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Storytime: Colors!

For toddler storytimes we decided to start the new storytime season off with concepts. The first concept storytime I did was colors. Here's what I planned:
Opening Song: We always open toddler storytime with Finger Poppin by Georgiana Stewart. It's a bit annoying, but the kids love it and I see them walk into storytime popping their fingers, so I can never get rid of it!

Literacy Skill: We recently rebranded and renamed our early literacy program, so our skill was Talk and Read (or vocab, if you're on the old Every Child Ready to Read language)


Book: Freight Train by Donald Crewes-my library has a big book copy of this one, which makes it more fun to read. The toddlers love the big books and the simple text and colors of this one make it perfect for this age group.

Song: These Are My Glasses by Laurie Berkner-I sing this every week and it's so fun to watch the kids learn it!
"These are my glasses"-(make circles with your hands around eyes)
"And here is my book"-(make hands into closed book in front of you)
"I put on my glasses"-(lift circles with your hands around eyes)
"And open up my book"-(open palms into a book)
"And I read, read, read, and I look, look, look"
"Then I take off my glasses"-(move circles with your hands down from eyes)
"And whoops, close up the book!" (close palms into book in front of you)



Book: Pete the Cat by Eric Litwin, illustrated by James Dean-one of my favorite storytime books and great for colors!

Action Rhyme: If You're Wearing Red Today (to the tune of "Do You Know the Muffin Man)-source: Storytime Katie
(I changed it from wearing to holding, since I have around 25-30 kids in storytime and didn't want to have to sing every color they were wearing! I cut out pieces of paper in red, green, blue and yellow and passed them around the room." This rhyme was fun and easy to do and the parents helped the younger ones stand up when it was their turn.

If you're holding red (blue, green, yellow) today,
Red today, red today,
If you're holding red today,
Stand up and say "hooray!"


Flannel Board: Dog's Colorful Day by Emma Dodd-I made a flannel board (my first one!!) for Dog's Colorful Day using a pattern from the book Toddler Storytimes 2 by Diane Briggs.

Action Rhyme: Driving In My Little Red Car (To the tune of 'Ten Little Indians")-Source: Storytime Katie 
(I used the papers from the previous rhyme for our colored cars for the kids to "drive" They loved this one rhyme too and had lots of fun singing it!)

Driving in my little red (blue, green, yellow) car,
Driving in my little red car,
Driving in my little red car,
Zoom, Zoom, Zoom, Zoom, Zoom.

Dance With Scarves-Song: Rainbow Connection from For the Kids

-I love using scarves-it's basic movement and music skills, you can dance fast or slow, shake them up or down, side to side, and you can use whatever music you like! I love the For the Kids CDs-great songs for kids and it's not annoying for parents!


Book: Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Bill Martin Jr, illustrated by Eric Carle-what's a storytime about colors with Brown Bear, Brown Bear? Instead of reading this one, I sang it to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

Song: If You're Happy and You Know It

Book: From Head to Toe by Eric Carle-I end all my storytimes with this book because I love how interactive it is!

Closing: Skinamarink


Overall this was a fun storytime and the kids all really enjoyed it. The action rhymes were easy enough for the parents to learn (I wrote the words on the whiteboard so they could sing along) and the books were all a good length.

Comments

  1. Can't believe I'm the first to comment on our blog today. Am also amazed at the high energy you have on your blog and in your reading activities. I'm breathless just reading about it. Good for you for the work you are doing.

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  2. This sounds like a great program! Clearly I need to get my hands on Pete the Cat and add it to my story time repertoire. Thanks for the recommendation.

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  3. Are you kidding? This sounds just adorable. I wish I lived closer so I could take my little babe to your story time!

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  4. Great storytime! I love seeing these. I just went from being an all Teen librarian to youth services so now I'm doing 3-5 age group storytimes and posts like this give me great ideas! LOVE IT :)

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  5. What ages do you break your story times into?

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  6. During our regular storytime sessions, we have 5 different age groups - Little crawlers (6 mos.+), Little walkers (6-24 mos.), Toddling Twos, Terrific Threes, and Super Storytime (4s and 5s). Then for the evening and Saturday special storytimes, it's ages 3+.

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  7. Sarah-We do tiny tots-birth to 3, and preschool-3-6.

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  8. Jessica-that's a lot! We do five storytimes a week-one is all ages birth-6 but ends up being mostly 2 & 3 year olds. I'd like to host a baby storytime again, I just need to find a spot to plug it in!

    And thanks Katie! I have fun with storytimes!

    Scribblingblue-Yes you need to read Pete!!

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