Baby Lapsit: Favorites

Clipart by Krista Wallden of Creative Clips. Graphic designed on PicMonkey.

The weather this week has been cold, windy, and snowy.  Winter has missed the memo that it is officially spring.  At the rate this weather is changing, Summer Reading will happen next year instead of eight weeks from now.

Due to the lingering winter weather, I am finding it difficult to accept that our spring session of storytime programming will end this month.  I always end the last month of Baby Lapsit with the theme of "Lapsit Favorites."  I sing my favorite songs and read my favorite books because it is a fun way to end the session (and because the end of the semester is approaching and my #GradSchoolBrain is full of deadlines).

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The Plan

This session I have been using "Wake Up Feet" from Jbrary as my hello song.  I like using the same hello song throughout the session because it establishes a routine with the caregivers and babies.  I have also been using "Cool Cat" a bounce from Jbrary all session because my caregivers love this bounce.  We are all obsessed with the "ch ch ch ch ch ch" part.  It's jazzy, fun, and cool.  

You can download my plans from this week and the lyrics to all of the songs that we will be singing and bouncing to this month down below.

april_4th_favorites.pdf
File Size:	5377 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

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lapsit_april_songs.pdf
File Size:	544 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

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Books

Ten Tiny Babies is a fabulous rhythmic counting book.  

This week, we read and recited "Great A" from My Very First Mother Goose by Iona Opie and illustrated by Rosemary Wells.  I have been trying to incorporate more Nursery Rhymes into Lapsit this session.  I like that the pictures and text are large in this book.

Nose to Toes, You Are Yummy!  is a great interactive cuddly book for caregivers and babies.  Caregivers can touch baby's nose, toes, etc. as you read.

Songs & Bounces

Many of the songs that I am using in Lapsit this month hail from a music literacy program that I have been studying for over seven years called Education Through Music (ETM).  The training is led by the incredibly brilliant master teachers of the Richards Institute of Education and Research.  I highly recommend studying ETM if you have the opportunity to do so.  I promise I will get around to writing a blog post about this "working of a work" and how this approach has impacted me personally and professionally.  

I have adapted some of the ETM songs to use in my Baby Lapsit program because these songs are engaging, rich in language, and elicit a playful state of being in adults and children.

Did you ever see a baby,              
A baby, a baby?                            
Did you ever see a baby,               
go this way and that?                   
Go this way and that way,            
And this way and that way.          
Did you ever see a baby,             
go this way and that?             

A bouncing we will go,  
A bouncing we will go,   
Hi-ho the derry-o!         
A bouncing we will go.   

A rocking we will go,     
A rocking we will go,     
Hi-ho the derry-o!        
A rocking we will go.   

A creeping we will go,   
a creeping we will go,   
Hi-ho the derry-o!          
A creeping we will go.   

Bounce old squirrel       
Listen, listen.               
Bounce old squirrel     
Listen now.                 (repeat 1x)

Lift old squirrel           
listen, listen.                
lift old squirrel             
listen now.                   (repeat 1x)

Tickle old squirrel        
listen, listen.               
Tickle old squirrel       
listen now.                 (repeat 1x)

Fly away little birdie
way up in the sky.
Come and tell me, dear birdie, 
who taught you to fly.

Come along and bounce with me.       
Come along and bounce with me.       
We’ll bounce and bounce,                   
And bounce and bounce.                   
So come along and bounce with me. 

Come along and twist with me.          
Come along and twist with me.         
We’ll twist and twist,                          
And twist and twist.                           
So come along and twist with me.     

Come along and tickle with me.        
Come along and tickle with me.       
We’ll tickle and tickle,                      
And tickle and tickle.                        
So come along and tickle with me.    

Oh, look who’s here!           
Puncinella, Puncinella!       
Look who’s here!              
Puncinella from the zoo!    

Oh, bounce on my knee,    
Puncinella, Puncinella!       
Bounce on my knee,          
Puncinella from the zoo!     

Fly in the air,                     
Puncinella, Puncinella!        
Land on my lap,                
Puncinella from the zoo!     

Oh, Wiggle around,              
Puncinella, Puncinella!       
Wiggle around,                    
Puncinella from the zoo!