Toddler Time - Mud and Dirt

Today's story time was all about dirt and mud. Seemed fitting after the ridiculous amount of rain we've been getting!

Stories We Shared

Our first story of the day was UnderGround by Denise Fleming. I have so much love for this story it isn't funny.

Our second story is more appropriate for early spring, but I love it so we read it anyway. Mud by Ray.

Flannels We Shared

What goes with mud better than pigs? Nothing! Today's flannel was from Sunflower Storytime.

     Five little pigs rolled in the mud
     Squishy, squashy, felt so good.
     The farmer took one piggy out.
     ‘Oink, Oink, oink,’ the pig did shout!

           4,3,2,1

     No little pigs rolled in the mud.
     They all looked so clean and good.
     The farmer turned his back and then,
     Those pigs rolled in the mud again.

 Note: because my kids are so young we only used 3 piggies.

Rhymes We Shared

Today we sang our Shaker Song, but added the rest of the verses to it. Our verses aren't in the same order as Jbrary's, mostly because I had shortened the song to begin with, but we were SUPER excited over this song. We sang it 6 times. Six times. Yes, six. Then we played with our shakers, taking turns deciding where/how we would shake them. Always a huge hit.

     Shake Your Shaker
     Shake your shaker in the air
     Shake it here, shake it there
     Shake your shaker in the air
     Shake your shaker

     Shake it up and shake it down
     Shake your shaker on the ground
     Shake it up and shake it down
     Shake your shaker

     Shake it fast and shake it slow
     Shake it stop, shake it go
     Shake it fast and shake it slow
     Shake your shaker

     Shake it high and shake it low
     Shake it yes, shake it no
     Shake it high and shake it low
     Shake your shakers

We closed with Eensy Weensy and Twinkle Twinkle as is becoming our habit lately.

Early Literacy Tips We Shared

Don't forget, talking with your child helps them learn about the world around them. As children listen to spoken language they learn new words and what they mean while gaining important knowledge about the world around them.

Toddler Time - Bunnies!

Wow! Two weeks in a row without having to cancel! I'm on a roll. I had a good sized crowd today, with lots of new faces, so the word about Toddler Time is spreading. Which is totally awesome. The program is still pretty much organized chaos, since Toddlers. But they have fun, the parents have fun, and I enjoy it, so that's all that matters.
This story time was all about Bunnies because it's spring. And I like bunnies. (Also I was told to do an Easter story time, but I don't think it really has a place in Story Time since it's a religious holiday. Bunnies was my compromise.) This was also slightly shorter as a story time since I'm still coughing and under the weather.
Onto the books!

Books We Shared:

The first book we shared was What Does Bunny See by Linda Sue
Park. While it isn't my favorite I do love the illustrations in this one. They're bright, colorful, and full of things too look at. The kids who knew their colors liked saying what colors Bunny saw too.

Our second book is an old favorite of mine. We read Little White Rabbit by Kevin Henkes. Kevin Henkes is a favorite of mine. His stories are so readable- even the longer ones like Wemberly Worried (though I have a soft spot for Wemberly Worried since my cat Winston is a Wemberly). In this one I just love the way Kevin Henkes draws. His rabbit is just so darn cute. And the giant two-page illustration spread of what Rabbit daydreams really got the attention of my kids today.

Flannels We Shared:
This wasn't strictly a flannel, since I just used paper images cut out with a magnet on them. Since I've been sick I've been slacking off on the actual flannels. I will turn it into a real flannel at some point though. This "flannel" is one I created myself based on a rhyme by Jean Warren. I added a few stanzas to her rhyme and made the bunnies a little silly.

     Four Little Bunnies

     By Jean Warren
     Four little bunnies went out to lunch.
     They found some carrots and took a bunch.
     They ate the carrots with a crunch, crunch, crunch!
   
     Four little bunnies went out to lunch.
     They found some lettuce and took a bunch.
     They ate the lettuce with a munch, munch, munch!
          Broccoli, apple, oranges, spaghetti, cookies

This rhyme was a hit. If nothing else than for the big pictures of food. Even the littlest ones got excited when they saw pictures of food they recognized.

Action Rhymes We Shared:

I found this rhyme on Verona Story Time, a storytime blog by the Verona Public Library. This was a HUGE hit and we ended up singing it four or five times. Which is a lot when it's repeated three times.

     Hop, Hop, Hop Along

     Hop, hop, hop along

     Or bounce on someone’s knee

     Higher and higher and higher and higher

     Bunny-hop with me!

          [Repeat 3 times]

This also makes a great lapsit song with parents holding their baby on their laps. Since I have toddlers we bounced. A lot.

For a second activity I handed out egg shakers and we danced to Raffi's Shake My Sillies Out. I also sang, which surprised some of the parents. :) What can I say? I love Raffi.

Early Literacy Tips We Shared:

This week I tried something different. I reused most of the same tips from last week. I wanted to see if any of the parents rememberd them. I didn't get any comments, but I did get more nods. I might try doing some more repetition. 

• Learning different animal names will help a child to build their vocabulary. The larger a child’s vocabulary the more words he will be able to recognize and understand in print and in speech.
• Activities like hopping in place will help your child build coordination and the large muscle groups in his or her legs.