Week 3 of virtual baby storytime! I think I am finally getting the hang of my timing. I’m closer to 30 minutes anyway.
Lyrics or links for any activities are in the YouTube video descriptions AND due to a wonderful tip from Ontarian Librarian, now in the background of my videos!
Generally, our view numbers are lower than where we started, but they are still fairly solid, with 40-50 live views the entire time for most storytimes. We have been receiving less patron comments, but the ones we do get are from regulars, which makes me happy to know that there are some WPL patrons that are watching and enjoying what we do.
Week 2 of virtual baby storytime! Our library just announced we will remain closed through May, so there will be a few more weeks of this content to come.
I did not use all of these pieces in the livestream this week. I am trying to figure out how I continue to cut 1-2 things per run through, and I STILL end up 10 minutes over. Every time. I think the more I practice the more directions I add in, which is good, but which also makes my storytime longer. So cutting things isn’t currently helping. I’ll get there.
In an effort to conserve time, since cutting content didn’t seem to help, I also went from three to two repeats of each rhyme (which is what I do regularly in the library). I didn’t see any comments that were sad about this switch, so I’m going to stick with it for now. I want to try to give our regular attendees as similar an experience as possible to what we do in the library, so I don’t want to cut entire sections of the storytime if I don’t have to. At least for me, I think that familiarity and structure helps a lot right now.
Lyrics or links for any activities are in the YouTube video descriptions.
We are all figuring out what this new, mostly virtual world means for our jobs and communities. I don’t have an answer to those big questions, but I do have some virtual baby storytime content I can share.
My library is hosting five virtual storytimes a week, livestreamed through our Facebook page. While those livestreams are deleted soon after they are complete, we are also making YouTube clips of select elements of our storytimes that our patrons can view anytime they would like–and that I can share with all of you!
These activities were all used in my virtual baby storytime this week, designed for ages 0-24 months. There is a lot here, and I definitely went 15 minutes over my 30 minute storytime this week. Future programs will have less content.
Lyrics or links for any activities are in the YouTube video descriptions.
And, just for fun, a video of the chicks that I took home to take care of and livestream after our in-library hatching program was disrupted by our closing. These little ones have returned to Bring the Farm to You, where they will be used for educational programming and as backyard chickens.
I’ve written a ton of baby play posts on this blog, and, since many of us are stuck at home for a while, I wanted to highlight some of my favorite at-home baby play activities that can easily be replicated with around the house objects.
Card Slot Drop (deck of cards, empty box or container with a lid)
The songs, rhymes, stories, and activities I used for a 25-minute baby storytime, followed by 20 minutes of free play in February 2020 are below. Our baby storytime is for ages 0-24 months, with most children being 12-24 months old. Approximately 112 people attended this storytime, including about 55 babies.
My powerpoint is available here:
Room Setup: Doors open about 5 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.
Welcome Song:Wake Up Feet (play from 0:14 to 1:00) Wake up feet, wake up feet Wake up feet and wiggle, wiggle, wiggle Wake up feet, wake up feet Wake and wiggle in the morning. Continue with:Legs, Arms, Hands
Welcome Rhyme:Clap and Sing Hello We clap and sing hello, We clap and sing hello, With all our friends at storytime, We clap and sing hello!
Continue with: kick and sing hello, wave and sing hello
Early Literacy Tip: During play, ask open-ended questions such as “What do you think will happen if…”, “can you think of another way to…”, or “what else can you build…”. Make sure to give little ones time to think about their answers (which they probably won’t express verbally).
Movement Rhyme: 5 Little Monkeys Five little monkeys jumping on the bed. One fell off and bumped his head. Mama called the doctor and the doctor said No more monkeys jumping on the bed!
Continue with: 4, 3, 2, 1
Body Rhyme: Where Is Big Toe? To the tune: Where Is Thumpkin?
Where is big toe? Where is big toe? Here I am! Here I am! Wiggle, waggle big toe, Wiggle, waggle big toe, Here I am. Here I am.
Continue with: Elbow…bendy, bendy elbow Tummy…squishy, squashy tummy Two hands…happy, clappy two hands
Tickle Rhyme: Pizza, Pickle Pumpernickel Pizza, pickle, pumpernickel My baby deserves a tickle! One for her nose One for his toes One for the tummy where the cracker goes!
Movement Rhymes: This portion of my storytime involves 2-3 rhymes that specifically focus on bouncing, swaying, or tilting to the rhythm of the words. I talk about how these types of rhymes help develop phonological awareness.
