ACL Websites for Storytime Planning – November 2023
www.bayviews.org/storytime.html
From the Association of Children’s Librarians of Northern California. A popular blog for children’s librarians, that contains hundreds of themed storytime plans.
West Bloomfield Township Public Library
www.growupreading.org
This library’s “Growing Up Reading” site is a great place to start, to learn why we need to offer storytimes, advice for parents, booklists, information on child development, phonemic and print awareness, and other factors important for emergent readers.
www.preschoolexpress.com/theme_station.shtml
Thousands of ideas to enliven your storytime, but no books listed. Go to the “Theme Station” for crafts and activities by theme, the “Story Station” for rhymes and stories to tell, the “Toddler Station” for active movement ideas, the “Pattern Station” for craft printables, and more!
storytimekatie.com
Katie has been blogging about her storytimes for several years, and her site has resources for flannelboards, songs and fingerplays, arts and crafts, and much more.
www.first-school.ws/themes.html
This site offers many themed outlines that include a craft project; look for those labeled “SP” for Spanish language content.
Child Care Theme Pages (stepbystepcc.com)
Run by a daycare provider named Jana, this is very similar to how most libraries compile their storytime themes. Under each theme, she lists picture books first (yeah!), then craft ideas. It appears that she regularly updates this site.
Preschool Lesson Plans | 123Child
Hundreds of themes, with ideas for crafts, games, recipes, songs, and fingerplays, this is a great secondary source for ideas.
Arts and Crafts
EnchantedLearning.com | Worksheets, Activities, Crafts & More
When you need a craft idea (NOW!), this is the site, with thousands of printable craft ideas. There are several themes around science, which is too often left out of the preschooler’s curriculum. This is a site to bookmark; I can always find something here when I run out of ideas.
DLTK’s Crafts for Kids (dltk-kids.com)
Like Enchanted Learning, the DLTK site always has something on your theme, or is good if you are in a hurry. Most are simple paper crafts, and there are many multicultural crafts too.
Things to Make and Do, Crafts and Activities for Kids – The Crafty Crow (typepad.com)
Look for the menu on the left, where you can choose age groups, including 18 months to 2 years of age, and ages 3 to 5, which are perfect for preschool storytime craft ideas.
Songs and Fingerplays
jbrary.com
For someone who is not musically inclined, the Jbrary YouTube channel is very helpful, but they are much more than that. When you need a “pick me up” and refresher course in how to run a storytime, turn to these two ladies.
www.kididdles.com/lyrics/allsongs.html
A great resource for song lyrics to popular preschool songs; some of the lyric pages let you hear the music, too.
bussongs.com
Hundreds of songs and fingerplays are listed on this useful site; many of the entries have video and audio to help you learn a new song.
Songs for Teaching Fingerplays
www.songsforteaching.com/fingerplays/index.htm
Songs for Teaching Action Songs
www.songsforteaching.com/movement.htm
The Fingerplays area has a great list of commonly used fingerplays; many come with an audio clip so you can learn the melody. There are also photos of a person doing the fingerplay, so you can copy the movement. There is also an area for action songs; many of these also include an audio clip.
Poems and songs listed by theme, this is intended for teachers but does list links for school librarians that can be helpful.
Songs in Spanish – Texas State Library
www.tsl.texas.gov/ld/projects/ninos/songsrhymes.html
Need songs in Spanish or bilingual songs? Check out this site from the Texas State Library, aimed at children’s librarians.
Penny Peck, San Jose State University, iSchool