Storytime

Play & Learn

This summer, I worked with a fellow librarian to start a nine-week play series for ages 0-3 and their families. Play & Learn quickly turned into one of my (and our patrons) favorite programs of the summer.

Each Wednesday, from 9:30-10:30 am, parents and their little ones interacted with 10-12 activities we placed around our large meeting room. On average, we had 80-120 visitors each week. People came and went on their own schedule–for some babies, 10 minutes was more than enough time in the crowded room; others enjoyed a full hour of play and even stayed to help with clean-up.

  • Play & Learn at its busiest!

Some activities repeated each week (bubbles!), while others rotated in and out throughout the summer. We grouped our activities into four categories and made sure to have a mix of these each week:

  • Fine Motor
  • Gross Motor
  • Sensory
  • Belly Babies (for our littlest prewalkers)

We picked activities that kids of all developmental abilities could enjoy, such as ball pit balls in muffin tins.

Some of our most popular activities included:

  • Cereal Boxes and Straws
  • Baby Pool Play
  • Pom Pom Drop
  • Sensory Tiles
  • Tumbling Mats
  • Sensory Bags & Bottles
  • “Messy” Sensory Play (rice, beans, sand, easter grass, water)
  • Instrument/Sound Play

This program is particularly great because you can adapt it to whatever budget and space you have available. We have very large crowds in the summer, and this program was able to meet the needs of parents and little ones while appealing to a large range of ages. We included a mix of purchased play items and items that parents could re-create at home cheaply–another library could do a similar program just focusing on one of these categories, to save staff time (pre-purchased items) or money (cheap, home-made items).

Play & Learn also encouraged parent-child interaction. Each activity included laminated sheets on the floor nearby, explaining the value of the activity along with questions and vocabulary words to encourage parent engagement.

Play & Learn has already been requested multiple times by our community to be continued this fall. While that cannot happen, unfortunately, due to our busy school-year programming schedule, I am looking forward to this program’s return next summer.

Baby Play: Muffin Tin Play

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.

Using muffin tins as sorting trays can be adapted for a variety of ages. The youngest children just like placing ball pit balls (or other items) in the tin’s perfectly shaped cups. Toddlers start to recognize colors and will match balls to colors in the tin’s cups. Preschoolers quickly turn muffin tin play into a pretend play activity, imagining the balls are cupcakes, muffins, or other treats.

Setting Up Muffin Tin Play

Materials: Muffin Tins, Ball Pit Balls, Construction Paper (optional)

Steps:

  • Give child ball pit balls and muffin tins
  • Optional: Cut colored circles and tape or hot glue into the cups of a muffin tin. Make sure these match the colors of the ball pit balls you have.

Cost: $38 (cost depends on audience size)

Time to Make: 20 minutes (if adding colored circles)

Pro-Tip: If you plan to use these regularly, laminate and hot glue the circles you place in the muffin tins for durability.

Conversation Starters

Start conversations as babies play with this tool by asking questions like:

  • Can you put a ball in each empty space?
  • Can you match the colors in the muffin tin?
  • Where is a yellow ball?
  • What color is this?
  • How many balls fit in the tin?
  • Can you fit two balls in one spot?
  • Can you pretend the balls are food?

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:

Arrange
Bounce
Categorize
Colors
Cupcakes
Dump

Empty
Fill
Fit
Grab
Grasp
Match

Organize
Pattern
Roll
Shiny
Smooth
Sort

Sometimes, little ones make their own play:

Baby Play: Cereal Boxes and Straws

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.

A simple fine motor activity, cereal boxes and straws, is always a success. Babies build their finger muscles while placing smoothie straws in pre-cut holes in cereal boxes. This is especially great because it can be easily replicated at home and appeals to a wide range of ages.

How to Make Cereal Boxes and Straws

Materials: Empty Cereal Boxes, Smoothie Straws, Pencil or other poking tool, Packing Tape

Steps:

  • Collect empty cereal boxes.
  • Tape all sides of the box to make the seams sturdier.
  • Punch holes in the front of the box using a pencil or similar tool.
  • Test a straw to make sure your holes are large enough for a straw to fit but not so large that it flops over and falls into the box.
  • Optional: Make a pattern with your straw holes, such as a letter of the alphabet.

Cost: $0-10

Time to Make: < 10 minutes

Pro-Tip: If you are going to use this activity a lot, consider purchasing reusable straws that can be washed. Smoothie straws can be washed, but tend to get bitten, and the teeth marks show.

Conversation Starters

Start conversations as babies play with this tool by asking questions like:

  • How many straws fit in the box?
  • Can you take a straw out of the box?
  • Can you make a straw fit in the box?
  • What color is the straw?
  • How does the straw feel?
  • What happens if you hit the box with the straw?

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:

Fit
Inside
Into
Lay
Length
Lift

Nudge
Outside
Pluck
Press
Pull
Push

Smooth
Stand
Tall
Tight
Tug
Yank

Baby Storytime Outline

These are the songs, rhymes, stories, and activities I used for a 25-minute baby storytime, followed by 20 minutes of free play.

Our baby storytime is for ages 0-24 months, with most children being 12-24 months old. Approximately 80 people attended this storytime, including about 45 babies.

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.

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: Talking to Your Baby (the LATS method described on jbrary)

Book: Peek-a-Baby by Karen Katz

Song: The Monkey Dance by The Wiggles

Bounce Rhyme: Five Little Monkeys
Five little monkeys jumping on the bed
One fell off and bumped his head
Mamma called the doctor and the doctor said
No more monkeys jumping on the bed!

Fingerplay: Itsy Bitsy Spider
The itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout.
Down came the rain and washed the spider out.
Out came the sun and dried up all the rain,
And the itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again.

Song: Little Red Wagon from Wiggleworms Love You

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.

  • The Baby Hop (to the tune: Bunny Hop)
    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

    You’re workin’ out together
    Baby don’t stop.
    You’re workin’ out together
    So hop, hop, hop.
  • 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

Puppet Time: Who’s in the barnyard?
An oink, a moo, a cockle-doodle-doo
Who’s in the barnyard playing peek-a-boo?
Featuring: cow, pig, sheep, chicken, horse

Manipulative Time: Bells

  • 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:

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