Mommy & Me Storytime

October was another fun month for Mommy & Me storytime. Here’s a look at what we did and links to the library catalog for the books and CDs we used.

Our storytime on October 6 was all about sleeping. We started with a special lift-the-flap book by Fiona Conboy called “No, Monkey! No!” in which Monkey looks and looks for a place to sleep. We followed with a flannelboard of the nursery rhyme “Little Boy Blue” who was found “under the haystack fast asleep”. Our second book was Jane Yolen’s How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night? Spoiler alert! In the end, it turns out a dinosaur gives a big hug and a kiss goodnight. We ended with a fun activity of playing our bells to the song “Frère Jacques” (Are You Sleeping?). Raffi has a version of the song on his “The Corner Grocery Store” CD. No one nodded off during storytime. We were having too much fun!

October 13 Mommy & Me was all about “things that go”. We started by singing “The Wheels on the Bus” and then read Red Light, Green Light by Anastasia Suen, a book with cars, trucks, busses and fire engines. We did the fingerplay “Red Says Stop” and sang “Twinkle Twinkle Traffic Light” while doing motions. Our second book was Fire Truck by Peter Sis. Matt, the little boy in the book, loves fire trucks so much he actually wakes up one morning to find he has become one! Next we chanted “Hurry, Hurry, Drive the Fire Truck” while we pretended to drive the fire truck, climb the ladder, and squirt the water from the hose. Lastly, we played with our scarves to Hap Palmer’s song “Slow and Fast” from his “Rhythms on Parade” CD.

We did our autumn storytime at Mommy & Me on October 20 and the day actually had a little feel of fall in the air. Our first book was Busy Little Squirrel about a little squirrel that’s getting ready for winter. We really enjoyed the delightful pictures in this one! We followed it up with a flannelboard about “Five Little Squirrels”, counting down five to one as the squirrels all ran away. We read a part of Apple Farmer Annie by Monica Wellington and then did a fingerplay pretending to pick our own apples. Our final book was Mouse’s First Fall by Lauren Thompson. In the book, Mouse and Minka had fun playing in the leaves so we followed the story by playing with our own leaves while singing “The Leaves on the Trees” to the tune of “The Wheels on the Bus”.

On October 27 Mommy & Me was all about pumpkins, scarecrows…Halloween! Our first book was Plumply, Dumply Pumpkin by Mary Serfozo. We read how Peter was looking for a “perfect” pumpkin and learned what he did with it when he found it. We followed the story with a flannelboard version of the “Five Little Pumpkins”. Our second book was a special lift-the-flap book by Marie Torres Cimarusti called Peek-a-Booo! It was fun playing peek-a-boo with the ghost, the skeleton, and the scarecrow! We finished up celebrating Halloween by playing our musical instruments to Halloween songs about pumpkins and trick-or-treating. Happy Halloween everyone!

This Weeks Storytime in a Bag
by Mary Locke

Little Quack by Lauren Thompson
"I couldn't resist the cute story of Little Quack and his four siblings Widdle, Waddle, Piddle and Puddle. The pictures are as cute as their names! The included 'quack-u-lator' adds to the fun while helping teach the numbers one to five."

This Weeks Storytime in a Bag
by Denise Mueller

Sixteen Cows by Lisa Wheeler; Kurt Cyrus, illustrator

Howdy Cowgirls and Cowboys! This particular story is about two herds of cows and what happens when the wind blows down the fence between them. The book has repetitive, rhyming text that’s enjoyable to read and will have listeners chanting along with you.

Mommy & Me Storytime

The fun at Mommy & Me storytime continued through September. Here’s a brief summary of what we did and links to the library catalog for the books and music CDs we used.

Our storytime on September 15 was very silly! We started with the song “Shake My Sillies Out” which can be found on Raffi’s “More Singable Songs” CD. We read Silly Little Goose by Nancy Tafuri and Silly Sally by Audrey Wood. We ended with a silly story called Bark, George about a dog who doesn’t bark but makes lots of other animal sounds. Silly George!

Mommy & Me on September 22 was all about hands, fingers, feet and toes, and all the parts that make us who we are. We started with Hap Palmer’s version of the song “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” from his “Early Childhood Classics” CD. We read Busy Fingers by C.W. Bowie and then did the song and motions to “Itsy Bitsy Spider” just like the boy in the book. Our second book was a new one by Mem Fox titled Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes. We finished up playing with our sponge teddy bears to Hap Palmer’s song “Teddy Bear Playtime” from his “So Big” CD. We sure had fun at storytime!

We visited the farm in our books and songs during our Mommy & Me Storytime on September 29. Our first book, Peek-a-Moo!, by Marie Torres Cimarusti, was a lift-the-flap book about farm animals and the sounds they make. We also read a special pop-up book called My Giant Book of Snappy Farm. We ended our storytime by playing our instruments to “Old MacDonald’s Band” from Hap Palmer’s “Rhythms on Parade” CD. We can’t wait to go back and visit the farm!

News to Know!

We’ve added a third Mommy & Me Storytime on Monday mornings. The new times are as follows:
10:20am to 10:40am
11:00am to 11:20am
11:40am to 12:00pm

Storytime in a Bag Explanations

For those of you who don’t know about our Storytime in a Bag collection, the children’s librarians have selected about dozen or so books and bundled them in a bag with craft ideas, music CDs, and other items to allow people to do a storytime just like their done here at the library. Each of the children's staff was asked to explain why they choose the books they did. We’ll post what they said here on the blog.

First up is a selection from Mary Locke.

Chugga-Chugga Choo-Choo written by Kevin Lewis; pictures by Daniel Kirk.
"I knew a book about trains would be a sure winner with toddlers and pre-schoolers. The primary colors of Daniel Kirk's pictures and the familiar toys throughout the book will certainly please all who read it."