Special Storytime Program Ideas

At a prior meeting, the members of Illinois Lapsit Leaders got together and we talked about special storytimes we offer outside of the typical aged offerings. It’s safe to say we offer a wide variety of activities. Hopefully these will help you in your future program planning!

• Character Storytimes
  • Paw Patrol, Dora & Diego, Llama Llama, etc.
• Get the Wiggles Out
  • Dancing, yoga, parachute, etc.
• Parachute Playtime
  • 30 minutes of just parachute songs and activities.
• Stories and Sweets Family Storytime
  • Donuts with Dads but with a more inclusive name! Storytime with coffee and donuts to follow.
• Barnyard Stories
  • One library has a gigantic pig that hosts storytime with the librarian!
• Dance Jams
  • Have a dance party with your storytimers!
• Happy Harmonies
  • Musical storytime
• iPad Storytime
• Multi-lingual storytime
  • This is a super great way to engage volunteers and other members of the community.
• Family Reading Night
  • Invite community members to share the stories!
• Green Storytime
  • Instead of a craft, plant seeds!
• Jammin in our Jammies
  • Bedtime stories, music, and pajamas!
• Mini Movers
  • Toddler dance party!
• STEM Storytimes
  • Science for littles inclusing fake snow and squishing pumpkin guts.
• Sensory Storytime
  • Inclusive storytime for all of our friends, no matter their ability.

What special storytimes do you offer at your library? Share them in the comments below!

What Does Babytime Look Like?

It’s no secret that everybody’s baby storytime looks different from library to library. Even from librarian to librarian! At a recent Lapsit meeting, we chatted about what each of our baby lapsit storytimes look like to swap ideas and learn from each other!

Ages and Attendance

Baby times range in age from 0-12 months to 0-24 months depending on the library. Many baby storytimes use drop-in for attendance rather than registering, which makes sense! Babies are going to be babies and sometimes it’s just too hard to get out of the house. By offering drop-in rather than registration, the caregivers have freedom to come when they can. For this style, there is usually a cut off number of babies.

Repetition Really is Key

Almost every librarian agrees, especially with babies, repetition is key! Many of us will only change up the songs and rhymes monthly. This helps grownups learn the words and tune to be able to sing along and helps the babies get basic language skills

Book Discovery

Having books available for kids in the room is key to helping them build those Early Literacy skills librarians are always talking about. Some great tips for book discovery include:

• Have books out with seating when caregivers arrive. This gives them something to do while they wait. You can even tie the books to the theme of your storytime!
• Put books out with play time. Play time is fun time and books should be fun, too!

Parachute

For as awesome of a prop as the parachute is, many librarians seem to be intimidated by the parachute. Baby time is the perfect place to build confidence with this great prop! Try having your babies and caregivers sit around the parachute during storytime to establish an area of sorts. You can even sing songs with it to end your storytime. Babies love seeing the colors float above them. Stay tuned for a post about how to effectively use the parachute in all storytimes, coming soon!

Bubbles!

A popular attendee in all baby storytimes are bubbles! Most librarians agree that Gymboree Bubble Ooodles are the best bubbles to use for the number of bubbles, how long they last, and for how little mess they leave! Babies love seeing and popping bubbles, crawling around to catch them, and more. Some babies are even known to stand and take first steps in pursuit of bubbles.

Stay tuned next week for more resources for baby lapsit storytime! You can look forward to posts about our favorite lap bounces, songs, props, and more to use in baby time!

Do you have any favorite baby time tips or stories? Share them in the comments!

(featured image used from Pexels.com)