Specs
Age group: toddlers (24 - 36 months)
Group Size: about 8-10 kids and one parent/caregiver per toddler
Time: 10:30am to 11:15am
Parent/Caregiver Handouts
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 Rhymes and Songs
Trains Theme Rhymes and Songs
The Plan
Hello Good Morning
Head and Shoulders Knees and Toes
London Bridge is Falling Down
Book: A Train Goes Clickety-Clack by Jonathan London
Finger Play: Engine on the Track
Song: The Wheels on the Train
Action Rhyme: Here's a Little Choo Choo Train
Book: I Love Trains! by Philemon Sturges
Activity: Train Track Making with Popsicle Sticks
Activity: Stacking Lids into Patterns
Board Book: Freight Train by Donald Crews
Song: Chug Chug Chug
Craft: Name Train
Parachute and Colouring Sheet
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Hello Good Morning
(Tune: La Cucaracha)
Hello good morning, hello good morning
how is everyone today?
CHA CHA CHA
Hello good morning, hello good morning
I am so glad you came to play
CHA CHA CHA
The sun is shining, the birds are singing
What a way to start the day
CHA CHA CHA
If we keep singing, hello good morning
We'll be happy come what may
CHA CHA CHA
Welcome to storytime!
This song comes from Miss Karen and the Hello Music Kids.
Head and shoulders Knees and Toes
Head and shoulders
knees and toes
knees and toes
Head and shoulders
knees and toes
knees and toes
And eyes, and ears, and mouth, and nose
head and shoulders
knees and toes
knees and toes!
I used this version of the song. The linked video is long, but listen to the first minute or so for how to sing it, and how to do the actions.
London Bridge Is Falling Down
London bridge is falling down,
falling down, falling down
London bridge is falling down
My sweet baby
Now come and take a walk around
walk around, walk around
Come and take a walk around
My sweet baby
Time to sit and read a book,
read a book, read a book
Time to sit and read a book
My sweet baby!
Book: A Train Goes Clickety-Clack by Jonathan London
This book is good for toddlers. It has bright, simple illustrations, rhyming text, and train sounds you can ask them to mimic. It also names different trains and what they do.
Other toddler train books:
-Clickety Clack by Rob Spence
-The Old Steam Train by Heather Amery
-Terrific Trains by Tony Mitton
These ones are a little bit longer, but still workable for a toddler audience (especially if you read them at the beginning of storytime):
-All Aboard to Work--Choo-Choo! by Carol Roth
-Hey Mr. Choo-Choo, Where Are You Going? by Susan Wickberg
-And the Train Goes... by William Bee
Finger Play: Engine on the Track
Here is the engine on the track (hold up thumb)
Here is the coal car, just in back (pointer)
Here is the box car to carry freight (middle)
Here is the mail car...don't be late (ring)
Way back here at the end of the train (little)
Rides the caboose through the sun and rain
(make a circle with hands above your head, then wiggle fingers from high to low to emulate rain drops)
Song: The Wheels on the Train
(Tune: The Wheels on the Bus)
The wheels on the train go
clickety clack, clickety clack, clickety clack,
The wheels on the go clickety clack,
On the railroad tracks.
The engine on the train goes chug chug chug...
The conductor on the train says “ticket please”...
The people on the train go bounce, bounce, bounce...
The whistle on the train goes toot, toot, toot...
Action Rhyme: Here's a Little Choo Choo Train
Here's a little choo-choo train
Chugging down the track (chug with arms)
Now it's going forward (lean forward)
Now it's going back (lean back)
Hear the bell ring (ring bell)
What a lot of noise it makes (cover ears)
Everywhere it goes.
For this one, we all sat down and did the motions on the floor.
Book: I Love Trains! by Philemon Sturges
I forgot that this book is similar to "A Train Goes Clickety-Clack", so while I was reading it, I thought to myself, "Yikes! I need to vary the stories better than this! They're probably bored!" In reality, this second book most likely reinforced concepts already learned in the first book, but it wasn't a very pleasant experience for me, and possibly for the parents and caregivers as well. Whoops!
Activity: Train Track Making with Popsicle Sticks
This activity teaches them how to follow instructions.
Activity: Stacking Lids into Patterns
This activity helps with pattern/colour recognition and building fine-motor skills.
Board Book: Freight Train by Donald Crews
Each toddler received a copy of this book, and together, we turned the pages and read aloud (or the parents and care-givers did, anyway; some of the older toddlers were able to mimic back the words).
Song: Chug Chug Chug
(Tune: Zoom Zoom Zoom)
Chug chug chug (make chugging motions with arms)
We’re riding on the train
Chug chug chug
In sunshine or in rain
(form circle above head for the sun, then wiggle fingers from high to low for rain)
If you want to get somewhere
Climb aboard and pay the fare (stop and hold out your hand)
In 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
Choo choo!! Toot toot!
Chug chug chug
The train goes up and down
Chug chug chug
We’re almost at the town
If you want to get somewhere
Climb aboard and pay the fare
In 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
Choo choo!! Toot toot!
Inspired by the Zoom Zoom Zoom song, I changed the lyrics to suit our train theme. I also made train tracks to go around our storytime carpet, and added a large X (indicating a train crossing sign) to some of the junction points. We sang the song above while chugging our way around the train tracks. When we reached a large X, we would stop and do 5 jumping jacks while waiting for the imaginary train to pass through.
Craft: Name Train
Materials:
-train dye cut shapes, or find a template online
-coloured paper, cut into squares for the train cars
-round stickers for the wheels
-markers or crayons to make the tracks and the letters on the train cars
-cotton
-glue
This craft was originally found on Storytime Katie.
Parachute and Colouring Sheet
We cleaned up after the craft and asked the toddlers to spread out and grab one of the parachute's ends. We sat around in a circle around the parachute, then sang the Cuckoo Clock song. You can check out this youtube video for how to sing the song. For one o'clock, we lifted the parachute up once and yelled "Cuckoo!" once. If it's five o'clock, we would do the same thing repeated five times.
Tick, tock, tick, tock
I’m a little cuckoo clock
Tick, tock, tick, tock
Now I’m striking one o’clock
CUCKOO!
Afterward, I handed out a train themed colouring sheet (pictures were found on the internet).
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Credits: I took the songs and rhymes from a variety of sources (except for the Chug Chug Chug song), 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!
