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!
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.
