Toddler Storytime: My Hands!

This Toddler Storytime was presented at Bellevue Public Library on September 13, 2017.

Each Toddler Storytime includes activities that support all or most of the five early literacy practices identified as essential in helping your child develop the skills they need before they can learn to read. The five practices – singing, talking, reading, playing and writing – were developed for Every Child Ready to Read®, an initiative of the Association for Library Services for Children (ALSC) and the Public Library Association (PLA).

We used our hands today to clap, toss a beach ball, lift and lower a parachute, and do crayon rubbings!


Reading:

Beautiful Hands by Kathryn Otoshi, illustrated by Bret Baumgarten

Hands Can by Cheryl Willis Hudson, photographs by John-Francis Bourke

Singing:

Hello, Friends!
(tune: "Goodnight Ladies")

Hello friends.
Hello friends.
Hello friends.
We're glad you came today!


Everybody Say Hello!
(tune: "London Bridge")

Everybody say hello, say hello, say hello,
Everybody say hello, hello Wesley!

(Wesley is my turtle puppet who pops out of my apron pocket whenever we sing this song.  Then he sits quietly on his rock and listens to the stories and sings along with us.  At the end of storytime he says goodbye to the children, gives them high fives, eats pretend food from their hands, blows kisses, and plays hide and seek!)

Clap Your Hands, 1,2,3
(tune: “This Old Man”)

Clap your hands, one, two, three.

Play a clapping game with me.

Now your hands have gone away.

* Bring them back so we can play!

(last time: “We’ll play this game another day!”)

This is Such a Simple Exercise

Here is a YouTube video of this song, which is new to our Storytime repertoire!

Goodbye, Friends!
(tune: "Goodnight Ladies")

Goodbye friends.
Goodbye friends.
Goodbye friends.
We're glad you came today!

What's in the Green Box?
(tune: "Sally Wore a Red Dress")

What's in the green box,
The green box, the green box?
What's in the green box 
For us to play?

Today the Green Box held the large parachute!

In the Green Box we also found crayons and textured wallpaper samples!

After laying a piece of printer paper on top of the wallpaper, we made crayon rubbings such as these after Storytime!

Talking/Writing:
This week's focus on our hands lends itself well to helping your child explore some of the many textures that are available to them.  Today we used textured wallpaper in one of our enrichment activities.  Other fun textures your child might like to experience: the inside of a raw pumpkin, sandpaper, mud, play dough, shaving cream, packing peanuts, corn starch, wet/dry sand, and pudding. 

Playing:

We formed a circle and took turns pushing a beach ball across to someone else in the circle.  Sometimes it is very hard to give a beloved toy to someone else to play with! (gasp! S-H-A-R-E?!?)  With loving encouragement from the adults, each child had several chances to catch and throw the ball.

Every Child Ready to Read^® @ your library^®, PLA and ALSC logos are registered trademarks of the American Library Association and are used with permission.