Toddler Story Time - Shh.. It's Bedtime

Shhh...  This week's story time was about bedtime.  This was the perfect opportunity to get out the teddy bears and scarves and enjoy quieter fingerplays and rhymes.  Did it work?  Not a chance with 18 little ones under 3, but it was lots of fun!

Books I read...
Llama Llama Red Pajama   By Ann Dewdney

Baby Llama wants misses his Mama Llama at bedtime.  Love, love, love this story..  And I loved how four little ones sat at my feet mesmerized by the tale.  I don't think they even blinked!

I’m Not Sleepy   By Jonathan Allen

It’s morning and Baby Owl is determined to stay awake!  This book gave us a chance to talk about how owls sleep during the day.  Most didn't know this and thought that was pretty silly!

 

Yawn  By Sally Symes

This rhyming board book is super fun.  It has a hole through the pages that follows a yawn from critter to critter starting with a little boy named Sean.  I really like using books that have a unique feature like this. 

How it went...

A great finger play for bedtime (or nap time) is Here is a Baby (Another great idea from Perry Public Library Storytimes!).  This can also be used for a younger audience by using the babies and not your fingers.  Babies would love to be rocked during this! 

Fingerplay: Here is a Baby

Here is a baby                                  (index finger)
Ready for a nap
Lay her down in her mother's lap.     (place finger in palm)
Cover her up so she won't peek.        (curl fingers around index finger)
Rock her till she's fast asleep.            (rock)

The next finger play I used was adapted to fit in nicely after reading Llama Llama Red Pajama.  It was originally about elves (Thanks to the 2012 Dream Big SRP!) but worked great with llamas too.  There wasn't much action to it other than counting fingers, but it was still super cute. 

Fingerplay: Tired Little Llamas (count on fingers)

Said this little llama "I'm as tired as can be"
Said this little llama "My eyes can hardly see"
Said this little llama "I'd like to go to bed"
Said this little llama "I want to rest my head"
Said this little llama "Come climb the stairs with me"
1, 2, 3, 4, 5 they tiptoed          (tiptoe fingers)
Just as still as still could be    

I had not had the opportunity to use scarves at a story time yet, but discovered how cool they are recently.  This theme fit perfectly for trying out something new!  Scarves quickly became wash clothes as we all got ready for bed! 

Action Song:  This is the Way We…
This is the way we wash our face, wash our face, wash our face.
(rub scrunched scarf on face)
This is the way we wash our face,
When we get ready for bed.
…wash our toes…
…wash our arms…
…wash our tummy…
(Thanks Sunflower Storytime!)

This story time was FULL of props for the little ones to play with.  Children learn a lot about language through playing!  So far, we had used scarves, musical instruments (for our weekly rendition of ABCs), and now the teddy bears marched in!  You get a teddy bear..  You get a teddy bear..  And you get a teddy bear!  (I was very popular by the end!)  We used our little teddy bears to act out the popular action rhyme, Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear.

Action Rhyme: Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear
Teddy bear, teddy bear, turn around.            (Turn around)

Teddy bear, teddy bear, touch the ground     (Touch the ground)
Teddy bear, teddy bear, show your shoe.      (Point to your shoe)
Teddy bear, teddy bear, I love you.                (Hug yourself)
Teddy bear, teddy bear, climb upstairs.         (Pretend to climb stairs)
Teddy bear, teddy bear, brush your hair.       (Pretend to brush hair)
Teddy bear, teddy bear, turn out the light.    (Pretend to switch off the light)
Teddy bear, teddy bear, say “Goodnight.”     (Hands together and lean head on them)

Flannel Time this week was also about teddy bears, so I let the little ones keep their bears while I told the flannel story Red Ted Said (Thank you to Loons and Quines for the idea!).  This also seemed to help with not touching the flannel board.  I made simple colored teddy bears to go along with a bed made by Miss Sue.  I decided not to include the group participation portion of this flannel story even though I really liked the idea.  I had a lot of activities to fit into my small window of time and knew having the little ones come up would take a huge chunk of it. 

Flannel Time! Red Ted Said

There were five in the bed, and Red Ted said,
"Roll over, roll over".
So, they all rolled over and yellow fell out.
There were four in the bed, and Red Ted said,
"Roll over, roll over".
So, they all rolled over and brown fell out.
There were three in the bed, and Red Ted said,
"Roll over, roll over".
So, they all rolled over and green fell out.
There were two in the bed, and Red Ted said,
"Roll over, roll over".
So, they all rolled over and blue fell out.
There was one in the bed, and Red Ted said,
"I'm lonely, so lonely".
So they all climbed back in, and their momma said,
“Good night!”

I have been filling in during Baby Story Time for Miss Kristen the last couple weeks and learned her closing rhyme.  Many of the toddlers are new graduates from Baby Story Time and I think it is really cute so I decided to include it this week before we shook our ribbons to Looby Loo! 

Closing: “Thank You” Rhyme

Our hands say thank you     (Hold hands up)       

With a clap, clap, clap;        (Clap hands)                      
Our feet say thank you         (Point to feet)         
Clap, clap, clap;                    (Clap hands)
Tap, tap, tap.                         (Tap feet)
We roll our hands around,    (Roll hands)                                           
And say, “Good-bye.”          (Wave good-bye)

I must say, by the end of this story time I was ready for bed!  The room was full of happy contagious energy.  Thankfully, I chose a nice quiet craft to finish things off, inspired by a craft I saw on Storytime Katie.  It was super simple - black cardstock plus a precut crescent moon and eight sparkly star stickers equals a darling night sky.  I saw many beautiful constellations as they left this week.  Good night! 

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