Music and Dance Theme - Toddler Storytime

Specs

Age group: toddlers (24 - 36 months)

Group Size: about 12 kids and one parent/caregiver per toddler

Time: 10:30am to 11:15am

Parent/Caregiver Handout

One of my colleagues told me that one of the ways we can encourage parents to participate is to give them printouts of the songs and rhymes we use. This way, they can participate with the child beside them, or on their lap, and the handout close by. Here are the ones we used for this storytime:

Toddler Storytime Songs and Rhymes
Dance and Music Theme Songs and Rhymes

The Plan

Welcome Song*

Rhyme: Up Down Turn Around*

Song: Hands Are Clapping*

Book: The Animal Bop Won't Stop by Jan Ormerod 
Rhyme: Dancing Fingers
Song: Dancing With Bears (dancing around in a circle, with everyone holding hands, and teddy bears as part of the circle)
Stick Puppet Storytime: Five Dancing Ballerinas
Activity: Making Music With Instruments
Craft
Parachute

*these are the ones I use for every toddler storytime session

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Welcome Song

(sing to tune of “London Bridge is Falling Down”) 

Hi hello and how are you

How are you? How are you?

Hi hello and how are you?

How are you today?

It’s a bright and sunny day

Sunny day, sunny day

It’s a bright and sunny day

For storytime and play!

Stretching Rhyme: Up Down Turn Around

Up, down

Turn around

Touch the sky

Touch the ground

Wiggle fingers

Wiggle toes

Wiggle shoulders

Say hello!

Song: Hands Are Clapping

(sing to tune of “Skip To My Lou”)

Hands are clapping

Clap clap clap

Hands are clapping

Clap clap clap

Hands are clapping

Clap clap clap

Clap your hands my darling!

Continue with …

-feet are stomping

-arms are flapping

End with …

Now let’s sit on the floor

Now let’s sit on the floor

Now let’s sit on the floor

Sit on the floor my darling!

Or continue more actions …

Toast in the toaster

Getting very hot

Tick tock tick tock

Up you pop!

Book: The Animal Bop Won't Stop by Jan Ormerod

Reaction: Some of the toddlers were really enthusiastic about doing the different animal movements!

Rhyme: Dancing Fingers

We’re going to dance our fingers up
And dance our fingers down
We’ll dance them to the side
Let’s dance them all around
And we’ll dance them on our shoulders
And we’ll dance them on our head
Let’s dance them on our tummy
And we’ll put them all to bed!

Reaction: I'm really lucky because I have a few really enthusiastic toddlers who participate and do the actions with the help of their parents. My goal next year is to try and get them all to do the actions if possible. 

Song: Dancing With Bears 

(sung to the tune by JBrary)

One two three, one two three

Dancing with bears

One two three, one two three,

Dancing 'round chairs

One two three, one two three

That's what we'll do

One two three, one two three

Dancing with you!

Reaction: I asked the parents and their toddlers to gather around in a circle, with everyone holding hands. I also added some big teddy bears to our group, so that some toddlers were holding the 'hands' of teddy bears. None of the kids threw a temper tantrum if they weren't holding a bear's hand. Phew! I hadn't thought of it as an issue initially, and I'm so glad that it didn't become an issue. We danced (and by dance, I mean we marched around) in a circle while singing this song, and repeated it twice. 

Stick Puppet Storytime: Five Dancing Ballerinas 
(Tune: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star) 

Five dancing ballerinas

Prancing on their toes

They twirl and spin and jump

Then off the stage she goes.

(count down to one)

One dancing ballerina

Prancing on her toes

She twirls and spins and jumps

Then off the stage she goes.

I got the idea for this one from Storytimes With Moxie. Instead of felt, I used foam to make the Hello Kitty ballerinas, then stuck them to popsicle sticks.

Reaction: The toddlers really liked this one because they recognized the Hello Kitty character.

Activity: Making Music With Instruments
I asked the toddlers to come up and take a musical instrument from our bins. Once they all had an instrument, we pretended to be in an orchestra. When I asked them to play slowly, they slowed down the movement of their instruments. When I asked for them to play faster, they also sped up. This is good practice for learning how to look and copy actions, or to follow instructions.

Reaction: As before, the older toddlers were able to follow along better than the younger ones, but regardless, I think they all enjoyed being able to make noise with their toys!

Craft: Happy Dance Wand and Music Shaker

Since this was the last storytime session of the autumn season, I thought it would be nice to have two crafts. For the most part, these were easy crafts for the kids. For the happy dance wand, the stars were already glued to the dowel sticks beforehand. They needed help when gluing the streamers to the back of the star, but were fine adding their own sticker decorations. The music shaker craft was a little tougher. The parents were needed for looping the string through the bells and through the holes in the receipt rolls, as well as for tying, but after that, the toddlers were happy decorating their new shakers with stickers.

Materials:

(For the happy dance wands)
dowel sticks
coloured craft foam, cut into star shapes
coloured streamers cut into thin strips
stickers for decorating

(For the music shaker)
empty receipt rolls (gathered from work!)
stickers for decorating
string
bells

Parachute with Rhymes

(Sing to “The More We Get Together”)

Come under my umbrella

Umbrella, umbrella

Come under my umbrella

It’s starting to rain!

(Sing to “Frere Jaques”)

Peek a boo, peek a boo

I see you, I see you

I see your button nose

And your tiny toes

Peek a boo, peek a boo.

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Credits: I took the songs and rhymes from a variety of sources, some from work, and others from different parts of the internet. I will try to give credit where it is due, so if something is yours and I haven't credited you, please let me know and I will link back to you. Thank you!