I'm still riding the high of last week's awesome baby program I did called Valentine Babies. It was SO CUTE, like, really one of those programs that is just fun and feels like a success. It was for ages birth-16 months. First we read some "love-ly" books and sang some "love-ly" songs, and then we all broke off and worked on a craft-- which I almost never ever do with babies, but totally worked!
I had all four songs written out on a handout that I passed around so the adults could all sing along and then (if their copy wasn't too destoroyed by their baby) also sing the songs again at home.
I only had 7 babies signed up, which I was happy with. That's pretty average for kids this age and for this time of day... BUT I had 12 babies show up! Such an awesome surprise considering this age range!
Like I said, I very rarely do crafts with teeny babies (despite the fact that I kind of just did one the week before this program in Littlest Learners). I guess this craft was more for the parents than the babies, but it was awesome either way! We truly made a Valentine's Day decoration keepsake that families could use and reuse year after year. See below:
The samples above were made by my kids (and me). The top was done by Sadie, age 3, and the bottom was done by Callie, age 1.5.
To prep for this craft, first I cut "L" and "E" shapes out on the Cricut. Then I pre-glued down and pre-laminated a handful of "E" sheets, since that one was the same for everyone. Then I set out the rest of the craft supplies: A ton of cardstock (in a Valentine's Day-ish color palette), two laminators that were hot and ready, a pile of laminator sheets, four bowls of white paint with sponge brushes, one hole punch that made its way around the room, a bunch of glue sticks, and a Sharpie for personalizing with something like "Sadie, February 2020."
To begin, I had the adults in a line in front of me and we worked together to stamp each of the baby's hands and feet, then we passed the stamped sheets over to Mary (our clerk) who helped with laminating. There was absolutely NO WAY that I could have done this without her help. We had such an efficiant little assembly line going. I can't even begin to comprehend the organized system that Mary had when she was laminating all these prints and somehow keeping track of whose feet and hand prints were whose, but whatever she was doing, it worked.
After stamping their baby's feet, the adults wrote their name and date on the "L" sheet and then gave that to Mary too. When they had all four laminated papers, we punched holes in the tops and strung them together with string.
Seriously, all in all, this was AWESOME, albiet a little chaotic due to having 12 babies and planning for 7. Here's how I'd improve upon it next February:
1. This is the most important: I would DO THE CRAFT FIRST. The biggest hiccup in this program was that the paint didn't have time to dry and it ran a little in the laminating sheets. If we did all the stamping first, then there'd be a few minutes to let the paint dry before we ran it through the laminator.
2. I'd make the program 45-minutes long instead of 30-minutes long. First we'd do the hand and feet stamping, then we'd sing the 4 songs and read A Kiss Like This by Mary Murphy. Then, I'd let the parents start coming up and assembling the rest of their craft and also have the class set of Counting Kisses by Karen Katz out for them to read on their own if they wanted to while waiting their turn with the laminator.
3. I might pre-laminate the "L" sheets also and just have the parents write on either the "O" or "V" sheets. That way there are only two sheets to laminate on the spot for each patron, instead of 3. I do like the way the written text looks on the "L" but it might not be worth it, considering the amount of time we could save.
Here's what I'd do the same:
1. Same actual craft product. It was so cute and the parents loved it (har har, no pun intended). I was hearing about what a hit this was for days and up until today in fact!
2. Definitely, I'd need Mary to help me again. This is not a craft program for only one staff person.
Aaaaand I will let the above few sentances suffice as my "What worked least" and "What worked best" for this post. This is a program that I feel super proud of and one that I will totally be doing again next year!
It's been a loooong time since I wrote about Share & Play Babies but, to me, it's one of the most important programs that I do. For most of the babies and probably about half of the adults, it's their first library program! Ever! So I always want to make sure it's fun, relaxed, and a welcoming environment. To me, this is more important than the actual content of the program. Of course this isn't to say I don't agonize over the weekly content, but more to say that, above all else, I just want Share & Play Babies to feel like a warm, inviting, nonjudgmental mom group, where the moms are free chat if they want to, but aren't required to make small talk for toooooo long.
