Every Friday morning we host a baby time, for little ones from 0-18 months of age and their caregivers. It’s a free, drop-in program, and the group size can really fluctuate. Because I’m pretty new to baby times, I’ve been following a template passed down to me by another VPL children’s librarian. Her template looks like this:
Welcome Song
4 – 5 finger plays / touching rhymes / tickles / wake-up songs
Book 1
4 – 5 lap bounces / songs
Book 2
3 – 4 dancing / movement / lifting songs
Goodbye Song
As usual, I don’t always stick 100% to the outline, but as a newbie it’s been helpful to have this framework to lean on while I figure out what works for me and for my audience. As someone who loves to sing (even when I forget the tunes..), I include lots and lots of songs in all my story times. Babies love it when their caregivers sing, and they aren’t critics! I also like to make a little hand-out with all the words to the songs – another tip I learned from that librarian (who also happens to be one of the geniuses behind Jbrary). We have a lot of newcomer families in our neighborhood, so it’s nice to be able to give them something they can refer to at home.
Here’s what we sang and read today!
Welcome Song: Hello, Friends
Songs / Tickles
- Wake Up, Feet
- Head and Shoulders
- Baby Put Your Pants On
- Roly Poly
Book 1: One Gorgeous Baby / Martine Oborne
Lap bounces
- You Be the Ice Cream
- Tick Tock Tick Tock (I’m a Little Cuckoo Clock)
- Pop Pop Popcorn
- Toast in the Toaster
- Bumping Up and Down in My Little Red Wagon
Book 2: Animal Opposites / Petr Horacek
Movement Songs
- My Bonny Lies Over the Ocean
- Mama’s Little Baby Loves Dancing
- Zoom Zoom
- Elevator Song
Goodbye Song: Goodbye, Friends
Animal Opposites was a major league hit. I skipped over a few pages just to shorten it a bit, but the older babies were mesmerized by the pop up pages. I also like using songs that have the same tune, like Baby Put Your Pants On and Mama’s Little Baby Loves Dancing – it’s reassuring to caregivers to know that they can reuse tunes in different ways and get more mileage out of them!