Today’s Infant Storytime was about polar animals in the Arctic and Antarctic regions! We welcomed a few new families from the waitlist, hooray! We started storytime with another picture made out of shapes. They are a walrus, a penguin, an arctic fox and a polar bear:

arctic shapes

And we read an adorable book by Emma Todd called I Am Small. It’s a book about a penguin chick who sees how big, fast, and scary the world is but takes comfort in her parents.

I Am Small

We played a game where we tried to guess what puppet was hiding and peeping through a hole I cut out of a cardboard box. I made this craft simple on purpose to illustrate how easy it is to do at home! You could take your baby’s stuffed animals and play peek-a-boo with them.

cardboard box i spy

Then we sang a new version of the tickle we learned last week:

Spots, spots, spots, spots, spots, spots, spots, spots,
A snow leopard’s fur has spots
What a lot of spots he’s got
A penguin has blubber to give him cover, but a snow leopard’s fur has spots, spots, spots, spots, spots!

We counted penguins from one to five with the story “One Little Penguin”:

one little penguin

One little penguin was chillin’ at his home.
He called his friend over so he wouldn’t be alone.

Two little penguins playing with their toys.
Another stopped by when she heard all the noise.

Three little penguins swimming in the sea.
They saw a friend and invited her for tea.

Four little penguins sliding in the snow.
They met with another to go to a show.

Five little penguins had such a great time.
And that’s all the penguins there are in this rhyme!
(adapted from http://sethers.us/2011/08/19/flannelfriday-five-little-penguins/)

We sang a new version of “Bumpin’ Up and Down”… this time on a blubbery WALRUS!

Bumpin’ up and down on a blubbery walrus
Bumpin’ up and down on a blubbery walrus
Bumpin’ up and down on a blubbery walrus
Frollicking in the snow!
The walrus bucks and I bounce up high
The walrus bucks and I bounce up high
The walrus bucks and I bounce up high
And into the water I go! SPLASH!

We also adapted “Tickly Toddle” for our Polar theme:

Tickly toddle, a penguin likes to waddle
she’ll wobble and waddle all over the world

Chorus: So tickly tickly tickly pin
I like to be tickled up under my chin
Tickly tickly tickly bee
I like to be tickled in back of my knee

Tickly tuddle, a polar bear likes to cuddle
He’ll snuggle and cuddle with mom or with dad

(Chorus)

We told a story about Five Little Polar Bears who each fall off the sled (just like the five little monkeys jumping on the bed):

five little polar bears

Five little polar bears riding on a sled (ZOOM! down with your arms)
One fell off and bumped his head! (hold head)
Mama called the doctor and the doctor said: (pretend to talk on phone)
“No more polar bears falling off the sled!” (shake finger)
(from http://www.literaryhoots.com/2015/01/flannel-friday-penguins-polar-bears.html)

To introduce the next book and help everybody get quiet and ready, I brought out our Snow Leopard puppet and said a little rhyme:

The snow leopard is creeping, shh shh shh
The snow leopard is creeping quiet and slow
The snow leopard is creeping, shh shh shh
The snow leopard is creeping, creeping through the snow

Then we read Hello, Arctic! by Theodore Taylor and illustrated by Margaret Chodos-Irvine. It’s a cute introduction to all the animals that live in the arctic, saying hello to each one and then saying good night.

Hello, Arctic!

We did some songs with our song cube and sang our goodbye song. I hope everyone had a great time and will see you next week!