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It’s that time of year! So many of my storytime regulars are going back to school or going to school for the first time. The books were fun but the song was a HIT this week. It’s a basic movement song with an added story twist. I introduced it by telling the kiddos that they’ll need their listening skills when they go to school, so we’ll practice with this fun song!

Hello songs

Book 1: Rosie Goes to Preschool by Karen Katz

Theme song: Stand Up, Sit Down by Patty Shukla (they LOOOOOVED this song)

Re-focus song

Book 2: Dinosaur vs. School by Bob Shea

Favorite songs and goodbye

We’ve been doing storytime outside during the summer, so I love doing outdoor themes during this time. Here’s one about bugs! Both books and the song were a hit. I like this updated version of Raffi’s classic Spider on the Floor.

Hello Songs

Book 1: Butterfly Butterfly by Petr Horacek

Theme Song: Spider on the Floor by the Kiboomers

Re-focus song

Book 2: Some Bugs by AngelaDiTerlizzi

Favorite songs and goodbye

Orange you glad you’re doing a fruit themed storytime? Okay I had to fit one pun in there, but seriously this was berry fun! For each storytime I did this week, I read two different books but used the same fruity theme song.

Theme Song: Bananas Unite! There are many versions of this song but I base mine on the one from Jbrary.

Alt theme song: My crowd absolutely LOVES Watermelon by Justine Clarke.

Books:

Jamberry by Bruce Degen

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

Two Little Monkeys by Mem Fox

Technically not about fruit but monkeys=bananas right? This was a really good one for getting the grown-ups involved. Every time we said “Cheeky,” I had the right side of the room say it, and every time we said “Chee” I had the left side of the room say it.

Guess What? – Fruit by Yusuke Yonezu

A simple book, easy to make interactive.

Honorary Mentions:

I didn’t use these books in this storytime but they would also wok well for the theme:

We’re Going to the Farmers’ Market by Stefan Page (good for younger crowd)

Lemons Are Not Red by Lauren Vaccaro Seeger (good for older Pre-K crowd)

Little Mouse’s Big Secret by Eric Battut (good for older Pre-K crowd)

The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Stawberry, and The Big Hungry Bear (a classic for all ages)

As always, I started with a couple of hello songs, and ended with some favorite songs and a goodbye song.

We had so much fun with this storytime! This is the first time I used a felt board with this crowd and it was a big hit.

Hello songs

Books:

Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell

Theme Song: Sally the Camel by Tinsel Town Kids (with extremely rudimentary felt board)

For each hump that needed to be removed, I threw it up in the air. Everyone got a kick out of that. Then at the end I flipped over the felt board to reveal Sally the horse!

Safari Animals by Simms Taback

Favorite songs and goodbye!

This is another theme I did over several weeks, so I’m just listing all the books I read. I’m pretty sure the theme song for each one was the same though, which was Zoom, Zoom Zoom, Kiboomers version.

Books:

Roaring Rockets by Tony Mitton

I Love Space by Allison Wortche

Touch the Brightest Star by Christie Matheson

8 Little Planets by Chris Ferrie

Higher! Higher! by Leslie Patricelli

Zoom, Rocket, Zoom! by Margaret Mayo

This was a huge, multi-week theme I did at my new library branch. I’m going to do my best here to collect all the books I read as well as all the songs. These were not all read/sung in one storytime, but rather several storytimes over several weeks 

Books:

Hush, Little Trucker by Kim Norman

A sweet, mostly construction vehicle themed take on the classic “Hush Little Baby”.

Tractor by Sally Sutton

A simple introduction to farming, great for city kids who may not know about farming vehicles.

On the Go Awesome by Lisl H. Detlefsen

This one was so much fun and so easy to make interactive! Follow along as a child imagines all the AWESOME vehicles they could drive/conduct/fly/etc. 

Meeow and the Little Chairs by Sebastien Braun

A classic that I do often. What are Meeow and his animal friends making with these regular household items?

Subway by Christoph Niemann

Another classic, take a quirky ride through the NYC subway system with two children and their dad.

I Like Trains by Daisy Hirst

Simple ode to lovers of trains.

Songs:

Building Up This City by Benny Time

Absolutely my favorite song of this theme. Turn your audience into tough trucks with this AMAZING construction vehicle song. Excellent for high energy story times.

