Showing posts with label Babies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Babies. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Baby & Me Time

I call my baby storytimes Baby & Me Times to make sure parents know that I may be at the front, but they're the real stars of the show. Here's my latest program outline:

Welcome patter: Welcome to baby storytime! Today we’re going to sing songs, do some tickles, bounces and fingerplays, read some nursery rhymes, and share books together. The activities we do today are ways that you can stimulate brain development especially, language development in your baby.

Your baby might not want to participate right now and that’s okay. If your baby doesn’t seem to be paying attention, their brain is still being stimulated by what they see and hear around them.

If your baby isn’t happy here please take them out until they calm down and come back when you think he or she is ready. Okay, let’s begin.

Welcome Song: Good Morning to You (Sing twice to the tune of Happy Birthday)
Good Morning to You! 
Good Morning to You! 
Good Morning Dear Babies (Or name)! 
Good Morning to You!

Patter: Do you recognize that tune? People who work with children call those piggyback songs. You can make up any words and sing them to a familiar tune. In this case we turned Happy Birthday into a morning song. These kinds of songs are good for helping young children deal with transitions. Sometimes they’re going to have to stop doing something they want to. Singing songs makes that part a little easier.

Itsy Bitsy Spider Fingerplay (Sing twice)
Baby may not be able to do the fingerplay, but you parents sure can! Either gently guide your child through the movements or turn him/her to face you while you do the movements for them to see. 
The itsy bitsy spider 
crawled 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
crawled up the spout, again!

Body Identification Book: Counting Kisses by Karen Katz- encourage parents to kiss and point out baby’s parts along with the books.

Babies Fingers Tickle (Do twice)
These are baby’s fingers.
These are baby’s toes.
This is baby’s belly button,
Round and round it goes!
These are baby’s ears.
This is baby’s nose.
This is baby’s belly button,
Round and round it goes!

This Little Piggy (Fingerplay or Tickle; Sing twice)- Parents can gently wiggle fingers or toes, or count limbs and tickle or wiggle at the end.
This little piggy went to the market.
This little piggy stayed home.
This little piggy had roast beef.
This little piggy had none.
And this little piggy ran Wee! Wee! Wee! 
All the way home.   

Peekaboo Book: Peekaboo Morning by Rachel Isadora- Pass out color scarves and have parents play peekaboo with their hands or the scarves while reading the book. Then give them a minute to play after the book. You can also do peekaboo with a mirror.

Parent Patter: Playing peekaboo teaches your baby about object permanence: That although you can't see something it still exists. Peekaboo also prepares babies for those times when you will have to be away from them: You might go away, but you’ll always come back to them.

Read to Your Baby Time- Provide a selection of board books and encourage parents to to share a book with their baby. Play a 4-5 minute song in the background collect everybody's attention when the song stops.

Tiny Little Baby Bounce (Sing twice)
Tiny little baby loves bouncing, bouncing!
Tiny little baby loves bouncing so.
Tiny little baby loves bouncing, bouncing!
Tiny little baby loves bouncing so.
Bounce to the left!
Bounce to the right!
Now hug that baby nice and tight!
    
Animals Sounds Book: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr- With toddlers I just read the book, but with babies, I sing the words to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, then the parents and I make the corresponding animal sounds.

Parent Patter: Making animal sounds helps children identify animals, associate sounds with things, and learning the sounds from you helps them learn to talk. Let them see your mouth as you talk to them and say these animal sounds.

Animal Sound Song: Animals In the Morning (I use animal puppets and they sing to the babies. Four puppets should be enough)
When the duck gets up in the morning
You'll always hear him say
Quack! Quack!
He'll always say Quack!
  
Classic Nursery Rhyme: Hickory Dickory Dock (Sing/say twice)- Encourage parents to either bounce to the rhythm of the rhyme, or they can move up and down following the words.
Hickory dickory dock.
The mouse ran up the clock.
The clock struck one
The mouse ran down.
Hickory dickory dock.

Stand Up Bounces: Zoom Zoom Zoom! (Sing/say twice)
Zoom zoom zoom!
We're going to the moon.
Zoom zoom zoom!
We're going to the moon.
If you'd like to take a trip
Climb aboard my rocking ship.
Zoom zoom zoom, I'm going to the moon 
In 5...4...3...2...1!
Blast off! 
    
Fishies in the Water (Say twice)
Fishies in the water
Fishies in the sea.
We all jump up with a 1...2...3...!
Closing patter: Thank you for coming to baby storytime. Please stay and play for the next 20 minutes and meet other parents and babies and socialize.

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

My First Baby Storytime!

