However, I don’t necessarily want to spend the year reposting old, only-slightly-tweaked storytimes.

Fortunately, Anne at the So Tomorrow blog had a great idea: she mentioned in a Twitter conversation that storytime posts are great, but sometimes she’d like to know just a little bit more of the behind-the-scenes planning information, such as: How did this storytime person in particular adapt or present this specific book for their storytime?

This sparked the idea to present blog posts this fall that include some of this extra content. I’ll post the storytime plan as usual, but each time try to spend some time sharing different ideas:

*what do I actually wind up saying to transition between each storytime element?
*why did I choose this book or that rhyme over the dozens of other choices?
*what idea came first and how did the storytime come together?

Because I am only presenting baby storytimes right now, I don’t know how much I’ll be able to talk about how to adapt or present books. Since my audience doesn’t really interact with me verbally, my presentations are pretty straightforward. (Although today a young toddler walked all the way across the room so he could point and make sure I saw the doggie in the picture.)

But if you have any other ideas for what you’d like to hear me rattle on about during an Extended Play Storytime Post, let me know!

OPENING SONG: Hello Song*

OPENING FINGERPLAY: Open Them Shut Them*

BOOK: Big Fat Hen by BAKER
An oversized picture book with bold colors for little eyes.

ACTIVITY: Two Little Blackbirds

Two little blackbirds, sitting on a wall
hold up pointer fingers
One named Peter, one named Paul
wiggle one finger, then the other
Fly away Peter! Fly away Paul!
tuck one hand behind back, then the other
Come back Peter! Come back Paul!
bring one hand back to front, then the other

SONG: Baa Baa Black Sheep
I use pop stick puppets (made from clip art–here’s a version you can use) with this song, and sing it with different color sheep.

FLANNEL SONG: A Hunting We Will Go*
Today we used crow/snow, sheep/Jeep, hen/pen, and bear/chair.

BOUNCE: Royal Duke of York
Many thanks to Anne and Brianna for the great Twitter conversation we had about this old rhyme! We talked about different variations (Is the Duke “royal,” “grand,” or “merry”?) and Anne reminded us that with older kids we can skip, jump, and hop up the mountain after we march, and Brianna taught us the “rolling” verse that I end with here. Yay for Twitter colleagues!

Oh, the royal Duke of York
He had ten thousand men
Bounce baby in lap
He marched them up the mountaintop
Lift baby up!
And marched them down again
Set baby in your lap again

Oh, when you’re up, you’re up
Lift baby up!
And when you’re down, you’re down
Set baby in your lap again
And when you’re only halfway up
You’re neither up nor down!
Bounce baby in lap

He rolled them to the left
Tilt baby to one side
He rolled them to the right
Tilt baby to the other side
He rolled them over upside down
Tilt baby gently backwards in your lap!
Oh, what a silly sight!
Bring baby back upright

ACTION RHYME: Pat A Cake

Pat a cake pat a cake
Baker’s man
Bake me a cake as fast as you can
Clap baby’s hands together
Pat it
Pat baby’s tummy
And roll it
Roll baby’s hands over each other
And mark it with B
Trace the letter B on baby’s tummy
And put it in the over for Baby and me!
Clap again!

BOOK: Diddle Diddle Dumpling by PEARSON
This is small in size, but the illustrations about a bedtime routine (Daddy falls asleep reading to baby!) are wonderful.

LITERACY TIP: Print Motivation
Researchers have found that kids who go to kindergarten with a few Mother Goose rhymes memorized have an easier time learning to read than kids who don’t! Nursery rhymes introduce babies to the rhymes and rhythms of words, and that intimate knowledge really does give them a head start.

ACTION SONG: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

ACTION RHYME: This is Big Big Big*

CLOSING SONG: Sneeze Game*

*Check out the My Baby Storytime page for the words and/or citations for these weekly activities!

However, the whole time I was working on the project, I was thinking, is this something I can really advise other youth librarians to do? Say you weren’t predisposed to think cutting out 160 individual letters was a worthwhile use of your weekend…is it still worth it to take on a project like this?

I’m not sure.

On the one hand, I know I struggle sometimes to find great books for baby storytime. I want, like we all do, to provide the highest level of service possible to our storytime families. When just the right book isn’t available, it seems like making my own is one way to close that gap a little and not have to settle for less than I want. On the other hand, it took me a bunch of hours (I really didn’t count, though I should have) over a whole weekend to put this together. Is it really worth the time, the effort, and the cost of supplies?

