look for the teddy bear behind flaps throughout the book. In Where's Sam?, by Yves Got, Sam tries on various costumes as we look for him behind the flaps. We sang together the classic song while I showed the big book version of Down By the Station. We counted together as I did the flannel board story, "Two Little Blackbirds".

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July 30, 2008

Colors Are Everywhere!

The storytime kids enjoy learning about colors. We enjoyed identifying both the insects and their colors in Creepy Crawly Colors, by Robin Koontz. Cat has difficulty choosing his favorite color in the vibrant Cat's Colors, by Jane Cabrera. In the classic title by Ellen Walsh called Mouse Paint, three white mice explore three jars of paint as they discover that colors mixed together create new colors. As I read the flannel story, "Dog's Colorful Day", we identified the various colors that fell on Dog's fur, changing the amount of colorful spots on him along the way.

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July 23, 2008

Days and Seasons

We often talk about the weather at storytime and whether it is sunny or rainy outside. Popular author Lucy Cousins explores weather and seasons in Maisy's Wonderful Weather Book. Various animals make their noises as they watch the sun go down in Hello, Day!, by Anita Lobel, a notable picture book author. Learning how to share something nice such as delicious cookies is humorously depicted in the large book The Doorbell Rang, by Pat Hutchins. We enjoyed counting the squirrels in the flannel board story "Five Little Squirrels".

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July 17, 2008

Trucking About

Trucks are familar and exciting to the storytime kids and therefore, truck books are popular! It's nice to discover all the cool things that trucks can do. In Tip Tip Dig Dig ,by Emma Garcia, trucks clear some messy looking land to make a playground. In Red Truck, by Kersten Hamilton, a red tow truck helps pull a stuck school bus out of the mud. Both are colorful books. In I Love Animals, by Flora McDonnell, the large pictures of farm animals inspired the kids to make animal sounds. We counted the frogs as I sang the Raffi song along with the flannel board story, "Five Green and Speckled Frogs".

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July 2, 2008

Hooray for the Fourth of July!

The storytime kids are very excited about the Fourth of July. We anticipate this fun day by reading Happy 4th of July, Jenny Sweeney!, by Leslie Kimmelman. Jenny sees her neighborhood get ready for the festivities of the holiday by having picnics and going to a parade. The children always enjoy the beloved classic, Where's Spot?, by Eric Hill, as we seek Spot the dog behind flaps that show many kinds of animals until at last we find him. Lucy Cousins is another popular classic author for our group, and the toy book Maisy on the Farm, shows us the various types of animals on the farm that hide behind the flaps to the children's amusement. We did our annual march around the room with musical instruments to the song, "Stars and Stripes Forever" from the CD, Patriotic Songs and Marches.

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May 28, 2008

Colors

Examining colors and identifying them is very interesting for the storytime kids. Colorful animals pop up on each page in Creepy Crawly Colors, by Robin Koontz. In the big book Freight Train, by Donald Crews, the kids enjoyed identifying the colors and names of the cars on a freight train. Maisy books continue to fascinate the storytime kids, especially with the concept of opposites in Maisy Big, Maisy Small, by Lucy Cousins. The flannel board story, "Little Red House" depicts houses of various colors and sizes.

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May 19, 2008

Our Beautiful Ocean

The storytime kids are very interested in ocean creatures, most of which they probably have not yet seen. A bragging squid tells various sea critters that he's bigger than they are, the biggest in the ocean, until a whale eats him up in I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean, by Kevin Sherry. Counting digitally created animated fish is amusing in Ten Little Fish, by Audrey Wood. A boy diver has many adventures in his bath tub as he pretends to be in the ocean in Way Down Deep in the Deep Blue Sea, by Jan Peck.

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May 13, 2008

Mother's Day

It's fabulous to have a day to honor our special hardworking, loving mothers! In honor of Mother's Day I read stories about animal mothers and their children. A child pig works hard to make her mother feel special by making her food and getting her flowers while making an occasional mess in A Special Day for Mommy, by Dan Andreasen. Mother animals are shown taking care of their babies in Where Is My Mommy?, by Julie Downing. Classic author/illustrator Eric Carle shows us the various names of animal groups and babies in Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother, Too? The storytime kids love identifying the colors of the cute kittens with the flannel board story, "Kittens and Paint".

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April 30, 2008

Where Is It?

This perennially popular title by Mem Fox, Where is the Green Sheep?, always creates excitement. As we read the story, we wonder, where did that green sheep hide? Daisy and Pip play hide-and-seek in the lift-the-flap story, Daisy's Hide-and-Seek by Jane Simmons. We like to discover animals under the flaps. A bear and a boy both lose their teddy bears to each other in the big book version, Where's My Teddy, by Jez Alborough. We enjoy counting squirrels along with the flannel story, "Five Little Squirrels."

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April 21, 2008

Trucks!

The storytime kids are fascinated by trucks and their magic powers to dig, crush, soar into the sky, make lots of noise, and carry goods on highways. Truck Driver Tom, by Monica Wellington, depicts how Tom drives his big truck full of food across highways filled with many types of colorful trucks. A humorous truck version of a classic song, Hush Little Digger, by Ellen Olson-Brown, captured the kids' attention as we enjoyed naming different types of trucks to the rhythm of the song. We thought about rain as I read the big book version of Who is Tapping at My Window? We counted the frogs as I sang the Raffi song along with the flannelboard story, "Five Green and Speckled Frogs".

