Ya’ll Can’t Stop These Babies

Another session of Baby Bounce comes to a close and I am itching to start planning again. For my past two sessions I was working with this structure. It was an excellent framework for a freshly released graduate student because it allowed room for flexibility. It identified rhymes by what they accomplished, not by theme. This helped to avoid overstimulation and boredom, while giving me a structure to find rhymes.

But now I can create a new creation, one that is my own, my sweet, my precious! *cough*gollum*cough* *cough* Golly, these kids are getting me sick with their sticky baby hands. My one-year-old class structure has changed quite a bit and my baby class has remained the same.

Baby Bounce (6 weeks-1 year), also known as pre-walkers:

1. Name song: Hello Everybody
2. Self and Clapping rhymes—little bit slower
3. Lap-riding/action songs—faster
4. Self and Clapping rhymes—little bit slower
5. Choral Reading Book
6. Lullabies & Sign Language (alternate between sessions)
7. Toys

Funsies with Onesies (1 year – 2 years), also known as walkers:

1. Name song: Hello Everybody
2. Clapping Rhyme
3. Weekly song – Wind the Bobbin Up
4. Book
5. Song with Instrument or Prop (egg shakers, bean bags, scarves, rhythm sticks, bells)
6. 2 Activity Rhymes (stand up and use whole body)
7. Pretend Rhyme
8. Closing song: Snuggle Up
9. Toys

I’ve found the one year olds to be the trickiest class. They’re finally able to walk on their own and want to explore everything within eye sight. They want to touch, touch, touch, and they have a hard time understanding restrictions. Because they can see clearer,  they’re more interested in the other cute lil’ thing next to them. So, I’ve decided to implement three courses of action.

1. Have more repetition – Encourages excitement and showing off and develops memory – I will incorporate my favorite song, Wind the Bobbin Up, every class. Not only does this have a sweet beat, but it encourages several processing skills such as mimicry, memory, and gross motor skills.
2. Move the book up in the class – The whole fluid process of getting your jiggles out and then settling down with slower rhymes and then reading just did NOT work for my group of kids. I could examine their small attention span under a microscope, so I decided to push the book earlier in the class, hopefully harnessing their fresh attention.
3. Utilize songs with instruments or props – Another way to play and have fun with songs and allow babies to manipulate toys to create music, sounds, or fascinating effects. I just hope this doesn’t open up a barrel of crazy time.
4. Have a settle song handy – I like to use rhymes that include rain where I can imitate the natural shushing sound of rain falling. I might readily use this after the songs and props.

After all these changes I hope to go from this

to this!

Ah, storytime. Always a work in progress. Below I have included several rhymes used for the littlest ones. Enjoy!

Hello Everybody (Tune: London Bridge)

Hello everybody and how are you,
How are you, how are you?
Hello everybody and how are you?
How are you today?
Hello little _______ and how are you…

Snuggle Up (Tune: Bunny Hop)

Snuggle up together
Baby’s in your lap.
Snuggle up together
And clap, clap, clap

Snuggle up together
Don’t you nap.
Snuggle up together
And tap, tap, tap.

You’re workin’ out together
Baby don’t stop.
You’re workin’ out together
So hop, hop, hop.

Now our song is over
Get ready to stop.
Now our song is over
So stop, stop, stop.

Rain, Rain – Settle Rhyme

Rain, rain falling down.
Falling on the ground.
Pitter patter, pitter patter,
What a lovely sound!