So, I thought I would share my lineup with you all so that you could duplicate if you’d like. If you are unfamiliar with any of the rhymes, drop me a comment and I’m happy to share.
Today was the first Lapsit Lambs (ages 0-6mos) storytime of our new session. Each session, I change up the rhymes and activities that we do, throwing in different music, new activities, etc. I keep about 2/3 – 1/2 of what I did from the last session to provide continuity, but still not make it the same old, same old. This session I got REALLY crazy and changed up the whole lineup so that I could throw in an activity completely new to my Lapsit crew—a parachute.
Greeting Song (hello, hello, hello and how are you? I’m fine, I’m fine, I hope that you are too.)
Acka Backa Soda Cracker
These Are Baby’s Fingers
Cheek Chin
Row, Row, Row Your Boat
Pat-A-Cake
Animal Moves
Popcorn
The Animals on the Farm (done with stuffed animals)
Pancake
What Shall We Do with a Lazy Katie?
Pizza, Pickle, Pumpernickel
Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes
A Smooth Road
We Bounce and Bounce and Bounce and Stop
Slowly, Slowly
Jo and Jim and Uncle John
I Bounce You Here
A Hippo Got on the Bus
Twinkle, Twinkle
(Read a book together)
Parachute play! (All the rest of the rhymes are done with the parachute)
Peek-a-boo
London Bridge is Falling Down
If You’re Happy and You Know It Shake the ‘Chute
Grand Old Duke of York
(Bubble Time)
Closing Song (This is a half hour of activities)
In previous sessions, we broke up the sitting activities with some standing activities and dancing to music. If I was going to include the parachute, I knew that I needed to not have it on the floor at the same time that we were moving around, because we have an uncarpeted floor, and no carpet + parachute=slick as snot. But every baby storytime I saw that used a parachute had it out on the floor to start with. Babies could crawl on it, talk about the colors, etc. It became familiar to them and therefore not something likely to scare them when it started billowing around their heads.
As each person came in, I cautioned them not to walk on the parachute because it was slick. Before starting, during my usual explanation time, I explained what we were going to do and how it was all going to work. I asked parents to either lay their babies on the floor, face up in front of them during parachute time, or keep baby in their laps—whatever worked for them. I emphasized that we wanted this to be fun, not stressful for baby. Things went remarkably smoothly, and no one seemed bothered that we didn’t have the regular music and dancing. I had told myself when constructing this session that if there were any problems at all with the parachute that I would change it up immediately. We didn’t have a single problem, and most of the babies seemed to actively enjoy it, with frantic kicking and excited burbles. (Other babies were really young and didn’t seem to care one way or another.)
I used a trick that I saw online to gather the parachute before bubble time. I had everyone raise the parachute really high and let it go. I then snatched it right over to me. The grownups laughed in surprise, but it worked like a charm, with nobody fussing and the parachute gathered with one quick move. I have a small parachute, though, so I don’t know if that would work with a large one.