Thanks for Monday

Today was all about Thanksgiving in Toddler Time!! We had a couple great Thanksgiving books, and one not so Thanksgiving book!!

Opening Song: If You're Happy and You Know It from Favorite Children's Songs CD.

Book: Five Silly Turkeys by Salina Yoon

Rhyme: Hey Diddle, Diddle

Book: Thank You, Thanksgiving by David Milgrim


Practice: Count to 5

Book: From Head to Toe by Eric Carle


Interactive Playtime

All the colors

I found some great books about colors, so I wanted to see how well the toddlers knew their colors!! They did really well, of course!!

Opening Song: If You're Happy and You Know It from Favorite Children's Songs CD.



Book: Driving in my Tractor by Jan Dobbins


Game: Colored circles on popsicle sticks and have kids guess the colors.

Book: Meeow and the Little Chairs by Sebastien Braun


Song: Twinkle, Twinkle

Book: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr.
Interactive Playtime

Mondays Kittens

I think I accidentally forgot to plan story time, oops!!! Luckily, there are always a couple themes that have plenty of books to choose from if you are a last minute planner as I seem to sometimes be! But, it turned out great - LOVE those toddlers!!

Opening Song: If You're Happy and You Know It from Favorite Children's Songs CD.

Book: I Love Cats by Barney Saltzberg

Rhyme: Hey Diddle, Diddle

Book: Kitten for a Day by Ezra Jack Keats

Song: I'm a Little Teapot

Book: Cat the Cat Who Is That? by Mo Willems


Interactive Playtime

Wheelin' around!

Found some fun books that each had something to do with wheels or round things. Well, almost all of them... =)

I'm also changing up my Opening song. The Favorite Children's Songs CD that I had always been using was starting to get a little choppy, so I decided to see if I could find another fun version of If You're Happy and You Know It. I'll let you know what version I decide on!! But for now:

Opening Song: If You're Happy and You Know It from Favorite Children's Songs CD.



Book: Wheels Go Round by W. Nikola-Lisa


Song: Wheels on the Bus

Book: Little Duck's Bicycle Ride by Dorothy Stott (Sorry - no picture!!)

Rhyme: Hickory Dickory Dock

Book: You Are My Sunshine by Caroline Jayne Church


Interactive Playtime

Fall into Monday

This week, we did Fall stories for the little ones!!! Can I just tell you how cute these little ones are?!?! I am loving my Toddlers!!!!!

Opening Song: If You're Happy and You Know It from Favorite Children's Songs CD.




Book: Mouse's First Fall by Lauren Thompson


Song: The Leaves on the Trees (to the tune of Wheels on the Bus - adapted from Jean Warren's Preschool Express Fall leaves & rhymes page)

The leaves on the trees are falling down, falling down, falling down.
The leaves on the trees are falling down, all through the town!

Let's rake the leaves into a mound, into a mound, into a mound.
Let's rake the leaves into a mound, all through the town!

The children in the town jump up and down, up and down, up and down.
The children in the town jump up and down, on the leaves on the ground!

Book: The Busy Little Squirrel by Nancy Tafuri


Rhyme: Humpty Dumpty (because he had a great FALL! Haha, sorry, I couldn't resist)

Book: Big Fat Hen by Keith Baker



Interactive Playtime

Moving right along

Another theme that often makes the rounds is Cars and Trucks and Things that Go. There is an abundance of books that revolve around this theme, so you can make it new and different every time. Plus, I love things that go!! =)

Opening Song: If You're Happy and You Know It from Favorite Children's Songs CD.



Book: The Bridge is Up by Babs Bell


Song: Wheels on the Bus

Book: Sputter, Sputter, Sput by Babs Bell


Song: Pete the Pilot (to the tune of Old McDonald) (taken from Perpetual Preschool - Transportation Songs)

Pete the Pilot has a plane, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom
And on that plane there are some wings, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom
With a zoom, zoom here, and a zoom, zoom there
Here a zoom, there a zoom, everywhere a zoom, zoom!
Pete the Pilot has a plane, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom!

Additional Verses:
Dan the driver has a car, beep beep beep beep beep (car has a horn)
The Engineer has a train, choo choo choo choo choo (train has a whistle)

Book: The Bus for Us by Suzanne Bloom


Interactive Playtime

Losing my Monday

I think this story time was inspired by the fact that I lost my TV remote control. So that is the most annoying thing EVER. I mean, I looked EVERYWHERE, including all the folds of the couch. It took WEEKS, but the remote has finally been recovered. Thank you, thank you. Anyway, back to the business at hand - lost things!!

Opening Song: If You're Happy and You Know It from Favorite Children's Songs CD.



