These are the songs, rhymes, stories, and activities I used for a 25-minute family storytime, followed by 20 minutes of free play in December 2019.
We offer an unregistered family storytime every Saturday at 10 am. While this is designed for roughly ages 3-5, we expect an audience that includes all ages. For this storytime, I had about 55 attendees, spanning in age from newborns to upper elementary students.
Room Setup: Doors open about 5-8 minutes before storytime. Powerpoint slides are displayed on a smartboard at the front of the room with words to all songs and rhymes. As folks enter, two bubble machines are hard at work in the front of the room while baby songs play from the department iTunes account.
The powerpoint below includes more content than I actually used in this program. The material I actually used is listed below.
Welcome Song: Can’t Wait to Celebrate by Jim Gill
We clap our hands when we get together.
Clap our hands to celebrate.
We clap our hands when we get together.
My friends and I can hardly wait….
Continue with: Stamp Our Feet, Wave Hello, Bounce Up and Down, Clap Our Hands
Welcome Rhyme: Open Shut Them
Open, shut them; open, shut them;
Let your hands go clap, clap clap.
Open, shut them; open, shut them;
Drop them in your lap, lap, lap.
Walk them, walk them,
Walk them, walk them,
Right up to your chin, chin, chin.
Open up your little mouth,
But do not let them in!
Book: Get Out of My Bath! by Britta Teckentrup
Song: Elephants Have Wrinkles from When You Are Two
Flannel: Five Little Penguins
Five little penguins playing in the snow,
Slipping and sliding to and fro.
One looks up and yells “Oh no!”
“I see a great big ball of snow!”
Rolling down the hill it stopped with a splat.
All that’s left is a fuzzy hat!
Countdown to 0.
Song: Baby Shark by Pinkfong!
Movement Rhyme: Slowly, Slowly
Slowly, slowly, very slowly
Creeps the garden snail.
Slowly, slowly, very slowly
Up the wooden rail.
Quickly, quickly, very quickly
Runs the little mouse.
Quickly, quickly, very quickly
Round about the house.
Body Rhyme: Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes
Puppet Time: Retold abbreviated version of book Bark George using George box prop.
Song: Can You by the Wiggles
Flannel: Little Mouse
Little mouse, little mouse
Are you in the _________ house?
Closing Song: Shake Your Sillies Out from When You Are One
Discovery Time Activities: Discovery Time is 15-20 minutes of free-play at the end of storytime that encourages parents to have time to talk to one another and for parents to interact with their children. I try to include a variety of fine motor, gross motor, and sensory activities that appeal to my wide age range as well as a mixture of purchased toys and items that parents can remake at home. This week’s activities included:
- Ball Pit Ball and Muffin Tins
- Squigz
- Cardboard Block Play
- Bean Bag Toss
- Sensory Tiles (textured and liquid)
- Large Balls
- Vehicle Play
- Bubbles