Anyway, this past session was for four weeks and, rather than write about just 1 week in detail, I'm going to share lists of all of the different things that I did over the course of the whole program.
The basic general format of this program has changed a bit since I first started doing it back in 2017, and it varies a little week-to-week depending on the group, but this is my general outline for each 30-minute session:
1. Open play (with music) + (sometimes) introductions (5-10 minutes)
2. One big book read by me (2-3 minutes)
3. A few familiar lap bounces or finger play type songs (2-3 minutes)
4. One board book, passed out as a class set, read individually between parents and babies (2-3 minutes)
5. Baby soccer (with music) + clean up toys (3-5 minutes)
6. Instrument/play thing time-- shakers, rainbow wrist ribbons, scarves, etc. (5 minutes)
7. Parachute time (5-10 minutes)
8. Goodbye song + bubbles (2-3 minutes)
In short, and if you do the math up above you'll see, this is a LOT to cram into a 30-minute program. So we're very busy in there...all while trying to all be relaxed!
1. Open play: I have done programs involving open play for years, but it typically felt awkward and forced for me. Before I had my own kids, open play included a lot of me feeling sort of useless, smiling, and only saying things like "Awww, so cute." But now that I am a mom too, open play/chat time/introductions are totally different! First, I've decided that open play works better at the start of the program. This gives everyone a chance to settle in, get comfortable, even come in a few minutes late without too much pressure. Second, I learned that it works well when combined with introductions. This organically opens up the conversation floor a little and is just a good way to get to know who's in the room. Plus, chit-chatting with moms during open play is sooooo much easier when you have your own kids.
2. One big book read by me: After open play, the first "structured" thing I did was read the class a big book. I purposely only did big books because my bottom age limit was so young and I wasn't sure how well some of the smaller babies could see yet. I don't remember the specific month-by-month developments, but I do know that it isn't until 12-months-old that babies see the same way we see, as adults, so I erred on the side of seeing less, and did only big books. I left the toys out too because (a) I'm not really a stickler for making kids (especially babies) pay attention to me, (b) I believe babies can benefit from hearing a book while also playing with or chewing on a toy, and (c) Just why NOT let them play with a toy a little longer if that's what they're currently in the mood to do? Like I said, we're all there to relax and have fun!
These are the four big books I read throughout the class:
Note: I was limited in my selection based on what big books we own. These four books were definitely good, but if I were choosing from literally all books ever, instead of just the big ones we have, I probably would have only done Freight Train from the books listed above. And possibly Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? I definitely would have also done Baby Parade by Rebecca O'Connell. FYI, that is a really great book for a class of babies!
3. Familiar lap bounces/finger play type songs: These songs are a mix of familiar songs we mostly know, new songs I wanted to teach the group, and old songs spiced up a bit! I did 1-3 of these each week, depending on how long they were. Here are the songs we wound up covering over the four weeks:
The Moon Is Round *
Eyes, Nose, Cheeky, Cheeky, Chin *
Itsy Bitsy Spider
London Bridge
A Smooth Road *
You Roll It *
She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain *
Five Little Monkeys
* These are all from Jbrary! Here are the videos!
4. One book, passed out as a class set, read individually between parents and babies: I like incorporating some one-on-one reading time for the babies and caregivers, again, because the babies can see the books up close, even if their distance vision hasn't fully developed yet. There are also a lot more wonderful baby books out there in board book format than there are in big book format. Plus, this is a great way to introduce some of my favorite books for this age bracket to parents who may be looking for recommendations! Throughout the four weeks of this class, these are the books that I had the parents share with their babies:
5. Baby soccer: This is a super fun game that I stole from the wonderful Ms. Kathy who does this in her baby programs at my local library. For this, I brought out a decent-sized ball, had the parents/caregivers lift their babies by grabbing them under their arms, and then making the kids "kick" the ball around the circle to each other. It could maybe more accurately be described as Baby foosball. This winds up being a really awesome team building activity-- all the grown ups working together, making sure all the babies have a chance to play. There was one week where I got to play with of the twins in the group and, sure enough, it was really a lot of fun!
6. Instrument/play thing time-- shakers, rainbow wrist ribbons, scarves, etc.: I did a different thing at this point in the program each week. One week I did shakers, one week I did BABY AEROBICS*, one week I did scarves and also a circle dance, and one week I did wrist ribbons.
