Tag: 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, tracing a sweater or hat all the way back to sheep. I did make up a couple of piggyback songs for this one (the first time I did this theme) and they work pretty well.

One thing I struggled a bit with is using Baa Baa Black Sheep. I couldn’t think of another way to use my “naked sheep” flannel and I wanted to do a sheep activity of some kind. I took another look at the origins and decided to use the song, though I did make some slight changes. I believe this is one of those rhymes that originally did not have any racial meaning, though of course connotative meanings get added over time and can also do real harm even if they weren’t original. The document that I have seen in the past of a list of problematic rhymes and songs has two notations for this song. The first looks to be the song basically as we sing it today, and the illustration does not show anything objectionable that I could tell – I’m not sure why it was listed in the document. The second is from a book called “Negro Folk Rhymes” which *does* include objectionable language, but from what I can tell is an adaptation of the original and not widely known. The tune to the song is the same as Twinkle Twinkle and the ABCs, so that’s not something that is tied to racism (unlike the “One Little, Two Little” song.) So, I did not do any “black sheep” verses, opting instead to do red, blue, and pink, and changed the word “master” to “mister.” Is it enough? I hope so. If you have an opinion that respectfully disagrees, I would love to hear it. And I’d love to hear alternative options for different colored and naked sheep flannel games, too!

See another version of this theme from 2021.

Early Development Tip: (two tips today!) Lacing activities help children develop fine motor skills, hand/eye coordination, motor planning, visual perception, improved attention, patience, and perseverance. In addition, lacing helps children practice the precursor skills for shoe tying and writing.
We count up and down from the number five often in storytime! It’s a great idea to mix it up sometimes and choose a different number to start with, such as in our rhyme “Six Balls of Yarn.”

Welcome Song: Hello, Friends* 

Warm Up Song: Wake Up, Feet* 
This is a repeated song that everyone seems to enjoy. I always begin and end with feet and tummies, but find two other body parts to wiggle in the middle. I rotate between elbows, cheeks, hips, noses, arms, chins, thighs, heads, shoulders, ears, knees, and fingers.

Lifting Rhyme: Toast in the Toaster* 

Intro: [Have some knitting to show.] This is yarn! And I’m knitting with my yarn! Knitting is a way to make yarn into clothes like sweaters, mittens, hats, scarves. Is anyone wearing a something made of yarn today? Are any grownups knitters?

In order to knit, your fingers need to be all warmed up. And someone who really knows how to weave and knit a beautiful web is spider!
Okay, a bit of a stretch, but it was a good way to get us started. I always repeat this one with GREAT BIG SPIDER with your whole hand and sing loudly and tiny shy spider with fingertips in a whisper.
Fingerplay: The Itsy Bitsy Spider
The itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout
Down came the rain and washed the spider out
Out came the sun and dried up all the rain
So the itsy bitsy spider climbed up the spout again
Source: traditional

Transition: If You’re Ready for a Story*

A funny and short book, perfect for my group. Lots of smiles and laughs.
Read: Cat Knit by Jacob Grant

Knit Togetheris a lovely story about a girl and her mom who work on designing a knit piece together, but my library doesn’t actually own it. I borrowed it from my home library as a backup but didn’t end up using it. My library DOES have Don’t Worry Wuddles, which is a cute one about a duckling who takes all of a sheep’s wool to keep the other animals warm, but it’s a little ambiguous about knitting – it kind of looks like the yarn is just wound around the animals.
Backup Reads: Knit Together by Angela Dominguez OR Don’t Worry Wuddles by Lita Judge

