All the Fish

I am always looking for ways to incorporate more music into my storytimes. Sadly, good kids music is hard to find. The other day, my coworker Urmilla wanted to know if I had felt pieces for Caspar Babypants’ song, “All the Fish.” I hadn’t considered it but it seemed like a great idea. So, I set about making one at once. I work with the best people!

Pillow Pigs!

Some people say these pigs look like toast. I don't agree, they are most definitely pillows. This song wouldn't make sense if they were toast. I mean c'mon?

I Had a Little Kawaii Turtle

I had a little turtle when I was a child. Its name was “Speedy” since it had a orange racing stripe down its back, not because it was particularly fast.  Speedy lived in a bowl with a fake plastic tree. A strange fungus took Speedy from this mortal coil within a month of coming home from the pet store.  This song is in memoriam of all the short lived pet store animals and their sad owners.

Ten (Tsum Tsum) in the Bed

Back a million years ago when I had a weekly "Bedtime" themed pajama storytime, I used "Ten in the Bed" all the time. It features counting down, rolling hands and the perennial kids favorite, things falling out of a bed. I remembered it recently and thought it would be fun to make a flannelboard set. I tried to think of something cute, round and stackable which could fit on a bed....Tsum Tsum! 

Walking Through the Kawaii Jungle (and the forest...and the arctic...and by the river...and by the ocean)

I love the adaptability of this call and response song! You could use whatever pretend animals you have available, be they puppets or flannelboard pieces. Also, this chant works well with both animal noises and animal movements!

Five Kawaii Ducks That I Once Knew

This version of "Six Little Ducks" only has five ducks because I misremembered the lyrics and I'm doubling down on my mistake. Also, I have the kids pretend the fingers on one of their hands are ducks and most kids have five fingers per hand, not six. (My grandfather has 3 1/2 fingers on one of his hands because he was a woodworker, but this is beside the point.)

My version has a female duck in the lead, instead of a dude. Whenever I can, I try to switch up the genders in traditional songs and rhymes. Since I'm a (mostly) cishet man in a traditionally female field, I feel I need to do my part to help fight the patriarchy.

We start out by practicing quacking, waddling and shaking our tail feathers. Then we count the ducks on one of our hands. I ask the kids to act like ducks when we get to the quacking part of the song. Then we sing.

Yoga Bunny

Super excited about this new set of felt bunnies. This week I read the book "Yoga Bunny" by Brian Russo and loved it…but it is a little to wordy for my toddler storytime. I’ve wanted to incorporate yoga into my program for a while, so it was a perfect opportunity to cut up some felt!

I’m going to have the kids try to imitate the poses of the bunny.