We Love Babies!�Baby Storytime Success

by Kelly Allan & Vanessa Scruggs

Youth & Family Services Librarians

Douglas County Libraries, CO

Let’s Build Baby Brains!

In 2018, what percentage of parents with children ages 5 and under reported reading out loud to their child before their first birthday?

1. 57%
2. 67%
3. 77%
4. 87%

Setting Up For Success

The Storyteller

• Friendliness
• Voice and tone
• Facial expressions and

animation

• Using puppet to model baby

The Storytime

• ~20 Minutes
• Appreciate the grownups and share expectations
• The name song and questions at beginning of storytime
• Bubbles
• Variety of activities
• Playtime

Appeals for the Grown Ups

• Put your baby on your lap for bounces.
• Join in the activities and model behavior.
• Feel free to take baby out if they get restless and return when ready.
• Serve and return relationship.
• Storytime is for grownups as much as for babies!

What is your greatest baby storytime challenge?

Practices & Skills

Social &

Emotional

Skills

Cognitive Functions

Language & Communication Skills

Fine & Gross Motor Skills

Sensory Pathways

Building sensory pathways

• Vision:
• By 1-2 months, babies likes bright contrasting colors and familiar faces close up.
• By 3-4 months, babies start seeing full range of color.
• By 7-12 months, a baby’s vision is the same as an adult.

Practicing sensory skills

• In storytime we can encourage:
• By using bubbles – eyes/neck
• By picking:
• high contrast book illustrations
• pop-up/lift-the-flap books
• big books

Books for Babies – Big Graphics

• A Parade of Elephants by Kevin Henkes
• Little Snappers series
• Flying by Donald Crews
• Under My Hood I Have a Hat by Karla Kuskin
• Where’s Lenny? by Ken Wilson-Max
• Little White Fish by Guido Van Genechten
• Ten Little Squirrels by Bill Martin Jr

Books for Babies – Big Graphics

• From 1 to 10 by Mies Van Hout
• Hurry! Hurry! by Eve Bunting
• Big Fat Hen by Keith Baker
• In the Tall, Tall Grass by Denise Fleming
• Freight Train by Donald Crews
• Whose Chick Are You? by Nancy Tafuri
• Time for Bed by Mem Fox

Books for Babies – Black & White

• For Your Smile by Loryn Brantz
• Look Look! by Peter Linenthal
• Hello, Baby Animals! (Happy Baby series)
• Baby’s First Library series by White Star Kids

Books for Babies – Pop Ups!

• Big Bug, Little Bug by Paul Stickland
• Little Snappers Pop-Up Fun series
• Charlie Chick by Nick Denchfield
• Everyone is Yawning by Anita Bjisterbosch
• Big Yellow Sunflower by Frances Barry
• Animal Opposites by Petr Horacek

Building gross motor skills

• By 4 months, babies can control their head, neck, and trunk.
• By 6-9 months, babies further develop leg and trunk coordination to be able to crawl and get in standing position.
• By 9-12 months, babies typically crawl, stand, and “cruise.”

Practicing gross motor skills

• In storytime we can encourage:
• Bouncing
• Stomping feet
• Rolling arms
• Reaching high and low
• Tummy time during playtime
• Swishing scarves and ribbons

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A few favorites…

• Without manipulatives
• Row, Row, Row Your Boat
• “Clap Your Hands” by MaryLee
• “I Have a Little Bicycle” by MaryLee
• “Baby’s Driving a Car” by Caspar Babypants
• “Run Baby Run” by Caspar Babypants
• Very, Very Tall

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• With manipulatives
• Early In the Morning with scarves
• Are You Sleeping? with bells
• “Flitter Flutter” by Johnette Downing with scarves
• Bubble, Bubble, Pop with ribbons

Books for Babies – Emphasizing Movement

• Bouncing Time by Patricia Hubbell
• The Baby Goes Beep by Rebecca O’Connell
• We’ve All Got Bellybuttons by David Martin
• Simon Says Open the Book by Emilia Zebrowska

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Building fine motor skills

• By 4 months, babies reach out and grasp objects.
• By 6 months, babies start to pass objects from hand to hand.
• By 11 months, babies will explore less objects and surfaces with their mouth and more with their hands.
• By 12 months, children are picking up small things with their thumb and pointer finger.
• By 18 months, children are scribbling, feeding themselves with their fingers and may be holding a spoon.

Practicing fine motor skills

• In storytime we can encourage:
• Clapping
• Grasping shaky eggs, bells, scarves
• Using castanets
• Exploring playtime toys

A few favorites…

• Without manipulatives
• Boop the Snoot by Ashlyn Anstee
• Itsy Bitsy Spider
• Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
• Bubble, Bubble, Pop
• One, Two, Three, Can You Bop Your Nose With Me?
• With manipulatives
• “Peas Porridge Hot” by Wiggleworms Love You
• Hickory, Dickory, Dock
• “Are You Sleeping?” by Songs for Wiggleworms
• Going to Kentucky

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Building communication skills

• By 6 months, children take turns making sounds with you.
• By 9 months, children make a lot of different sounds like “mamamama” and “bababababa.”
• By 12 months, children can wave “bye-bye.”
• By 18 months, children are trying to say more words and are beginning to follow one-step directions.

Practicing communication skills

• In storytime we can encourage:
• Singing songs and say nursery rhymes (phonological awareness)
• Exercising serve and return dialogue (vocabulary)
• Making fun, easy, repetitive noises (mooooo, baaaa)
• Hello and goodbye waves
• Blowing kisses
• Simple directional motions: scarf up, scarf down

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A few favorites…

• A couple of favorites
• 1, 2, 3 (Can you bop your nose with me?)
• I Bounce You Here
• Big, Big, Big
• Roly Poly
• The Elevator Song
• Puppet stories like “Knock, Knock, Knock,” “When Cows Get Up in the Morning,” and “Down on Grandpa’s Farm”

Books for Babies – Books You Can Sing!