Do you know where woolen yarn comes from? Sheep! Sheep’s wool come in different colors, like white, black, gray, and brown, just like we have different hair colors. But I have some EXTRAORDINARY colored sheep!
See my note above for all my dithering about using this rhyme. I do like the second and third verses, I found them at Book Besotted Librarian but I don’t know if they are traditional or not. The last verse I’ve previously attributed to Piper Loves the Library (where I definitely stole the flannel pattern), but going to the site her rhyme is much different. It’s possible I made it up, but I don’t remember! The flannel is fun – the “naked sheep” has a removable sweater! Note that the rhyme sheet is two pages; the preview only shows the first, but the PDF includes both.
Nursery Rhyme: Baa, Baa, Sheep
Baa, baa red sheep have you any wool?
Yes, sir, yes, sir, three bags full
One for the mister, One for the dame
And one for the little boy who lives down the lane

Baa baa blue sheep have you any wool?
Yes, ma’am, yes ma’am, three needles full
One to mend a jumper, One to mend a frock
And one for the little girl, With holes in her socks

Baa baa pink sheep have you any wool?
Yes, child, yes, child, three bags full
One for the kitten, One for the cats
And one for the guinea pigs to knit some woolly hats

Baa baa, naked sheep have you any wool?
No, friend, no, friend, I’m cold right through!
Baa baa, naked sheep, what can we do?
Knit a sweater for me and you!
Source: traditional, 2nd and 3rd verses from Book Besotted Librarian, last vs adapted from Piper Loves the Library

Sometimes I put on glasses to read a book or to do my knitting!
We practice putting our glasses on and off, and opening and closing our books before we started. For “yarn” I pretended to hold a ball of yarn, and for “knit” I fiddled my fingers together.
Action Song: These Are My Glasses
These are my glasses, And this is my book
I put on my glasses, And open up the book
Now I read, read, read, And I look, look, look
I put down my glasses and…
WHOOP! Close up the book

These are my glasses, And this is my yarn
I put on my glasses And start to knit my yarn
Now I look, look, look, And I knit, knit, knit
I put down my glasses and…
WHOOP! It’s time to quit
Source: Laurie Berkner, from the album Whaddaya Think of That?
second verse by Ms. Emily

I have some lovely yarn here! What colors do you see?
I used only six colors from my Ten Balls of Yarn set, as ten gets a bit much for this age. The flannel was a labor of love. I am so pleased with how it turned out, even though it was a lot of work! Click the link for more on how I made it, plus a downloadable template. For this storytime, I made a new felt basket to put them in! I also used a cat puppet to pull the balls off of the flannelboard.
Counting Rhyme: Six Balls of Yarn
Six balls of yarn, sitting in a bowl
One fell out and started to…. ROLL (roll arms)
It bounced on my foot and there it sits
How many balls are left to knit?
(count down to one)
Source: Canton Public Library (MI)

Warm clothes can be knitted with warm yarn – like a sweater!
I have not figured out motions for this song that work REALLY well – I directed the group to rub their arms during the first part of the song, and do an exaggerated forward and back motion with their arms during the “bring back” portion. I played this on ukulele, so I wasn’t able to do any of the motions myself, which always makes it harder.
Ukulele Song: My Sweater
(tune of My Bonnie)
My sweater is warm and cozy
My sweater is warm and dry
When I play in very cold weather
Oh, bring me a sweater to wear
Oh, bring me, bring me, bring me a sweater to wear, to wear
Bring me, bring me, oh bring me a sweater to wear!
Source: Johnson County (KS) Library

Get a copy of the ukulele song sheet for My Bonnie!

Rhythm Sticks Intro: Let’s get out our rhythm sticks and practice! Can you make your sticks go Fast & Loud? Slow & Quiet? In a Circle? Drive them like a car? Rest them on your shoulders? Tap the ground? Okay, listen carefully! Fast, Quiet, Shoulders, etc.
It’s always good to do some practice with the sticks before we really get started. I use unsharpened pencils instead of traditional rhythm sticks to make it easier for the littles.

