Music Rules! Sink or Swim Week Part Deux

This week was PACKED with programs! My head is still spinning a little. My Partner In Crime K, is out for the week, recovering well from a health concern. So I was the only kid librarian on deck.

Of course, everyone in our baby and toddler times has inquired after her, because they all love her as much as I do. I assured them that she is doing well and will come back soon. And blessedly, I have not stuck my foot in my mouth, or annoyed anyone thus far! (At least that they've told me)

We had our regular schedule of one toddler program (packed attendance), three preschool programs (lower attended than previous weeks, but it is fall break and some families aren't into Halloween themes), and one baby program (lower attendance, due to many aging up into the toddlers, but also some new faces). The kickers were the addition of a Drop-In Teen demonstration of the Google Glass, and an all ages packed to the gills concert by Jim Gill. (pun most definitely intended)

The toddlers, for how many there were, were fantastic! I love their energy and the fact that I get to talk with so many parents and caregivers about their developing interests. The babies were adorable as always. They range in age and development from one little girl who is just starting to sit up, to a little boy who is auditioning for the next Houdini.

The preschoolers are, and have always been my favorite age group though. I love the fact that they can answer questions for themselves. They have developed interests and, given the chance, will tell you all about them. (Even in the middle of reading Strega Nona).

This week I decided that with the response I've had to the Music and Motion Dance Party, (thanks again Angie Manfredi!) I want to start incorporating dance and movement into my regular preschool time. We did the Spooky Pokey, and I set up an obstacle course game so we could "Go on a Ghost hunt." It was very similar to Susan Pearson's book, only adapted to our Community Room's layout.
 

I set out carpet squares to represent the Bridge, Tree, and stairs. We weaved in and out of chairs set up to be our "Field". We ducked under a table to "crawl through the Swamp."

The last part was the trickiest. Originally, I printed out a picture of a Dark Door to put on the outside of an actual closet door, with a goofy ghost to put on the inside. My boss pointed out, thankfully, that as the parent of a former preschooler, she thought that opening the door to reveal a ghost might be a little too scary.

So instead, I stuck the ghost to the back of the Dark Door picture and just flipped it over for the reveal. This got eye rolls from some of the older kids, but at least the younger kids got a kick out of it. And everyone loved hurrying back through the obstacle course to their seats. :)

The break-neck pace of the regularly scheduled children's programs would have been enough. But we had the two add on events. The Google Glass program went well. I explained the concept of wearable tech and demonstrated a few basic functions. We had more than one teen turn to a parent and beg for one. The invariable response was the parent asking me what the cost of the device runs, which is currently around $1.5K. Then the parent would turn to their child and say something along the lines of "Sure, you can have one. When you get a job and can pay for it out of your own pocket."

If the groans were any indication, I very much doubt an uptick in Google's sales.

The transport of the devices, which had to be hand delivered between staff members at our branches, was my turn to groan. Suffice it to say I had to drive the blasted things across town twice within 24 hours.

But we ended the week on a very high note. Jim Gill, a 20 year early childhood education veteran and children's performer brought down a house of 102 children and their adults. I say this literally, as one of his songs transitions from jumping around to sitting on the ground.

http://www.jimgill.com/

 If you've never had the pleasure to attend one of his concerts, I highly recommend it. He gave a seminar to the librarians at our system Children's Services meeting. He had a lot of great suggestions about keeping kids with various interest levels engaged through music. And he provided me an epiphany on how to get my parents/grandparents out of their chairs and actually interacting with their kids. REMOVE THE CHAIRS! It sounds obvious, but it never occurred to me. We had over a hundred people come to his concert at my branch the next day. Talk about ending on a high note!

Music and Motion Dance Party!

For those of you who have never read Angie Manfredi's fantastic blog, I highly recommend it. Both as a feminist, a lady of size, and a children's librarian. Seriously, she is awesome! (http://fatgirlreading.com/)

So, naturally, I have added her to my RSS feed. And I happened upon this great post about what she calls Music and Movement Dance Party programs. http://fatgirlreading.com/?s=music+and+movement

Her program was originally geared toward babies and grew into an all family type dealio. I used her structure as a template and adapted it to my preschool storytime crew. They loved it!

I do 3 preschool storytimes a week to accommodate all schedules. And I got comments in every one of them about how the kids had fun, and that it was a nice change of pace from regular storytimes. I am now planning on continuing the program in October, taking a break in November, and doing a Jingle Bell Rock Dance Party in December. If I keep getting the type of response I did this week, I may make it a monthly program henceforth.

A few things to note: Since this is a very physical program, the kids can get tired. I added a slow sit-down rhythm sticks song in the middle to keep up the energy and let everyone rest a bit. It's also a shorter program than storytime (I had 27mins of songs including an entrance and exit song, and pauses for instructions). But the parents and kids seemed fine with this, especially since the free dance song at the end was so much fun.

Some parents danced with their kids and some did not. I made sure to tell everyone that participation was entirely up to them. If they got tired and wanted to leave, or sit our the rest of the program with mom or dad, that was cool! Some kids sat and watched the whole time. Some came up and got scarves or rhythm sticks, but sat in the parent's lap to play with them. All this was totally fine.

They had a blast! I had a blast! One little boy came to all 3 programs. So if you like to try new things with your storytime group, I highly recommend this program, with all kudos due to Ms. Manfredi!