Today’s group of about sixteen kids was unusually quiet and engaged! (Noisy and engaged is also fine, of course, but as someone whose voice is not naturally loud, quiet and engaged is delightful.) We read six books, did some stretching, sang some songs, and did a craft that I came up with about 20 minutes before storytime started.
- Welcome and announcements
- “Hello Friends” song with ASL (Jbrary)
- Where’s My Teddy? by Jez Alborough, with two bears (one big, one small) from the storytime puppet stash
- Where Is The Green Sheep? by Mem Fox, with flannel board sheep: I put blue, pink, and yellow sheep on the board (kids identified the colors when I held them up) before the story, and pulled out that sleepy green sheep at the end. (Hat tip to Laura L. for showing me how to read this book aloud properly.)
- Yoga: Stretching tall, touching toes
- Goose by Laura Wall
- Song cube: “I Had A Little Turtle” and “Zoom Zoom Zoom, We’re Going to the Moon”
- Do You Know Which Ones Will Grow? by Susan Shea: This is the first time I’ve had success with this book! I encouraged everyone to shout out “yes” or “no,” and mostly it was the grown-ups, but they get participation points too.
- Yoga and music: “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes,” “Where Is Thumbkin?” and more stretching (mountain pose, forward fold, star, triangle pose)
- Grumpy Pants by Claire Messer: This book is storytime gold. Someone always checks it out afterward.
- Carrot and Pea by Morag Hood
- “Goodbye Friends” song with ASL (Jbrary)
- Clean up mats
- Craft: Carrot and peas. Big orange paper triangles for carrots, medium-size green circles for peas, glue sticks, crayons for drawing on faces.
I just got introduced to Wombat Walkabout and I can’t wait to try it in storytime! I’m amazed you got through 6 books. I don’t think I’ve ever read more than 3 or 4 in a storytime. How much time do you have?!
I have 45 minutes, and I usually do stories/songs/movement for 30 minutes, followed by a craft activity (or music and bubbles) for as long as anyone wants to stick around afterward – it’s rarely a full 45 minutes total. Sometimes I feel like might be cramming too many books in, but I’ve attended storytimes as a parent as well, and I’m disappointed if there are only 2-3 books. Everyone has different tastes though, and different things work for different groups!