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April 14, 2008

Sing Along

The storytime kids enjoy singing along with Jane Cabrera's brightly colored versions of classic songs. The kids like imitating the animals' actions as we sang along to Cabrera's very charming
If You're Happy and You Know It. The prolific Jane Cabrera draws more adorable animals depicted with their animal babies in Mommy, Carry Me Please!. Margaret Wise Brown, another classic author, has a beautiful book about farm life in the large book version of Big Red Barn. The kids love imitating the farm animal sounds. We sang and counted ducks along with the flannel board story, "Five Little Ducks".

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April 9, 2008

Spring is Here

Finally, spring has arrived. Hooray! Spring brings rain, new growth in the ground, and little animals like spiders. Fran has difficulty determining how to best take care of her flower seed in the charming Fran's Flower, by Lisa Bruce. We all enjoy doing the spider song with our fingers, but we also seeing cute illustrations in Itsy Bitsy Spider, by Lorianne Siomades. The big colorful book version Mushroom In the Rain, by Mirra Ginsburg is a favorite of ours. Kids enjoy seeing the mushroom get larger from the rain as various animals hide from the rain under that dynamic mushroom.

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March 19, 2008

Maisy Time

Toddlers love Maisy books! They adore this charming and colorful mouse along with her many friends. My storytime kids enjoyed looking at the Maisy version of opposites in Lucy Cousins's Maisy Big, Maisy Small. A mischievious rabbit throws all of his toys out of his crib in the funny Overboard! by Sarah Weeks. Throwing objects is so much fun for toddlers. We sang together with the big classic book, Farmer in the Dell. With holidays coming up, the cookie flannel board story, "The Cookie Jar People", inspired thoughts of tasty treats.

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March 12, 2008

Classic Stories

Classic books are very enjoyable to read aloud. I read some of my favorite authors today. Maisy gives her friends cute presents that emerge from flaps in With Love From Maisy by Lucy Cousins. The process by which a caterpillar becomes a butterfly is creatively explored in Eric Carle's colorful book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Eric Hill introduces us to his popular character, Spot, who hides under flaps throughout the story in Where's Spot. Dog gets lots of food dropped on him in the flannel board story, Dog's Colorful Day, as we guess the colors of the various foods.

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March 3, 2008

Farm Time

The storytime kids always enjoy lift-the-flap books. With her popular Maisy series, Lucy Cousins excels in this genre. Watching the farm animals move about making animals sounds is great fun in Maisy at the Farm , by Lucy Cousins. The children once more enjoyed acting like noisy animals as I read John Lawrence's This Little Chick. We all sang together to the big book Here We Go Around the Mulberry Bush. The children were very interested in the many activities of a typical day in a young child's life. Identifying colors is always fun for children, as they told me which color mitten I took off the flannel board in "Ten Warm Mittens".

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February 18, 2008

Transportation

We all had fun singing Wheels on the Bus by Paul Zelinsky. We did the movements to this classic bus song as well. Upon lifting the flaps, we discovered cute animals and made the sounds in, Peek-A-Moo! by Marie Cimarusti. The comical book called Silly Sally by Audrey Wood, in which everyone walks to town upside down, was enjoyed by all. The children guessed what shapes the clouds look like in the flannel board story "It Looked Like Spilt Milk".

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February 11, 2008

Be My Valentine

Valentine's Day is a big favorite of mine because I love beautiful valentines, candy and flowers. With a decorated box and valentine to demonstrate this holiday, I explained to the storytime kids that they could make and receive valentines from their family on Valentine's Day. Making and giving valentines was the motif of the following three stories. In Sweet Hearts by Jan Carr, a panda family gives pretty home made valentines to each other. Giving presents is a fun Valentine activity, and animals give each other funny gifts like an animal bone in
Be Mine, Be Mine, Sweet Valentine by Sarah Weeks. A mouse gives his friend an artistic valentine in Mouse's First Valentine by Lauren Thompson. We all enjoyed counting along on our fingers to the flannel "Five Little Squirrels."

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February 4, 2008

Noisy Sounds

We had noisy fun in storytime today! We made various sounds to mimic the animal noises from John Butler's Can You Growl Like a Bear? We sang together the classic song with the big book version of Down By the Station, in which trucks, buses, cars, and fire engines make their merry sounds. We noticed many adorable breeds of dogs and watched them move about in Dog, by Matthew Van Fleet. We sang together and counted on our fingers pretending they were frogs with the flannel story "Five Green and Speckled Frogs."

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January 30, 2008

It's Snowing Again!

Children love to play in the snow. One can make snowy footprints, or funny snow people, or snow angels, or snowballs. Peter does all these fun snow activities in The Snowy Day , by Ezra Jack Keats. Mouse, too, plays with the snow in Mouse's First Snow , by Lauren Thompson. Various animals examine the color of snow against their fur in the evocative Snow, by Manya Stojic. The children love to imitate the actions in the flannel story "Five Little Snowmen".

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January 21, 2008

Sing Along Time

The storytime kids always enjoy singing along with books and performing along with the depicted actions. The kids enjoyed nodding their heads, jumping around, etc. to Jane Cabrera's classic, If You're Happy and You Know It. We looked under flaps for the missing teddy bear until we found it on the clothesline in, No Bed Without Ted, by Nicola Smee. "Me too," is the refrain in the charming book, The Chick and the Duckling by Vladimir Suteev, in which a chicken can imitate a duck in everything except swimming. We pretended to blow out the candles in the flannel story "10 Little Candles."

