Baby Storytime – Dinosaurs

Check out what my typical storytime looks like here. All the words to my songs and rhymes can be found here

Opening Song
Welcome Song

Opening Rhyme/Movement
Hands are Clapping

Early Literacy Tip
Say the hard words in books! Today in storytime we're going to be saying actual names for dinosaurs. It might seem silly to say these to 13 month olds, but you are building their vocabulary every time you talk to them. If you start saying the hard words now, you won't be in the habit of skipping them as your child gets older.

Shape Game
Today, I hid a dinosaur! You can find out about this game here.

Rhyme/Movement
Roly-Poly

Book
Dinosaurs by Simmy Taback
This fold-out story is a guessing game. Obviously the babies didn't guess the dinosaurs, but it was fun to see the parents try to remember the names. I even had an older sister in one session who knew all the answers! It was a great time to touch back on the early literacy tip.

Rhyme/Movement
Itsy-Bitsy Spider

Rhyme/Movement
Giddy-up, Giddy-up

Book
Dinosaur Roar by Paul Stickland
We followed all the dinosaurs in this book to a dinosaur picnic! This book has a great rhythm to it. 

Rhyme/Movement
This is Big

Rhyme/Movement
Where is Thumbkin

Choral Reading
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr.

Egg Shakers
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Baa, Baa, Black Sheep 

Rhyme/Movement
Zoom, Zoom, Zoom

Playtime!
Playtime was full of little ones pretending to be dinosaurs. It was wonderful!

Dinosaurs in the Library!

This week I presented a dinosaur themed program for ages 5+. While I adore my babies, it is nice to present to kids who can interact a little more with you.

I started the program by talking briefly about dinosaurs and giving some fun dinosaur facts. For example, no one has ever found dinosaur fossils in Wisconsin! Many kids said they were going to be the first to find them, so I tried to convince them to name their dinosaur after me. We will see if they follow through.

Next, I read "The Super Hungry Dinosaur" by Martin Waddell. My group definitely skewed younger and this was the perfect book for them. We all roared with the dinosaur and they even changed their roar as the dinosaur got more upset. It was awesome.

Then, I released them to the craft table after briefly explaining the project. Thanks to Sunflower Storytime for this great idea! I also used the template and instructions from Loving My Nest.

While we waited for the glue to dry, we read "Chalk" by Bill Thomson. I stopped the book right before the final few pages and told everyone to close their eyes and stay quiet while they thought about what they would do next with their chalk. Then, I passed out paper and markers and let them draw it out. They stayed pretty much silent throughout this whole process because they wanted to surprise their friends with their idea. The ideas ranged from making another dinosaur, to a sword, to steaks and nachos because they thought the dinosaur was probably just hungry like our last one. I had quite a few kids even guess the ending. I was very impressed with their creativity.

Then, we went back to our craft tables and sprinkled coffee on the artwork. Kids really enjoyed this part. They somehow managed to keep the floor clean, and they had a great time just smelling and feeling the coffee.

Once they were done with their art, I gave them a cookie in a small bowl with a toothpick. I instructed them to dig out the chocolate chips with a toothpick. A few older kids immediately said they were just going to eat the cookie. I told them I understood, but if they could get at least 2 chocolate chips out without breaking the cookie they would officially be a paleontologist. Surprisingly, it worked.

The program was a success with around 55 people attending. The kids were all extremely well behaved and I couldn't have asked for a better group!