Probably not.

This isn’t really the answer I wanted to come to! I wanted to get to the end of the weekend and say, “Hey, this was pretty easy.” Instead I finished up Sunday night and thought, “OK, this was a pretty big deal. This might not work for everyone.” Why? Because it took a lot of time. Because I am lucky enough to work in a library district that still has some money for things like extra large construction paper. Because I had several crafty tools at home that made it all easier. Because if I really want this to last, I should laminate it, and I don’t yet know how much that would cost, but I’m willing to believe it might be quite a bit.

On the other other hand, I could have made choices (like not cutting out the letters) that would greatly reduced the hands-on time I spent, as well as making those crafty tools (like the sticker maker) less necessary. And a 50-sheet pack of 18×24 construction paper is less than $10, and I only used 8 sheets on this book. A purchased big book can cost $30. If you’re careful, maybe you can get by without laminating the finished book, or maybe a couple of pieces of contact paper would work instead.

So I’m going to lay out my thoughts and my advice, and let you decide. If you read this and still want to try making your own big books for baby storytimes, let me know how it goes!

Keep It Simple

One of the main reasons I was dissatisfied with the Twinkle Twinkle Little Star books on hand was that they were too complicated, visually and narratively, for baby storytime. My baby storytime is for babies birth through 2 years. And while those 2 years olds are pretty savvy, I have to remember that at least half of my crowd is 15 months and younger. If I want the littler ones to be captivated once in awhile by a book, I can’t always pitch my books to the big kids. [nb: I believe strongly that baby storytime is more about the songs and rhymes than the books, but I do still use one or two books at every storytime. I think it starts to show that books can be fun, plus it gives me a chance to model reading to babies to the grown-ups.]

So if you make your own big book for baby storytime, keep the text short and sweet, and the images big and simple. This actually makes it easier for you to put together, too! I used Twinkle Twinkle Little Star for this one, and I’m already thinking about what nursery rhyme I might try next. But you could make up simple story lines like putting a series of toys in a toy box, or naming all the objects you see on a walk through the park.

Try Construction Paper

I can draw a cartoon sheep for a pop-stick puppet, but I can’t draw well enough to carry a whole book. I found I really liked using cut paper collage for this one.

For one thing, there are tons of clip art and printable coloring pages that you can download, scale in size on your computer or copier, and use as templates for your shapes and illustrations. For another, it turned out to be very helpful to be able to move the shapes around on the page until I found a layout I liked. You might not think you know much about design, but think of how many picture books you’ve read in your life! Trust yourself to know what looks good. You can also check out some scrapbooking idea books; many of them have sections that outline basic design strategies for beginners.

Don’t Do It All At Once

Give yourself some time to make this happen. If you do a little bit at a time, it won’t feel like it’s a project that’s taking over your whole life. Also, giving yourself plenty of lead time allows new ideas to germinate. On my first draft of this book, I only sketched out the text and the stars. (Keeping it simple!) After letting it sit for a day, I had the idea to add a rocket ship to every page. This turned out to be a great idea: the rocket added a sense of motion to each page, plus as the rocket flew through the pages, landed on the moon, and took off again, it added a very simple second story line to the book, and gave me more to talk about as I read the story. (“Where is the rocket going?”)

Take Short Cuts

AKA, don’t cut out all the letters individually! Use white pages and print out the words from a Word doc. One thing I might try next time if I want colored pages: make a text box, set my font color to white, and the text box background to the color of my page.

Have Fun

Last but not least, don’t take on this project if it’s not something you are going to enjoy. The bottom line is, there are lots of ways to make your baby storytimes fabulous, and the number one way is to love what you’re doing!

So I decided to make my own! This is a long post that outlines how I made my big book. Because it is so long, I put my thoughts and tips into a separate post.

I was lucky and found some 18×24 black construction paper in the children’s library supplies at work. I cut it to 18×18, and those were my pages. For the text, I thought about using white crayon or a white paint pen, but in the end I decided to print out the letters and cut them out individually. I can tell you, the next big book I do will not take place in outer space, because this was definitely a time-consuming step.

To make my letters, I opened a Word Art text box in Microsoft Word, chose Century Gothic in a large size, and chose Outline for the style. I changed the color from black to a lighter gray, then flipped the image horizontally so the letters would print out backwards. This let me cut them out without worrying about being too exact, because any gray outlines I didn’t cut away would be face-down in the book.