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January 16, 2008

Beginnings

The beginning of a new session of baby storytimes is always so exciting! We are all happy to once more read stories, do fingerplays, sing with puppets, play instruments, watch flannel boards, and hug Mr. Bear. Funny chickens ride around on trains, planes, skateboard, and cars in Where is Coco Going?, by Sloane Tanner. The children enjoy chiming in while making animal sounds in Crunch Munch , by Jonathan London. The big classic book, If You Give a Mouse A Cookie , by Laura Numeroff amusingly portrays a demanding mouse who needs lots of help when he asks for a cookie and a glass of milk to go with it and more. Children always enjoy pointing out what exactly is on their face, as I narrate the flannel board story, "Two Little Eyes".

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December 12, 2007

Winter Time

Winter brings snow and this is really exciting for the storytime kids. Some animals prepare for winter by hibernating, so I read about a hibernating bear who gets some animal visitors in his cave home. In the big book Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson, a sleeping bear has noisy visitors who have a party in his cave. Finally, bear wakes up to join the party and all the animals fall asleep. The storytime kids love to make sounds that imitate the various vehicles like cars, trucks, and airplanes in Can You Choo-Choo?, by David Wojtowycz. The storytime kids imitated funny animal behavior in the book, How Do You Make A Baby Smile? by Philomon Sturges. Because of the snowy outdoors, I did the pretty flannel "Five Little Snowmen" while the kids pretended to be snowmen and counted the snowmen on their fingers.

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December 5, 2007

Count to Ten

Babies and toddlers enjoy counting! We use our fingers to count during storytime and we count together with the books. Ten in the Bed , by Jane Cabrera, is a colorful version of the classic song with cute toy animals, drawn with bright colors and patterns, that fall off of the bed. Her childlike illustrations are terrific. Computer drawn fish swimming in the ocean are fun to count in Ten Little Fish , by Audrey Wood. A bragging squid tells smaller ocean creatures that he's the biggest creature in the ocean until a whale eats him up, in the funny and clever I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean, by Kevin Sherry. But, inside the whale, he again manages to be the biggest creature in the whale! We all enjoyed counting the cute frogs as they fell into the water in the flannel story,
Five Green and Speckled Frogs, which is also a song and book by Raffi.

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November 26, 2007

Colors

Learning about colors is always fun for the storytime kids. Colorful animals pop up on each page in Creepy Crawly Colors, by Robin Koontz. We enjoy singing "Old McDonald Had a Farm" each week while each animal we sing to comes out of a big red soft barn door. This activity reminds us of the the barn in Margaret Wise Brown's colorful book, Big Red Barn. Where is that cute Pip hiding we wondered as I lifted the flaps in the cute duck book by Jane Simmons called, Daisy's Hide and Seek?

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November 21, 2007

Happy Thanksgiving

We talked about the delicious foods that children like to eat on Thanksgiving day. Turkey may not be a big favorite, but pumpkin pie and cookies are yummy. Another important aspect of Thanksgiving is giving thanks and feeling grateful for what we have. Thank You, Thanksgiving, by David Milgrim, provides everyday examples of the nice things children can be grateful for, such as having a family. One of my Thanksgiving rituals each year is to sing while showing a picture book version of the standard, Over the River and Through the Wood by Lydia Child, illustrated by David Catrow. Children and adults always enjoy the folktale Little Red Hen by Byron Barton, about the importance of helping our family make food, and being grateful for it, which ties into an important Thanksgiving theme.

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November 5, 2007

Singing Time

We always enjoy singing along with storybooks. Jane Cabrera, a favorite author of mine, depicts adorable critters dancing along with the classic song in If You're Happy and You Know It. With flaps that make a bus "dance", Paul Zelinsky illustrates another popular song for my storytime kids in the Wheels on the Bus. We found animals under the flaps of various colored hats in Who's Under That Hat? by David Carter.

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October 31, 2007

Halloween Happenings

What do you think of when you think about Halloween? We think about costumes, trick-or-treating, and candy! My storytime kids looked festive in their Halloween costumes. Sam enjoys all kinds of costumes and pretending in Where's Sam? by Yves Got. Another book about the many examples of Halloween costumes is Sweets and Treats , by Toni Parker. In Moonlight: the Halloween Cat , by Cynthia Rylant, a cat explores Halloween night as she notices pumpkins and trick-or-treaters. We did a classic famous fingerplay about Halloween. Hold up your five fingers, pointing to each finger.
Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate.
The first one said, "Oh my, it's getting late."
The second one said, "There's witches in the air."
The third one said, "But we don't care."
The fourth one said, "Let's run and run and run."
The fifth one said, "It's Halloween fun."
And whooo went the wind, out went the light, and the five little pumpkins ran out of sight."
(Hide your five fingers fingers behind your back.)

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October 22, 2007

Fall Leaf Colors

I showed the storytime kids a bunch of colorful leaves I recently collected. I read two books about the wonderful season of fall, while waving my pretty leaf collection near the illustrations of leaves on the pages. I allowed the leaves to fall to the ground, imitating fall trees. In Mouse's First Fall , by Lauren Thompson, Mouse and Minka jump and hide in colorful leaves. Two brothers stomp and kick crunchy autumn leaves in Fall Leaves Fall!, by Zoe Hall. The big book version of Where's Spot?, by Eric Hill, is always popular as the kids love guessing where Spot has hidden. Finding animals under the flaps is a big surprise for this age group!

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October 15, 2007

Animal Sounds

The storytime kids enjoy lift-the-flap books very much. Lucy Cousins with her popular Maisy series excels in this genre. The children were intrigued with finding animals under the flaps in Maisy at the Farm . We all made animal sounds as we discovered animals once more under the flaps in Peek A Moo! by Marie Cimarusti. I brought out a new fluffy polar bear puppet, to the amusement of the storytime kids, to enrich the classic story, Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? by Bill Martin. We all had fun making animal sounds once again.