Let’s pretend our sticks are knitting needles!
I actually have a pair of jumbo knitting needles, so that’s what I used for my sticks! I have used variations on this rhyme many times – it works really well! This time I wanted to capitalize on the sticks, so made sure we did some tapping and rolling. The tricky one was tapping your sticks while turning in a circle, but the challenge made it fun.
Rhythm Stick Rhyme: Knitting Needles UP
Knitting needles up!
Knitting needles down!
Tap your knitting needles and turn around
Knitting needles up!
Knitting needles down!
Roll your knitting needles around and around
Source: One Little Librarian

What kinds of noises do our needles make?
Rhythm Stick Song: Click Clack Went the Knitting Needles
(tune of Mmm Ahh Went the Little Green Frog)
Click, clack went the knitting needles one day (pretend to knit)
Click, clack went the knitting needles
Click, clack went the knitting needles one day,
and they both went click clack click!

But… We know needles go
Tappy-tappy-tap! Tappy-tappy-tap! (big taps!)
Tappy-tappy-tap!
We know needles go
Tappy-tappy-tap!
They don’t go click, click, clack

Additional verse:
Roll, roll went the big ball of yarn one day… (roll arms/sticks)
But… we know yarn goes
Bouncy-bouncy-bounce… (bounce sticks in a vertical position)
Source: Canton Public Library (MI)

Can you listen carefully to the instructions in this song?
This was a song that a colleague played every week in storytime at my old library. It’s fun and has some good instructions, but isn’t too hard. I even had one caregiver ask about it afterwards as she wanted to play it at home!
Recorded Rhythm Stick Song: Tap Your Sticks
Source: Hap Palmer, from the album Rhythms on Parade

Action Song: Zoom, Zoom, Zoom!*

Craft: Yarn Hearts Craft
As this was the week before Valentine’s Day, I chose a craft that could be made into a Valentine if they wished. We have a die cut for a large heart with scalloped edges, so I cut those out in pink paper. Then I cut short lengths of yarn in varying colors and provided liquid glue for adhesion. Tip: wrap yarn around your hand (4 fingers) many times, then cut the whole bunch at the bottom and the top for neat, even short lengths of yarn. I mentioned that kids could follow the lines of glue on their papers or just scattershot, making sure their yarn was touching some glue. For even older kids, you could encourage them to draw or write with the glue and then follow it with the yarn. It’s a craft that scales for age!

Is it helpful to see the setup for crafts? This is what it looked like on each table. I put everything on a messy tray except some baby wipes for gluey hands.

Play Time
The toddlers have two laundry baskets of baby toys – rattles and cars, sorters and stackers, toy phones and spinners. For the older kids, I have foam blocks, soft food toys, puzzles, and a few other items that are a little more sophisticated than the baby toys. For Family Time, I gauge the overall age of the group and put out what seems right for them. We play for 5-10 minutes at the most, then I ring the bell and ask the kids to help me clean up. I think the clean up bit is good practice for them!

Goodbye Song: See You Later Alligator*

Other books I had available for families to browse (and may work for you on this theme)
Where Is the Green Sheep? – Mem Fox & Judy Horacek
Extra Yarn – Mac Barnett & Jon Klassen
Sweater Weather – Matt Phelan
Hide and Sheep – Andrea Beaty & Bill Mayer
A Hat for Mrs. Goldman – Michelle Edwards & G Brian Karas
While We Wait – Judy Ann Sadler & Élodie Duhameau
Silli’s Sheep – Tiffany Stone & Louis Thomas
Lester’s Dreadful Sweaters – KG Campbell
The Mitten – Jan Brett
Sheep Dog and Sheep Sheep – Eric Barclay
Knitty Kitty – David Elliott & Christopher Denise
If You Want to Knit Some Mittens – Laura Purdie Salas & Angela Matteson
Penguin in Love – Salina Yoon

This storytime was presented in-person on 2/11/26.

Storytime Handout:

*Lyrics to these songs can be found on the Repeated Songs & Rhymes page.

† Click the image of rhyme/song sheets to download a non-branded PDF