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
Apples and Autumn Theme Rhymes and Songs
The Plan
Hello Good Morning
Head and Shoulders Knees and Toes
London Bridge Is Falling Down
Book: Mouse's First Fall by Lauren Thompson
Finger Play: Way Up High in the Apple Tree
Song: This is the Way the Leaves Fall
Activity: Leaf Sorting by Colour
Activity: Make an Apple or Flat Leaf Shape with Playdoh
Craft: Hand Tracing and Leaf Patterns
Parachute + Colouring Sheet
___________________
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: Mouse's First Fall by Lauren Thompson
This is a lovely book with simple text and illustrations that highlight the different colours, shapes and sizes of leaves. Also, I think I remember asking them to look for and point out the mice on every page.
Finger Play: Way Up High in the Apple Tree
Way up high in the apple tree
Two little apples smiled at me (Hands above head, fingers in circles)
I shook that tree as hard as I could (Shake hands)
Down came the apples (One arm down, then the other)
Mmmmmm! Yummy yummy good! (Rub stomach)
Song: This is the Way the Leaves Fall
This is the way the leaves fall
The leaves fall, the leaves fall
This is the way the leaves fall
In the middle of autumn.
This is the way we rake the leaves
Rake the leaves, rake the leaves
This is the way we rake the leaves
In the middle of autumn.
This is the way we jump in the leaves
Jump in the leaves, jump in the leaves
This is the way we jump in the leaves
In the middle of autumn.
I borrowed some red, yellow and orange cloth/plastic leaves and piled them up in the center of the group. I asked the toddlers to grab some leaves and let them fall from their fingersvfor the first verse. Then we mimed a raking motion for the second verse, and pretended to jump into the pile for the third verse.
Activity: Leaf Sorting by Colour
Since we made a mess in the previous song, I asked the toddlers to help me clean up the leaves by sorting them; red goes into the red bucket, yellow into the yellow bucket, and orange into the blue one (I didn't have an orange bucket, unfortunately, and I think this might have confused some of the toddlers...).
Activity: Make an Apple or Flat Leaf Shape with Playdoh
This is a sensory, motor skill activity. I handed out large pieces of playdoh to each toddler, then asked them to roll the playdoh into the shape of an apple (sphere). After, I asked them to squish the apple and make it flat, like a leaf.
Craft: Hand Tracing and Leaf Patterns
Materials:
-light blue cardstock
-crayons
-stickers
-glue
-small rectangular pieces of white paper
-real leaves (I used fake ones because it had rained the night before and all the leaves outside were wet)
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 an apples and autumn themed colouring sheet (pictures were found on the internet).
___________________
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!
