I’ve seen three of Pamela’s baby storytimes now, and she’s given me the chance to help her out with them, too. Basically, baby storytime at Ballard is wild. With something like 30 babies ranging in age from 8 weeks to 11 months and their respective caregivers all crowded into one room together, the noise level alone is only slightly less distracting than the general chaos of all those tiny, wriggling bodies–not to mention the overwhelming cuteness going on. With baby storytime, the basic goals are to give parents a chance to learn about the library and early literacy and give the babies some fun time with books, finger plays, and songs.
Pamela usually begins the baby storytimes by asking the parents to introduce themselves and their babies. She explains a little about the purpose of the program and offers parents packets with the song lyrics and information about early literacy (i.e. the six skills you need before you’re ready to actually read). Then we jump into the songs, books, and finger plays. Here are some of my favorites:
Jelly in the bowl
Jelly in the bowl, jelly in the bowl
(jiggle baby’s tummy)
Wiggle, waggle, wiggle, waggle
(rock baby side to side)
Jelly in the bowl (jiggle baby’s tummy)
Biscuits in the tin, biscuits in the tin
Shake them up, shake them up
(bounce baby up and down)
Biscuits in the tin
Sausage in the pan, sausage in the pan
Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle, sizzle
(wiggle or tickle baby)
Sausage in the pan
Candles on the cake, candles on the cake
Blow them out, blow them out (blow gently)
Candles on the cake
