Storytime From the Liberry: Storytime Express

All aboard for storytime kiddos! It never ceases to amaze me how much kids love trains. Boys and girls are gaga for them.
 I have lived by a train track for 99.9% of my life. Trains are at best background noise and at worst a common nuisances. But it's hard to be bitter when you can encourage a room full of 30 plus toddlers to make their best impression of a train whistle. This is a loud storytime!

Books: 

And the Train Goes... By William Bee

I highly recommend this book if you are an actor/storyteller who loves to use different voices. There are a lot of opportunities in this story to do so. There is also a good balance of repetitive words as well as new phrases so your audience isn't bored.


Trains Go by Steve Light
A colorful board book full of great illustrations of trains and onomatopoeia(s)!


Peek a Choo Choo by Marie Torres-Cimarusti - If I ever need a good back up book, I usually turn to this author because she has several peek a boo books with many different themes.

Huff and Puff by Tish Rabbe

I tend to not use "reader" format books in my storytimes because the pictures are often too small or the text very uninteresting. This is an exception. The story is short and the words are simple to understand. I recommend this book to my parents because it is well suited to those kids who are becoming advance in their learning and ready to start reading on their own (even if they are very young.)

(But for the love of God, don't try to force your kids to read before they are ready. It annoys me to no end when I see parents hand their two year old a book and say "Read this! Mommy has to go on the computer!" yes this happens frequently.)



Activities and Songs:

I'm a Choo-Choo Train


I'm a Choo-Choo Train,
chugging down the track
First I move forward
Then I move back

Now my bell is ringing,
Here my whistle blow
What alot of noise I make
Everywhere I go!

Little Red Caboose

For some fun, we did shaker songs. I love this version of Shaking on our Shakers 

I also want to desperately incorporate Hippopatamus Got on A City Bus with my toddlers. Even though is a lap sit song for babies. I sing this to my little one and it puts a smile on her face every time! We substituted bouncing a baby to shaking in rhythm.I might have loved singing this song more than the toddlers!

Let the gals over at Jbray.com show you how it's done!

CD Recommendation: My Mama was a Train by James Coffey

Till next week storytime friends!