Toast in the Toaster I’m toast in the toaster, (sway) I’m getting very hot! Tick tock, tick tock, Up I pop! (lift)
Grand Old Duke of York The Grand Old Duke of York He had ten thousand men. He marched them up to the top of the hill (lift) And he marched them down again!
And when they’re up, they’re up. (lift) And when they’re down, they’re down. And when they’re only half-way up, (small lift) They’re neither up nor down!
Oh he marched them to the left. And he marched them to the right. Then he marched them round and round And marched them out of sight.
Here We Go Bumpy-Boo Here we go bumpy-boo Here we go bumpy-bye Here we go bumpy-bee All on top of my knee.
I bounce you to the left I bounce you to the right I bounce you up and down (lift) I bounce you out of sight! (tip over)
Here we go bumpy-boo Here we go bumpy-bye Here we go bumpy-bee All on top of my knee.
I bounce you very fast. I bounce you very slow. I bounce you up and down. And back we both do go.
Puppet Time: Dear Zoo Dear zoo, I want a pet. And they sent me a….
This week’s friends: Elephant, Lion, Sloth, Monkey, Dog
Manipulative Time: Bells (and tambourines due to crowd size)
Manipulative Rhyme: We Shake and Shake We shake and shake and shake and stop. We shake and shake and shake and stop. We shake and shake and shake and shake and shake and shake and shake and shake and shake and shake and STOP! Continue with: Tap, Bounce
Closing Song: Skinnamarink by Sharon Lois and Bram
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:
Music is a staple of baby storytime. It is more valuable for little ones to hear people singing instead of recorded music. When singing acapella, adults can slow down words to help little ones hear small parts. Little ones often respond more to their parent’s voices than recorded music, and singing can help build the child-caregiver bond. I use a scattering of well known songs throughout storytimes that we will sing as a group without backing music (often Wheels on the Bus or If You’re Happy and You Know It).
However, like many folks, my voice is far, far away from Beyonce’s. My singing can be politely described as off-key. I sing in front of parents and poke fun at myself, reminding them that if I can sit in front of 100 people and sing horribly, they can do it with their child who doesn’t know any better. For everyone’s sake, however, I include a good amount of recorded music in my storytime. My favorite songs are linked below.
Just like my rhymes and other activities, all the words to our baby songs are on my PowerPoint in the front of the room:
Kids Music – Storytime Baby Songs
These are my favorite baby songs to use as an element of storytime (like books, rhymes, and puppets).
Each week, I present at least one baby storytime for fairly large crowds. My general storytime outline remains very similar week to week, particularly after my regular co-presenter and I worked together to make sure our dueling weekly storytimes followed the same general plan.
One staple of any baby storytime, mine included, are bounce rhymes. These are excellent tools to help little ones feel the rhythm in words (building phonological awareness), to keep both little ones and adults engaged in the program, and to provide caregiver/child bonding–the caregiver is essentially forced to participate by having to move their child.
I call these types of rhymes “baby movement rhymes” instead of “baby bounce rhymes” after having a parent (nicely) call me out after a program when she pointed out that the three rhymes I used that week–all of which I referred to as bounce rhymes–actually mostly involved swaying, lifting, and movements other than bouncing.
I also don’t tend to use traditional Mother Goose rhymes. This is one (of a few) ways that I deviate from the Mother Goose on the Loose program. That program is excellent–take a look at their website, read the book, take a course–and I think about the research behind that program when structuring and selecting activities for my storytime.
However, I struggle with MGOL because (1) we have large crowds that can’t accommodate some of the activities well (like the drum), (2) my programs tend to focus on older babies (10-24 months) who want to move a lot, and (3) the rhymes, particularly nursery rhymes, are dated. Goosey Goosey Gander (arguably) either references Catholic priests being persecuted or has sexual overtones. Maybe its my immaturity, but I can’t bring myself to say “two little dicky birds” in front of a group of adults. I know there is research backing up the value of nursery rhymes, but, frankly, I didn’t grow up with many of these, and the parents I work with didn’t either. The parents don’t know them, the parents find them weird, and if the parents aren’t enjoying the program, the babies aren’t coming. Unless it is one of those nursery rhymes that has really stood the test of time (like Itsy Bitsy Spider) I tend to choose rhymes that have a more modern feel.
After quite a bit of intro, I am happy to share some of my favorite movement rhymes. I take credit for inventing absolutely none of these baby movement rhymes. During a storytime, these are always repeated twice (and sometimes three times).
All of my baby movement rhymes appear on the PowerPoint at the front of the room to encourage parents to recite along.
A Bouncing We Will Go A bouncing we will go, A bouncing we will go, Hi ho the derry-o A bouncing we will go.
