Baby Lapsit: Favorites IV

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

Today was our last Lapsit storytime of the spring session.  For some of my sweet tots that have been coming to my lapsit since they were newborns this was their final Lapsit storytime before they move up to Tales for 2's and 3's in the fall.  It certainly has been incredible to watch these Tots learn and grow each session.  I cannot deny that this feels bittersweet!

Next week, we will be launching our special program series called Artsy Babies!  I look forward to sharing the process of planning and facilitating Artsy Babies with you.

---

The Plan

My first Lapsit Favorites post has all of the songs and bounces that we did for the month of April.  

april_25th_favorites.pdf
File Size:	5378 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

---

Books

Can Somebody Please Scratch My Back?  is about an elephant with a terrible itch they cannot reach so they try to enlist the help of various animals.  This book is a bit lengthy, so I paper clipped some of the pages together to shorten it for Lapsit.  I was able to make some parts of the book interactive - like tickling or at the end when the itch is finally scratched.  There is a bit of ironic humor in the ending (the elephant tosses the helpful porcupine over their shoulder), but I decided to end the story with the porcupine helping the elephant.

We read and recited "One, Two, Three, Four" from My Very First Mother Goose edited by Iona Opie and illustrated by Rosemary Wells. 

After using this book for the entire session, I would like to reflect on this aspect of my Lapsit program.  My goal was to incorporate more nursery rhymes into my Lapsit, but I do not think that the caregivers felt confident in using the rhymes at home.  In the future, I think I will write out the nursery rhymes on chart paper so that the caregivers can see the words better.  I also would like to repeat the same nursery rhyme for 2-3 weeks so that caregivers can learn the rhyme and feel empowered to use it at home with their little one. 

As I reflect on my use of this book of nursery rhymes, I should address a stereotypical illustration in My Very First Mother Goose.  I recently discovered a blog entry on American Indians in Children's Literature by Debbie Reese in which she discusses how the illustrations on pages 60-61 are not accurate representations of members of the Native American Indian community. As a future librarian, I believe that it is important for me to constantly reflect on the books that I chose to share in my programming.  Unfortunately, I did not do my homework prior to using this collection.  While I did not use this particular nursery rhyme, I endorsed this book by using it in a program.  I believe that accurate representation matters and do not plan on using this collection of nursery rhmes in future programs. 

Do Cows Meow?  is a fabulous lift-the-flap book with a fun rhyme scheme and provides plenty of opportunities for caregivers to make animal sounds.  

Lapsit Set-Up

I decided to try a new room set-up for Lapsit this spring.  I am happy with the functionality of the new set-up and felt that it fostered a welcoming atmosphere for the caregivers and babies.

I wrote out the songs & bounces on chart paper. The parachute was a great way to set up the seating. I like circles because it allowed the babies to see everyone's faces.

I set-up a table with various hand-outs for caregivers: 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten folders, program guides, bookmarks, and nametags for the flannel board.

I had two rocking chairs for caregivers that did not want to sit on the floor.

This is Ginny. Ginny says hello to all of the babies as they come into Lapsit.