Another themed Saturday storytime special! This was a little different for me because I was not a Pete the Cat fan before this storytime–but I have been won over! Pete the Cat Storytime was a ton of fun, though a little more low key than some of my past virtual Saturday storytime specials.
I made another “commercial” for this program, which you can view below:
I’m not sure how much these videos contribute to the audience for these programs, but I am looking forward to some in-person marketing when our library reopens for browsing next week. This may give some new life to all of our virtual storytimes.
To help continue the Pete the Cat fun at home, I curated a PDF packet that we shared with event participants. Download it here.
The general storytime layout is below, with videos where applicable. This was a bit more chill for me, with me reading two books and retelling one more. No color-changing unicorns or flattened dinosaurs this time!
Backdrop Setup: Pete the Cat pennant banners, posters, and images. I’m happy to share these printable files if anyone is interested–just let me know in those comments or send us an email.
Pete the Cat Intro: Instead of my regular storytime intro song (Shake Your Sillies Out), we started with something a little more cool and grooving–Clap Your Hands by They Might be Giants.
Book: Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons by James Dean and Eric Litwin *I read this book, but I am including a previous video of this story being retold in flannel form below.
Song: Go Pete Go!
Book Retelling: Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes
Action Rhyme: Cool Cat Boogie (During storytime, we did not include the music for sake of time and so that I could include music in our last read aloud.)
Magnet Activity: Pete the Cat Playing Hide and Seek
Book: Pete the Cat Rocking in My School Shoes I synced up the music for this book so that I read the sentences, and we all sang along with the music each time Pete sang a song.
I am so excited for October toddler storytimes! Get ready for leaves, monsters, and more things fall and spooky. No weekly storytime next week. I wish I could say I was out on vacation, but things are never that simple. You will get to read all about this Saturday’s Pete the Cat storytime though!
Early Literacy Tip: Use those finger muscles! Practice fingerplays and small motions like picking up small foods, crumpling paper, and holding crayons.
Book Recommendation:Tap the Magic Tree by Christie Matheson
Another themed Saturday storytime special, this time celebrating the one and only Doc McStuffins! I didn’t have much knowledge about the young toy doctor before my deep dive for Doc McStuffins Storytime, but I genuinely enjoyed the episodes I watched. I’m surprised she isn’t more of a focal point in pandemic times, as she has a series of songs that align perfectly for kids and current times–songs about handwashing, playing outside, and even one about not being able to hug your friends right now so you don’t spread germs.
I made another “commercial” for this program, which you can view below:
To help continue the Doc McStuffins fun at home, I curated a PDF packet that we shared with event participants. Download it here.
Doc McStuffins Storytime Video
Unlike past storytimes, I didn’t create individual YouTube videos portionsof of this storytime. Most of the storytime included a lot of Doc McStuffins music, and the internet does not need more videos of me dancing along to music without clear motions.
I am going to risk the wrath of the copyright overlords and share a video of the complete storytime. This may be removed in a few weeks, but I am particularly proud of how this storytime came together, and I think it will make more sense in its full effect:
*The storytime starts about 5 minutes into the video. We start our livestreams early to allow viewers time to login and make sure technology is working.
Doc McStuffins Storytime Outline
Little ones were encouraged to bring their own stuffed animal to storytime.
Doc McStuffins Theme Song Intro: We got ready for storytime by dancing to the original Doc McStuffins theme song.
Book: Guess Who, Doc!
First Patient: Stuffy
After a quick explanation of how our program was going to work, I accidentally knocked down Doc’s Big Book of Boo Boos and Doc’s stuffed dragon, Stuffy. Poor Stuffy was instantly flattened, and we had to figure out what was wrong and how to fix it.
(How to do: Stuffed Stuffy was on the bookcase. Paper Stuffy was on the floor since before storytime began. I “accidentally” knocked stuffed Stuffy onto the floor with the Big Book of Boo Boos. When I bent down, I picked up paper Stuffy. We talked through our activity and song, and then put Stuffy down so he could stomp his own feet. After the song, we picked stuffed Stuffy back up.
Cured Stuffy by moving and grooving to shake out his stuffiness by dancing along to Doc McStuffin’s Dinosaur Stomp.
Second Patient: Gustav the Gator
Now that Stuffy was all better, we checked into our waiting room and discovered Hallie Hippo had a patient for us: Gustav the Gator! Gustav has been warned in the past by Doc about eating the right foods for him, and we had to talk to him again about foods he should sometimes eat versus foods he should always eat.