What's baby aerobics? Glad you asked. This is something I've tried a few times but have had trouble with when my age group is too varied. But with this class, oh it worked... and it worked really, really well. It's to the tune of Lynn Kleiner's Exercise to the Beat-Twinkle Theme. Here's how it goes:
I have this video starting at 5:55 because that's when they do this song. When you have a group entirely of kids the right age for it, this is SO cute. But the odds of having a group all the correct age, when the age range is only a couple of months wide (maybe 4-9 months?) is kind of a long shot. I got really lucky the week I did this! It was a great experience!
7. Parachute time: I am a huge fan of parachute time with babies. There is so much you can do and even the simplest songs are exciting and stimulating for them because the parachute itself is stimulating. Some weeks I used my normal 12" parachute but some weeks I used a cute lil' 6" one.
Here are all the parachute songs I wound up using throughout the four-week-class:
The Colors Over You * Wheels on the Bus (with baby leg motions)
Let’s Go Riding in an Elevator * Peek A Boo
ABC’s If You’re Happy and You Know It Lift it High / Shake it Fast
Twinkle, Twinkle Old McDonald (with puppets)
* These two are also from Jbrary! Here are the videos!
8. Goodbye song: My classic program goodbye song for over 10-years-- Laurie Berkner's Blow a Kiss. Always a favorite for me!
Ladies and gentleman, I am quitting "What worked least" and "What worked best." It's my blog and I just straight up don't wanna do 'em anymore! Overall, this was a great program and it makes me so happy to be able to reach our youngest, newest library patrons and to provide them with a happy, comfortable, welcoming place to make and form happy library memories! Yay babies!
Greetings from the blog post of my first EVER parachute-only-focused program. Despite the parachute always being the resounding favorite part of every program I've ever used it in, a parachute-only-focused program has always petrified me! I just didn't think I had enough stuff to fill a half-hour. But, as it turns out, I didn't have to!
In my research for Petite Parachute Play, I stumbled across this blog post from Laughter and Literacy. The librarian who wrote it didn't fill an entire 30-minutes with specifically parachute stuff. She did other songs and stories too! When I read that, I thought Oh! Of course! I'm TOTALLY allowed to do other, non-parachute-specific stuff, while the kids are still sitting AROUND the parachute! It's the parachute itself that's fun, not the songs the grown ups sing while we lift and lower and shake it! The pressure was off! In fact, in the end, this program actually most closely resembled Share & Play Babies. It was for the same age group and, aside from a little more parachute, wound up really including a lot of the same stuff. It was held at our Station branch library and the 30-minutes broke down like this:
1. 5-minutes of open play and toy time as everyone came in and got settled. I put out a small assortment of baby toys-- not quite as much as I use for Share & Play Babies, but a few things. But to be honest, I'm not sure any of it got touched.
2. Hello Song. In my last post I wrote about a song I used called Let's All Shake 'Cause Sadie Is Here (which was the made-up-name I gave to the Jbrary song seen below [originally titled Let's All Clap]). This time I used the song as is and we all clapped for each kid. I had five sweet babies in total and this was a great and quick way to make sure we all had everyone's names down.
3. Songs with the babies under the parachute. After our introductions, we cleaned up the toys and lifted the parachute up over the babies for a few songs. The littler ones laid on their backs and the bigger ones sat up or crawled around. First we did The Colors Over You *, thenLet’s Go Riding in an Elevator **, and lastSlow and Fast by Hap Palmer.
* The Colors Over You is to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and goes like this:
Red and green and yellow and blue
These are the colors over you
Red like an apple
Green like a tree
Yellow like the sun
And blue like the sea
Red and green and yellow and blue
These are the colors over you
** Let's Go Riding in an Elevator can be found in the video below and works just as well (if not better!) with the parachute and the kiddos underneath it:
4. Mini storytime. At this point, I announced that it was time for "a little story time break." First, I read the big book version of Freight Train by Donald Crews. Then we did She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain as a lap bounce.* And last we read Are You My Mommy by Mary Murphy as a class set of board books passed around (then once together as a group).