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October 8, 2007

Count to Ten

Counting songs are popular at storytimes. Ten Naughty Monkeys , by Suzanne Williams, is especially exciting for my group. We sing this song each week, as the children jump up and down pretending to be monkeys, while I wave my monkey mitt around! Another song book with charming pictures of stuffed animals falling out of an animal den, illustrated by John Butler, is Ten in the Den. Guessing colors is also interesting for my group. In the classic big train book Freight Train , by Donald Crews, we had fun identifying the names of each car as well as its color. Singing Mother Goose rhymes is an important method to for young children to learn about the rhythms and vocabulary of our language. Our Mother Goose song magnets provide another nice opportunity for the children to sing together.

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September 28, 2007

Substitute Susan

I had fun this morning filling in for the toddler storytime. I hope the kids had fun, too! Everybody made noises along with the baby when we read The Baby Goes Beep by Rebecca O'Connell. Baby goes through his day--eating, bathing, playing--making fun sounds. Beeep! We pondered animal sounds while reading Judy Hindley's Does a Cow Say Boo? Finally, we boogied to Baby Danced the Polka by Karen Beaumont. During the toddler jam session at the end, everybody shook their instruments slow and fast to Laurie Berkner's "I Know a Chicken." Oh my goodness! It's a shaky egg.

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September 27, 2007

Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs

Wow, dinosaurs are really exciting! Byron Barton's, Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs depicts the various types of dinosaurs than once roamed around our planet. We saw that not all of them were big and scary looking. We searched through the book by Mem Fox, Where is the Green Sheep?, to find the green sheep sleeping under a tree on the last page! In Wake Up Engines , by Denise Mortensen, a boy imagines the many vehicles and aircraft he sees in a day as our group made the sounds that go along with them.

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September 19, 2007

Lapsit Storytime Begins

Hooray, it's time for Lapsits! We all enjoy hearing stories, doing fingerplays along with the puppets, singing songs, playing music and dancing, and watching flannel board stories. We sang along and made animal sounds with the funny storybook, Seals on the Bus , by Lenny Hort. We thought about fun activities that make us happy just like the girl does in Taking a Bath With the Dog, by Scott Menchin. Do Lapsit Storytimes make you happy? Mouse Paint , by Ellen Walsh, is always a favorite for the children enjoy watching the mice get paint on their fur and mixing colors together to create new colors.

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August 9, 2007

Jumping About

It is always fun to read a book that invites the storytime kids to move and jump about. They just love to do this together. Bounce, by Doreen Cronin, welcomes active participation as the kids hop, bounce and jump to the story. Another fun book with bright and bold cartoon illustrations, is I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean , by Kevin Sherry. A giant squid who is very confident in his big size, brags to the other animals that he is the biggest animal in the ocean - until a whale eats him up. No matter, for he can then be the biggest creature inside of the whale. The Chick and the Duckling , by Vladimir Suteev, is funny to kids who watch the chick try to do everything the duck does, except swim, which he discovers is beyond his chick abilities for he is not a duck. Raffi sings a nice version of the song Five Green and Speckled Frogs which we have as a cute flannel board. You can find this song in book form by Priscilla Burris. The kids like the colorful frogs jumping into the water and it is also a clever counting song.

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July 30, 2007

Animals Are Cute

Animal stories are a bit hit with my storytime kids. James Warhola, nephew of Andy Warhol, has cute illustrations of animals dancing in their zoo in the classic song book, If You're Happy and You Know It. Kids enjoy guessing games, so Flappy Waggy Wiggly, by Amanda Leslie provides good fun as flaps cover animals and kids guess which animal is under each flap. The big book, I Love Animals by Flora McDonell, is another interesting exploration of animals we enjoy. A favorite flannel board is "How Do I Put It On?", by Shigeo Watanabe, because the kids laugh in great amusement as the bear gets it all wrong when he dresses himself! Dressing is very hard for this age group!

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July 25, 2007

Beach Time

My storytime kids really enjoy the adorable picture book series about Otto the dog. Otto wears brightly colored, goofy clothes and is always trying to do some activity in a silly way. In Otto Goes to the Beach, by Todd Parr, Otto looks for a friend to have fun with at the beach. In Kitty's Cuddles, by Jane Cabrera, Kitty looks for the perfect creature to cuddle with and finds this with her baby brother. Cabrera's brightly colored picture books are a big favorite with my group. The fantastic Eric Hill series about Spot the dog, is always a big hit, especially when I use the big book version of Where's Spot? Turtle Tale by Frank Asch has become an adorable flannel board story, very enjoyable to show to the kids, who enjoy watching the turtle's head go in and out of his shell!

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July 18, 2007

Counting Time

Counting is so much fun! We counted together as we watched the numerous kittens get into mischief in Nine Naughty Kittens by Linda Jennings. Jane Cabrera, a popular writer who uses bright illustrations in her books, has another winning book in Ten In the Bed. New lyrics are added to this classic fun song, with cute cuddly animals falling out of bed! The funny big book Pig in the Pond by Martin Waddell depicts a farm full of hot animals who really enjoy a dip in the local pond, and even the pig and farmer get a good splash. We counted together with the flannel board song, "Five Little Owls".

