It was a beautiful day and a BIG group in our little storytime room today – about 18 kids plus a baby or two and accompanying grownups. It was a correspondingly loud storytime, so when possible, I used techniques to harness and direct the noise: CAW-ing like a crow in Harold and His Woolly Hat, HONK-ing with Goose Goes to School, lots of songs from the song cube.

• Welcome and announcements
• “Hello Friends” song with ASL from Jbrary
• Harold Loves His Woolly Hat by Vern Kousky: I got a little brown bear out of our stuffed animal/puppet closet and let the kids pet it after the story. Hat tip to Lauren at the Robbins Library for reading Harold at her storytime a few months ago.
• Yoga: forward fold to touch toes, stretch to touch ceiling
• Goose Goes to School by Laura Wall: Again, Goose was a hit. I don’t know if it’s the bright colors or the text-to-illustration ratio or what, but it’s magic.
• Song cube: Itsy-bitsy Spider, I Had A Little Turtle
• Alfie Is Not Afraid by Patricia Carlin: Nearly all of the humor in this book comes from the juxtaposition between the pictures and the text, so I mentioned that upfront as something to look out for.
• Yoga: Seated forward fold, stretch toward the ceiling, stretch to either side
• When Spring Comes by Kevin Henkes: An informal poll shows that EVERYONE likes jumping in puddles.
• “Shake Your Sillies Out” with shaker eggs (and scarves, because I ran out of eggs)
• The Giant Jumperee by Julia Donaldson
• Song cube: Zoom Zoom Zoom, We’re Going to the Moon; I’m A Little Teapot; Where Is Thumbkin?
• Just Add Glitter by Angela DiTerlizzi and Samantha Cotterill: This has textured pages, which I let the kids feel after the story.
• “Goodbye Friends” song with ASL from Jbrary
• Clean up mats, get coloring sheets (I drew two different types of hat and made copies), color with crayons, come choose a colored pom pom and get a dot of glue.