* Whenever I do She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain as a lap bounce, I start by explaining that there will be four moves that we'll be doing with the babies: Lifting for "Yee-ha!," Tilting for "Woah there!," Tummy rubbing for "Yum yum," and kissing for "Kiss, kiss." Then I sing! It can all be seen below:
5. Scarf songs around the parachute. I just love the scarves with the super young baby group. First we sang Popcorn Kernels* and then did Laurie Berkner's Moon, Moon, Moon**.
** Popcorn Kernels isto the tune of Frère Jacques and goes like this:
Popcorn kernels, popcorn kernels (wave the scarf around above your head)
In the pot, in the pot (crumple the scarf into balls in your hands)
Shake them, shake them, shake them (shake your tightly wrapped scarf around in your hands)
Shake them, shake them, shake them
'Til they pop, 'til they pop (toss the scarf up in the air and watch it fall slowly to the floor)
** Moon Moon Moon by Laurie Berkner has quickly moved up the ranks to become one of my favorite sitting down/lap songs for this age group and, as it turns out, it also works great as a scarf song! I like to do some basic lap and hand motions for each-- most of the stuff Laurie Berkner herself does in the Moon Moon Moon video. I usually hold the scarf for both, waving it around bit, and let the parents and babies sort of interpret all of it in a way that works best for them. Different levels of scarffing/bouncing/watching me do hand motions work differently for each kid, so this works in different ways for everyone. It's nice. Here is the video for reference:
6. Songs with the kids on top of the parachute. This was the last part of the program and also how I almost always end Musical Kids. First, we sang Itsy Bitsy Spider, then did Peek-a-Boo!*, and Wheels on the Bus**. Then I threw the mini beach balls on and played Popcorn by Joanie Leeds and the Nightlights while the grown ups kind of shook the 'chute around a little. I always feel like everyone loves this, even though it's so simple! The kids get lots of stimulation with the beach balls, the music, the colors, and the other babies, and the grown ups get a good photo op! Last I added the mini black sheep into the mix and everyone sang Baa Baa Black Sheep. Then I did my goodbye song (Blow a Kiss by Laurie Berkner, as usual) and walked around the circle, blowing bubbles at the babies-- another crowd pleaser for the same reasons listed above.
* Peek-A-Boo: This baby song, to the tune of Frère Jacques (again), goes like this:
Where are you hiding?
Where are you hiding?
I can't see you
I can't see you
Are you over here?
Are you over there?
Peek-a-boo!
Peek-a-boo!
It winds up being a fun little game for parents and babies to play together and is particularly good for the babies on the younger side of the age range.
** Wheels on the Bus is another one of my favorite "little baby" songs. For this song, I have the parents lay their babies down on their backs in front of them, feet toward mom or dad. Here's what we do:
The wheels on the bus go 'round and 'round (move baby's legs in a circle)
The wipers on the bus go swish, swish, swish (move baby's legs back and forth)
The windows on the bus go open and shut (open and close baby's legs)
The windows on the bus go up and down (move baby's legs up and down)
I didn't take any pictures but here are a few pictures from when I did Wheels on the Bus during a different program about a year ago (what's crazy is that the babies pictured on the right have both recently turned one!):
What worked least: The 5-minutes of open play at the very start of the program was actually kind of awkward! Usually I have a great group of regular moms who all have lots to say, both to me and to each other. And usually I'm a lot better at driving the conversation! But it didn't flow this time and it felt kinda weird. I was happy to cut it short and move on to the structured activities!
What worked best: I think the songs with the babies on top of the parachute at the end were the most enjoyable for both the babies and the parents. It's such a simple thing, but this is the resounding favorite part of Musical Kids as well. I guess just having a pile of stuff in the middle and letting the kids play is, ultimately, the most fun thing for everyone!
I had my last session of Share & Play Babies today and I have to say, this was such an enjoyable program to do! It was a new program that I created for babies ages 3-12 months (with ages 3-5 months being a group previously not serviced at our library!). Inspired by all of Sadie's favorite things, this program crammed a LOT of juice into a three 30-minute windows (one per week).