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Transportation

Many of the storytime kids are truck fans and can easily name different types of trucks! This nice counting book, Construction Countdown , by K.C. Olson is for these kinds of fans, for each truck is identified, along with a brief description of the kind of work it does. In The Bridge is Up by Babs Bell, a long line of brightly illustrated vehicles wait for a bridge to be lowered so they can cross over a river. I sang the classic song from our big book collection called, Down by the Station, which is a favorite for our storytime group. The children are interested in the parts of their own faces, so they pointed out where their eyes, ears, etc. are along with the flannel "Two Little Eyes".

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Happy Birthday America!

Our storytime theme today was about the upcoming 4th of July holiday which kids and grown-ups alike enjoy. Watching parades and looking at fireworks is always fun. In honor of this special holiday and to celebrate our nation's birthday, I read Parade, by Donald Crews and Hats Off For the Fourth of July, by Harriet Ziefert. Both books are brightly illustrated and depict the various elements of a town parade, including the floats, band, etc. In conclusion, we had our yearly spirited march around the room with instruments, to the song "Stars and Stripes" from Celebration of America.

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May 30, 2007

Vehicles Doing Work

Imagine driving a truck and doing work even though you are a child. Children love truck books, and in this marvelous story, Digger Man, by Andrea Zimmerman, a boy daydreams that he can drive a tractor to create a neighborhood playground. The lift-the-flap book by Paul Zelinsky, Wheels on the Bus, is a big favorite. The children enjoy singing this classic while watching the colorful illustrations. In the fun My Terrific Tractor Book, by DK Publishing, we heard tractor sounds, and saw examples of how different trucks do work on a farm.

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May 23, 2007

Mice Are Nice

Mice make for cute picture book characters. My storytime group always enjoys the Maisy the mouse series by Lucy Cousins. We read together With Love From Maisy , by Lucy Cousins. Maisy gives her friends interesting presents showing how thoughtful she is. In Mouse Went Out to Get a Snack, by Lyn Rossiter McFarland, a clever hungry mouse manages to scrounge up food only to lose most of it because of a house cat. The children liked the story, Fix It, Sam ,by Lori Ries because a big brother Sam, is kind and helpful to his accident prone little brother. I did the flannel board, Dog's Colorful Day , which is adapted from the marvelous color concept book by Emma Dodd, always a great favorite.

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May 14, 2007

Mother's Day Stories

Mother's Day is a very special day. We talked about how we can make our moms feel important, for example, through making a card, giving a hug or a kiss, or buying a present. My stories were all about the importance of every mother, including the animal variety! A child pig makes lots of messes as she produces presents for her mom which include a card, a bouquet of flowers, and a sandwich in the funny book, Special Day for Mommy , by Dan Andreasen. In Where Is My Mommy?, by Julie Downing, the baby animals look for their mommy, and fortunately, is reuninted each time. In Mommy Mine , by Tim Warnes, many lovely pictures of animals show that mom and child really do bond together. I did the flannel board story "Two Little Eyes To Look Around" while the children found where their eyes, nose, etc. were located.

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May 9, 2007

A Good Day

My storytime kids liked discussing the events in a day that could make it good or bad. In
A Good Day, by Kevin Henkes, various animals experience obstacles that almost ruin their day, until their luck changes, and happy endings occur. In Hurry! Hurry! by Eve Bunting, an excited rooster encourages every animal to come to the barn to see the hatching of a chicken out of an egg. The joy of a new birth is exciting. I spoke about the importance of helping others, which is the moral of the story in the humorous big book, LIttle Red Hen, by Byron Barton. Mother Goose Rhymes are always fun to sing, and watching the flannel board story, Mary Had a Little Lamb, is good fun indeed!

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April 30, 2007

Bugs!

This lovely time of year is when the insects come out of their winter hiding places. Children like finding and naming various types of bugs. In Creepy Crawly Color by Robin Koontz, pop-ups reveal colorful insects. The prolific writer, Philemon Sturges, shows us various insects drawn in a simple style with bold lines, that a young boy enjoys locating in I Love Bugs! Children love to pretend to be dinosaurs and to imagine what they once looked like when dinosaurs roamed the earth. The large book, Dinosaurs Dinosaurs by Byron Barton, is a big favorite with my group. Identifying the names and colors of the animals in the flannel board story, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin, is a big hit at storytime.

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April 23, 2007

Where Is It Hiding?

Children love to look for objects in books that may be hidden behind flaps or cleverly placed within the illustrations. In Duck's Key, Where Can It Be?, by Jez Alborough, a mischievous frog hides Duck's key to Duck's frustration, while the amused reader can see when we lift the flaps, just where the frog puts it. In Mr. Bear Says, Are You There, Baby Bear?, by Debi Gliori, Bear looks for her baby while we look under flaps to finally find Baby Bear in his crib. In the big book, Mushroom In the Rain by Mirra Ginsburg, various animals seek shelter from the rain under a growing mushroom. It's fun to watch the mushroom enlarge to hold all of these large animals! We identified colors and shapes as I demonstrated the flannel board story, "The Little Red House".

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April 16, 2007

Singing Time

Children enjoy singing along with the adults! We sang to the colorfully illustrated version of the classic song, If You're Happy and You Know It, by Jane Cabrera. We have enjoyed many of her books in storytime. We also sang along to the big version of the Mother Goose rhyme, "Sing a Song of Sixpence". The toy book Peek a Moo ,by Marie Cimarusti provided peek-a-boo fun and animal identification. The children pointed to their own faces as I did the flannel board story "Two Little Eyes To Look Around". We also sang together with the flannel board rhyme "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star."