Continue with: Rocking, Tickling
Five Little Riders Five little riders on a nice fall day Jumped on their ponies and rode far away. They galloped int he meadow. They galloped up a hill (lift) The galloped so fast (fast) That they all took a spill. (tip over)
Gregory Griggs Greggory Griggs, Gregory Griggs Had 27 different wigs. He wore them up (lift) He wore them down To please the people of the town. He worse them east (tip to one side) He wore them west (tip to the other side) But which one did he love the best? This one! (hug)
A Hippopotamus on a City Bus A hip, a hip, a hippopotamus Got on, got on, got on a city bus And all, and all, and all the people said, “You’re squishing us!” (hug)
A cow, a cow A cow got on the bus And all, and all, and all the people said, “Mooooove over!“ (tilt sideways)
A sheep, a sheep, A sheep got on the bus And all, and all, and all the people said, “Baaaack up!“ (lean back)
Humpty Dumpty Rock and rock and rock on the wall (sway) Rock and rock; I hope we don’t fall!
Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall Humpty Dumpty had a great fall! (tilt backwards)
All the kings horses and all the kings men (bounce fast) Couldn’t put Humpty together again!
I Bounce You Here I bounce you here, I bounce you there, I bounce you, bounce you, everywhere! (lift)
I tickle you here, I tickle you there, I tickle you, tickle you, everywhere!
I hug you here, I hug you there, I hug you, hug you, everywhere!
Popcorn, Popcorn Popcorn, popcorn (bounce gently) Sittin’ in the pot. Shake it up, shake it up. (wiggle baby) Pop! Pop! Pop! (bounce high 3 times)
Snuggle Up Snuggle up together Baby’s in your lap. Snuggle up together And clap, clap, clap
Snuggle up together Don’t you nap. Snuggle up together And tap, tap, tap. (tap feet)
You’re workin’ out together Baby don’t stop. You’re workin’ out together So hop, hop, hop. (big bounce)
Now our song is over Get ready to stop. Now our song is over So stop, stop, stop.
Tick-Tock Tick-tock, tick-tock, (sway) I’m a little cuckoo clock. Tick-tock, tick-tock, Now it’s almost one o’clock. Cuckoo! (lift)
Tiny Little Babies Tiny little babies love bouncin’ bouncin’ Tiny little babies love bouncin’, yeah. Tiny little babies love bouncin’, bouncin’ Tiny little babies love bouncin’ so.
Bounce to the left, bounce to the right Now hug that baby nice and tight!
Toast in the Toaster I’m toast in the toaster, I’m getting very hot! Tick tock, tick tock, Up I pop!
Two Little Boats (Tilt forward and backward) Two little boats went out to sea All is calm as calm can be.
(Tilt side to side) Gently the wind begins to blow Two little boats rock to and fro.
(Bounce up and down) Loudly the wind begins to shout. Two little boats they bounce about.
STOP! Goes the storm, the wind, and rain (freeze) Two little boats sail on again (rock forward and backward)
Zoom, Zoom, Zoom Zoom, zoom, zoom We’re going to the moon. Zoom, zoom, zoom, We’ll get there very soon. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… BLAST OFF! (lift)
I don’t write up weekly storytime reports, as I don’t theme my storytimes, and I repeat quite a lot of content week to week and month to month. While two back to back storytimes contain different content, the first storytime of December and the first storytime of January may have many similar elements.
Generally, I think of storytimes in “seasons.” (January-April, summer, and August-December). In each season, I try not to repeat the book I use. However, the set of books used from January-April will look very similar to the set of books used in August-December. Summer is essentially a mixture of my favorite activities that work best with large crowds (especially since I will typically only present about four storytimes in the summer due to our staff size and reduced schedule). In the two longer “seasons”, I make an effort to rotate through about six manipulatives and to take about a month between reusing a rhyme or song (except for the rhymes and songs that are repeated week to week).
For simplicity, we have changed our baby storytime name from Wee Wonders to Baby Storytime.
The program is more clearly defined for ages 0-24 months. We used to list the ages as 0-2, and we had more two-year-olds attending the program than we do now.
My co-presenter and I worked together to create a core outline that we use for our baby storytimes. Our powerpoint layout, opening song, opening rhyme, number of books, and activity order is always the same. We have slightly different endings because I don’t quite have the confidence to free dance at the end of my storytime (with bubbles and music), but I am hoping to get to that point in the next few weeks.
The songs, rhymes, stories, and activities I used for a 25-minute baby storytime, followed by 20 minutes of free play in January 2020 are below. Our baby storytime is for ages 0-24 months, with most children being 12-24 months old. Approximately 68 people attended this storytime, including about 35 babies.
