Spiders for Babies
Welcome song: “Hello Everybody, Yes Indeed”
Mother Goose rhyme: “Isty Bitsy Spider”
Get ready song: “Open, Shut Them”
First book: The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle. A spider doesn’t answer the various farm animals because she is too busy spinning her web.
Fingerplay: “Two Little Blackbirds”
Fingerplay: “Five Little Pumpkins”
Stretching song: “There’s a Spider on the Floor”
Second book: AAAArrgghh! Spider by Lydia Monks. A spider wants to be the family’s pet but scares away each person.
Movement song: “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes”
Fingerplay: “Un Elefante” (English version), “Un Elefante” (Spanish version)
Third book: Elefantitos/Little Elephants by Susie Jaramillo. In Spanish and English, this accordion fold board book is based on the popular counting song about an elephant balancing on a spider web.
Closing song: “The More We Get Together”
Extra book if needed: Anansi the Spider: A Tale from the Ashanti by Gerald McDermott. Anansi must decide which of his five sons to reward for saving his life in this Ashanti folktale.
Board book for parents: The Isty Bitsy Spider by Iza Trapani. The spider from the popular fingerplay encounters various things in the garden.
Storytimes for babies and toddlers offer an opportunity to model great read-aloud techniques for parents, and gives them the confidence to read to their children every day. A baby-toddler storytime can be followed by an extra 20 to 30 minutes of playtime, which encourages parents to talk to each other and for the young children to learn to play with others. It also demonstrates the importance of play to parents.