For every single parent/baby pair in the class... this was their first library program. That means that, in the three Wednesdays that I held this program, I reached a total of nineteen new library users! That is SO awesome. So exciting! So important! So much pressure!
Each week, the format of the class was as follows:
1. Open play (with music) + introductions (8-10 minutes)
2. One book read by me (2-3 minutes)
3. One book, passed out as a class set, read individually between parents and babies (2-3 minutes)
4. Simple finger play songs (2-3 minutes)
5. Baby soccer (with music) + clean up toys (5 minutes)
6. Shaker + puppet song (2-3 minutes)
7. Parachute time (5 minutes)
8. Goodbye song (2-3 minutes)
I'll explain all the details below.
1. Open Play: I have done programs involving open play in the past, but have always thrown it in at the end. In the past, it typically felt awkward and forced for me. And it included a lot of me feeling sort of useless, smiling, and only saying things like "Awww, so cute." But after attending a few baby programs with Sadie while on maternity leave, I learned a lot about well done open play. First, I decided that open play works better at the start of the program. This gives everyone a chance to settle in, get comfortable, even come in a few minutes late without too much pressure. Second, I learned that it works well when combined with introductions. This organically opens up the conversation floor a little and is just a good way to get to know who's in the room. Plus, it turns out that chit-chatting with moms during open play is a lot easier when you have your own baby! Who knew?
This was also the first time I ever had the parents do formal introductions of themselves. I'd asked them to tell the group their name, their baby's name, and how old their baby was. As a program attendee (and specifically one who also attended my first baby program just a few months ago), I liked doing this--it made me feel more comfortable. So for this room full of first time program attendees, I included it. I think it worked well and kind of broke up the open play time, without taking the toys away from the babies. I had them do this each week, even if they'd come before, because it's a good little ice breaker and, honestly, we could probably all use the refresher.
Here are how the toys were typically set up before the start of the class:
2. One book read by me: After about 8-10 minutes of open play, each week I read the class a book. I left the toys out too because (a) I'm not really a stickler for making kids (especially babies) pay attention to me, (b) I believe babies can benefit from hearing a book while also playing with or chewing on a toy, and (c) Just why NOT let them play with a toy a little longer if that's what they're currently in the mood to do?
Throughout the three weeks of this class, these are the three books I read:
3. One book, passed out as a class set, read individually between parents and babies: This was an exciting new thing that we haven't done in our library before (but I'd done in the past when working at a different library). In advance, I ordered shiny new class sets of books specifically for this program, inspired by--you guessed it--Sadie's Top 5 Lists! Throughout the three weeks of this class, I had parents share the following books with their babies:
Here are a few moms and caregivers sharing Sneak-a-Peek Colors with their little ones:
4. Simple finger play songs: For most of the parents and caregivers in the program, this is was chance to sing some "old favorites" together with their babies. Both repetition for kids and re-teaching parents childhood favorites are always great! However, for a few moms who were from other countries (at least two, maybe three, in my class) this was a chance for them to learn NEWsongs--important, almost vital, songs that their kids will be singing for years to come! Here are the songs we wound up covering over the three weeks:
Five Little Monkeys Itsy Bitsy Spider She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star * Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes Where is Thumbkin
* I had an embarrassing moment here in week 2 of the program, where I started singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star but accidentally did the hand motions for Itsy Bitsy Spider! It called for a hearty do-over! So grateful for the wonderful families that I work with who aren't too judgmental!
5. Baby soccer: This was really fun! It may have been the highlight of the program! I stole the idea for this from a baby program that I attended with Sadie at my local library. For this, I brought out a decent-sized ball (see below), had the parents/caregivers lift their babies by grabbing them under their arms (also see below), and then making the kids "kick" the ball around the circle to each other. It wound up being a really awesome team building activity, working together, and making sure everyone had a chance to play. We did this for about five minutes and I almost felt bad ending it!
6. Shaker + puppet song: This is 5 minutes of programming that I get to borrow directly from Musical Kids. Here are the songs I used each week:
I Know a Chicken by Laurie Berkner (with chicken puppet) The Owl Song by Playdate (with owl puppet) This Land is Your Land by Josh Levine (with dog puppet)*
* There's no correlation between dogs and This Land is Your Land. I just needed another song and another puppet and I like both of these.