My powerpoint is available here:
Room Setup: Doors open about 5 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.
Welcome Song:Wake Up Feet (play from 0:14 to 1:00) Wake up feet, wake up feet Wake up feet and wiggle, wiggle, wiggle Wake up feet, wake up feet Wake and wiggle in the morning. Continue with:Legs, Arms, Hands
Welcome Rhyme:Clap and Sing Hello We clap and sing hello, We clap and sing hello, With all our friends at storytime, We clap and sing hello!
Continue with: kick and sing hello, wave and sing hello
Focused Early Literacy Tip: The shape of the human face is the first thing a baby learns to recognize. Young babies focus best of faces and objects held 8-10 inches away.
Body Rhyme: 1 Little, 2 Little, 3 Little Finders 1 little, 2 little 3 little fingers 4 little, 5 little, 6 little fingers 7 little, 8 little, 9 little fingers 10 little fingers on my hand.
They wiggle and they wiggle and they wiggle all together. They wiggle and they wiggle and they wiggle all together. They wiggle and they wiggle and they wiggle all together. 10 little fingers on my hand.
Continue with: Clap, Tickle
Song: If You’re Happy and You Know It (sang without music)
Body Rhyme: Slowly, Slowly Slowly, slowly, very slowy 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.
Movement Rhymes: This portion of my storytime involves 2-3 rhymes that specifically focus on bouncing, swaying, or tilting to the rhythm of the words. I talk about how these types of rhymes help develop phonological awareness.
Tick-Tock Tick-tock, tick-tock, (sway) I’m a little cuckoo clock. Tick-tock, tick-tock, Now it’s almost one o-clock. Cuckoo! (lift)
Five Little Riders Five little riders on a nice fall day (bounce) Jumped on their ponies and rode far away. They galloped in the meadow. They galloped up a hill (lift) They galloped so fast (fast) That they all took a spill. (tip over)
Two Little Boats (tilt forward and backward) Two little boats went out to sea. All is calm as calm can be.
(tilt side to side) Gently the wind begins to blow. Two little boats rock to and fro.
(Bounce up and down) Loudly the wind begins to shout! Two little boats they bounce about!
STOP! Goes the storm, the wind, and rain. (freeze) Two little boats sail on again. (rock forward and backward)
Puppet Time: Who’s in the Barnyard? An oink, a moo A cockle-doodle-doo Who’s in the barnyard Playing peekaboo?
This week’s friends: Cow, Pig, Horse, Dog, Cat
Manipulative Time: Shaker Eggs
Manipulative Rhyme: We Shake and Shake We shake and shake and shake and stop. We shake and shake and shake and stop. We shake and shake and shake and shake and shake and shake and shake and shake and shake and shake and STOP! Continue with: Tap, Bounce
Closing Song: Skinnamarink by Sharon Lois and Bram
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:
Cereal Boxes and Straws
Ball Pit Balls and Pool Noodle Pieces in Baby Pools
After each of my baby storytimes, I include a Discovery Time free-play session that encourages parents to talk to one another and to interact with their children. I include a variety of fine motor, gross motor, and sensory activities that appeal to 0-2-year-olds.
Sensory play is very important for all ages but especially for babies. Babies are exploring concepts (like gravity and motion) and textures for the first time. Their brains are growing at exponential rates as they learn how they can manipulative the world around them.
There are so many ways to encourage sensory play in a storytime setting. I regularly use textured tiles, liquid tiles, sensory boards, sensory bags, and, more recently, sensory bottles. Unless the program is designed and advertised as play only, I avoid sensory bins (except for water play) since objects inside those bins are often choking hazards (and there isn’t enough time to clean up beans, rice, sand, or water beads from the floor between story times).
Sensory bottles allow little ones to manipulate liquids without getting wet or manipulate small objects that would be a choking hazard or dangerous if left out for free play.
My most recent set of bottles included:
Mixtures of oil and water with food coloring
Water Beads
Water with small plastic spoons
Hair gel with suspended items
Oil with chunks of floating glitter glue
You can also add objects to create sound bottles like:
Paperclips
Thumbtacks
Googly Eyes
Keys
How to Make Sensory Bottles
Materials: Voss water bottles (the best type of bottle), materials to fill bottles, clear packing tape
Steps:
Empty Voss water bottle. Carefully peel off all labels. These should come off cleanly with no leftover residue.
Fill bottle with desired items or mixture.
Wrap 2-3 layers of clear tape around bottom of cap.
Tips: Voss bottles are the way to go. These are the perfect size for small hands and the labels peel off perfectly, creating a clear, smooth surface.