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April 11, 2007

Spring Is Here

Wow, spring is finally here after a cold Chicago winter. The children told me about the seasonal changes they see outside which include early flowers, buds on trees, and some leaves on trees and bushes. Fran's Flower, by Lisa Bruce demonstrates to a small girl that plants need water, sunshine, and air to grow, instead of the pizza and other foods that she likes to eat. Splish, Splash, Spring , by Jan Carr depicts the glorious nature of spring. The big book the Chick and the Duckling by Vladimir Suteev is a favorite. "Me too," the children enjoy saying as we read this book. I did the flannel "Three Eggs In a Basket" in honor of the fun weekend egg activities.

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March 21, 2007

Animal Fun

Children enjoy farms and so do I. Farm animals are cute and amusing. My favorite animal is the pig. In the big book Pig Gets Stuck, by Heather Amery, an adorable pig leaves its pen and manages to eat different farm animals' food. Due to this overeating escapade, he gets stuck in a fence and looks very silly. A mother swan hatches an egg in the beautiful book , Whose Chick Are You?, by Nancy Tafuri. The little chick asks the various animals who it belongs to. The children enjoyed making the animal sounds. Tafuri is a popular writer for this age group. My storytime kids are constantly mastering many new self-help skills, on the path to growing up. I Can Do It Too! , by Karen Baicker is about a little girl who shows us her attempts to do everyday activities, such as pouring juice or dressing herself. We all felt hungry as I did the flannelboard story "Hey you, don't eat that food."

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March 12, 2007

Driving Time

Children love to identify vehicles, especially the fast moving types. Who Is Driving?, by Leo Timmers, is a fun look at the pleasures of driving which also includes color identification. Children like to sing the classic song "Wheels on the Bus" and Wheels on the Race Car , by Alexander Zane uses this song with some fun changes as various animals race their cars around the track. The suspense builds until dog wins the race and a trophy as well. We all enjoyed singing this new version together. Eating cookies baked by mom and grandma, and sharing them with friends, is the really nice theme of the big book The Doorbell Rang , by Pat Hutchins. Mother Goose magnets are always fun for the children who recognize most of the songs from our storytimes!

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February 28, 2007

Numbers and Colors are Fun!

Babies and toddlers enjoy counting and identifying colors so much! Amy and Ivan , by Charise Harper, generates both of these fun activities as we observe colorful trucks and count the birthday party items inside each colorful lift-the-flap. The enormously popular and exciting big book Mouse Paint , by Ellen Walsh, has intriguing illustrations of cute mice that climb into paint jars, mix the paint and create new colors with it. The children enjoyed producing animal noises with the fun book This Little Chick , by John Lawrence. Singing along, we counted together "Ten Little Fishies" as I showed this flannel board story.

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February 19, 2007

Lift-the-Flap Books

Lift-the-flap books are very popular at storytimes. The children are very curious and delighted by hidden pictures. In No Bed Without Ted , by Nicola Smee, we look under the flaps for a little girl's teddy bear until we find it outside her house. In Nine Naughty Kittens , by Linda Jennings, a mother cat's family grows bigger while we count together the cats behind the flaps. In the cute big book Bear Snores On , by Karma Wilson, bear sleeps through the winter in his cozy cave while noisy animals try to wake him up from his hibernation. I did the creative flannel board story based on How Do I Put It On?, by Shigeo Watanabe, captivating the kids for they are also learning how to be independent dressers.

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February 12, 2007

Valentine's Day Stories

Kids enjoy Valentine's Day and so do I. What's not to like about massive amounts of heart shaped candy and beautiful valentines? Part of the fun is making your own valentines for loved ones. In Sweet Hearts ,by Jan Carr, gentle drawings depict panda children making glittery pretty valentines for their panda parents. Delivering valentines to friends is exciting, as shown in Valentine Mice ,by Bethany Roberts. We watched these cute mice deliver valentines to every animal in the woods. The big book Silly Sally , by Audrey Wood is always an adventure, for children easily relate to the joys of being upside down like Silly Sally and her friends. I did the lovely flannel board story "Goldilocks and the Three Bears," which in book format can be found in our department with many different illustrators. Children love this classic folk tale.

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February 5, 2007

Silly Books

Laughing and having fun is a major part of each of our weekly storytimes. I enjoy choosing books that encourage children to giggle or sing aloud or do fingerplays together. I sang aloud with the kids the classic song in the big book, Peanut Butter and Jelly: A Play Rhyme by Nadine Westcott. The illustrations comically depict children creating a table sized sandwich with the help of elephants that smash the peanuts and spread the grape jelly. Yummy. We laughed at the foolish cow that misidentified all the farm animals in the silly Adventures of Cow by Lori Korchek. Children love to play hide-and-seek games and count, so Ten in the Meadow by John Butler, which depicts 10 cute animals playing this game is fun to read. We enjoyed identifying the cloud shapes in the flannelboard, It Looked Like Spilt Milk , which is written in book form by Charles Shaw.

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January 31, 2007

Yeah for Snow!

Childen love to play with snow. Snow is wonderful. With snow, one can make snowy foot prints, or funny snow people, or snow angels, or snowballs, Peter does all these fun snow activities in the classic book The Snowy Day , by Ezra Jack Keats. Keats is a very fine picture book writer and illustrator, who is always sensitive about depicting children's feelings and creativity. Lois Ehlert provides many examples of amusing snow creatures a child could create using everyday items such as popcorn and raisins for decoration in Snowballs. Ehlert utilizes bright childlike illustrations about animals and nature in her many books. The big book Dinosaurs, by Barton Byron, is always a favorite for the children because they love thinking about the variety of dinosaurs that existed long ago and the mystery of their disappearance.