7. Parachute time: I am a huge fan of parachute time with babies. It always works in Musical Kids. Always. One thing that changed parachute time from how it usually goes in Musical Kids to how it wound up going in Share & Play Babies, was having the foam mat on the floor. Since I had everyone sitting, tightly packed around the foam mat, the parachute wasn't able to extend out to its full diameter, so there were several bunches and folds in the middle. Basically, a lot of extra fabric going on. It didn't really matter, just sort of changed the dynamic from what I am used to.
Here are all the parachute songs I wound up using throughout the three-week-class. I'll write out all these rhymes/chants at the end of the post!:
The Colors Over You Peek-a-Boo! In and Out the Window The Wheels on the Bus Come Under My Umbrella If You're Happy and You Know It Let's Go Riding in an Elevator
8. Goodbye song: Another few minutes borrowed from Musical Kids (and basically every other non-craft program I ever do). Our goodbyes are sung to Laurie Berkner's Blow a Kiss. Always a favorite for me!
Parachute songs, in detail:
The Colors Over You (to the tune of Twinkle, Twinke, Little Star)
Red and green and yellow and blue
These are the colors over you
Red like an apple, green like a tree
Yellow like the sun, and blue like the sea
Red and green and yellow and blue
These are the colors over you
Peek-a-Boo! (to the tune of Frer Jacquez)
Where are you hiding?
Where are you hiding?
I can't see you
I can't see you
Are you over here?
Are you over there?
Peek-a-Boo!
Peek-a-Boo!
In and Out the Window
This one's on Jbrary! Watch below:
The Wheels on the Bus(done with babies lying on their backs)
The wheels on the bus go 'round and 'round (move baby's legs in a circle)
The wipers on the bus go swish, swish, swish (move baby's legs back and forth)
The windows on the bus go open and shut (open and close baby's legs)
The windows on the bus go up and down (move baby's legs up and down)
Here are a few pictures from Wheels on the Bus, which we ended with every week:
Come Under My Umbrella (to the tune of The More We Get Together)
(Fast shake) There's thunder and lightening and wind and rain
There's thunder and lightening and wind and rain
(Lift the parachute up high in unison) Come under my umbrella, umbrella, umbrella
Come under my umbrella, it's starting to storm
If You're Happy and You Know It
If you're happy and you know it lift it high...
If you're happy and you know it shake it fast...
If you know it shake it slow...
Let's Go Riding in an Elevator
I'll let Jbrary illustrate this one too. I do it with the parachute instead of scarves and sing it a lot slower (for emphasis, I guess):
What worked least: The third/last week of this program (the week that I used the books Pete the Cat: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star and Counting Kisses) I zoomed through the open play and the books too fast. By the time I'd finished with everything I had planned, there were still 8 minutes left of the program! And the goodbye song is only only 2-minutes and 47-seconds long! So I wound up doing 5 bonus minutes of open play at the end... which was fine but a little awkward since we'd just cleaned up the toys. What's funniest here is that I purposely didn't read Counting Kisses along with the group after I'd had them read it individually for fear that it would take too long! I should have!
What worked best: Parachute time is always a favorite in any program and this was no exception! And actually I've found that, even as a patron with my own baby, I am sort of bummed when a program doesn't include any parachute time! It's always a great success!
Yesterday morning I had my first session of Baby Time, a new program for ages 3-12 months. I was really looking forward to it because I've been especially enjoying my youngest Musical Kids group lately and this program would be giving me the opportunity to do more with even younger babies. Since Musical Kids gets a large turn out week after week, I'd imagined Baby Time would do the same, but as it goes in the public library, you really never know what kind of turn out you'll get until the day of the program. I wound up with only three moms and three babies, plus one older sibling. However, for a small group, it went really well!
