We had a great time jingling bells and sharing wonderful Christmas stories this week in toddler story time. The holiday spirit was definitely in the air and the little ones were full of Christmas cheer! Fortunately, I had lots planned to keep us moving and shaking our sillies throughout the morning.
Book I read..
Bear Stay Up for Christmas By Karma Wilson
Lovely Christmas story, but there were a few bumps in the road while I read this story. Lets just say that some little ones heard it (and enjoyed it!) and the rest of the room did not. It was a little longer than I usually read, but worked okay as the first book.
Merry Christmas, Big Hungry Bear By Don and Audrey Wood
We loved The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear! So of course I had to read this Christmas story featuring the same characters. I love the interaction between Mouse and the little ones as I read the story.
Jingle-Jingle By Nicola Smee
I was so excited to use this book because I was already planning to use jingle bells. It fit so nicely into my story time. The little ones did a wonderful job jingling the bells with Mr. Horse and his sleigh!
How it went..
We started our Jingle Bell story time off with a couple great Christmas action rhymes to get us in a holly jolly mood. The first was Santa's Workshop. The little ones did a great job following the simple hand movements! If you love it too, you can find the rhyme here!Santa's Workshop
Here is a great big Christmas tree, (Put tips of fingers of both hands together)Trimmed with lights and balls
Here are Santa's little elves, (Hold up ten fingers and wiggle them)
They run when Santa calls.
This is Santa's workshop, (Use both hands to form a house over your head)
Filled with gifts and toys
The elves and helpers fill the sleigh,
For all good girls and boys.
I love rhymes that are cute and helpful! Santa's Spectacles fit that description perfectly. THe rhyme and movements were simple and easy for little ones and they (hopefully) ended up with their hands in their laps and ready to listen to the first book. Christmas shout out to Perry Public Library Storytime and their wonderful story time ideas!
Santa's Spectacles
These are Santa's spectacles (circle eyes with fingers)And this is Santa's hat (make pointed shape on head with hands)
This is the way he folds his hands
And puts them in his lap! (place hands in lap)
After our first book, we had fun with the finger play Five Little Candy Canes. The little ones got the giggles at the end when we pretended to eat the last candy cane! Thank you Susan Dailey for such a sweet finger play!
Five Little Candy Canes
Five little candy canesHanging on the door.
Santa ate one.
Then there were four.
Four little candy canes
Hanging on the tree.
Mrs. Claus ate one.
Then there were three.
Three little candy canes
Lying by a shoe.
An elf ate one.
Then there were two.
Two little candy canes
Lying in the dun.
A reindeer ate one.
Then there was one.
One little candy cane
By the chimney.
Santa put it in his bag
And brought it to me. (Yum, yum, yum!)
Time to get up and move a bit with the song Let's All Do a Little Clapping from Storytime Katie. This song is sung to the tune of We Wish You a Merry Christmas. My favorite verse was the twirling!
Let's All Do a Little Clapping
Let's all do a little clappingLet's all do a little clapping
Let's all do a little clapping
And spread Christmas cheer.
...Jumping...bending...twirling...
Onto one more rhyme before the second book! (I told you this story time was full of excitement!) This time we pretended to be pine trees. I'm a Little Pine Tree, is, of course, to the tune of I'm a Little Teapot. This and other great rhymes can be found here. The little ones did a great job growing up to be beautiful Christmas trees!
I'm a Little Pine Tree
I'm a little pine tree - as you can see, (crouch down with hands over head like a tree)
All the other pine tree are bigger than me.
Maybe when I grow up - then I'll be
A great big merry Christmas tree! (stand up and be a big tree!)
Flannel Friday this week featured Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. What would happen if his nose wasn't red? Well, we found out this week! Thanks to Storytime Katie for the fantastic idea! Check out our Flannel Friday post with more holiday flannels like this one!
Rudolph, Rudolph
Rudolph, Rudolph, what will you do?You can't guide the sleigh if your nose is blue.
Rudolph, Rudolph, you're such a silly fellow
Who will know it's you if your nose is yellow.
Rudolph, Rudolph, your way cannot be seen,
Through the wintry weather if your nose is green.
Rudolph, Rudolph, it's time to fly at night
But you can't get through the snow if your nose is white.
Rudolph, Rudolph, it's time to go to town
But you can't help Santa if your nose is brown.
Rudolph, Rudolph, what a groovy glow
Your nose looks a little like a rainbow.
Rudolph, Rudolph, the children are in bed
And now we an get on our way because your nose is red.
It's finally time for some jingling! I passed out jingle bells to all the little ones for some musical fun. After reading our last book, it was time for a song or two. We began with the song, Bells on the Sleigh. This fun song is to the tune of The Wheels on the Bus. Another awesome idea from Susan Dailey!
Bells on the Sleigh
The bells on the sleigh go ring, ring, ring (ring bells)Ring, ring, ring, ring, ring, ring
The bells on the sleigh go ring, ring, ring
All through the sky.
(More verses!)
The toys on the sleigh say "Let's have fun!"... (throw hands into air)
The reindeer on the sleigh fly way up high... (hands upward in diagonal direction)
The snow on the sleigh falls gently down... (flutter fingers and move downward)
The driver on the sleigh says "Ho, ho, ho!"... (pretend to drive sleigh, say "ho, ho, ho" in deep voice)
We ended our Jingle Bells story time with (you guessed it!) Jingle Bells!
Jingle Bells
Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the wayOh what fun it is to ride
In a one horse open sleigh - hey!
Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way
Oh what fun it is to ride
In a one horse open sleigh!
And with on last giant shake of the bells, our story time was a wrap! What a great morning celebrating the holidays!
For those brave moms that wanted to craft with their toddler, we made Christmas tree "stained glass" ornaments. This craft was so cute and easy to do that several moms were excited about making more at home with their little ones! How cool is that?!
To Make:
Trace a design on a piece of wax paper. Ours was a Christmas tree. Spread glue stick all over the design. Let your little ones place small squares of tissue paper on the glue. You could be finished there, but I had the moms spread more glue over the tissue paper and place a plain piece of wax paper on top. This helps to seal down any loose pieces. Why dry, cut out the design and punch a hole for some yarn. Many thanks to Miss Sue for the idea!
Looking forward to 2014 and many more awesome story times!
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