Taught Gustav about foods he can always eat and foods he should just eat sometimes as a special treat.
For our Always vs. Sometimes activity, I divided a magnetic cookie sheet in half, and we sorted chocolate chip cookies, apples, french fries, bananas, carrots, and ice cream (doughnuts and water were cut for time).
Third Patient: Lambie
Now that Gustav was feeling a bit better, we let him rest. We were about to check in on our waiting room again, when we started to smell something odd. Lambie was covered in mud! We needed to give Lambie a bath to get her nice and clean, and then we also practiced washing our own hands.
Gave Lambie a bath with the song “This Is the Way We Wash Our Legs.”
Practiced washing our own hands to the Doc McStuffin’s Wash Your Hands song.
We sang “This Is the Way We Wash Our Legs” to the tune of “Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush”:
This Is The Way We Wash Our Legs This is the way we wash our legs, Wash our legs, wash our legs. This is the way we wash our legs, Wash our legs, wash our legs, When we are nice and dirty!
We continued with our arms, bellies, and heads.
Fourth Patient: Chilly
We realized that we were missing one of Doc’s friends! We hadn’t seen Chilly all morning. Doc left us a clue with a guessing game activity. We found a picture of Chilly behind a picture of a white bear, and we found the real Chilly behind the real stuffed bear in our waiting room. Chilly was a bit nervous about seeing so many people for storytime, but we helped him get over his nerves by finding ways to say hello virtually.
During Chilly’s turn as a patient, we:
Played “Chilly, Chilly, Where Do You Hide?” to find Chilly.
Found stuffed Chilly behind our white bear.
Diagnosed Chilly with a case of The Shy Guys.
Said “hello!” three different ways with the song “We Wave and Sing Hello!”
We played our own version of the storytime classic, Little Mouse, Little Mouse, by checking behind various toys to see where Chilly might be hiding. We used the words:
Chilly, Chilly, where do you hide? Are you behind the _______________? Let’s look inside!
After we found Chilly, we taught him different ways to say hello:
We Wave and Sing Hello We wave and sing hello! We wave and sing hello! With all our friends at storytime, We wave and sing hello!
We continued with: Sign and Sing Hello, Smile and Sing Hello
Fifth Patient: Hallie
All this time, we had left poor Hallie in the waiting room, but we realized that she hadn’t been talking much. We found out she was very tired today, even though she slept a lot last night, and we realized she might need some exercise to get some new energy.
Cured Hallie by doing some exercise with the Doc McStuffin’s Ready for Action song.
Showed off Hallie’s talking skills (she is a squeeze and talk stuffed animal).
Closing
We wrapped things up by reviewing everyone we helped today, talking about our Doc McStuffins School of Medicine Certificates (in those Doc McStuffins At Home Packets), and dancing along to the Doc McStuffins Theme Song – Toy Hospital Edition.
I wasn’t sure about attendance at this program, as the Doc McStuffins tv show ended in April, but this was my second highest Saturday Special attendance yet (after Baby Shark). Lots of Doc love, and now that I’ve spent some time with the character, I see why.
Last week of toddler storytimes until October and then I actually get to do a few fall/spooky activities! I’ve only done baby storytimes during the fall season before, and I always preference age appropriateness and literacy skills over themes, so I’ve never really looked at fall-themed activities. So much to sprinkle into toddler time! I basically have those storytimes already planned with the amount of stuff I’ve saved…
I do want to look for more toddler books generally, and more specifically, diverse toddler books. Some of my diverse baby books could overlap with this age, but I really want to find more content ideal for toddlers. So many of the great diverse books being published now are solidly preschool or are essentially books for babies (baby body parts, baby faces starring diverse babies). A lot of toddler books that I enjoy star animals–I need to expand that.
Background: While my library is closed during the COVID pandemic, we are 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!
Early Literacy Tip: Introduce new vocabulary to your child during imaginative play. Use the big words AND the small words. Use as many words as you can.
First time filming in the building, which was a little bit of an adjustment. It is nice to get back into the toddler groove for a while, though I am missing the simplicity of having a long stretch of the same storytime. At the end of summer session, I ran with preschool storytime for about 6 weeks, allowing me to build on activities and more intentionally look at growth and skill development. Only three weeks with toddlers doesn’t give quite the same amount of time, and since a lot of our storytime presenters have different styles, I know that when I come back to this age in October, its a little more like starting over than flowing from what happened before.
Background: While my library is closed during the COVID pandemic, we are 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!