I started with a new-to-me hello song, Hello Everybody. This wasa little scary since I'm used to hearing my usual A New Way to Say Hello by Big Jeff at the start of a program. Starting with the same hello songmentally prepares me--helps my brain get into storytime mode and takes away any kind of awkwardness I might feel (especially with a new group and especially with a brand new program). So starting not only with a new-to-me hello song but one that immediately required singing, was a little nerve-wracking! But hopefully as the weeks go on and the parents also get comfortable with the song, it'll get easier for me too. I think it's really just a matter of retraining my brain a little. Anyway, here a is really great version of Hello Everybody:
Then I moved on to the meat of the program. First, I read the group Jump! by Scott Fischer, which everyone really liked. I made the book interactive by having the parents pick their babies up to have them "jump" whenever the characters in the booked jumped. This worked particularly well because I had an older sibling who enjoyed frantically jumping along too.
Then we did some lap songs: In and Out the Window and She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain. I gave out handouts for these. The PDF of this handout can be downloaded here! She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain is a lap bounce that includes things like lifting baby (for "yee-ha!"), tilting baby (for "woah there"), and rubbing baby's tummy (for "yum yum"). And In and Out the Window is a great one for getting in some good baby facial recognition time. I think I've linked to this before, but here's a video to illustrate how In and Out the Window goes:
I could tell the parents' arms were getting tired after Jump!, In and Out the Window, and She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain, so I decided to give them a rest and read a book. I read The Babies On the Bus by Karen Katz and we all sang along. This is an easy book that's basically just a modified version of Wheels on the Bus. Also, because the babies were starting to get antsy at this point, singing a song together as a group really worked to bring back a little order and control in the room.
Before our 15 minutes of open play, I wanted to do one last activity: Lynn Kleiner's B-I-N-G-O, because I've been using it with all of the age groups of Musical Kids lately and it's been successful every single time. This song is AMAZING. It's seriously good for every age of kids. I first saw it on Lynn Kleiner's DVD that came with this instrument kit but there's no video for it online! So I'm going to do my best to describe it here:
This is a version of Bingo that has a verse and a chorus. You can hear it here! For the verse part, the parents march around in a circle, carrying or dancing their babies in their arms. (With older groups, I just have the kids march themselves in a circle.) At the chorus, everyone stops marching and faces inward. For the letters B, I, N, and G we all take a step in, one letter at a time, so by the time we're at G, we're all really close together. Then, for O, everyone runs back and the circle gets big again. Like with In and Out the Window,this is a great chance for the babies to do some facial recognition (or, in the case of an older group, a chance for the kids to giggle at how silly we all are). If you can visualize how this works, I totally recommend it with all ages! The kids and babies all love it!
Then it was time for open play. I think open play is awesome, especially with the youngest age group because you get a mix of first-time-moms and not-first-time-moms and everyone can sit and talk and relax, without any pressure. Even though I have struggled with how I appear during open play for a long time (I discuss that here), I know that it's great for both the babies and the parents. I feel satisfied when I see the parents relaxing, laughing, and discussing their kids. Yesterday I even learned a baby fact: Babies parallel play until they are about 8-months-old, when they then begin to play together. See? Thanks, open play!
Last, I wrapped up with Old MacDonald using our puppets, a tried and true repeat crowd pleaser for all. As the group sings Old MacDoland together, I come around and give each baby (and older sibling) a kiss from each animal puppet (except the cat, who nuzzles, as cats do). This always gets big gummy, baby smiles and works as an easy goodbye song.
Overall, this program went well... really well considering the small group size. And I was impressed with myself for cramming so many activities into a half-hour. I've got two more sessions to go and have already chosen my books for next week: Wiggle by Doreen Cronin (where you can have the parents wiggle their babies whenever the book says "wiggle") and Baby Parade by Rebecca O'Connell (where parents and babies can wave to the cute [and multicultural] babies in the pictures). Maybe I'll even get a bigger crew next week. Stranger things have happened!
What worked least: I probably could have stood to not change the hello song. I usually think of the hello song as as time for me to mentally compose myself for the rest of the storytime. So instead of getting myself into gear with my usual A New Way to Say Hello by Big Jeff, I had to sing a new song right off the bat. And with a brand new group that I didn't know! I'm not sure what I was thinking.
What worked best: Jump! by Scott Fischer worked really well because it was interactive for the babies and also for the older sibling. Everyone gets to jump! I'd definitely recommend this one for holding teeny attention spans in baby storytimes.
