For the first time in my library’s history, we ran our own summer reading program — Make Some Noise! What better opportunity to do a bi-weekly music and movement dance party? This program was advertised for ages 0-7 and their families.
The Plan
Book
From Head to Toe by Eric Carle
I chose this one because it’s a classic, storytime gold, and it has great movement opportunities. It served as a great icebreaker for getting the kids up and ready to move. I paperclipped the donkey kick page. It always makes me nervous that someone’s foot will hit someone else’s head.
Props
Shaker Eggs!
The Playlist
Hello & How Are You? — Old Town School of Folk Music
Take the Sun — Caspar Babypants
Fee Fi Fo Fum — Ralph Covert
Shaky Shaky — The Wiggles
I Know a Chicken — Laurie Berkner Band
Silly Dance Contest — Jim Gill
Turn-Around — Hap Palmer
Shake Hands With Friends — Ella Jenkins
How It Went
This first week, I was a bit of blur and didn’t take as good of notes as I should have. I had a wonderful experience with this first program. It was a lot of energy and very fun. During this session, I had a grandmother pull me aside and tell me, “You were born to do this program!” Talk about gratifying, right?
Since this was the first session, I introduced the kids to the welcome song and the goodbye song. “Take the Sun” was one of my favorite discoveries while previewing music. The kids enjoyed both “I Know a Chicken” and “Silly Dance Contest” the most out of all the songs. There’s a reason that Laurie Berkner and Jim Gill are staples of Music & Movement programs.
Presentation & Handouts
Behind me, I keep a Powerpoint up for the grown-ups in the room to see basic instruction to help their kids dance along. I did always introduce the song, but I found that this helped keep parents on track.
And as everyone left, I gave out a playlist handout that looked like this:
That’s the end!
storytime katie 
Thanks, Katie! I am going to try one of these programs for the first time this spring. Your advice is always great so thanks for the help with the playlist!
You’re welcome! Keep an eye out — more playlists will be appearing shortly.
Hi Katie, Thanks for your fabulous resources and your advice. I have a question for you. I have tried dance parties, and I am having a difficult time getting the parents to be engaged(getting them to dance) and thereby ensure their kiddo is engaged. Any advice you can share? Thanks!
I’ll give you my two most successful phrases: “Caregivers, your children like me but they love you.” and “Kids, I need you to find a grown-up to dance with today.” I also set the expectation at the beginning of class that we will all be up and moving, so that definitely helps. Hope these ideas work for you!
Ooh-la-la! This is a brilliant program, and I’m looking forward to giving it a go-go-go!
Hooray!
I love these ideas! We’ve done a couple of dance parties, but I really like the PowerPoint slides and the handout for parents! I’m excited to hear some of these songs that are new to me… maybe I can use them at our next dance party!
I felt like it was a fairly good use of tech. We’re always trying to incorporate tech in an age-appropriate way and this was really well-received. I had parents emailing me for PDFs of the playlists because they misplaced one week’s!
No Pinterest button. Phooey. Would love to save this. 😦
Katie, I have so many questions…How did you choose your music?: Does your music fit with a theme (the book?); Your props…how do you choose which one to use for the program? Does it go best with the music you’ve chosen, or do you simply take turns with each type you have?
I am sure I have more, but these are the ones I can think of at the moment! Thank you for blogging, this site helps me so much in my work.
Hi Katie!
I am currently in the process of starting a movement and music toddler time at my library. What would you recommend as the top 3 must have CDs and manipulative when starting up this program?
Thanks so much!
Top 3 CDs:
– The Best of the Laurie Berkner Band
– Jim Gill Sings the Sneezing Songs
– Mr. Jon & Friends
Shaker eggs were my first manipulative and a great investment.
Good luck!