Family Storytime: 4/20/19 – FRIENDSHIP & FUN
Song – Top of the Morning
This is a fun tune and great for waking up and doing a little stretching. It’s called Top of the Morning.
Hello Rhyme – Say Hello
This is a great rhyme for saying hello because we get to do it in so many fun ways!
Stretch – Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes
I do this three times, faster and faster each time.
ASL – FRIEND / TOGETHER / HAPPY / MORE
I always teach three or four signs based on our theme in my family storytimes. Check out Signing Savvy or Baby Sign Language to learn these signs.
Rhyme – The More We Get Together
For this one we used the signs we just learned to sing and sign the song.
The more we get together Together, together The more we get together The happier we’ll be
‘Cause your friends are my friends And my friends are your friends The more we get together The happier we’ll be
Book/Puppets – Hedgehog Needs A Hug by Jen Betton
I don’t think I have the right puppets for this one but I hope I do because it is just so cute! I totally built this theme around this book. It’s a new one to the library and just so lovely.
Song – Skidamarink by Raffi
The perfect song for a friendship theme, with simple movements for the kids.
Rhyme – Will you be a friend of mine
This is a new one for me that I found online. We can also use the sign for friend that we learned earlier.
Will you be a friend of mine, friend of mine, friend of mine? Will you be a friend of mine and [insert action word] around with me?
(jump… bow… clap… hop on one foot…)
Game – Sleeping, Sleeping…
The kids love this one and it’s one my mom taught me. Basically you put the kids to sleep and when they wake up, they pretend to be different animals. Put each animal to sleep and wake up as something else but don’t forget to put our animals to sleep and wake them up as nice boys and girls.
Sleeping, sleeping. All my little friends were sleeping. And when they woke up they were [insert animal here].
Rhyme – High Five Friends
Super proud of this one! Made it up on my own 🙂
One little friend has so much to do. Add another little friend and then we get two. Three little friends will get the job done. But four little friends are much more fun! Now with five little friends, what can we do? A high five for me and a high five for you! High five those around you
Book – A Splendid Friend, Indeed by Suzanne Bloom
I was going to do Will You Be My Friend? by Nancy Tafuri but it’s a smidgen long for a second book for my crowd. I’ve done splendid friend before but it’s short, fun and I can totally rock an annoying bird voice!
Rhyme – Two Little Black Birds
I am not sure why I thought this would go with the theme, but we’re doing it regardless.
Two little blackbirds sitting on a hill One named Jack, the other named Jill Fly away Jack, fly away Jill Come back Jack, come back Jill
Two little blackbirds sitting on a stick One named slow, the other named quick Fly away slow, fly away quick Come back slow, come back quick
Two little blackbirds sitting on a cloud One named soft, the other named loud Fly away soft, fly away loud Come back soft, come back loud
Song/Shakers – Shake My Sillies Out
I am going to pass out shakers and we can literally shake our sillies out.
Movement Exercise – If You’re Happy and You Know It
I tell the kids that I want to know how happy they are.
Rhyme – Say Goodbye
This is the same rhyme we started with, so the new guys are familiar with it by the end of storytime.
Song – Clean It Up! by The Laurie Berkner Band
Everyone helps put our shakers away
Song – Goodbye, So Long, Farewell my Friends by Music Together
I always put this one on as I go to open the door. Its a nice, slow, peaceful song to wind down on.
How’d it go:
Lot of families travelling for Easter and Spring Break this week, so we had a nice crew of about 50, which is tiny for Family Storytime. I was able to maneuver the puppets and the book–always a struggle–and everyone seemed to have a lot of fun. I had to go around and give everyone high-fives with my high-five rhyme 🙂 All in all, a fun start to the Saturday!
That’s all for now!
-M-