Baby Storytime: I Can Do Wonderful Things, adapted from pp. 18-20 of the Early Literacy Manual
​
​
Books:(I would choose two or three at most) From Head to Toe/Eric Carl
Where's Your Nose?/Begin Smart
Kiss, Tickle Cuddle, Hug/Susan Musgrave
Baby Loves Peekaboo!/DK
This Little Piggy/Annie Kubler
That's Not My [Monster]/Fiona Watt
Rhymes/Songs: (I would choose several) "Bouncy Bouncy" from Little Ditties for Itty Bitties by Michele Valeri
"Medley: Down by the Station/Little Red Caboose" from 101Toddler Favorites (distribute wrist bells for babies to jingle during the song)
"The More We Get Together"
"Everybody Has a Face" from Tiny Tunes by Carole Peterson
"Peekaboo" from Little Ditties for Itty Bitties by Michele Valeri (done with scarves)
Humpty Dumpty
Baby yoga, based on Little Yoga/Rebecca Whitford and Martina Selway
Preschool Storytime: The Heroes in Storybooks, adapted from p. 97 of the Early Literacy Manual
​
​
Books:
Superfab Saves the Day/Berengere Delaporte
Brief Thief/Michael Escoffier
The Day I Lost My Superpowers/Michael Escoffier
Superhero Joe/Jacqueline Weitzman
Superhero School/Aaron Reynolds
SuperHero ABC/Bob McLeod
The Amazing Adventures of Bumblebee Boy/David Soman and Jacky Davis
Eliot Jones, Midnight Superhero/Anne Cottringer
Super Hair-o and the Barber of Doom/John Rocco
Do Superheros Have Teddy Bears?/Carmela LaVigna Coyle
Songs/Rhymes/Activities:
SUPERHERO, SUPERHERO
Superhero, Superhero, turn around
Superhero, Superhero, touch the ground
(make up verses: put on your suit/boots; jump up high/fly, fly, fly, etc.)
[From Sunflower Storytime:]
And there is a YouTube video here.
SUPERMAN
Put your hands way up high (Raise arms up in air)
Like Superman flying across the sky (Assume flying position)
Fly to the left / Now fly to the right (Lean to YOUR right then left)
Now show me your muscles with all your might, (Make arm muscles)
Now Superman’s putting his suit away (Bring arms down slowly)
So he can go flying another day (Rest hands in lap)
[From Sunflower Storytime]
EARLY LITERACY PROGRAM IDEAS
Superhero Toddler Ball, an adaptation of the dance party on p. 246 of the Children's Manual
​
​
The Cedar Falls Public Library held its first toddler ball during our tenth anniversary celebration in March, and it was a hit. So during our summer library program in 2015, we will have a Superhero Toddler Ball, a dance party for little ones. Attendees will be encouraged to come in capes and other superhero attire and dance the morning away with songs like "Superhero Day" by Kimmy Schwimmy. We will try to duplicate our dance party decor, with moving colored lights, a disco ball, and each attendee will be given a glow necklace as they enter (we'll turn the lights down again to enhance the look of the colored dance lights).
Having done several dance parties, I have learned that it is good to do a mix of songs that have specific, simple moves to them and some that allow for freestyling. Check here closer to summer for a potential playlist.
Relatively inexpensive dance party lights can be purchased from stores like Amazon.com, starting at around $15.
Kitten Rescue, an adaptation of the program on p. 121 of the Children's Manual
​
​
This is a program for toddlers and/or preschoolers. By adding felt ears, wiggle eyes, small pom noses and whiskers, and yarn tails, you can create simple kittens, hide them in your storytime area, and your storytime friends can take on the role of rescuer to find all of the lost kittens. If you don't have an abundance of pom kittens, you can tell children that once they rescue a kitten, they should leave the rest for others to find. If you have lots of kittens, you may want to let children find as many as they can.
When we do a hunt like this, we offer a small reward--a bubblegum coin, chocolate coin, individually wrapped gummies, an honorary firefighter badge (link in the firefighter storytime plan above), etc. We will dispense them from a plastic firefighter hat, of course, available in the CSLP merchandise catalog.
Toddler Storytime: Heroes in My Community: Firefighters, adapted from pp. 78-79 of the Early Literacy Manual
​
​
Books:
Fire Truck!/ Ivan Ulz
[Video of the book in song available here.]
I'm Brave/Kate & Jim McMullan
This Is the Firefighter/Laura Godwin
Fire Engine Man/ Andrea Zimmerman and David Clemesha
Big Red Fire Engine/Ken Wilson-Max
Other books to share:
My First Counting Book: Firefighters/Cindy Entin
Fire! Fuego! Brave Bomberos/Susan Middleton Elya
Firefighter Ted/Andrea Beaty
Songs/Rhymes/Activities:
Song: Hurry, Hurry, Drive the Fire Truck (The Miss Nina version. The manual mentions the version on Songs for Wiggleworms. You can hear that version here.)
Flannel Board Activity: Who Uses This? Firefighter or Police Officer? from Storytime with Miss Tara
Lots of songs about firefighters are available at Preschool Education.
To go with the firefighter hat in the manual on p. 136 of the Children's Manual, I like the badge shown here, image #8.
