Bear Storytime

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

We had a great time in Storytime today reading, talking, singing, and dancing about bears!

(* = planned, but didn't get used this time)

"Shake Your Sillies Out" - Raffi - opening song

Bear Storytime Drawing

“I Don’t Care!” Said the Bear – Colin West

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear (fingerplay)

"Are You Sleeping Little Bear?" *

“The Bear Went Over the Mountain” * 

A Bear and His Boy - Sean Bryan, illustrations by Tom Murphy

“We’re Going On a Bear Hunt” 

"If You're Happy and You Know It" - closing song

Craft - Bear Wakes Up (from hibernation!)

We had 45 kids and 26 adults - a little bigger (and slightly older) audience than last week. Everyone enjoyed singing, dancing, quacking and growling!

Duck Storytime

We had a great time in Storytime today reading, talking, singing, and dancing about ducks!

(* = planned, but didn't get used this time)

"Shake Your Sillies Out" - Raffi - opening song

Duck on a Bike - David Shannon

The Little Ducklings (fingerplay) *

"The Duck Song"

"The Ducks on the Bus" (sung to "The Wheels on the Bus")

The Duckling Gets a Cookie!? - Mo Willems

"Five Little Ducks" song/fingerplay

Duck in the Water fingerplay *

The Doghouse - Jan Thomas

"Ducks Like Rain" song *

"If You're Happy and You Know It" - closing song

Craft - Make a Duck!

We had 30 kids and 26 adults - a little bigger (and slightly older) audience than last week. Everyone enjoyed singing, dancing, quacking and waddling!

Cowboy & Cowgirl Storytime

I thought I’d try archiving what I’m doing in Storytime both for the benefit of anyone looking for ideas and for myself in case I have partial memory failure someday (which, let's face it, could be any day now…).

A few things: 

All the librarians in our branch take turns doing a month (or two) of Storytime. I'll do four of the five Tuesdays in April (A co-worker will cover for me the one week my schedule flips for another program.) and also Storytimes in October.

I don’t use pre-recorded music, but perform all the songs myself, singing and playing guitar. (Sometimes I'll look for the chords online, which is fairly easy for the more familiar tunes; other times I'll just pick out the chords by ear.) Although I’m no great singer or guitar player, I do enjoy having the flexibility to change the music to fit the situation (adding verses, repeating, speeding up the tempo, slowing it down, etc.). 

I usually have more material than I can use. Sometimes I’ll make an on-the-spot decision to do something, repeat something, or not do something. Items marked with an * are things I left out for this particular Storytime (mainly because of time).  

Cowboy & Cowgirl Storytime April 2, 2013

Welcome & Introduction

“Shake Your Sillies Out” - Raffi (Always a good opening song!)

“The Little Cowboy Song” (to the tune of “I’m a Little Teapot”)

TheCowboy ABC (2001) – Chris L. Demarest

“Cowboy Boots” – Charlie Hope (If you aren't familiar with her music, you should be. Learn more here.)

Let’sSing a Lullaby with the Brave Cowboy (2012) – Jan Thomas

“She’ll Be Comin’ ‘Round the Mountain” *

The Cowboy Pokey (dance - modified from this version)

“Home on the Range” *

Cowboy Bedtime (fingerplay)

“If You’re a Cowboy and You Know It” (to the tune of “If You’re Happy and You Know It”, a good closing song)

“Happy Trails” * 

Crafts: 

Decorate your own sheriff’s badge

Make a cowboy moustache (various sizes and shapes)

Cowboy & Cowgirl coloring sheets

We had a pretty light crowd: 20 kids, 15 adults and very much on the young side. (I'd say the oldest kid was 4 years old.)  As usual, it was a lot of fun!

More next week!