Toddlers: Houses

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

Bear at Home by Stella Blackstone
The House in the Night by Susan Marie Swanson**
My House by Byron Barton***
Where is Tippy Toes? by Betsy Lewin*

Early Literacy Tip
All children need to learn how to stop what they’re doing. Playing games the incorporate the concept of stop gives children the opportunity to practice and hone their stopping skills.

Theme Extension Activities

Featured CD: Lemonade (Justin Roberts)***

Featured Track: #10 Tree Home

Flannelboard: A House for Birdie*

Flannelboard: Little Mouse, Little Mouse***

Props: The Three Little Pigs (Melissa and Doug, no longer available from what I can see)

Repeating Extension Activities

• Egg Shakers Up***
• Heads Shoulders Knees and Toes
• Put Your Shaker On***
• This Is Big, Big, Big***
• Zoom, Zoom, Zoom*

How It Went

Monday morning (9:30)
This was a fantastic class. They loved both My House and The House in the Night. I think I really did a good service to The House in the Night by saving it for last, introducing it a quiet-down book, and promoting a chance to soothe our toddlers. It worked! I mean, it really worked — I had one toddler who was doing the sleepy eye blink, haha. They loved playing “Little Mouse” which I played twice with them!

Thursday morning (9:30)
This group really only had success with My House today. They were too keyed up to enjoy Where Is Tippy Toes?, so I skipped a few pages to finish up the book early. They were PROFESSIONALS at “Put Your Shaker On” — even when I changed up the song and added in elbow for the toddlers to get a chance to cross the midline. (Which also gave me a nice opportunity to share a caregiver tip!)

Thursday morning (10:30)
And my last group was the most low-key, but really opened up when we played “Little Mouse” on the flannelboard. I loved hearing them shout colors or point to colors on their clothes (which is a tip I give for my non-verbal kiddos). I could tell that we were getting tired by the end of storytime because I had a couple of criers. I tried to remedy this with The House in the Night, but it wasn’t as successful as Monday. But we ended with bubbles and as everyone knows, those are magical to toddlers.