Story Time Theme – Teddy Bears

I am currently providing three different story times for my library – the first is what I call a toddler traditional story time for 2 – 3 1/2 year olds where we read stories, have fingerplays and dance to music, the second is a parachute story time for the same age group and instead of the typical transitions between stories, we play parachute games practicing things like opposites (fast/slow, up/down, etc.) and playing popcorn with colorful balls, and the third story time is a yoga story time for 2 – 5 year olds where we do yoga poses during our transitions.  That being said, I’ve tried to keep many of my books the same for all three story times during the week, sometimes adding a different book for my yoga story time because the kids are a little older.

Last week our theme was teddy bears which is always a popular one.  We read One Ted Falls Out of Bed written by Julia Donaldson, Best Bear by Emma Dodd, and Where’s My Teddy? written by Jez Alborough.  We read the last book as a big book and my toddlers love to see books that are almost as big as they are!  And one of my favorite teddy bear songs is done by the Wiggles called “Rock-a-bye Your Bear round out our themed content.  We have about 25 small colorful stuffed bears that we hand out during that song for the kids to interact with.  Another great book that would work really well for a bilingual Spanish story time is called Siesta written by Ginger Foglesong Guy.

Here’s the format I use for all my story times and all you need to do is follow the information for the story time you’re interested in: Traditional, Parachute, Yoga.

Opening
Traditional: Put Your Hands Up In the Air (song) & Open, Shut Them (fingerplay)
Parachute: Rockin’ the Chute (Shakin’ the Chute CD)
Yoga: Warm-up (Poses: Rock’n’Roll, Zip Up Spine, Deep Breaths, Cat/Cow, Dog)

Book 1: One Ted Falls Out of Bed

Transition (always the same)
Traditional: 5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed feltboard song
Parachute: When the Parachute Goes Up (to the tune of When You’re Happy and You Know It)
Yoga: Sun Salutations(Poses:Mountain, Reach Up, Touch the Ground, Hands at Knees (flat back), Plank, Cobra, Downward Facing Dog, Walk Toward Hands repeat 3-5 times)

Book 2: Best Bear

Transition (changes weekly)
Traditional: Rock-a-bye Your Bear (Wiggles CD)
Parachute: Rock-a-bye Your Bear (Wiggles CD)
Yoga: Balance Poses (Poses: Mountain, Star, Shift Weight Star Pose, Falling Star, Tree)

Book 3: Where’s My Teddy?

Closing:
Traditional: Shake Your Sillies Out with puppet show
Parachute: Freeze (Shakin’ the Chute CD)
Yoga: Relaxation (Poses: Bridge, Happy Baby Pose, Lying Down Star Pose & Deep Breathing)