Click on the photo below to see it a little larger–you’ll be able to see what the letters looked like before I cut them out.

Once I cut them out, I could have used a glue stick to glue them down, but because I am a huge geek, I had a Xyron at home from my stay-at-home mom scrapbooking days. I used the adhesive cartridge, which is basically a huge sticker maker. You can send whatever you want through the machine and it puts a layer of adhesive on one side. This was very handy!

Here’s everything spread out on my kitchen table:

Here’s the title page coming together. Note the other geeky tool I had at home…a quilting ruler. I used it to help center and line up the letters. (I can’t remember the last time I used this ruler for a sewing project, but I use it all the time for other crafts!)

Before I started gluing anything else down, I sketched out a plan for each page. My 12-year-old daughter helped me with the layout! You can see a couple of versions on this sketch. The black Sharpie was my very first sketch, when I just wanted to get the basic idea in my head onto the paper. The pencil is what my daughter and I worked out once we had a chance to move some shapes around on the actual pages.

Here’s my daughter using some rough paper shapes and a piece of string to help us visualize where we wanted to put things on the page. The string represented the line of text. The fish shape was our rocket stand-in!

Then it was time to glue everything down. Here’s one of the final pages:

And what the floor looked like when we were done!

OPENING SONG: Hello Song*

OPENING FINGERPLAY: Open Them Shut Them*

BOOK: Higher! Higher! by PATRICELLI
I SO wanted this book to win a Caldecott. I think it’s perfect.

FLANNEL RHYME: 5 Little Rockets
My version of 5 Little Pumpkins!

5 little rockets zooming off in space
The first little rocket said, “Let’s have a race.”
The second little rocket said, “Line up in a row!”
The third little rocket said, “Ready, set, go!”
The fourth little rocket said, “Beep beep beep.”
The fifth little rocket said, “You can’t catch me!”
Then roar went their engines and blink went their lights
And five little rockets zoomed out of sight.

LITERACY TIP: Vocabulary
Don’t hesitate to talk about places or objects that your baby hasn’t encountered yet. Just remember to help them out by giving them a little context for their new ideas. Say, “Look, here’s a rocket! A rocket flies in the sky like an airplane or a helicopter, but it can go much, much farther away. It can go all the way to the moon!”

FLANNEL SONG: A Hunting We Will Go*
Today we used king/swing, and rocket/pocket.

FLANNEL SONG: If You’re Going to the Moon
Sing to: If You’re Happy and You Know It

If you’re going to the moon, wear your boots
If you’re going to the moon, wear your boots
If you’re going to the moon, this is what you have to do,
If you’re going to the moon, wear your boots.

…wear your gloves
…wear your helmet

BOOK: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star by ME!
I was frustrated with the book versions of this song that were available to me, so I made another big book over the weekend! Here’s what one of the spreads looks like. If you’re curious, you can read about the process and my take on it.

ACTION SONG: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
I just put a big star shape on the flannelboard while we sang this together.

ACTION RHYME: This is Big Big Big*

CLOSING SONG: Sneeze Game*

*Check out the My Baby Storytime page for the words and/or citations for these weekly activities!

OPENING SONG: Hello Song*

OPENING FINGERPLAY: Open Them Shut Them*

BOOK: Pete the Cat by LITWIN
I know not everyone loves this book but I am one of the ones who does!

ACTION SONG: If You’re Happy and You Know It
Pete LOVES his shoes! What makes you happy?

FLANNEL SONG: 5 Clean and Squeaky Pigs
I found this rhyme in our storytime files years ago; I don’t know if someone here found it or made it up! Sing it to: 5 Green and Speckled Frogs. I stole the idea for pigs clean on one side and dirty on the other from Miss Mary Liberry!

Five pigs so squeaky clean
Cleanest you’ve ever seen
Wanted to go outside and play
Oink! Oink!
One jumped into the mud
Landed with a big THUD
Then there were four clean squeaky pigs.

FLANNEL SONG: A Hunting We Will Go*
Today we used cat/hat, pig/wig, whale/pail, and mouse/house

BOOK: Trashy Town by Zimmerman
I skipped one or two of the places Mr Gilly goes to, make this shorter for the babies.

ACTION SONG: This Is the Way
I got out our scarves and we pretended they were washcloths while we sang this song! Sing it to: Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush.

