Sensory-Friendly Storytime Theme: Animals

I am lucky to visit a few of the Montgomery County Intermediate Classrooms within our community  If you are unfamiliar with this service, these are classrooms for children who have either been diagnosed on the Autism Spectrum and/or have other disabilities that make it difficult for them to attend a “mainstream” preschool setting.  I was able to visit four classrooms today and we had a really great time.  This group of kids is very unique because the group is much smaller than a regular storytime (with only 5 – 12 kids), but can be a lot to handle depending on everyone’s mood for the day (just like at storytime in the library). 

My personal goal when visiting these classrooms is to see the children actively engaged in at least one aspect of storytime, whether it’s a story, song, or activity.  We read animal stories today, which were a lot of fun.  My storytime plan varies a little bit on book choice because the morning classes are usually younger and haven’t mastered as many skills as the afternoon classes.  The afternoon classes are usually older students who have a larger vocabulary and I often choose books that are a little longer for them to listen too. 

All the kids really enjoyed Whose Nose and Toes? by John Butler and also enjoyed guessing the animals in the Peekaboo App.  The kids also liked helping with the animal movements in Steve Jenkins book, Move!  We talked a lot about vocabulary words today because animals that we were unfamiliar with were involved in some of the stories, while other stories used similar words for different animals such as the word “hound” for “dog”.  Overall, it was a very fun day and I can’t wait to go back to visit again!

Storytime Plan

Opening Rhyme: Open Shut Them

Meet Spark (dragon puppet)

Book 1:Whose Nose and Toes? By John Butler / Ribbit! By Rodrigo Flogueira

Transition Song: Old McDonald Had a Farm

Transition App: Peekaboo HD

Book 2: Jump! By Scott M. Fischer / Whose Nose and Toes? By John Butler

Transition Gross Motor: Animal Yoga Poses (cat, cow, dog, butterfly, & lion)

Book 3: Farmyard Beat By Lindsey Craig & Marc Brown / Move! By Steve Jenkins & Robin Page

Closing Song: The Wheels on the Bus