I presented this plan to a toddler group the same morning I shared Night Sounds with our mixed-age family crowd. Like that plan, I love how everything in this storytime revolved around phonological awareness and gave me many messaging opportunities (in case if my planned message moment didn’t work out). We started with sounds round the farm and ended with sounds in the forest:
*Sing: Good Morning to You
Welcome & Set Expectations
*Sing: If You’re Ready for a Story…
Read: Do Cows Meow? by Salina Yoon
Toddlers love making the sounds in this noisy silly story and looking under the flaps!
Rhyme: Pink Pig, Pink Pig, What Do You Hear? (Flannel)
I love these farm animal faces! They’re so versatile. Besides hiding them under hats, I also like to use them with a Brown Bear or Polar Bear-esque rhyme.
Pink pig, pink pig, what do you hear?
I hear a cat meowing in my ear!
(repeat with other animals)
Rhyme: Little Bo Peep (Scarves)
But where is the sheep?! Oh no! Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep and doesn’t know where to find them…
I think this was the first storytime I tried doing this rhyme with scarves like Jbrary demonstrates below. It was a HUGE HIT! We did this rhyme four times through and they still wanted to do it again!
Lit Tip: Raising Readers with Nursery Rhymes
Grown-ups, I love nursery rhymes because they have such a positive impact on children’s reading development! Teachers like to say rhymers are readers because they have an easier time hearing word patterns. When you say nursery rhymes with your child, you help them on the road to reading.
Sing: The Ponies Are Walking by Kathy Reid-Naiman (Scarves)
We turned those scarves into horse tails and walked, trotted, then galloped round the room.
Sing: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
“Those ponies must be exhausted after galloping around! Let’s sing them a lullaby and help them fall asleep.”
Read: Night Owl by Toni Yuly
“Which nocturnal animals come out at night when everyone is sleeping? Owls!”
Rhyme: My Friend Cat (Flannel)
Then we played a rhyming game! We hid those farm animal faces under hats and looked for my friend cat.
My friend cat
Is hiding under a hat.
Is my friend cat
Under the cowboy hat?
After finding cat:
My friend cat
Was hiding under a hat!
If that’s not cat,
Who’s under the party hat?
Sing: Popcorn Kernels (Scarves)
Learning Through Play
*Please visit this page to learn more about my regular storytime songs and routines.
Storytime in the Stacks 