Toddler Storytime: Dress Up

I did this storytime the week of Halloween to give the toddlers an opportunity to dress up in the costumes more than once. It was a lot of fun. I would like to add more books, songs, rhymes, etc. to this storytime so I can use it again next year with more variety. Please leave some comments if you have any suggestions. Thanks!


Early Literacy Tip: Scientific studies have shown that children develop best when they have a strong, positive relationship with a nurturing adult. This helps not only their physical development but their intellectual development as well. Hugs and kisses can be just as important as flash cards in getting a child ready for success in school.


Books



Maisy Dresses Up by Lucy Cousins


My Dress-Up Box by DK


I Could Be, You Could Be by Karen Owen

Flannel Board Visual


Tell the story Spot and Friends Dress Up by Eric Hill using the flannelboard.

Songs/Rhymes/Fingerplays


Librarian's favorite songs, rhymes and fingerplays

Flannel Friday: Five Little Turkeys

I know a this has been posted recently, but I wanted to add mine to the mix. I used Microsoft clipart for the rhyme Five Little Turkeys.

Five little turkeys standing at the door,

One waddled off, and then there were four.

Four little turkeys sitting near a tree,

One waddled off, and then there were three.

Three little turkeys with nothing to do,

One waddled off, and then there were two.

Two little turkeys in the morning sun,

One waddled off, and then there was one.

One little turkey better run away,

For soon it will be Thanksgiving Day.

Toddler Storytime: Pumpkins

This is a storytime I did in October. I am behind in posting my visuals and storytimes, so I am trying to play catch-up as I continue to post on what I am currently doing in storytime.


Early Literacy Tip: The language of nursery rhymes and books is different from the language of conversation. Rhymes and books often have one or two unusual words, ones that children don't hear in regular conversation. Having a large vocabulary helps children understand what they hear and what they will later read. Remember, don't replace unfamiliar words, explain them and use them later in the day so your child will learn more new words.


Books



My Pumpkin by Julia Noonan



Duck & Goose Find a Pumpkin by Tad Hills



Pumpkin Harvest by Calvin Harris


Activities/Visuals


Hand out the different pumpkins to the song Did You Ever See a Pumpkin? After you sing the first verse, the children with the pumpkins described bring them to the flannelboard. After singing the second verse, the rest of the kids bring their pumpkins to the board.


Songs/Fingerplays/Rhymes


Did You Ever See a Pumpkin?


Ten Little Pumpkins

One little, two little, three little pumpkins.

Four little, five little, six little pumpkins.

Seven little, eight little, nine little pumpkins.

Ten little pumpkins here.

Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater

Peter, Peter pumpkin eater,

Had a wife, but couldn't keep her.

He put her in a pumpkin shell,

And there he kept her very well.

(I explain that Peter didn't have a house for his wife, so he made one out of a pumpkin shell. Once his wife had a house, she was very happy.)

Mr. Pumpkin

(tune: Where is Thumbkin)

Mr. Pumpkin, Mr. Pumpkin,

Round and fat,

Round and fat.

Harvest time is coming.

Harvest time is coming.

Yum, yum, yum,

Yum, yum, yum.

(Not) Flannel Friday: Did You Ever See a Pumpkin?

A couple of weeks ago the theme for toddler storytime was "Pumpkins". I got this song and visual from makinglearningfun.com. I printed off the pumpkins, cut them out and then enlarged them on the copy machine (using the same size to enlarge each one so they would stay in proportion). I made enough pumpkins for each toddler to bring to the board after singing the two verses of the song. So, the toddlers brought the pumpkins to the flannelboard in two groups, one after each verse.

Did You Ever See a Pumpkin?
(tune: Did You Ever See a Lassie)

Did you ever see a pumpkin, a pumpkin, a pumpkin?
Did you ever see a pumpkin way down in the patch?
There are BIG ones and LITTLE ones.
There are BUMPY ones and FLAT ones.
Did you ever see a pumpkin way down in the patch?

