Our summer session of Toddler Storytime is underway.  Each week you’ll find a blog post that covers the books, rhymes, songs, flannel stories, fingerplays, puppets and video we shared.  There will also be some information about the benefits of reading, singing and talking to your toddler.

For our fourth storytime of the session we enjoyed reading and singing about Colors!  Below you’ll find a record of everything we shared!

FUN FACT:  Did you know there are many different ways children learn?  Some learn best through songs and rhymes; others through illustrations and print in books; and still others learn best through tactile experiences such as touch, smell and movement.  Since we talked about colors during our fourth storytime, I thought it would be helpful to include this handout aptly titled:  Helping Children Learn to Recognize Colors. 

Click here to access the post:  IIDC

We waved our colorful scarves to this song during storytime.  Sing it at home with your baby – you can point out the different colors as you sing together.  This video clip will give you the tune and words to the song.


Books We Shared

  

In Edward Gibb’s I Spy With My Little Eye, we are introduced to many “colorful” creatures.  The peephole shows us a hint of color but it isn’t until we turn the page that we see the matching animal.  Such a great book for babies and toddlers – the illustrations are huge, the colors vivid and the guessing game throughout keeps little ones engaged and thinking.  Also a wonderful book to teach colors and animal identification.  You can use the book to make the animal sounds as well.  Another fun way to bond and get your infant ready for reading. 

Pete the Cat – I Love My White Shoes by Eric Litwin with art by James Dean is always a crowd pleaser for kids of all ages.  Pete the Cat loves his white shoes but they don’t stay white for long!  He steps into strawberries and they turn his shoes red, then blueberries and they turn blue, then mud which turns them brown and then water which makes them wet which washes ALL OF THE COLORS off to reveal wet, white shoes!  This book is great for so many reasons but one that stands out is the song you can sing throughout the book.  Watch the video below to hear the tune as sung by the author!


Flannel Board We Shared

7 Color Dragons

Red dragon, green dragon, yellow dragon, blue.

Orange dragon, brown dragon, purple dragon too!

Shall we count them all together?

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5 7!

Seven color dragons soaring to the heavens!!


We did a little color mixing with the three white mice from the story, Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh.  It seems three white mice stayed against a white background to keep a pesky cat from seeing them.  They blended so well into the white wall that the cat could never find them.  But they got bored, moved away from the wall and started to play with some cans of paint.  There was a blue can of paint, a red can of paint and a yellow can of paint.  Each mouse experiments by jumping into one of the cans; the first one jumps into the blue can, the second into a red can  and the third into a yellow can of paint.  You can see what happens below!  They turn blue, red and yellow!

But things don’t end there.  The mice learn a bit about color mixing when they jump into the paint cans a second time.  This is a great way to teach colors and color mixing.  Even if the concept of color mixing is too difficult to grasp, there is still a great deal a toddler can absorb from this story.  Their curiosity keeps them engaged as they see the mice come out of the cans a different color.

   


Action Songs & Fingerplays We Shared

We share a lot of songs, bounces & rhymes during storytime!  You’ll find lyrics/words to those songs & rhymes we shared without CD accompaniment here.

Welcome, Welcome Everyone (to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle)

Welcome, welcome everyone,

Now we’re here let’s have some fun!

First we clap our hands just so,

Then we bend and touch our toes.

Welcome, welcome everyone,

Now we’re here let’s have some fun!

Clap Everybody and Say Hello! (see “CDs section” below to find this song in our CD collection)

Clap everybody and say hello, clap everybody and say hello, clap everybody and say hello, no matter what the weather

Stamp everybody… (stamp feet)

Wiggle everybody… (wiggle your body)

Jump everybody… (jump up and down)

Sing everybody… (open arms wide)

Roll Your Hands (see “CDs section” below to find this song in our CD collection)

Roll, roll, roll your hands as fast as fast can be! (roll hands)

Do it now, let me see, do it now with me.

Clap, clap, clap your hands as loud as loud can be!  (clap hands)

Do it now, let me see, do it now with me.

Tap, tap, tap your feet as softly as can be! (quietly tap feet)

Do it now, let me see, do it now with me.

Shake, shake, shake your feet as quickly as can be!  (quickly shake feet onto the ground)

Do it now, let me see, do it now with me.

Roll, roll, roll your hands as fast as fast can be! (roll hands)

Do it now, let me see, do it now with me. (keep rolling until the end of the song)

NEW Rhyme: 
You can make a fist and pretend that it is kitty’s head, than pet kitty as you say:
Soft Kitty
Soft kitty, warm kitty
Little ball of fur.
Happy kitty, sleepy kitty
Purr, purr, purr!

Open Shut Them – Video:  Open Shut Them

Open, shut them, open, shut them, (open and close hands)
Give a little clap, clap, clap.  (clap three times)
Open shut them, open shut them (open and close hands)
Put them in your lap, lap, lap. (place hands in lap and bounce them 3X)

Creep them, crawl them, creep them crawl them, (crawl fingers up arms)
Right up to your chinny  chin chin. (place fingers on chin)
Open up your little mouth (open mouth and say ahhhhhh)
But do not put them in!! (put hands behind your back)

This is Big

This is big, big, big (stretch hands far to sides)
This is small, small, small (cup hands together)
This is short, short, short (hold palms close vertically)
This is tall, tall, tall (hold palms far apart vertically)
This is fast, fast, fast (roll hands quickly)
This is slow, slow, slow (roll hands slowly)
This is yes, yes, yes (nod head)
This is no, no, no (shake head)
Credit: Mel’s Desk

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star – Video:  Twinkle Twinkle

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
How I wonder what you are
Up above the world so high
Like a diamond in the sky
Twinkle Twinkle little star
How I wonder what you are.

Itsy Bitsy Spider (see Video)


You are My Sunshine (short version)

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are gray.

You’ll never know dear, how much I love you
And I love you more every day.

Goodbye Friends (in sign) – Video:  Goodbye Friends

Goodbye friends, goodbye friends,
Goodbye friends, it’s time to say goodbye.

Music from CDs We Shared

Children love to sing and dance to music.  Here are some of the action songs & rhymes on CD that we used in storytime.  Click onto the CD titles to find these items in our library catalog.

“Clap Everybody and Say Hello” from Sally Go Round the Sun by Carol Hammett and Elaine Bueffel

“Roll Your Hands” from Toddlers on Parade by Kathy Reid-Naiman

“I’m a Little Teapot” from Toddler Favorites by Music for Little People

“Itsy Bitsy Spider” from Its Toddler Time by Carol Hammett and Elaine Bueffel

“ABC”  from Go Baby Go! Baby Loves Jazz by Baby Loves Jazz Band

Two Little Blackbirds” from  Circle Time: songs and rhymes for the very young by Lisa Monet

“We’re Going to the Market” from I Love to Hear the Sounds by Kathy Reid-Naiman

“Head, Shoulders, Knees, Toes” from Its Toddler Time by Carol Hammett and Elaine Bueffel


Video We Shared

Play Time Maisy


Continue the Fun

If you want to read more books about Colors make sure to check these out from your local Pasadena Public Library!