Early Literacy Tip: Read books with excitement and anthusiasm–this can be much easier with books that encourage silly actions, voices, or behaviors. Try being extra silly! Nothing is over-the-top to your kid.
Book Recommendation:Is Everyone Ready for Fun? by Jan Thomas
Song: Jelly in the Bowl by Kiboomers
Retelling: Go Away Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley
Hello toddlers! For the rest of the fall, I am in a rotation between toddler and baby storytimes (plus a once a month Saturday special!). I will have to do some reassessment on my content for toddlers–this was the age where I ran long the most often, and part of that is not having quite as solid of a routine as I did for babies and preschoolers (and wanting to squeeze so much into just 30 minutes!).
Background: While my library is closed during the COVID pandemic, we are 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!
Early Literacy Tip: Singing with your kids is key to early literacy development. It helps kids break down the smaller parts of words. If you aren’t comfortable singing, try rhyming books or books with a great rhythm.
Book Recommendation:Farmyard Beat by Lindsey Craig
Song: Hot Potato by the Wiggles
Flannel: Five Ferocious Lions
— Find more Flannel & Magnet Activities in this post. —
Another themed Saturday storytime special! I first thought about having a Pinkalicious Party over a year ago after having two different moms ask me for Pinkalicious readers for their sons. Previously, I had felt that a program on this book and tv series was a little too close to conforming to gender norms for my taste, but I was convinced otherwise by the number of young boys expressing interest in the books. While it was never my intention for this program to be virtual, I see a distinct advantage to it–there were many young boys in my virtual audience, and we didn’t have any of the parent comments that could have occurred in person or the social stigma that could have kept a parent from bringing their son to a program celebrating all things pink. (Another way virtual programming can open doors for patrons!)
To help continue the Pinkalicious fun at home, I curated a PDF packet that we shared with event participants. Download it here.
The general storytime layout is below, with videos where applicable.
Backdrop Setup: Pennant banners and Pinkalicious book covers and images helped make my backdrop more on-theme to increase the Pinkalicious excitement (and it helps that my wall is pink!):
Pinkalicious Intro: We got ready for storytime with Shake Your Sillies Out by Rainbow Songs, my go-to intro song.
Book: Pinkalicious by Victoria Kann and Elizabeth Kann
Song:Dance All Day by Bari Kori Pinkalicious is fairly long, so I wanted to get some wiggles out with a movement-heavy song after the book.
Fingerplay: I Have One, I Have Two Little Mermaids (celebrating Aqua from Aqualicious)
Puppets: Down Around the Corner starring Pink Animals
Song: Pink by Pancake Manor (freeze dance!)
Action Rhyme: Pinkalicious, Pinkalicious Turn Around (skipped in storytime)
Magnet: Pinkalicious, Pinkalicious Where Do You Hide?
Magic Wish: Make our unicorn light up with our wishing powers! (only repeated twice in the actual storytime)
We are on a brief live storytime hiatus as we re-adjust for whatever the fall will bring, so I thought I would highlight one of my favorite storytelling tools: Book Retellings! (Post updated 11/8/20.)
Book retellings were a part of my storytimes well before COVID and the move to virtual programs, though I’ve been happy to dig into them more since I am presenting more storytimes for toddlers and preschoolers. I sometimes use a book retelling element for babies with puppets, but mostly any “story” element is for the caregivers, with me focusing on and emphasizing the puppet reveal and animal sound for the babies.
Looking for more storytime tools? Check out our Storytime Resources page for links to more content.
Book Retellings Pros and Cons
Book retellings allow you to:
appeal to visual or action-based learners and listeners (so, most toddlers)
make things larger–puppets are often bigger than the pictures on a page, especially when presenting to a large in-person crowd (this distinction isn’t such a big deal behind a camera)
include more repetition – a book you read earlier in storytime or the week before could be used as a flannel or puppet activity
give caregivers ideas for ways to get excited about familiar stories that might be read over and over and over again at home
include props, puppets, and other manipulatives in your program
On the other hand, book retellings put more pressure on you as a presenter. Reading the words on a page with the proper inflection, emotion, timing, and engagement is a challenge on its own. Pulling that off without exact words to guide you can be more challenging. However, I also like to think of book retellings as more freeing–viewers can’t see the words, so if I mix up an animal or two, or intentionally skip an entire portion of the story or rearrange something to make more sense visually, as long as I keep my cool, the audience doesn’t have to know. (I think there is a better word than “audience” here. Storytimes are presentations, in a way, but there is a back and forth–what is the word for an engaged, participating audience? Is that still audience? I’m digressing.)
