Well. That was….an interesting story time. Our numbers for family story time have just been rising and rising and rising, which is wonderful…to an extent. Unfortunately, although we would love to welcome the entire neighborhood to our story times, we have to be mindful of fire codes and room maximums and public safety. Today we actually had to turn people away from our story time – it broke my heart, but we absolutely had no room.
While I love a busy, vibrant story time, a room that is overcrowded to the point of madness is just no fun for anyone. It’s too hot, too loud, too crowded and, for some kids, too overwhelming. For librarians, it feels less like an early literacy learning experience and more like a kiddie mosh pit. We’re working on some solutions to help make story time both accessible and enjoyable for all the little ones in our community, but it’s never as easy as you think it should be (we have to take into account limited branch opening hours, staffing levels, meeting room availability, program conflicts…..argh!)
That being said, today’s story time went surprisingly well, with 102+ people crammed into our little meeting room, and only rarely did it verge into complete gong show territory, for which I commend myself! 😉
Welcome Song: Hello, Friends
Book 1: This Little Chick / John Lawrence
Hand Rhymes
- I wake up my hands
- Wiggle your fingers
- Open-shut them
- Roly poly
- Mm-ah went the little green frog one day
Book 2: Peck, Peck, Peck / Lucy Cousins
Action Songs
- Bend and stretch
- Zoom zoom
- Twinkle twinkle little star
- The wheels on the bus
- Tick tock tick tock
- The elevator song
- Grr grr went the little brown bear
Goodbye Song: Goodbye, Friends!
So…”Peck Peck Peck” went over like a lead balloon. It tanked, ladies and gentlemen, it absolutely tanked. I think it would work better with an older group – my story time group is about 75% toddlers, and this book was far too long for them. So I did what any librarian worth her salt would do – I cut it! I read a few pages, made up some repeated refrains, skipped to the end and added a few more action songs. Sometimes things just tank, and all you can do is make a note of it, dust yourself off and move on to the next thing!