How is it almost March?  February flew by!  This was our last week of our Hugs and Kisses theme. So I guess you can say we are kissing this theme goodbye ;) 

If you would like to see all of the songs and bounces that I used in Lapsit this month, check out my first Hugs & Kisses post.  If you are interested in seeing how I planned for Lapsit for this week, you can check out my plans here.

The Biggest Kiss by Joanna Walsh & Judi Abbot is absolutely darling.  I invited the caregivers to give their little one kisses and hugs as I read the story.  

I have been making a point to incorporate more Nursery Rhymes in Lapsit this session.  I like Iona Opie's My Very First Mother Goose because of the size of the illustrations and text.  Today, we read and recited "Hey, Diddle, Diddle."

Did You Know That I Love You? by Christa Pierce is a very sweet book with simple illustrations.  I find the text to be very soothing when read aloud.  This was another book that gave caregivers the opportunity to snuggle, hug, and kiss their little one. 

I try to use different musical instruments each week.  This week we used shaker eggs!  

We shook our eggs to "Shake! (Your Shaker Eggs)."  We did not do the entire song as it is over 2 minutes long.  I know it can feel weird not to play an entire song, but it is totally okay to do!  I just played the first verse.  Everyone had a blast with it!  

We sang the first verse of "Going to Kentucky" two times.  We did not sing the "Oh, wobble" part.

I cannot believe that it is the third week of our spring storytime session already.  The days are just flying by!  

We are continuing to focus on hugs, kisses, cuddles, and love in Lapsit. This is the perfect weather and the perfect month for this theme - so much snuggling! 

If you want to see a detailed list of all of the songs and bounces for this month's Lapsit theme, check out my first Hugs & Kisses post.

If you are interested in seeing how I planned for today's lapsit, click here.

We read 1,2, I Love you by Alice Schertle.  This is a really lovely book with a great rhythmic pattern to it.  I encouraged caregivers to bounce their babies in their laps while I read the story.  We also read "Hickety Pickety" from My Very First Mother Goose edited by Iona Opie.  Our last book for today was I Kissed the Baby! by Mary Murphy.  I encouraged caregivers to give their little ones tickles and kisses when those parts came up in the story.

Today was the perfect day for our hugs and kisses theme!  Since it is Valentine's Day, I put out some chocolate for the caregivers to take with them after storytime. 

In my last post about my Lapsit storytime, I mentioned that I like to repeat the songs, bounces, and tickles all month long.  The repetition is not only good for the babies, but it also helps the caregivers feel confident enough to sing the songs and do the bounces at home with their little one.  I feel that it is important to give the caregivers access to the lyrics to the songs and bounces when they are at home, so I created a Google Doc that they could access from any device using a custom Bitlink that I created.  

If you are interested in seeing how I planned for today's Lapsit and the order in which I do things, click here to see the Google Doc of my Lapsit outline.

Here We Go Looby Loo
I wanted to use scarves today, so I adapted Looby Loo to use with scarves.

Here we go looby loo
Here we go looby light
Here we go looby loo
All on a Saturday night.

I put my scarf in,
I take my scarf out,
I give my scarf a shake, shake shake,
​Then I bounce about. (bounce baby in lap)

Credit: Childhood

 We Wave Our Scarves Together

We wave our scarves together
we wave our scarves together
we wave our scarves together
because it's fun to do.
Wave them up high, 
wave them down low,
wave them in the middlew 
Because it's fun to do.

Credit: Jbrary

I am so happy that our spring storytime session started back up this week!  I have been looking forward to seeing my favorite storytime group since November.  Baby Lapsit is one of my favorite programs to facilitate.  I really enjoy having the opportunity to connect with the caregivers and babies that attend the program.

Our theme for the month of February will be Hugs and Kisses.  Caregivers really enjoyed the opportunity to give baby lots of hugs, kisses, and snuggles.

If you are interested in seeing how I plan for my Baby Lapsit programs, you can download my outline here:

I typically read two books during Lapsit.  This session I decided that I wanted to start sharing some Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes.  I selected the Iona Opie collection because of it's size and the colorful artowork.

Hello Song: Wake Up Feet
Wake up feet, wake up feet (touch baby’s feet)
Wake up feet and wiggle, wiggle, wiggle (touch & wiggle baby’s feet)
Wake up feet, wake up feet (touch baby’s feet)
Wake up and wiggle in the morning. (wiggle baby’s feet)

Wake up hands, wake up hands (touch baby’s hands)
Wake up hands and wiggle, wiggle, wiggle (touch & wiggle baby’s hands)
Wake up hands, wake up hands (touch baby’s hands)
Wake up and wiggle in the morning. (wiggle baby’s hands)

Wake up ears, wake up ears (touch baby’s ears
Wake up ears and wiggle, wiggle, wiggle (touch & wiggle baby’s ears)
Wake up ears, wake up ears (touch baby’s ears)
Wake up and wiggle in the morning. (wiggle baby’s ears)

​Credit: Jbrary

Name Song: Oh, I Know
To the tune of The Farmer in the Dell

Oh, I know (sing baby's name and wave)
Oh, I know (sing baby's name and wave)
Hi-ho-the-derry-o! (bounce baby in lap)
We all know (sing baby's name and wave)

Credit: The Richards Institute of Education & Research

I Have a Little Heart
*I created different actions with this bounce/tickle, which I put in parenthesis.

​I have a little heart, (place hand over baby’s heart)
And it goes thump, thump, thump (pat baby’s chest three times)
It keeps right on beating,
When I bounce, bounce, bounce (bounce three times)
I get a special feeling, when I look at you. (point to baby)
It makes me want to give you a hug or two. (hug baby)

​Credit: Jbrary

Cool Cat
I love the ch ch ch ch ch ch ch part of this bounce.  It sounds like a drum set being played in a jazz club for babies.  
​
Hey there________you're a real cool cat
You got a lot of this and you got a lot of that
So come on in and get down (ch ch ch ch ch ch)
To the left (ch ch ch ch ch ch)
To the right (ch ch ch ch ch ch)
Up in the air (ch ch ch ch ch ch)
And get down (ch ch ch ch ch ch)

​Credit: Jbrary

​We moved to "One Two Three Wee!"  I had caregivers lift baby on "wee".  We had a 3 month old little peanut in our group today, so I told the caregiver to just lift baby's arms.  For "jump", I had caregivers bounce baby in their laps.  For "shake", I had caregivers wiggle baby's arms and legs.  There were lots of delightful gurgle-y giggles!

​I had Caspar Babypants' Jump for Joy album playing as caregivers and babies came into the room for storytime.  During playtime, I like to put on some music in the background as the adults talk and babies play.  Some of the babies took breaks from playing with the toys to dance!