One of the nice things about doing on-call story times at different branches is that it’s a great opportunity to try out new story time structures. My regular weekly group has their favourite songs and rhymes, and they know the regular structure of my story times. While I do like to change things up a little bit from week to week,children thrive on repetition, and I try to keep the structure of my story time the same from week to week, changing out books and song for variety.
Today I did a story time for a comfy cozy little group of 6 or 7 children and their caregivers, which was a far cry from my usual 80+!
Also unlike my usual story times, this one had a theme! I typically don’t do themed story times – I don’t like being tied to a theme, and having to potentially pick substandard books or books that don’t fit my demographic because I’m desperate to find books that fit a theme! But, this story time is typically themed and the theme was selected in advance, so I went with the flow.
Here’s what we did today!
Theme: Waking Up and Getting Ready
Welcome Song: Hello, Friends
Book 1: Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush / Jane Cabrera
Hand Rhymes
- I wake up my hands
- Roly poly
- Open Shut them
Book 2: Time to Get Up, Time To Go / David Pilgrim
Songs
- Bend and Stretch
- If you’re happy and you know it
Book 3: I’m a Dirty Dinosaur / Janeen Brian & Ann James
Songs
- When cows wake up in the morning
- The elevator song
Goodbye Song: Goodbye, Friends!
Definitely a different sort of story time, but a lot of fun! Both “Time to get up” and “I’m a dirty dinosaur” have great rhythm and are so much fun to chant – “Time to get up” actually became a bit of a call-and-answer experience when a couple of the older kids started repeating all the lines after me. I wasn’t expecting it, but it was a great way of including the kids in the story, and offered yet another example of the importance of learning to go with the flow and expecting the unexpected when it comes to working with kids!