Beary Toddleriffic

Sooo. Toddler storytime. Not like baby storytime and not like preschool storytime.

Here's the routine:
Welcome song using each child's name. To the tune of Fly's in the Buttermilk.

Name will you stand up and let us see your smile? 
We're so glad you're here today won't you stay awhile. 

I did not make this up, but can't remember where I found it. It is a great way to gauge how the kiddos are feeling that day. Grumpy, shy or clingy? then I will probably leave them alone. Stand right up and grin then they are ready to go.

Can You Growl Like a Bear? John Butler. Read it and the kids did what the animals did.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear  Eric Carle. Today I had the book and the flannel pieces for them to put up on the flannel board. I read the book, each child gets to put up a flannel. As we are waiting for each animal to be placed on the board, we made the animal noises together.

The Bear Went Over the Mountain with bear puppet substituting the children's names after the first go round. The bear crawls all over them if they want him to and I sing.. .

The bear went over Eric, the bear went over Eric, the bear went over Eric to see what he could see.

We did Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear Turn Around

Dear Zoo: A Lift the Flap Book Rod Campbell was the finisher. Sometimes I let the kiddos lift the flaps, but we had 10! kiddos so I lifted the flaps and let them shout out what animal was behind the flap.

Then we have a brief playtime. Spongy blocks, bubble machine, board books, bear puppet and wash clothes (because one of the kiddos saw them and wanted to use them like we had in a previous program).

We sing the Barney Clean Up Song because everybody knows it. We clean up all the toys.

Then we close with This is the Way We Say Goodbye. . .

This is the way our hands say good bye, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap.
This is the way our hands say good bye, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap. 

We do knees tap, feet stomp, arms flap, nose beeps. . . what ever I can think of.
We finish with:

This is the way we wave good bye, wave good bye, wave good bye.
This is the way we wave goodbye, goodbye until next time! 

Then I get high fives as they head out the door!

Mud Party!

Story

Mud Puddle- Robert Munsch. I haven't done a Munsch at storytime, and was worried about the lengthy text. It was rhythmic and repeating which kept the kids involved and they really seemed to enjoy it.

Activity

This is the Way we Wash our. . .

I bought some cheapo wash clothes at Walmart (I used them for baby storytimes too) and had my daughters help tie dye them. We sang this is the way we wash our arms, wash our arms, wash our arms. . .etc. Then I had the kids shout out the parts they wanted to wash. .  oddly enough there was no butt washing.

Story

Harry the Dirty Dog – Gene Zion. Oh that Harry, the kids were a little worried that all would be lost. 

Story

Pigs in the Mud in the Middle of the Rud  Lynn Plourde. This wasn't the greatest and the kids weren't understanding that rud meant road. . . 

Song

We did my version of Old MacDonald that goes The Pigs on the Farm (Tune of Wheels on the Bus) with flannel pieces. More singing animals noises and less E-I-E-I-O-ing. This would make a great book.

Story

Ten Dirty Pigs Carol Roth. When read one way the pigs are dirty and get clean. Half way through you close the book flip it backwards and read it and the pigs are clean and they get dirty. This book could go on forever. I asked the kids if they wanted to read about the dirty pigs again and it was a negative.

Activity

Making Mud: I had four disposable roasting pans. I filled them with dirt, let the kids add water with styrofoam cups until they had the mud how they wanted it and they dug into the mud! I added some spoons for stirring and some bugs for color. The parents LOVED this it was a great sensory experience (and it wasn't at their house). I had warned them ahead of time that it was going to be messy. . . and I delivered! 

I Dig Stealth Activities

All of my weekly summer activities have kids writing, a sometimes overlooked literacy activity.

Week One: I Spy Bottle
Fill in the blanks for numbers, colors and other information from the I Spy Bottle.

Week Two: Gnome Hunt
I used this activity to reinforce the different areas of the library. The kids had to look for 12 different colored gnomes then write down where they found them in the library. I labeled each of the gnomes with the area that I had hid them in so smaller kids could copy the words.

 Week Three: Treasure Hunt I used a glue gun to attach pirate related pictures and letters to gold coins. I used the pictures to make a coded message for the kids to figure out. I shredded some brown paper for sand and put it in a baby pool and put the coins in the "sand". The older kids thought that this activity was TOO easy, but I couldn't make it too hard for the smaller kids. Maybe next time there will have to be two different messages.