This is the way we wash our arms
Wash our arms, wash our arms
This is the way we wash our arms
When we’re in the bathtub.

Also wash your legs, tummies, heads…

LITERACY TIP: Vocabulary
Songs like “If You’re Happy” and “This Is the Way” help build young children’s vocabulary by pointing to body parts as you name them.

ACTION RHYME: This is Big Big Big*

CLOSING SONG: Sneeze Game*

*Check out the My Baby Storytime page for the words and/or citations for these weekly activities!

OPENING FINGERPLAY: Open Them Shut Them*

BOOK: What Will Fat Cat Sit On? by THOMAS
It’s always a good day when you can read a Jan Thomas book!

LITERACY TIP: Print Awareness
When you have a book like What Will Fat Cat Sit On? that has really big words, point to them every now and then when you read. You will start to help your baby make the connection between the words that you say and the print on the page.

FLANNEL SONG: Down Around the Corner
I use this song over and over again. We go to different kinds of stores and buy different things! Sing it to “Five Little Ducks.”

Down around the corner at my mom’s pet store
Were five little cats and not one more
Along came someone with a nickel to pay
And they bought a little cat and they took it away.

ACTION RHYME: I Have Fur
This is one of the first rhymes I wrote when I started trying to make up my own!

I have fur upon my back
Pat baby’s back
I have whiskers just like that
Trace whiskers on baby’s cheeks
I have ears–I flick them twice
Hold up the first two fingers of each hand on your head so baby can see your “ears” or touch baby’s ears
I have paws for catching mice!
Hold your hands in front of you like paws, then clap them together when you say “catching!”

FLANNEL SONG: A Hunting We Will Go*
Today we used cat/hat, parrot/carrot, fish/dish, and dog/log

BOOK: Doggies by Boynton
I made a homemade big book out of this favorite board book.

GUESSING GAME: Little Dog, Are You In the Green House?
Follow the link for more about this activity!

BOUNCE: Ride Away

Ride away ride away
Bounce baby on lap
Johnny will ride
He shall have a pussycat
Tied to one side
Slip baby to one side
He shall have a puppy dog
Tied to the other
Slip baby to the other side!
And Johnny will ride to see his grandmother

ACTION RHYME: This is Big Big Big*

CLOSING SONG: Sneeze Game*

*Check out the My Baby Storytime page for the words and/or citations for these weekly activities!

OPENING SONG: Hello Song*

OPENING FINGERPLAY: Open Them Shut Them*

BOOK: Buzzy’s Big Beach Book by ZIEFERT
This little picture book has two “chapters” in it. I read the second story, called “Brave Buzzy,” which starts, “Daddy says, ‘Okay Buzzy, let’s get wet.’ / But Buzzy isn’t ready yet!”

BOUNCE: Gonna Swim In the Ocean
I wrote this bounce a few years ago. I think it’s fun to play when you’re sitting with your baby on the edge of the wading pool. Bounce them on your lap, with your feet in the water, then dip their feet into the pool when you say “Wet!” In storytime you can just open your legs and dip babies between them.

Gonna swim in the ocean
Gonna fish with a net
Gonna wade in the water
And I’m gonna get WET!

PHOTO CARDS: Going to the Beach
Every once in awhile I show photos from clip art to the babies. Sometimes we sing a simple song, like today, other times we just talk about each photo. I think photo cards are a great way to model open ended questions for the grown-ups, and they help fill in a gap if you’re not finding a great book you want to share. Sing this to “The Farmer in the Dell.” Repeat for every photo, and stop and talk about each object before you go on. My photos are of red crabs, a seagull, a sailboat, a shovel and pail, and a seashell. I ended with the boat today so we could sing the rowboat song next!

I’m going to the beach
I’m going to the beach
I think I’ll see a seagull there
I’m going to the beach.

ACTION SONG: Splashin’ Up and Down
Sing to: “Bumpin’ Up and Down In My Little Red Wagon”

Splashin’ up and down in my little red rowboat
Splashin’ up and down in my little red rowboat
Splashin’ up and down in my little red rowboat
Won’t you be my darling?
Bounce baby on your lap

Lookin’ out to sea in my little red rowboat…
Shade eyes with your hand

Wavin’ to a whale in my little red rowboat…
Wave!

Don’t stand up or you might tip over!
Lean baby to right or left!