• Twinkle, Twinkle Little Car by Kate Dopirak
• Jane Cabrera!
• I’m a Dirty Dinosaur by Janeen Bryan (I’m a Little Teapot)
• Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Bill Martin Jr.
• Rumble, Rumble Dinosaur by Katrina Chapman

Books for Babies – Books You Can Sing!

• Nursery rhyme books:
• Flip-Side Rhymes series
• To Market, To Market by Anne Miranda
• Big books
• The Babies on the Bus by Karen Katz
• Sandra Boynton!

Books for Babies – Simple Sounds

• My Heart Beats by Rina Singh
• The Baby Goes Beep by Rebecca O’Connell
• Splish, Splash, Ducky! by Lucy Cousins
• A Kiss Like This by Mary Murphy
• My First Learn-To-Talk Book by Stephanie Cohen

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Books for Babies – Simple Sounds

• Hello, Day! by Anita Lobel
• Choo! Choo! Guess the Vehicle! by Cocoretto
• Shhh! The Baby’s Asleep by JaNay Brown-Wood
• Boats Go by Steve Light
• All Kinds of Kisses and Whose Chick Are You by Nancy Tafuri

Building cognitive skills

• By 7-8 months, children understand object permanence.
• By 9 months, children can bang two things together.
• Between 12-18 months children can name simple objects.
• By 12 months, children are looking for objects you hide from them.
• By 18 months, children can copy you doing simple chores, like sweeping with a broom.

Practicing cognitive skills

• In storytime we can encourage:
• Establishing routines by singing the same songs
• Talking and pointing at activities and asking simple questions
• Modeling simple motions to copy
• Encouraging pretend play with puppets
• Starting to practice identification, such as body parts or props we bring
• Tapping sticks together and eggs on the floor
• Holding manipulative above or in front of them and encouraging them to reach for it
• Playing peek-a-boo

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A few favorites…

• A couple of favorites
• “Can You Play at Peekaboo?” by Tumble Tots
• Oh Where, Oh Where with scarves
• Early In the Morning (Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush) with scarves – acapella or MaryLee
• “Knock on the Door” by Michele Valeri with puppets
• Little Bunny in a Hat
• Touch and feel activities such as pumpkins/gourds in the fall
• Using beaded necklaces at storytime
• Body part rhymes: Cheek Chin and Pizza, Pickle, Pumpernickel
• Body part songs: “Wake Up Feet” by MaryLee and “Leaky Umbrella” by Jim Gill

Books for Babies – Peekaboo!

• Peek-a-Moo! by Marie Torres Cimarusti
• Peek-a-Baby by Karen Katz
• Peekaboo Bedtime by Rachel Isadora

Books for Babies – Naming Body Parts

• From 1 to 10 by Miles van Hout
• Tickle Monster by Édouard Manceau
• Where is Baby’s Belly Button? by Karen Katz
• Ten Tiny Toes by Caroline Jayne Church
• Ten Tiny Toes, Two Small Feet by Kristy Dempsey
• Bear Has a Belly by Jane Whittingham

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Building social/emotional skills

• Self-esteem and confidence begins during babyhood.
• By 4 months, children copy facial expressions and like to play with people.
• By 6 months, children respond to others’ emotions and like to look at themselves in a mirror.
• By 9 months, children may have favorite toys.
• By 12 months, children play call and response games such as peek-a-boo and interactive games like pat-a-cake.
• By 18 months, children may play simple pretend, such as feeding a doll.

Practicing social/emotional skills

• In storytime we can encourage:
• Socializing
• Closeness/interaction
• Playtime
• Age appropriate tasks like cleanup at the end of baby storytime
• Using mirrors at storytime to point out facial expressions, body parts

A few favorites…

• Using books with photography of babies
• Playtime
• Tone/facial expressions
• Having caregivers face babies
• “Can You Play at Peekaboo?” and “Peek-a-Boo” by Old Town School of Folk Music
• Skidamarink – hugs & kisses
• Tickles: Criss Cross Tickle; Slowly, Slowly Creeps the Garden Snail; “Little Flea” by MaryLee
• Cuddles: I Bounce You Here; The Hippopotamus; “Put Your Baby in the Air” by Caspar Babypants

Books for Babies - Photography

• The Babies and Doggies / Kitties / Bunnies Book by John Schindel
• Hands Can by Cheryl Hudson
• My First Learn-To-Talk Book by Stephanie Cohen
• Bathtime with Theo & Beau by Jessica Shyba
• Calm by Jillian Roberts

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Books for Babies - Photography

• Baby First series (Baby Says, Tummy Time, etc.)
• Animals Move by Jane Whittingham
• I Am a Baby by Kathryn Madeline Allen
• Giant Pop-Out series

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Books for Babies – Encouraging Participation

• I Say, You Say… by Tad Carpenter
• If You See a Kitten by John Butler
• I Went Walking by Sue Williams
• Simon Says Open the Book by Emilia Zebrowska

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Books for Babies – Relatable for Adults!

• Applesauce Is Fun to Wear by Nancy Raines Day
• I Am a Baby by Bob Shea
• Shh! My Brother’s Napping by Ruth Ohi
• I’m Up! by Antoinette Portis
• It Had to Be You by Loryn Brantz
• Leo Loves Baby Time by Anna McQuinn

Questions?

Thank you!