Sensory-Friendly Storytime Theme: Robots
I just finished my fourth storytime of the day and I am beat! Today’s Sensory Friendly Storytime Theme: Robots! These storytimes are provided at classrooms for preschool-age children who have a disability. The disabilities range from vision, language, autism spectrum, learning disabilities, mobility disabilities, and others. It can be exhausting because the kids in this program get moved around a lot, but it’s probably one of the most rewarding programs I do and I absolutely love it!
Today we did a theme all about robots and the kids absolutely loved my robot songs and even liked the books. I really liked Robots Slither as a way to introduce real-life robots and all the things they can do. The kids were big fans of Boy + Bot and thought Robot Zombie Frankenstein was so silly.
Storytime Plan
Opening: Open, Shut Them
Puppet Meet & Greet: Meet Tortuga (turtle puppet)
Book 1: Robots Slither by Ryan Ann Hunter
Transition (flannelboard):
“Five Noisy Robots”
Five noisy robots in the big toy shop,
Shiny and tall with antennae on the top.
Along came a girl with a penny one day.
Bought a noisy robot and took it away.
(continue with 4, 3, 2, 1 noisy robots)
Wiggles:
“I’m a Little Robot”
I’m a little robot, short and strong,
Here are my handles, just turn me on. (put fists on hips for handles, then push your sticker “button”)
When I get all warmed up, watch me go.
Sometimes fast, sometimes slow. (march in place fast and then slow)
Book 2: Boy + Bot by Ame Dyckman
Transition: Toca Boca Robot Lab (iPad app)
Book 3: Robot Zombie Frankenstein by Annette Simon
Closing:
“Robot Song”
(To the Tune of: The Wheels On The Bus)
The arms of the robot swing up and down,
Up and down, up and down,
The arms of the robot swing up and down,
All around the room.
The legs of the robot move back and forth…
The head of the robot turns side to side…
The buttons on the robot blink on and off…
The voice of the robot says beep, beep, beep…
6 Comments
Dolores Colarosa
This is really awesome! Thank you so much for sharing all of your ideas, books and transition activities. I’m going to be starting a sensory storytime this summer, and you have inspired me!
literacious
Thanks so much for the kind words! You’ll have a great time doing sensory storytime and if you have any questions, please let me know!
Dolores Colarosa
Thank you so much!
Dawn Poses Guest
What is the average length of time of your toddler story time? I have been at this for 8 weeks now and I am stumped! I’ve tried flannel board stories, dance/movement, short stories, hand puppets, you name it! On a good day, I’ve got their attention for roughly 15-20 minutes. My format is: opening song, book, finger play song/movement song, another book, flannel board activity/story, movement song, and one more book!
literacious
My storytimes last about 25-30 minutes, but I have a tendency to ask a lot of questions and talk a lot through my stories. With toddlers especially, my books tend more on learning concepts than sharing a story (which definitely keeps them shorter). Try two books instead and add another song… work your way up to three. Remember, there is no “right” way to do storytime!
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