FLANNEL SONG: A Hunting We Will Go*
Today we started with goat/boat and bee/sea, then used bug/jug and frog/log, which hinted at our next book.

BOOK: Jump! by FISCHER
I included this book today because all the animals splash in the water at the end. Great way to cool off in the hot sunshine!

LITERACY TIP: Print Motivation
I’m still plugging our Baby and Toddler “Make a Splash!” Summer Reading Program for our literacy tip!

FLANNEL SONG: 5 Green and Speckled Frogs

FLANNEL: Summer Shapes
Read about this flannel over here!

SONG WITH RATTLES: Mr Sun
I handed out egg shakers and we shook, rattled and rolled while Raffi sang “Mr Sun”!

ACTION RHYME: This is Big Big Big*

CLOSING SONG: Sneeze Game*

*Check out the My Baby Storytime page for the words and/or citations for these weekly activities!

OPENING SONG: Hello Song*

OPENING FINGERPLAY: Open Them Shut Them*

BOOK: There Once Was a Puffin by JAQUES
My mom used to read this poem to my sister and I when we were kids. It is still one of my all-time favorites to share!

FLANNEL SONG: 5 Little Puffins Flew Out One Day
Adapted from 5 Little Ducks, of course! The puffin in There Once Was a Puffin has tea with the fishes, so I added that in.

5 little puffins flew out one day
Over the cliffs and far away
Mama Puffin said, “Where can they be?”
But only four came back for tea!

SONG WITH PUPPETS: Did You Ever See a Fishy?
Sing to “Did You Ever See a Lassie?” I used several puppets and sang a few verses.

Did you ever see a fishy, a fishy, a fishy
Did you ever see a fishy swim this way and that?
Swim this way, swim that way, Swim this way, swim that way,
Did you ever see a fishy swim this way and that?

FLANNEL SONG: A Hunting We Will Go*
Today we used puffin/muffin, fish/dish, crab/cab, and whale/pail.

BOOK: Bedtime Kiss for Little Fish by GROVER
I discovered this on Readertotz!

BOUNCE: Fishes Swim
From Clare Beaton’s Playtime Rhymes

Fishes swim in water clear
Move hand up and down across body
Birds fly up in to the air
Flap arms
Serpents creep along the ground
Palms together for snake
Boys and girls run round and round!
Wiggle feet or stomp

LITERACY TIP: Print Motivation
Make sure to sign up your babies for our Summer Reading Program!

SCARVES: Octopus’ Garden by The Beatles
I handed out scarves and played Octopus’ Garden while we played with them!

ACTION RHYME: This is Big Big Big*

CLOSING SONG: Sneeze Game*

*Check out the My Baby Storytime page for the words and/or citations for these weekly activities!

OPENING SONG: Hello Song*

OPENING FINGERPLAY: Open Them Shut Them*

BOOK: I Can Help by COSTELLO

This is a wonderful story for baby and toddler storytimes! It has really short sentences, but lots of meaning is carried in the bright and clear illustrations so the narrative is rich and there is lots to talk about.

ACTION SONG: If You’re Happy and You Know It

FLANNEL SONG: A Hunting We Will Go*
Today we used duck/truck and parrot/carrot, since a duck and a bird are in the first book. Then I tossed in bear/chair and fish/dish.

BOOK: Whose Toes Are Those? by ASIM

If you like this bouncy, rhyming book, look for Whose Knees Are These? by the same author.

ACTION SONG: Where Is Big Toe?
Sing to: Where is Thumbkin?

Where is big toe? Where is big toe?
Here I am; here I am!
Touch baby’s toe
Wiggle, wiggle, big toe
Wiggle, wiggle, big toe
Wiggle baby’s toe
My big toe, my big toe.

Where is elbow…bendy, bendy elbow
Where is tummy…squishy, squashy tummy
Where are two eyes…winky blinky two eyes
Where are two hands…happy clappy two hands

LITERACY TIP: Print Motivation
Don’t forget to sign up for summer reading! Even babies and toddlers can participate!

BOOK: What’s On My Head? by MARGARET MILLER

This is the book my husband and I give as a new baby present!

ACTION SONG: Head and Shoulders Knees and Toes

Head and shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes
Head and shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes
Eyes and ears and mouth and nose
Head and shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes

ACTION RHYME: This is Big Big Big*

CLOSING SONG: Sneeze Game*

*Check out the My Baby Storytime page for the words and/or citations for these weekly activities!