Songs and Lyrics, Oh My!

By now, you should all know I love to sing, even if it’s not always so great. The majority of every one of my storytimes is singing. I can’t help it, it just has to happen that way for storytime to work. I feel good, grown ups feel good, the kids definitely feel good so it’s a total win situation.

Anyway, I’ve had some requests for tunes and lyrics to various songs used in storytime. May I humbly direct you to my Rhymes page? There I have written out the words to more than 60 rhymes and songs and have recorded myself singing several of them.  I’m working really hard to get them all recorded but for now I’ve picked the ones with the trickiest tunes.

The newest members of the recorded song family are:

Hi, Hello, and How Are You?

The Elevator Song (Jbrary has also done this one)

Wake Up! Quiet and Loud song. This probably has a real name, but I call it the wake up song. VERY popular in storytime.

Hello and Goodbye Bubbles 

Wake Up Toes

Bouncing, Bouncing

Let me know if you need the tunes to anything else and I’ll get on it, asap. In the meantime, check out Jbrary and KCLS Tell Me a Story for visuals to go with the sound (I’m too lazy to get out of my pjs to do a video, sorry).

And just because. Yes, yes, I do.

 

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Baby Storytime: Sing

Introduction 

Hello Bubbles

Hi Hello and How Are You? with the ukulele

Parent Message: Don’t worry about how you sound when you sing. Your child loves your voice, even if you’re tone deaf or don’t think you sound great and singing is a great way for them to learn about language. And I love to hear all your voices, too!

Zoom Zoom Zoom by Kathy Reid-Naiman

Smooth Road

Dos Manitas, Diez Deditos

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star by Jane Cabrera (3 verses)

Parent Message: Song books with multiple verses are great to share at home. You can sing as few or as many verses as your child wants to hear. Just close the book when they’ve had enough.

Elevator Song

Chop Chop Choppity Chop

Toast in the Toaster

Humpy Dumpty by Anthony Lewis (Hands-On Songs series)

Go in and Out the Window

This is a Choo Choo Train

Cuckoo Clock

Goodbye Bubbles

Play time!

Baby Storytime: Pat a Cake

It’s been a while since I’ve done a baby storytime post-just not enough time in a day. Thanks for sticking with me!

What We Did:

Hello Bubbles

Penny Pointers

Zoom Zoom Zoom

This Little Train

Giddyap

Parent Message: It’s ok if they crawl around while we’re reading and rhyming. Just because they aren’t making eye contact, doesn’t mean they aren’t absorbing what we’re doing and saying. We want to make sure books and reading are FUN so we’ll let them participate at their own pace. You can just do what I’m doing if your little one leaves your lap.

Book: Monkey and Me by Emily Gravett (this is one I use ALL THE TIME because it is AMAZING)

Pizza Pickle Pumpernickel

Bouncing Bouncing

Scarves:

Peek-a-Boo

Mix a Pancake

Roly Poly

Itsy Bitsy Spider

Book: Pat a Cake by Annie Kubler (I suggest substituting their baby’s name for “baby” and to mark their cake with the first letter of their baby’s name)

Group choices: Ram Sam Sam in #1, and Cheek Chin in #2

Cuckoo Clock

Goodbye Bubbles

Playtime!

Today’s agenda was packed! And so much fun!

Baby Storytime and Hello Bubbles Video

It snowed here yesterday, which hardly ever happens (like the hurricanes in Hartford, Hereford and Hampshire) which may have been why our baby storytimes were a bit smaller than normal. That and the fact that everyone seems to be sick this month! That’s no way to start off the new year. It was actually quite nice with the smaller group. 25 babies is just too many. 15 is perfect!

Click on any linked rhyme or song below to see the lyrics.

Outline:

Hello Bubbles (see video below)

Penny Pointers (see a video here)

Zoom Zoom Zoom by Kathy Reid-Naiman

These are Baby’s Fingers

Rock the Baby

Icky Bicky Soda Cracker

Book: A Kiss Like This by Mary Murphy (yes! a new book by Murphy! If you love I Kissed the Baby, you’ll love this one)

Giddyap, Giddyap

Stand Up Rhymes:

Andy Pandy

Let’s Go Riding in an Elevator

Merry Go Round

Book: Wee Willie Winkie by Annie Kubler

Parent Message: We’ll be sharing this same rhyme book each Monday this month. Repetition is so important-the more we say the rhyme, the more your babies will learn from it. Works for adults, too!

Scarves:

Peek-a-Boo

Roly Poly

Itsy Bitsy Spider

Goodbye Bubbles

Splish Splash by Bobby Darin

Playtime!

Got permission from the mom in this video to use it so here we go! Nicole, this is for you. Cuz if you ask me one more time how this song goes… ❤

Hello Bubbles Video

Opener and Closer Dilemma: to change or not to change?

For toddler and baby storytime I like to use the same opening rhyme week after week. Really, there are three openers for each storytime and one closer. We are getting ready to start a new session and I’m debating whether to keep the same songs or change them up for something new. What do you do? Do you keep the same opening song forever and ever, or change it every now and then? I change the meat of the storytime a lot-usually doing a rhyme for a few weeks before replacing it for another one, etc. They are always rotating.

Current opening sequence for toddlers: (find words to songs on the Rhymes page)

Hello Bubbles

When Animals Get Up in the Morning (with puppets)

Wake Up Toes

Current for Babies:

Hello Bubbles

Penny Pointers

Noble Duke of York

Closer for all: Goodbye Bubbles

So far, I’m leaning towards keeping it the same for toddlers because I really think there will be a revolt if I take away the bubbles or puppets for the animal song. So maybe I could just change that 3rd song to keep things a little fresh, but also stick with that predictable routine we know toddlers love so much.

For babies I think it might be less important, what do you think?

There’s so much out there about the importance of repetition for babes and toddlers (really, everyone-I’m not ashamed to say how important routine and repetition is to me!), but also want parents to keep coming back and not get bored. I’m not a parent so have no idea whether I’d get bored with the same openers every week. I’m not really bored with them as a presenter so maybe I should just plug along?

That is the question: to change or not to change?