Book: Where is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox


Rhyme: Little Ladybug Lost Her Dots (found at Little Fingers that Play blog - Little Ladybug Song) I turned it into a flannel board rhyme.

Little Ladybug on the ground
Doesn't make a sound.
Looking for her ten black dots
She lost them on the ground.

One black dot
Two black dots
Three black dots
And four.

Five black dots
Six black dots
She's looking for some more.

Seven black dots
Eight black dots
Nine black dots
And ten.

The Ladybug who lost her dots has found them all again!!


Book: Where's Spot? by Eric Hill


Rhyme: Little Bo Peep

Book: Duck's Key, Where Can it Be? by Jez Alborough


Interactive Playtime

Messy Monday

I wanted to do a little something for the Toddlers today that they could relate to - so I figured getting MESSY was the perfect topic. I mean, who knows better than some toddlers how to make a mess?!?!

Opening Song: If You're Happy and You Know It from Favorite Children's Songs CD.



Book: Warthogs Paint: A Messy Color Book by Pamela Duncan Edwards


Game: Little Miss Muffet - I brought the kids up one by one to Ms. Real's rocking chair, and we all repeated the rhyme, and when we got to 'frightened Miss Muffet away" the kids got up and ran away screaming. It was HILARIOUS.


Book: Mouse Mess by Linnea Riley


Song: I'm a Little Teapot

Interactive Playtime

Alternative Book: Monster Mess! by Margery Cuyler (I was going to read this one, too, but those little ones were getting a little restless. Gotta be flexible, right?!)

Big and Little Monday

This Monday, I decided to read about things BIG and little. The toddlers are so cute when they showed me how big they could be, and how small they could be!!

Opening Song: If You're Happy and You Know It from Favorite Children's Songs CD.



Book: Little Gorilla by Ruth Bornstein

Song: Itsy Bitsy Spider

Book: Blue Sea by Robert Kalan


Game: Ms. Real's Box of Mystery
This is a fun game where I bring in a box filled with stuffed animals and puppets, and the kids guess what's in the box. I start with this song:

There's something in my box today, my box today, my box today!
There's something in my box today...it must be...
Something that lives on a farm, eats grass and makes this sound...MOOOO!!!

Book: Big and Little by Margaret Miller

Interactive Playtime

Know your body Monday

I thought we'd do some stories about knowing your body! The kids are too cute when I ask them where there hands, feet, noses are. I also like to point to my ears and ask if that's my nose - which causes all kinds of 'Nooooo!!' Seriously, too cute.

Opening Song: If You're Happy and You Know It from Favorite Children's Songs CD.


Book: All of Baby Noes to Toes by Victoria Adler



Rhyme: 10 Little Fingers (Taken from Everything Preschool - Body Parts Songs and Music)
I have 10 fingers and they all belong to me (hold hands up)
I can make them do things, would you like to see?
I can shut them up tight (form fist)
Or open them wide (hold fingers out)
I can put them together, or make them all hide (close both fists)
I can make them jump high (put hands over head)
I can make them go low (put hands down)
I can fold them quietly and hold them just so (put hands in lap)

Book: Ten Tiny Tickles by Karen Katz

Song: Two Feet (to the tune of Mary Had a Little Lamb) (Taken from Everything Preschool - Body Parts Songs and Music)

Book: Piggies by Don and Audrey Wood


Interactive Playtime

Things that bounce!

I was inspired by last week's boxes and balls story time to do one on Things that Bounce! So, here are some great books that my toddlers just loved!

Opening Song: If You're Happy and You Know It from Favorite Children's Songs CD.


Book: Bounce by Doreen Cronin


Song: Five Green and Speckled Frogs


Book: Boing by Nick Bruel


Rhyme: Hey Diddle, Diddle

Book: Does a Kangaroo have a Mother, Too? by Eric Carle


Interactive Playtime

Boxes and Balls

I was thinking that this one was fun and clever. I even brought in a new game, which the toddlers LOVED!!! It's called Ms. Real's BOX OF MYSTERY!!!!! Good fun stuff!!!

Opening Song: If You're Happy and You Know It from Favorite Children's Songs CD.


Book: Meeow and the Big Box by Sebastien Braun


Game: Ms. Real's BOX OF MYSTERY!!! (To the tune of This is the way we wash our hands)
There's something in my box today, box today, box today
There's something in my box today, it must be...

An animal who lives on a farm and says moo...
(I put 3-4 stuffed animals in my box - including an ALIEN!! They LOVED the alien!!)

Book: My Book Box by will Hillenbrand


Pretend: Pretended to have different size balls. Pretended to bounce them - small bounce, big bounce).

Book: Bear Play by Miela Ford


Interactive Playtime