Choo Choo Train by Patty Shukla

A great train song!

Jump in My Car by Music with Michal and Drivin’ in My Car by Ralph’s World

Just two fun car songs. I think Drivin’ in My Car is better for storytime but I love the beat of Jump in My Car.

Engine Number 9/Down Down Baby

Okay so this song is sort of a combination of The Choice is Yours by Black Sheep and Down Down Baby, which is an old clapping game we played as children. I’ll try to get a video up of it soon but here are the lyrics at least:

Engine engine number 9 (roll hands)
On the New Yok transit line
If my train runs off the track
Pick it up, pick it up, pick it up! (tap hands on thighs)
Let’s get the rhythm of the head, ding dong! x2 (move head side to side)
Let’s get the rhythm of the hands, clap clap! x2 (clap hands)
Let’s get the rhythm of the feet, stomp stomp! x2 (stomp feet)
Let’s get the rhythm of the hot dog! x2 (swing hips around in a circle)
Put it all together, what’ve you got? Ding dong, clap clap, stomp stomp hot dog! (do all movements)

 

 

 

 

 

The ever popular dinosaur theme! As always with dinosaurs we had tons of fun with this theme. As always I started with my hello songs and finished with some of our favorite songs and a goodbye song.

Song of the Week: Our theme song for the week was, of course, the ever popular We Are The Dinosaurs by Laurie Berkner. However, if you have a high-energy, rocker type storytime crowd, I’d like to also give a shout out to Do the Dinosaur Stomp by Dan and Dani. A little heavy metal for storytime? Why not?!

Books (I read two books at each storytime and have two storytimes per week, so usually a total of four books):

We Love Dinosaurs by Lucy Volpin

Always a hit, very interactive. Expect some questions about extinction from older kids afterward!

Shape by Shape by Suse Macdonald

A short but fun title that also introduces kiddos to both common and not so commonly discussed shapes!

Old MacDino Had A Farm by Becky Davies

A silly and fun dino version of Old Macdonald.

Dinosaur vs. Bedtime by Bob Shea

This one was certainly the favorite of the week. It had my grown-ups laughing out loud!

 

 

 

 

So, I’ve recently transferred to a new branch and switched up my storytimes a bit. First of all, this branch gets HUGE storytime crowds. I’m also the only children’s librarian at this branch, so I’m doing two family storytimes per week. Since I’m doing both storytimes, I’m trying to use a weekly theme, so I read two books per storytime, four in total, but all four follow a loose weekly theme. I use the same theme song for each storytime because the kids seem to really enjoy the repetition. Here’s this week’s bathtime storytimes!

FIRST STORYTIME:

Book 1: Get Out of My Bath! by Britta Teckentrup

Ellie the elephant wants all these extra critters out of her bath so she can have some peace and quiet! This one is so interactive, I had all the kids and grown-ups leaning every which way with me to help Ellie out.

Theme Song: The Goldfish by Laurie Berkner (played on my Spotify)

Re-focus song

Book 2: Bathtime for Little Rabbit by Jorg Muhle

Another interactive book in which we help little rabbit go through the process of bathtime and after bath care.

After our stories I usually sing some favorite songs, but what’s a bath themed storytime without bubbles? We listened to Splish Splash by Bobby Darin and Bathtime by Raffi while I blew bubbles all around the room.

Goodbye song

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SECOND STORYTIME:

Book 1: Dini Dinosaur by Karen Beaumont

With easy rhyming text, Dini the dinosaur gets dirty playing outside and has to take a bath, but keeps forgetting to take off his clothes! 

Theme Song: The Goldfish by Laurie Berkner (played on my Spotify)

Re-focus song

Book 2: Bath! Bath! Bath! by Douglas Florian

Short, repetitive text. Since Dini is a bit long I wanted a short one for our second book. Bath! is short, sweet and fun!

Same bubbles, music and goodbye!

 

Hello songs

Book 1: New Shoes by Chris Raschka

Theme Song: Getting Dressed is the Best by Moey’s Music Party (we did the same song last week but they loved it so much we just had to do it again!)

Re-focus song

Book 2: Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes by Eric Litwin and James Dean

Favorite songs and goodbye!