I had to plan my first baby storytime at the last minute because I was pretty busy in the days proceeding. So I borrowed an outline from a librarian who is seasoned in baby-storytiming and modified it for me and my audience.
It turned out pretty well! The parents (although there were only two) were really responsive and enjoyed doing all the different movements and songs. It was pretty fun. And I'm excited about my next one! 

Welcome Patter: 
Welcome to baby storytime. Today we’re going to sing songs, do some tickles, bounces and fingerplays, read some nursery rhymes, and share books together. The activities we do today are ways that you can stimulate brain development especially, language development in your baby.
Your baby might not want to participate right now and that’s okay. If your baby doesn’t seem to be paying attention, their brain is still being stimulated by what they see and hear around them. If your baby isn’t happy here please take them out until they calm down and come back when you think he or she is ready.
Okay, let’s begin.  

Welcome song: Good Morning to You (To the tune of Happy Birthday)
Good Morning to You!
Good Morning to You!
Good Morning Dear Baby (or insert name)!
Good Morning to You! 

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 
Crawled up the spout, again.    

Wiggle fingers and toes along with the book and kisses at the end.

Tickle: Baby's Fingers and Toes This version has another verse to it, but its easy to pick up. 
These are baby’s fingers.
These are baby’s toes.
This is baby’s belly button,
Round and round it goes!
These are baby’s ears.
This is baby’s nose.
This is baby’s belly button,
Round and round it goes!

Parent patter: By pointing out your baby’s body parts, you are teaching them that they are made up of many parts and all of these parts have names.

Fingerplay: This Little Piggy Wiggle This can also be a tickle, too.
This little piggy went to the market.
This little piggy stayed home. 
This little piggy had roast beef.
This little piggy had none.
And this little piggy cried Wee! Wee! Wee!
All the way home!  

Parent patter: Playing peekaboo teaches your baby that sometimes you might go away, but you’ll always come back to them. They also learn that even though they can’t see something, its still there.

Pass out color scarves and have parents play peek-a-boo with their hands or the scarves while reading the book. Then give them a minute or two to play after the book.

Read to your baby time: Play a song in the background and pass out a basket of board books giving the parents a few minutes to share a book with their baby. 

Bounce: Tiny Little Baby (To the tune of Shortenin' Bread)  
Tiny, little baby loves bouncing bouncing.
Tiny, little baby loves bouncing so!
Tiny, little baby loves bouncing bouncing.
Tiny, little baby loves bouncing so!
Bounce to the left,
Bounce to the right,
Now hug that baby nice and tight!

Parent patter: Making animal sounds helps children identify animals, associate sounds with things, and learning the sounds from you helps them learn to talk. Let them see your mouth as you talk to them and say these animal sounds. 
I didn't actually use this one because I think two doses of patter is enough for each storytime.

Animals sounds book: I Went Walking by Sue Williams
Have the parents repeat the phrase “What did you see?” and the corresponding animal sound.

Animal sound song: Animals In the Morning (I don't remember where I got this from, but this is a similar song from Nancy Stewart)
When the cow gets up in the morning 
You'll always hear her say:
Moo! Moo!
She'll always say Moo!   
When the cat gets up in the morning
You'll always hear him say:
Meow! Meow!
He'll always say Meow! 
You can substitute any noise making animal in here, I think. I used this with puppets, but you can print out images of different animals and dance them around for the babies to enjoy.  

Classic nursery rhyme: Humpty Dumpty (I used this as a bounce)
 Humpty dumpty sat on a wall. (Bounce then hold the baby up) 
Humpty dumpty had a great fall. (Bounce then sit the baby down) 
All the king's horses and all the king's men,
Couldn't put Humpty together again. (Bounce then wiggle)

Walking bounces:
I got this idea and this rhyme from this video.  
I'm going to add another rhyme, I just haven't decided which, yet. I don't do too much up and down movement because I know some people have back problems. Keep that in mind when you're planning to do bounces. So we walk in a circle, bouncing and singing. 

Zoom Zoom Zoom
Zoom! Zoom! Zoom! (Walk in a circle, bouncing to the beat) 
We're going to the moon.
Zoom! Zoom! Zoom!
We're going to the moon.
 If you'd like to take a trip,
Climb aboard my rocket ship.
Zoom! Zoom! Zoom!
We're going to the moon.
Zoom! Zoom! Zoom!
We're going to the moon.
In 5...4...3...2...1...Blast off! (Bend down and then lift the baby up for blast off) 

Closing patter: Thank you for coming to baby storytime. Please hang out for the next 20 minutes and meet other parents and babies and play. We hope you can come back next time and please stop by our information table to grab flyers, get on our email list and pick up a survey. I’d love to know what you think.