To be honest, I can’t exactly remember what we did this week….I normally plan my programs in advance, but the summer has just thrown me for a loop. So…I’m fairly sure we did something along these lines….
Hello Song: Hello, Friends!
Tickles/Songs:
- Here are baby’s fingers
- Slowly slowly
- Head and shoulders
- Roly poly
- Come under my umbrella
Book 1: Cat the Cat, Who is That? / Mo Willems
Bounces:
- A bouncing we will go
- Gregory Giggs
- London Bridge is falling down
Book Two: Farmyard Beat / Lindsey Craig
Movement Songs:
- Dancing with bears
- Mamma’s little baby loves dancing
- Zoom zoom
- Elevator song
Soothing songs:
- Rain is falling down
Goodbye song: Goodbye friends!
I like Farmyard Beat, but I definitely make a few changes when I use it in story times. Adapting picture books is something I talk about a lot in my programs. To make things a bit more consistent I replace all of the different noises in the story with animal sounds, and I shorten the story a bit by changing the ending.
I encourage caregivers to view picture books as interactive objects that can be adapted to meet different moods/needs. Most picture books can be made appropriate for any audience with a bit of creative interpretation. Caregivers can even forgo the printed text all together and make up their own stories using the pictures – this is a really fun activity to do with children, as kids can be insanely creatively!