Baby time at a new-to-me branch this morning!
A bit of an interesting experience – story time took place in the children’s area, rather than in a meeting room, meaning that the entire branch was treated to my rousing rendition of The Wheels on the Bus….
The branch is also without air con at the moment, which made for a very glowing story time…I had meant to do more lifting/movement songs, but because of the intense heat I decided to keep things a bit more mellow.
I like to stick with the standards when doing a drop in program, simply because I can’t anticipate what material my audience will be familiar with.
Different branches of course have different demographics, and it’s fascinating to observe the families that attend programs in different neighborhoods. My local branch story times welcome a lot of newcomers and non-parental caregivers (typically grandparents, nannies and daycare workers). Today’s story time audience was almost entirely mothers, the majority of whom were native English speakers (we also had a lot of tattoos – this is a very cool neighborhood!)
Here’s what we did:
Hello Song: Hello, Friends!
Tickles/Songs:
- Two little eyes
- The moon is round
- Head and shoulders
- Roly poly
Book 1: Animal Opposites / Petr Horacek
Bounces:
- A bouncing we will go
- A hippopotamus got on a city bus
- Bumping up and down on my little red wagon
Book Two: Giant Pop Out Pets
Movement Songs:
- Dancing with bears
- London Bridge
- Zoom zoom
- Elevator song
Soothing songs:
- The wheels on the bus
- Orca whale
- You are my sunshine
Goodbye song: Goodbye friends!