The first YSS Midday Mingle was a blast as we chatted all things storytime with colleagues sharing their top 3 books, songs, tips for first-timers, and more.
Go ahead and mark your calendar for our next Midday Mingle a lively 'this or that' session covering the great debates of our field: craft or no craft, theme or no theme, registration or walk-ins, YA or teen, cardigan or hoodie.
Topic: This or That?
Date: Monday, November 10
Time: 1:00 – 2:00 PM
Zoom Link
But worry not friends – I've got a recap of our storytime mingle to catch you up and tide you over!
Favorite Storytime Books- Shh…. We Have a Plan by Chris Haughton
- Misunderstood Shark by Ame Dyckman
- Almost anything by Ame Dyckman
- DinoGro by Matthew Myers
- About a dinosaur that grows in water, and grows and grows and grows
- Lena’s Shoes Are Nervous by Keith Calabrese
- Great for right before school is back in session, about being anxious for the first day of school
- Pig the Pug by Aaron Blabey
- Any Jan Thomas Books
- Roo Knows Blue by Renee Treml
- Don’t Trust Fish by Neil Sharpson
- 100 Mighty Dragons all Named Broccoli by David LaRochelle
- Great bit for WI peeps with the knowledge that this is written by a Minnesota author
- Entertaining, silly way to introduce math
- Bob Not Bob by Liz Garton Scanlon
- Great for winter when everyone is sick, about being congested/stuffy, perform it with a stuffy voice, kids find it hilarious
- Bear has a Belly by Jane Whittingham
- Bad Dog by Mike Boldt
- Case of mistaken identity, birthday gift was a pet dog (holds up cat), laments that Rocky does not do things like other dogs (again Rocky is a cat), kids are delighted by it
- Seals on the Bus by Lenny Hort
- Lots of chances for animal noises
- Can You Do This? by Megan Roy
- Book has questions that prompt interactive activities for the storytime crowd – can you touch your toes, hop like a bunny, dance, etc. lots of options for movements and getting the sillies out – may need to spread out a bit for some of the actions
- Groovy Joe Ice Cream and Dinosaurs by Eric Litwin
- Teach the song and dance afterwards, good for a music and movement storytime, teaches about sharing with friends, and has ice cream and dinos! Perfect
Favorite Storytime Songs- Tootie Tot
- Icky Sticky Bubble Gum
- Susan Salmador
- Shiny New Shoes Album but also everything
- Jim Gill
- Silly Dance Contest
- Hammer & Saw – has the sounds of those tools
- Laurie Berkner
- Monster Boogie – has a book to go with it
- Rocket Ship Run
- P-I-Z-Z-A to the tune of Bingo
- using a felt pizza and removing a piece with each letter to help the kids keep track
Tonight we have my favorite food.
Yes, friends, we're having Pizza
P-I-Z-Z-A, P-I-Z-Z-A, P-I-Z-Z-A, yes friends we're having Pizza!
- Fruit and Veggies Unite!
- Good active movements song, and chance to be silly – go bananas, go bananas
- Good chance for early literacy tips to caregivers - We’re going to sing a song now about fruits and vegetables. This song has lots of great action words in it like peel, mash, shuck, pop, slice, and squeeze. Today when you eat lunch or dinner, try using these words again or introducing new words about the foods you’re eating with your child
Favorite Non-Traditional Props - Water explorers storytime
- Jar of water, shaving cream, blue food coloring
- Thinking how else to incorporate STEM into storytime props
- Water, sink and float, experiment, guess if it will sink or float
- Bag of water, stick pencils into
- Farmers Market Storytime
- props, costumes, a lot of books with dialog, spray bottles to spray at crowd, hats for interrupting chickens, penguin hats, crow and pitcher costumes
- Rainbow stew
- bowl/pot and the felt veggies and fruit, spoon
- Magic Envelope
- different ingredients or parts of theme, put the stuff in and on the other side is the end product (i.e. pics of seed, water, soil, and on the other side of the envelope is a flower, have them guess what you are making before revealing
- A bus!
- Had a Pigeon storytime and had a person in the Pigeon costume roll up in a bus (not driving though!)
- Discussion of Stretchy Bands
- One participant did not like them, used them once, hard for kids to hold the tension correctly, got a bit wild
- One loves them
- Used at the beginning of music and movement when caregivers and kids are coming in, has them immediately grab the bands and start participating – sets the tone for the rest of the storytime – caregivers as active participants
- Great for Row Row Row Your Boat, Wheels on the Bus, etc.
Favorite Rhymes
My two hands go
clap, clap, clap
My two feet go tap,
tap, tap
My two hands go
thump, thump, thump
My two feet go
jump, jump, jump
My one body turns
around
and it quietly sits
down
Dinosaur,
Dinosaur
Dinosaur,
Dinosaur stomp your feet.
Dinosaur,
Dinosaur show your teeth.
Dinosaur,
Dinosaur swing your tail.
Dinosaur,
Dinosaur show your scales.
Dinosaur,
Dinosaur show your claws.
Dinosaur,
Dinosaur snap your jaws!
Dinosaur,
Dinosaur give a ROAR!
Dinosaur,
Dinosaur sit on the floor.
I'm a tiny T-Rex, hatched from my egg
I’ve got tiny arms, and big, stompy legs
I want to make a sound, like a big dinosaur
Are you ready? Here it comes! 1-2-3 …
Meow.
[Repeat with other noises for as long as you like]
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| You've totally guac this. Image by Katie Alford. |
Tips for First Timers- Keep it simple
- You don’t have to do it like the person who was there before you, make it your own, do what makes you comfortable
- You don’t have to be a great singer, you don’t even have to sing at all, you could exclusively use recorded music
- Remember its about the little people, your audience is the kids, don’t get nervous about the adults in the room, just pretend its all kids and lean into the silly fun time
- Slow down – slow your reading down, take your time, any story can be made interactive, use open ended questions, read a sentence and blank out the last word, have the kids fill in the blank on how the sentence ends
- Find an opening and closing song you love and repeat repeat repeat
Unexpected Storytime Happenings
- Color Our World Storytime – red theme, can you name red things, kids call out the usual things – apple, fire truck, etc. But one kid calls out BLOOD
- Fire alarm pulled
- Child took their first steps
- Showing off injuries and then everyone wants to show and tell
- This could be incorporated into the story time start – check-in time, everyone show their ouchies, and then its done and you can move on
Books You'd Never Read Again
- Issues reading the Book with No Pictures, seemed like it’d be great, watched B.J. Novak do it, but in reality it went terrible and wouldn’t do it again
- Seconded – overthinking the pronunciations and tripping myself up trying to read it