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January 15, 2007

Counting and Singing

Babies and toddlers enjoy counting very much. We use our fingers to count on in storytime and we count together along with our books. Ten in the Bed by Cabrera is a colorful version of the classic song, with cute toy animals, drawn with bright colors and patterns, that fall out of the bed. Jane Cabrera is a favorite author/illustrator of mine for this age group because I enjoy her colorful, childlike illustrations so much. The wonderful children's singer, Raffi, sings the song that is the inspiration for the book Five Green and Speckled Frogs by Burris. The charming illustrations of these comical frogs that keep falling into the water, kept our interest high, as we sang and counted up to five frogs together. Lucy Cousins, an amazing and very popular author, scored another hit with my group with her big version of Good-Night Maisy. Maisy tries to go to bed even though her friends keep knocking on her door. We also enjoyed the funny classic fingerplay song , Five Monkeys Swinging In a Tree, while I demonstrated the song with a toy tree, crocodile and five cute little monkeys.

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December 19, 2006

Trucks and A Classic Bus Song

Some children are truck experts, telling you the name of each truck they see in a book. Fortunately for the rest, there are books like Construction Countdown by K.C. Olson. Combining counting and truck identification with colorful pictures, this is a popular truck book. With exuberant pictures and tabs to pull, The Wheels on the Bus by Paul Zelinsky is an example of how songs can be enhanced by creative books. The children love singing and acting out this lively, beloved song. Before I read the book, Mushroom in the Rain, by Mirra Ginsburg, I told the children that plants grow in the rain. They were fascinated to see the mushrooms growing bigger as it rained through this book. As the mushroom got bigger and bigger, more and more animals found shelter from the rain under the big mushroom.

Posted by Sue at 11:34 AM

December 13, 2006

It's Snowing!

It snowed this week, creating snowy streets and yards. Some of the kids talked about making snow people, sledding, and other fun snow things. We read the large book: Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? by Bill Martin, imitating the various sounds the animals make. We produced the same kinds of animal sounds with the silly and fun rhyming book, I Know a Rhino by Charles Fuge. Easy Street by Rita Gray shows the process of building a new street. The illustrations are colorful and exciting, showing sand, gravel and the various trucks involved in these building adventures. Children who are truck fans will be especially interested. The beautiful flannel board "Five Little Snowmen" engaged the children and we all acted out this fun fingerplay as well.

Posted by Sue at 10:25 AM

December 4, 2006

After Thanksgiving

We talked about our nice holiday Thanksgiving dinners. Squirrels are fascinating to watch. Nuts to You by Lois Ehlert is a funny, and colorfully illustrated book about a rambunctious squirrel foraging for food. What would it be like to babysit a big animal like a baby elephant if you are a mouse? To find out, read the amusing Looking After Little Ellie by Dosh Archer. Size and shapes are fascinating to children. The dinosaurs of long ago were small like children, or larger than we are, as described in Dinosaur Roar! by Paul Strickland. Lastly, we counted fish within a flannel board story, "One Little, Two Little Fishies."

Posted by Sue at 7:20 PM

November 22, 2006

Happy Thanksgiving

Holidays for children involve being with family and eating good food. We talked about upcoming Thanksgiving family feasts that would most likely include turkey and maybe some macaroni and cheese for the kids. Another important aspect for Thanksgiving is giving thanks and feeling grateful for what we have. Thank You, Thanksgiving by David Milgrim provides examples of nice things children can be thankful for. A funny version of this standard Thanksgiving song, but in this case the turkey has a starring role, with cute illustrations, is Over the River:A Turkey's Tale by Derek Anderson. We read the big book Bear Snores on by Karma Wilson that explores how bears hibernate through the long winter.

Posted by Sue at 10:16 AM

Dinosaurs Like Food

We smiled as we noticed what terrible manners the dinosaurs displayed in How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food by Jane Yolen, but happily the dinosaurs decide that eating with good manners is important after all! Children like to find things in pictures which they can do in ABC T-Rex by Bernard Most, a fun game for kids. Reading through this alphabet book, the kids discovered many foods that they and the dinosaurs enjoy eating. Using the flannel board song, "Two Little Eyes to Look Around," the children enjoyed identifying their ears, eyes, nose and mouth.

Posted by Sue at 9:58 AM

November 8, 2006

Riding Around our Town

Racing cars are exciting, especially ones driven by big dogs, giraffes and hippos! As the animals drove their cars around the race track, we did the hand gestures and we sang a new version of the classic song "Wheels on the Bus" in the very entertaining book Wheels on the Race Car by Zane. It is fun to imitate all the various sounds of vehicles such as cars, trains, buses, and fire engines. Can You Choo Choo?, which is nicely illustrated by Wojtowycz, encourages kids to pretend, chime in and be noisy! I asked the children about the sounds that rain makes on their windows as we read the big story Who is Tapping at My Window by Deming.

Posted by Sue at 9:19 AM

November 1, 2006

Halloween Costumes

Several children were dressed up in Halloween costumes, setting an exciting mood for our Halloween storytime. We talked about trick or treating and dressing up as I read stories about cute Halloween costumes, Where's Sam by Gott and Sweets and Treats by Parker. The Halloween cat in the story Moonlight by Rylant enticed the children with bright pictures of pumpkins and a curious cat! We did a famous fingerplay about Halloween. Hold up your five fingers, pointing to each finger:
Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate.
The first one said, "Oh my it's getting late."
The second one said, "There's witches in the air."
The third one said, "But we don't care."
The fourth one said, "Let's run and run and run."
The fifth one said, "It's Halloween fun!"
And whooo went the wind, out went the light, and the five little
pumpkins ran out of sight. (Hide your five fingers behind your back.)

