This is the 3rd week of our new age divisions for storytime. Birth to 12 months (prewalkers) on Mondays and 12-36 months (walkers) on Wednesdays. It has been wonderful having a prewalker storytime. Since none of the babies are very mobile parents can place them on the ground face up for some rhymes and not worry about them getting stepped on. Playtime is a lot easier to manage, too, without those wobblers wobbling on to baby heads. The new toddler storytime will be getting it’s own post later this week.
I have felt, however, that I’m doing a lot of “Now we’re going to play…” and “Let’s sing…”. I’m curious what others do between rhymes and songs. Do you just start singing the next rhyme with no transition (heard this on a youtube video recently), or do you announce each activity? My parents don’t seem to mind, but I’m feeling like a broken record stating the obvious. I’m thinking about just going from song to song and telling them at the beginning how it will go (I already put the words to rhymes and songs on the wall behind me in the order we’ll do them). Give them all the tips, etc. at the start and then just go in to a rhyme sequence, stopping for a book break, more tips, etc. and then more rhymes/songs. It could help to stop the chatter in between rhymes, but might also make things more impersonal (will they feel comfortable asking me something after a rhyme about that rhyme?).
Mel has some great ideas on her blog about transitions (she’s very creative!). Anyone else have some ideas? I’m curious to see what others are doing and how your storytime families respond. Spill!
Read Sing Play 
September 26, 2012 at 2:33 pm
Right?! I always felt like a broken record too or like I was taking the fun out babytime by always telling parents what we were doing. I made big flannel pieces to represent different rhymes or activities. If I have a puppet that represents the rhyme I use that instead. For example I’ll pull out my rabbit puppet and say, “Oh, look! It’s Robbie Rabbit. We know his special rhyme!” Or I’ll put a jack-in-the box flannel up on the board and say, “We know what time it is! We always do this rhyme twice so if you’re new you’ll learn it in no time!”
September 26, 2012 at 3:17 pm
Glad I’m not alone! 🙂 I like the idea of a having a kind of placeholder to represent the upcoming rhyme or song. Thanks for the ideas!