Did you ever see a pumpkin, a pumpkin, a pumpkin?

Did you ever see a pumpkin way down in the patch?

There are TALL ones and SHORT ones.

There are YELLOW ones and ORANGE ones.

Did you ever see a pumpkin way down in the patch?

Toddler Storytime: People in the Community

This is a storytime I did in October. I am behind in posting my visuals and storytimes, so I am trying to play catch-up as I continue to post on what I am currently doing in storytime.


Early Literacy Tip: Reading non-fiction books is a great way to build vocabulary, share information and increase your child's understanding of the world.

Books

Firefighters A to Z by Chris L. Demarest

I Drive a Garbage Truck by Sarah Bridges

Whose Hat Is This? by Sharon Katz Cooper

Whose Shoes? by Stephen R. Swinburne

Activities/Visuals

Hand out hats to match the story Whose Hat is This by Sharon Katz Cooper. When each hat is revealed in the story, the toddlers bring the corresponding hat to the flannelboard.

Songs/Fingerplays/Rhymes


The Wheels on the Bus

Drive the Firetruck

Hurry, hurry, drive the fire truck

(hands on steering wheel)

Hurry, hurry, drive the fire truck

Hurry, hurry, drive the fire truck

Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding!

(ring bell)

Hurry, hurry, climb the ladder

(pretend to climb ladder)

Hurry, hurry, climb the ladder

Hurry, hurry, climb the ladder

Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding!

(ring bell)

Hurry, hurry, squirt the water

(pretend to spray hose)

Hurry, hurry, squirt the water

Hurry, hurry, squirt the water

Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding!

(ring bell)

Slowly, slowly, back to the station

(lean slowly to the left and right)

Slowly, slowly, back to the station

Slowly, slowly, back to the station

Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding!

(ring bell)

(Not) Flannel Friday: Whose Hat is This by Sharon Katz Cooper

I am behind on posting my storytimes and visuals for October. A couple of weeks ago in toddler storytime the theme was "People in the Community". It is fire prevention week and I was really tired of doing a fire fighter theme, so I expanded it this year and made this visual to go with the book Whose Hat is This by Sharon Katz Cooper. I handed out the hats to the toddlers before reading the book and then when each hat appeared in the story, the child brought it to the board. I can't seem to find my file for this visual. I think I just used clipart and Google Images to find all the hats.


Whose Hat is This by Sharon Katz Cooper

Flannel Friday: Spot and Friends Dress Up by Eric Hill

It has been so long since I posted on my blog! I have been attending conferences and trainings all month, which really cut into my time thinking about storytimes, flannel boards and blogging. Here is the most recent flannel board I used in toddler storytime this week. I have many more from the month to add and will be working on that in the coming weeks.

I did a dress-up storytime this week so the toddlers would have another opportunity to wear their Halloween costumes. All my books were about playing dress-up. Surprisingly it was really hard to find books at the toddler level about playing dress-up. So, I used a couple of flannel board stories instead of reading the actual books. If anyone has book suggestions, I would like to do the same storytime again next year. Our volunteer made this wonderful flannel board of the board book Spot and Friends Dress Up by Eric Hill. I got a used copy of the book from Amazon and used it as the template.

Spot and Friends Dress Up by Eric Hill

Spot and his friends want to have a dress-up party.

Spot wants to be a cowboy.
He puts on his hat and boots.
Yippee! Now he is a cowboy.

Tom wants to go to the party as a pirate.

He puts on his pirate hat and striped sweater.

Yo-ho-ho! Now he is a pirate.

Helen wants to be a ballet dancer.

She needs her tutu and ballet slippers.

Tra-la-la! Now she's a ballerina.

Steve wants to dress as a clown.

He puts on his funny shoes and clown shirt.

Ha-ha-ha! Now he's ready to be a funny clown and make everyone laugh.

Spot and his friends have lots of fun playing dress-up at their party. When they are all ready, they share yummy milk shakes and cookies while they have fun playing games.