Books You Can Sing

My 16-month-old niece S is obsessed with music. She goes to a wonderful preschool where they must sing a ton of songs because when you start singing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider", it's like the sun just came out after a long winter. Even better if multiple people are singing the same songs together. She seems amazed that we all know HER songs and she loves anything she can dance or move to.

My sister-in-law requested books that are songs for Christmas for her this year and I wanted to share what she's loving and what I bought for her. (Kelly, if you're reading this, stop if you want to be surprised!)

  

S already has some favorites. Since her go-to song for a couple of months now has been The Itsy Bitsy Spider, I've already gotten her Annie Kubler's board book version and Richard Egielski's super cute pop-up version (for when she's a little older).

  

She also has most of Annie Kubler's song books, great choices for their simplicity and the diverse cast of illustrated babies featured in the books. She asks for these by name ("Row Row!" and "Itsy!"). She also loves "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" (although she concentrates mostly on the toes). These are sure bets for baby gifts or for storytime staples.

For Christmas this year, there will be some new additions to her library!

The Fox Went Out on a Chilly Night by Peter Spier (Dragonfly Books, 1961). This is a song that's important to my family; I have many pleasant memories of singing this traditional story-song with my parents in the car and they still will burst out with it when prompted. It's important to me to expose S to this music, but we're all a little rusty on the words. Buying this book for her library will help us remember to sing it with her and give us happy memories as we remember how fun the song is. She may be too little now to sit through all the verses, but with this book in our collections we can keep revisiting it any time we want.

Do you have traditional songs that have been passed down in your family? If there's a book version, that makes a great gift. Not only do you get the fun of reading/singing it with the young ones in your life but it can help preserve the words, which may have become fuzzy since you were a kid!

  

The More We Get Together by Caroline Jayne Church (Cartwheel Books, 2011).
You Are My Sunshine (2011).

These board books are super cute, although they are woefully monochromatic. They feature shiny illustrations, which are pretty eye-catching and I love these songs that emphasize love and friendship.

  

Every Little Thing by Bob Marley and Cedella Marley (Chronicle, 2012).
What a Wonderful World by Bob Thiele, George David Weiss, illustrated by Tim Hopgood (Holt, 2014).

Based on popular songs, both these books send really positive messages without being didactic. I would love for my niece to internalize the messages that every little thing is gonna be alright and that we live in a wonderful, colorful world. Of course we're singing tons of nursery rhymes with her, but I wanted to expand her options of sung books and give her parents something a little different to choose if they want.

It's going to be a musical Christmas at our house this year! What are your favorite books to sing?

#FlannelFriday: Santa Had a Christmas Tree

Well, ho ho ho! Look who finally got her act together to participate in Flannel Friday?

Since today's the holiday extravaganza, I wanted to share a flannel that's been a HUGE HIT with preschool classes in my community. I know not everyone's comfortable sharing Christmas materials at storytime and I think that's just fine not to. However, we do in my community (although we stick to more secular stuff).

Here's the flannel:

As you know, we love to pass out felt pieces and have our kids come up and put them on the board. You can do that this way or you could put the felt pieces on yourself!

(Apologies, but I don't have a source for this song!)

Santa Had a Christmas Tree (To the tune of "Old MacDonald")

Santa had a Christmas tree
Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho
And on that tree he had a star
Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho
With a twinkle, twinkle here
And a twinkle, twinkle there
Here a twinkly, there a twinkle
Everywhere a twinkle, twinkle
Santa had a Christmas tree
Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho!

Repeat with:
Under his tree he had a gift... with a rattle, rattle here
On that tree he had a light... with a sparkle, sparkle here
On that tree he had a bell... with a jingle, jingle here
Next to his tree he had some cookies... with a crunch, crunch here

And, of course, you can add more verses if you think of different items you want to put on or around your tree.

Our Head Start teachers loved this so much that they all asked for the words to the song after we went there.

Today is the Flannel Friday Holiday Extravaganza, hosted by Loons and Quines, so head on over there to check out the roundup!

What to do when there's one

So, you've planned an awesome storytime. You're ready and rarin' to go! But maybe some special event is going on. Or lots of people are on vacation. Or it's snowing. Or any number of things happen... and there's only one kid for storytime.

It can be frustrating, sure. But the important thing to remember is that this family made the effort to come to your program, and you might have to adapt some things, but the show must go on!

Just as with any program, you need to be prepared to adapt. And remember that even though it might be frustrating to have a low turnout for a program, the kid doesn't know that. The kid's experience is going to be what you make it.

Generally I start storytimes with Shake Your Sillies Out, but for a very small group I like to use My Hands Say Hello because it's a quieter song and I'm more apt to get participation.

It's to the tune of The Farmer in the Dell and it goes like this:

My hands say hello
My hands say hello
Every time I see my friends
My hands say hello

And then repeat using feet and other body parts. I usually do hands, then feet, then I ask for a suggestion of something else that could say hello.

Although it's not be what you planned, a storytime for one may have some advantages. Instead of having to focus an unruly mob of 30 kids, you can concentrate on getting to know one. It's a great opportunity to sit with child and caregiver and, say, demonstrate dialogic reading. You might be able to bring out some extra goodies, like toy drums or shakers that you might not use with a larger group. If you're doing a felt, let the kids help you put pieces up or take pieces off. You can even spread it out on the floor instead of doing it on a board.

Above all, you just need to be flexible. And remember that if you make this a pleasant experience, this family is likely to come back the next time.

If You're Wearing Red Today

Okay, you've pulled books for your storytime. Maybe you've got a felt story or some puppets or fingerplays, but you need just one more thing... I want to share one of my new favorite songs. This song has been a hit every time, it's super easy, and it's a great one to know in case of momentary lulls or a gap in your program. It's called If You're Wearing Red Today.

I've heard it used with two different tunes. I usually use the tune to Mary Had a Little Lamb, but you can also use Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush.

If you're wearing red today, red today, red today
If you're wearing red today, please stand up!

That's it! Easy peasy, right?! Of course you repeat and replace the color red with whatever colors you see out there in the audience. And I usually do "please stand up" two or three times and then warn them that I'm going to mix it up, so they'd better listen. And then I do other actions. Please clap your hands, please touch your ears, please stand on one leg, please rub your tummy, etc. etc.

In my experience, the kids really respond to it and they like listening for the colors and the actions. When I think we've gotten everybody to do an action at least once, I'll ask if we missed any colors (and often they'll suggest doing the color I happen to be wearing..!).

So, keep this one in your bag of tricks and the next time you blaze through the stories you thought would take up 30 minutes, you can pull it out and have a good ol' time.