Posted by Sue at 10:09 AM

October 23, 2006

Fall Leaves

We began storytime by discussing the various colors of the fall leaves. The children made a waving motion to show how the leaves fall to the ground. Jumping in the leaves is their favorite leaf activity. Fall Leaves Fall by Hall is a cute exploration of the beauty of fall foliage. I asked the children if doing things all by yourself is easy or difficult and we all agreed that some self-help skills can be difficult. I Can Do It Too! by Baicker explores such challenges as dressing, baking, and dealing with wounds with humor and understanding of the young child's desire to be independent. Our large book version of Where's Spot by Hill is a big favorite, as the children search each picture flap for the answer as to where Spot may be hiding. They like making the animal sounds as different animals appear under the flaps. Lift-the-flap books are really fun for toddlers who enjoy the fun of finding hidden objects.

Posted by Sue at 7:24 PM

October 18, 2006

Counting is Fun!

We always have fun counting in our storytime. Using the book Ten in the Den by Butler, we sang along with this classic song, counting the cute critters. I demonstrated that this song can be a fingerplay as well. Ten Little Fish by Wood has illustrations similar to a Disney film, which adds enjoyment to counting the luminous sea creatures. The children always enjoy the large books. Peanut Butter and Jelly by Westcott is a charming rendition of another classic song that can be a fingerplay as well. A funny version of this song is found on the CD by Sharon, Lois, and Bram called Great Big Hits!

Posted by Sue at 12:36 PM

October 11, 2006

Rabbits, Ducks and Chickens Are Cute!

Children enjoy watching babies act mischievous. In Overboard! by Weeks, a baby rabbit throws every single toy out of her crib. At storytime, we especially enjoy singing songs together. Many classic children's songs come in beautifully illustrated books, including Little White Duck by Whippo. Each stanza includes an animal sound children will enjoy producing. Children learn through mimicking others as they carefully watch what others do. The Chick and the Duckling by Ginsburg is an especially charming story because Chick imitates everything that Duck does. To his dismay, Chick learns that he cannot swim like Duck, because chickens and ducks are not exactly the same, even though they are very similar!

Posted by Sue at 9:52 AM

October 4, 2006

Traveling is Fun

The children enjoyed the large book version of Freight Train by Crews because trains are very exciting and we can make neat train sounds together. I asked the children to identify the color of each part of the train. They always enjoy it when we name colors together. The Bridge is Up by Bell has beautiful illustrations and is an exciting story for kids that like vehicles! A bus, a car, a motorcycle, etc. wait for a bridge to go up in order to cross a pond. Where is the Green Sheep by Fox is a very popular book for it has very funny pictures and keeps the kids guessing - where is that green sheep anyway? Find it on the last page of the book, sleeping under a tree. Again, the children enjoy identifying colors in this clever book. Donald Crews and Mem Fox are popular authors in the picture book area.

Posted by Sue at 10:40 AM | Comments (2)

September 27, 2006

Pretend To Be An Animal

Isn't it fun to pretend to be an animal and make animal noises? We did lots of pretending and dancing with If You're Happy and You Know It by Cabrera and Can You Moo? by Wojtowycz. We also pretend when we sing our favorite Mother Goose songs about animals. The children enjoyed the thrilling big book version of that intrepid mouse who hides a strawberry from a hungry bear in The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear by Don Wood.

Posted by Sue at 9:52 AM

September 18, 2006

Storytimes for Babies and Toddlers

A new session started with much fanfare as we enjoyed stories, sang songs, played with puppets, scarves, and musical instruments, and watched the flannelboard story, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin. This story described color concepts. I read the story I Know a Rhino by Charles Fuge, about a girl who owns quite a lot of stuffed animals. The children enjoyed identifying the animals and making animal sounds. Once again, we pretended to be animals, making funny noises with the book, Mommy, Carry Me Please by Jane Cabrera, which is about how many different ways various animals carry their babies. Cabrera has such cute illustrations and is quite prolific.

Posted by Sue at 5:58 PM

August 9, 2006

Storytimes for Babies and Toddlers

We sing songs, do fingerplays, read stories, dance, play peekaboo, play instruments, do flannelboard stories, play with puppets, and much more at my storytimes. Young children, beginning in infancy, are developing knowledge of spoken language, the sounds that form words, letters, writing, and books. These emergent literacy skills are the building blocks for later reading and writing. Therefore, I use a variety of means to engage children in learning through books, singing, and movement.

I use many Mother Goose rhymes because these rhymes use language in a playful way, and demonstrate the sounds of our language for children. You can locate Mother Goose books in our Picture Books collection for they are filed under Mother Goose. I also have a handout with many of the songs I use each week, which I put on the storytime table.

I enjoy having interactive experiences with children because they learn in this way best of all. Flannelboard storytelling is an example of making reading aloud an interactive experience. The children guess the colors, or count the shapes on the flannelboard.

Some favorite authors that we've recently enjoyed include Alborough, Barton, Carle, Cousins, Crews, Fox, French, Hill, London, Oxenbury, Strickland, Sturges, Tafuri, Uff, Walsh, and Wood.

Posted by Sue at 9:43 AM

Mon–Fri	9 am–9 pm
Sat	9 am–5 pm
Sun	1–9 pm