Trees for Babies
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.
Welcome song: “Hello Everybody, Yes Indeed”
Mother Goose Rhyme: “I Had a Little Nut Tree”
Get ready song: “Open, Shut Them”
First book: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault. Letters of the alphabet go up the coconut tree in this delightful story of parent and child.
Fingerplay: “Here Are Grandma’s Glasses”
Stretching song: “Way Up High in the Apple Tree”
Second book: Tap the Magic Tree by Christie Matheson. Listeners are encouraged to interact with the story of a tree losing its leaves.
Fingerplay: “Two Little Blackbirds”
Movement song: “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes”
Third book: Owl Babies by Martin Waddell. Three baby owls wait in their tree, hoping mother comes home with dinner.
Song: “Autumn Leaves”
Extra book if needed: The Best Mouse Cookie by Laura Numeroff. Little mouse bakes cookies in his home in a tree trunk.
Board book for parents: I Have a Little Seedling by Cari Meister. Told in four-line stanzas using the pattern from a popular Mother Goose rhyme, this shows a tree growing from seedling to a full grown tree alongside a human growing over those same years.
Closing song: “The More We Get Together”