Storytime: Gulp! (Animals Eating Animals)
Okay, so yes, a storytime about animals getting eaten and swallowed up by other animals may seem a little morbid or inappropriate for babies and toddlers. But there are SO MANY books, rhymes, and songs that fit this theme! Little ones delight in sharks, snakes, crocodiles, lions, and bears being fearsome and sometimes eating other…
Storytime: Hugs
Hugs is a great generic theme to use the week of Valentine’s Day without explicitly dealing with the holiday. Most toddlers are very hug-positive, though it’s also a great opportunity to introduce the idea of consent and that perhaps not everyone likes hugs, or there may be times they prefer not to hug. I also…
Storytime: Knitting & Yarn
Any other knitters out there? Knitting and yarn is a fun storytime theme and I love that I get to share one of my hobbies with the littles. They always have some wide eyes when I show them a couple of knit stitches, and it’s a great way to think about the origins of things,…
Storytime: Hello & Goodbye
Some of baby’s first gestures are waves, so a hello and goodbye theme is great for babies and toddlers! We did a lot of waving and smiling and tried different kinds of greetings. My coworker did the majority of the planning and a lot of the rhyme sheet designs this week, though I did move…
Storytime: Community
Our library stays open for holidays like Veteran’s Day, President’s Day, and Martin Luther King, Jr Day. The idea is that these are holidays that have some deep meaning behind them and we should be available to provide information, education, and context. These usually end up being some of our busiest days, since kids are…
Storytime: Moon
Here’s a new take on a Moon storytime theme, planned by my fabulous coworker. In the past I’d separated the idea of the moon in a scientific way, talking about space and astronauts in one program (2019, pre-blog) and the idea of the moon “from the ground” – as an object we see in the…
Storytime: Winter Fun
I’ve found that sometimes when you’re collaborating on planning storytime, there are occasionally some things that get overlooked. For example, we chose “winter” as a theme this month, but as I was starting to plan I realized we had just had a storytime on “Winter Animals” in November. Whoops. But, it also illuminates how versatile…
Storytime: Cookies
I don’t know about you, but I tend to eat most of my year’s worth of cookies in December, which makes it a perfect time to do a cookie theme! See another version of this theme from 2022. Early Literacy Tip: Groups of items like our cookie feltboard (where there is a mix of colors,…
Storytime: Blankets and Bedtime
Winter makes me want to feel cozy, so here’s a new-to-me storytime theme: Blankets! I expanded it a bit beyond blankets to bedtime in general because I was worried I wouldn’t be able to find enough material for just blankets, so it was nice to have that flexibility. I actually had trouble finding a lot…
Storytime: Nursery Rhymes
Nursery rhymes seem so integral to childhood, but I feel that fewer kids are hearing them. That’s not the end of the world (especially if they are hearing other rhymes), but the traditional Mother Goose rhymes are rich in vocabulary and do a good job of using language and nonsense syllables in a fun way…
Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.
Follow My Blog
Get new content delivered directly to your inbox.
Storytime with Ms. Emily Library 