You can hot glue the bottle closed as well, but babies will not try to peel off tape they can’t see. Clear packing tape around the clear bottle is essentially not visible to little ones, so they don’t try to open the bottle. We’ve never had a child successfully get into a taped bottle.
Conversation Starters
Start conversations as babies play with this tool by asking questions like:
What happens when you shake the bottle?
What sound does the bottle make if you shake it?
What happens if you turn the bottle upside down?
Do the items in the bottle float?
What colors are in the bottle?
How many items are in the bottle?
What would you put in a bottle?
Stretch Vocabulary
When talking with little ones, use big words and small words. The more new words a child hears, the larger their vocabulary will be when they start to learn to read.
Consider using some of the following vocabulary words when using this activity:
Baby Shark is popular. I know this. I use the song regularly in my storytimes for all ages. However, I don’t think I realized how popular until I had 185 kids and adults crammed in our programming space for Baby Shark Storytime.
Like many libraries, we are generally short-staffed on the weekends. While we provide a weekly Saturday storytime, many of our other popular programs, especially for the 0-5 crowd, take place on weekdays. This works better for us, and those events still get large crowds, but working parents do not often get a chance to attend these party style events.
This was my second Saturday Tales @ 10 “takeover” (read about Mother Bruce Storytime to learn about my first one). I like using this programming slot for a bigger event because you have a guaranteed built-it audience (our regular weekend storytime attendees), and you also provide an opportunity to attract new faces to the library without having to ask for an additional staff member to work that weekend to cover your desk time.
Baby Shark Storytime was a celebration of all things Baby Shark. We had a shark-themed storytime followed by a collection of shark activities in place of our regular free play.
My storytime followed a very similar structure to our standard family storytime. I tried to not make everything Baby Shark related so that parents wouldn’t pull their hair out (though, surprisingly, I think this just confused parents).
Opening 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 your little mouth, But do not let them in!
Book: Bedtime for Baby Shark This baby shark title has some easy to replicate hand motions without just singing the song (which we will get to) as a group in book form.
Fingerplay: Two Little Sharks Two little sharks in the deep blue sea. One named Luna and one named Lee. Swim away Luna, swim away Lee! Come back, Luna, come back Lee!
Action Rhyme: Slippery Fish Slippery fish, slippery fish, swimming through the water. Slippery fish, slippery fish, Gulp, Gulp, Gulp! (clap) Oh no! It’s been eaten by a…
Continue with: Octopus, Great White Shark, Humongous Whale
Magnet: Five Sharks in the Bathtub One shark in the bathtub Going for a swim Knock, knock (clap twice) Splash, splash (slap knees twice) Come on in! (wave)
Magnet: Five Little Fishies Five little fishies, swimming in the sea. Teasing Mr. Shark — “You Can’t Catch Me!” Along comes Mr. Shark, as quiet as can be… And (claps) SNAPS that fishy right out of the sea!
After the storytime, many parents bolted because 185 people in a room meant for 75 is a lot.
But for those folks that stayed, we had some activities in the room as well as a scavenger hunt around our youth department.
Shark Fin Hats
Since this was my “easy” craft, it ended up being a bit more complicated than I would have liked. Each headband required 2-3 grey strips of paper–1-2 for the standard headband and another across the middle that the grey shark fin would be attached to. A standard shark fin shape was printed on grey cardstock to create the fin.
Shark Clothespin Puppets
The more complicated craft. Kids colored their own shark prints (found here) to make moveable shark clothespin puppets. I tried to have folks use glue dots instead of bottled glue to attach the sharks to the clothespins. That wasn’t the best idea, as they didn’t stick very well.
Pin the Fin on the Shark
This is exactly what it sounds like. Kids played pin-the-fin-on-the-shark with our lovely Baby Shark banner print from our marketing department. They received a button made on our button maker afterwards.
Feed the Shark Bean Bag Toss
This game was designed to be a standard bean bag toss game. Kids threw our toy fish into the shark’s mouth. They received a sticker after a successful throw.
This sort of worked out as planned, but essentially became a fascinating activity for our younger kids (ages 0-2) who just wanted to pick up the fish, put them in the shark’s mouth, take them out, put them in the basket, and dump them back out. Since this activity seemed to work best for the little kids, this helped the flow of the room since the older kids focused on the crafts.
Baby Shark Scavenger Hunt
Our last activity was our Baby Shark scavenger hunt, which got parents and kids out of our cramped programming space and into the youth department. After completing the scavenger hunt, each kid received a Baby Shark bookmark. Download the scavenger hunt here and the printable images here.
