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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.

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

______________________________________________________

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!

I love reading these two books together because they are both about clothes yes, but also super silly!

Hello songs

Book 1: One Red Sock by Jennifer Sattler

Theme Song: Getting Dressed is the Best by Moey’s Music Party

Book 2: Monster Clothes by Daisy Hirst (note this is a board book and a bit small but still lots of fun to read)

Favorite songs and goodbye!

Hello songs

Book 1: I Like Trains by Daisy Hirst

Theme Song: I actually used two theme songs for this one because I just love them both:

Choo Choo Train by Patty Shukla and Chugga Chugga Choo Choo by Choo Choo Soul. They’re both available on Spotify as well. The Patty Shukla song is great for doing movement & actions together, while I’ve found the Choo Choo Soul song better for jamming out/mini-dance party.

Transition/re-focus song

Book 2: Wake Up, Freight Train! by Danna Smith

Favorite songs and goodbye!

 

We had so much fun making elephant noises during this simple fun storytime!

Book 1: A Parade of Elephants by Kevin Henkes

Theme Song: Elephants Have Wrinkles by Rock ‘n’ Rainbow (this song is widely available on Spotify, which is my app of choice when I do recorded music, and Youtube.

Re-focus song

Book 2: Safari Animals by Simms Taback

An oldie but a goodie, kids always love the huge lift-the-flap pages of this one. The title is part of an animals series by the author. Others include city animals and farm animals. 

Favorite songs and goodbye!

Hello songs

Book 1: Can I Give You A Squish? by Emily Neilson

Theme Song: Skidamarink

Skidamarink a dinky dink skidamarink a doo (touch elbows and wave hands)
I love you (hug baby or yourself)
Skidamarink a dinky dink skidamarink a doo (touch elbows and wave hands)
I love you (hug baby or yourself)
I love you in the morning (touch hands above head)
And in the afternoon (touch hands around belly)
I love you in the evening (touch hands toward floor)
And underneath the moon (move hands back up to sky)
OH Skidamarink a dinky dink skidamarink a doo (touch elbows and wave hands)
I love you (hug baby or yourself)

Transition song

Book 2: Give Me A Snickle! by Alisha Sevigny

Favorite songs and goodbye!

 

This was a special storytime I did for a local community garden organization. The kids had lots of fun and it was a treat to be outside in a sunny beautiful garden!

Hello songs

Book 1: Miguel’s Community Garden by Janay Brown-Wood (I have been just LOVING her books lately!)

Theme song:

Wake Up Bunnies!

(have all the children pretend to be asleep)

See the little bunnies sleeping til it’s nearly noon
Come and let us gently wake them with a merry tune
Why so still?
Are they ill?
Wake up soon
WAKE UP! WAKE UP BUNNIES!
Hop little bunnies hop hop hop
Hop little bunnies hop hop hop
Hop little bunnies hop hop hop
Hop little bunnies hop hop hop

Transition song

Book 2: A Closer Look by Mary McCarthy

Theme Song #2: Snake in the Grass

Snake snake snake in the grass
Snake snake snake in the grass
Snake snake snake in the grass
Oh no! I see a snake
So I better run really fast!
Snake snake snake in the grass
Snake snake snake in the grass
Snake snake snake in the grass
Oh no! I see a snake
So I better walk really quietly
Snake snake snake in the grass
Snake snake snake in the grass
Snake snake snake in the grass
Oh no! I see a snake
So I better run really fast!
Snake snake snake in the grass
Snake snake snake in the grass
Snake snake snake in the grass
Oh no! I see a snake
So I get in my car and I drive away Beep Beep!

Goodbye song