To Memorize or Not To Memorize
I’m going to say something here that may make some library folks cringe–yell in the comments. Please. I know this is my opinion, and it isn’t a popular one, but I still feel strongly about it, so: it is better if you memorize.
Yes, we aren’t actors. Yes, our caregivers know this. No, most kids don’t really notice if we read. But there are kids that do, and there are adults who also notice, and…well I was that totally judge-y preschooler who really didn’t know any better, and compared you (rightfully or not) to Barney and Sesame Street and the Wiggles, and those real people aren’t reading off of a page or constantly glancing off screen to read their next line.
Yes, there will be mistakes, and no, you shouldn’t refilm a 30-minute pre-recorded storytime 17 times because of one error toward the end. Have a cheat sheet somewhere but don’t make it a script and don’t rely on it. I normally put a list of key words taped either directly below my camera on my tripod or right beside the location where I am hiding the puppets or flannel pieces. If I decide to do a dramatic reveal and look back and forth a few times with fun facial expressions–I’m probably re-reading the next line.
I know this isn’t the way most librarians view or encourage this type of storytime experience, especially because it can make it harder or scarier to jump into something like this. But…I do, personally, feel like it makes it a little better. The storytelling experience is stronger and less stilted. But if you need that script, try it with the script. With time and repetition, you’ll know the story so well that you may be able to stop relying on the piece of paper. (End of Annamarie being rude and judge-y. Please berate me in the comments.)
How to Make Props and Flannels
I steal. I am not as creative as some of my coworkers. Do not be fooled by awesome flannel sets in videos. Some of these things are made by them. Other things are designed based off of me seeing someone else’s work online and remaking piece by piece. Other selections are my personally owned purchased sets, made by awesomely talented people who are not me.
I am not going to continue rambling here because my skills are not great or varied. My one tip, which is obvious to regular crafters but not to those of us new to this domain: get. scissors. just. for. felt. Use for nothing else. The world is a much, much more magical place.
Book Retellings Examples
There are so many great ways to retell stories, but now that I’ve made so many videos for our patrons to watch online, I decided to collect some of my favorites below, in alphabetical order by book title.
Bark George by Jules Feiffer (prop & puppets) Learn about how I made George in this blog post.
The Bridge Is Up by Babs Bell (magnet)
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. (puppets) Change to whatever animals you have on hand. I tried to select stuffed animals that were different colors to continue the color emphasis from the physical book.
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. (flannel)
Brown Owl, Brown Owl What Do You See? (Adapted from Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr.) (flannel)
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. (flannel) Abbreviated because you don’t realize how long this book is, and how many letters there really are, until you are halfway through.
Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell (flannel)
Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell (puppets)
Do Cows Meow? by Salina Yoon (puppets)
Do Crocs Kiss? by Salina Yoon (puppets)
Do Sharks Bark? by Salina Yoon (puppets)
Dog’s Colorful Day by Emma Dodd (flannel) I’ve also seen this done as a really cool dry-erase marker activity. I was going to do this on a physical stuffed dog with flannel dots, but my velcro dots didn’t work the way I imagined. Still curious about doing this with a stuffed animal though!
Froggy Gets Dressed by Jonathan London (flannel) Filming this was the worst because socks kept falling off the flannel board. Something to keep in mind during creation or execution–so many small parts.
Go Away Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley (magnet) Download the printable template from Kizclub.
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown (flannel) I re-wrote part of the story to create the all-items-enter and all-items-exit effect.
The Great Big Enormous Turnip (magnet)
I Spy on the Farm by Edward Gibbs (puppets) I made an I Spy window with a piece of cardboard hanging from a floor lamp. Change out the animals to whatever you have on hand.
I Went Walking by Sue Williams (puppets) Change out the animals to whatever you have on hand. I focused on having animals of different colors.
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff (flannel)
I’m the Biggest Thing in the Oceanb by Kevin Sherry (magnet) Download magnet template from Kizclub.
Is Your Mama a Llama? by Deborah Guarino (Llama Llama Red Pajama edition) (magnet)
Jump! by Scott Fischer (puppets)
Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle (flannel)
The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams (magnet)
Move Over, Rover! by Karen Beaumont (magnet)
One Red Sock by Jennifer Sattler (flannel)
Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons by Eric Litwin and James Dean (flannel)
Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes by Eric Litwin and James Dean (flannel)
Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? by Bill Martin Jr. (puppets) Change out the animals to whatever you have on hand.
Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? by Bill Martin Jr. (flannel)
Polar Bear’s Underwear by Tupera Tupera (flannel)
Red Truck, Red Truck A transportation adaptation of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr.
Row, Row, Row Your Boat by Jane Cabrera (puppets)
The Seals on the Bus by Lenny Hort (puppets)
Tickle Monster by Edouard Manceau (flannel) If you want to try retelling, this is the story for you. The set is super easy to make, and the order of body parts really isn’t that important. Caregivers can tickle little ones throughout.
Tip Tip Dig Dig by Emma Garcia (magnet)
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle (flannel) This is a great example of a story where you don’t need to memorize or have a script–just have your flannel pieces in the order you need them. The words are essentially the foods that you are adding to your board.
White Rabbit’s Color Book by Alan Baker (props)
I am always, always looking for more books to retell, especially stories that are about diverse characters or by diverse authors. This video list is very white, and and in storytimes I try to balance that, at least a little, with diversity in my physical book for the week. What are some of your favorite stories to retell?
Paw Patrol and I have a bit of a history. During spring break 2019, I planned a program featuring one of the most popular kids TV shows of the time. It was scheduled for a Friday morning, and while we could tell from patron questions that there was some excitement, I didn’t really know what to expect. I had been planning for a storytime followed by eight hands-on games, crafts, and activities where you earned badges, and ending with an obstacle course where you earned your Paw Patrol “uniform” (hat and necklace).
Before the program started, I debated dropping the storytime portion because my overzealous planning had led to very little room for attendees to sit down before completing their activities. I believe I left the room to get extra supplies about 30 minutes before the program and was extremely surprised to realize that there were over 100 patrons in the hallway. Waiting for a program that started in 30 minutes. A program that was supposed to take place in meeting rooms that have a firecode of around 200 when the room isn’t filled with tables and activities. The storytime portion was dropped, and by the end of the program over 300 people stopped by.
I have never written about that program on this blog because it didn’t go the way I had hoped (high attendance or not), and I didn’t actually have that many resources to share. Pre-COVID, I had been planning to try this program again this summer with quite a few modifications. Post-COVID, this program turned into another online special storytime, following the path of the recent Baby Shark Storytime and Elephant & Piggie Storytime.
To help continue the fun at home, I curated a PDF packet that we shared with event participants. Download it here and view it below:
The general storytime layout is below, with videos where applicable.
Backdrop Setup: Pennant banners and Paw Patrol shields helped make my backdrop more on-theme to increase the Paw Patrol excitement:
Paw Patrol Intro: We got ready for storytime with the Paw Patrol theme song and explained our mission: to complete training activities to earn six Paw Patrol badges and become junior Paw Patrol members.
Book: Pit Crew Pups from Five Puptacular Tales
Badge #1: Flying Badge with Skye:Airplane Song by Laurie Berkner
Whenever it was time to earn a new badge, we received pup mail. We had to guess which pup’s badge we were going to earn based on the front of our mail and then read about our challenge.
Our first challenge was to practice our flying skills with Skye!
Badge #2: Water Safety Badge with Zuma: Zuma Are You In a Boat?
Badge #3: Safety Badge with Chase: Crazy Traffic Light
Badge #4: Fire Safety Badge with Marshall: Hurry, Hurry Drive the Firetruck
Badge #5: Construction Badge with Rubble: Tip Tip Dig Dig by Emma Garcia This was supposed to be just a read of the book, but I couldn’t get a copy of the book in time, so it turned into a last minute magnet. I’m sure I’ll reuse this set at some point in a toddler storytime.
Badge #6: Handyman Badge with Rocky: Our Friend Rocky Had Some Tools
Graduation: Now that we had earned all six Paw Patrol badges, as shown in our Paw Patrol Badge Zone:
We recited the Paw Patrol Pledge:
And danced the morning away as Junior Paw Patrol members!
Last summer, a coworker and I ran a very successful baby and toddler play program. Each week, about 80-100 parents and little ones joined us for a variety of interactive activities.
Six months ago, when we were planning for May-August 2020, we were thrilled to be able to offer Play & Learn again this summer, plus an additional four weeks in May.
Then COVID happened.
Obviously we weren’t expecting a pandemic, but luckily we were able to shift our plans to adapt this program virtually for the month of May, creating Play & Learn at Home.
Each week, Lisa (my coworker) and I emailed caregivers registered for Play & Learn at Home a video and instruction sheet for two DIY play activities, made from objects commonly found around the house.
