Toddlers: Music

For more information on how I plan and prepare my toddler storytimes, check out this introduction post. And for a complete list of the repeating extension activities, visit this post. I starred the materials used in the plan; multiple stars indicate use for more than one session.

The Plan

Books

If You’re Happy and You Know It by Jane Cabrera***
Music Class Today by David Weinstone*
Sing With Me! by Naoko Stoop**
What a Wonderful World by Tim Hopgood

Early Literacy Tip
If we always place an instrument or a spoon in a child’s right hand, we unconsciously encourage right-handedness. By alternating hands, we give our children a chance to experience use of both hands.

Theme Extension Activities

Featured CD: Wiggleworms Love You***

Featured Track: #11 Wheels on the Bus

Flannelboard: “Old MacDonald”***

Repeating Extension Activities

• Head, Shoulders, Knees, & Toes
• Roly, Poly***
• These Are the Colors Over You***
• This Is Big, Big, Big***
• Zoom, Zoom, Zoom*

How It Went

Monday morning (9:30)
Today’s storytime was all about incorporating music into our toddlers’ lives. I reminded parents that their voices do not need to be “concert-ready” and that storytime is a great place to add music! We sang a lot in storytime because of this, and I was definitely pushing my voice after my cold. I was grateful for good parent involvement as we sang favorites like “Old MacDonald” with the flannelboard and Jane Cabrera’s book version of If You’re Happy and You Know It!!

Thursday morning (9:30)
What a great day of singing! My voice is back to normal here, and I belted out our songs with gusto. This class had a WONDERFUL time with our wrist ribbons — they’ve really gotten the hang of our songs and rhymes. And they are excellent at doing clean up afterwards. I’m really proud of my kiddos. I also introduced the book Sing With Me! as a great way to share songs throughout the week if caregivers read just a page a night.

Thursday morning (10:30)
This class absolutely LOVED If You’re Happy and You Know It!. And I had a slew of caregivers follow me after class to our songs section which features tons of picture books about songs. The grown-ups were thrilled to see some more popular music books like Pharrell’s Happy and Kenny Loggins’s Footloose.