Get moving with this dance storytime for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers! Lots of books, rhymes, flannel board activities, and – you guessed it – dance opportunities!
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I had a group of 30 0-5 year olds come in to the library for a field trip. It’s a local playgroup that meets regularly and visits different local institutions for fun, learning, and interaction.
It’s difficult to predict the ages of the kids coming to visit with this local playgroup. Will it be mostly infants? Could there be 20 toddlers and 5 preschoolers and 5 babies? Will there be a few of all ages? It’s impossible to tell.
Because of the variability in ages, I incorporated lots of movement to keep those busy 2 and 3 year olds interested, I picked out awesome and funny books for the older preschoolers (but I was sure to keep the books short, so the littler ones didn’t lose interest!), I included songs that are great for caregivers with babies on their laps, and I just tried to make the whole class really high energy and fun.
Here’s the flow of the dance storytime, in order:
“Body Talk” (by Greg and Steve on Kids in Motion)
First of all, we started out with the song “Body Talk” from the Kids in Motion CD. It’s a nice slow song with instructions to warm everybody up to the fun that is about to ensue.
“Shake My Sillies Out” (by Raffi on Giggling and Laughing)
Then, we went into one of my favorites, “Shake My Sillies Out.” This is a classic! We had to shake all of our sillies out before diving into the meat of our storytime.
“We Can Jump” Action Rhyme
Next, I used this rhyme I found on the King County Library System’s Youtube channel to focus everyone and lead them into sitting down because it’s time for our first book of the day!
Dancing Feet! by Lindsey Craig and illustrated by Marc Brown
I LOVE this book! First, Craig starts off each page with a little onomatopoeia and then leads into which animal’s dancing feet could make that sound. And Brown gives cute illustrations of the animals’ feet as a helpful hint for little ones! It’s sweet and short, which will probably be good for the young ones. Babies can practice learning animal names, toddlers can act out the dancing feet, and the preschoolers can guess which animal is being hinted at!
“Five Dancing Ballerinas” Flannel Activity
Next, we did a flannel activity. I made these felt ballerinas for our felt board and said the following rhyme from Storytime Katie.
For making the ballerina flannel pieces, I didn’t use the one on Storytime Katie’s page. Instead, my template came from a site that, unfortunately, is now saying it’s an invalid webpage, but here is the pin for the image that inspired me.
Five dancing ballerinas, prancing on their toes.
They twirl and spin and jump; then off the stage she goes.
(Count down to 0 ballerinas.)
Hokey Pokey (by Hopscotch Kids on Toddler Tunes)
Get up and get ready for a favorite! Everybody knows the Hokey Pokey! The kids loved getting up on their feet and shaking out some more of that energy!
Barnyard Dance written and illustrated by Sandra Boynton
Before reading this book, I handed out finger puppets of some of the farm animals present in the story. I wanted the kids to be able to at least make their animals dance, if they weren’t comfortable enough to dance themselves. Plus, it’s great to give the kids objects to interact with and make the story even more fun!
This is a classic story. It’s also so much fun, and it’s so simple. Essentially, it just gives verbs to do with the different animals: “Trot with the turkey. Leap with the frog. Take another spin with the barnyard dog.” Even from that little piece, you can tell it’s catchy and rhyme-y and has a lot of action in it. PERFECT for a diverse age group!
“Dance Your Fingers Up” Fingerplay
Now another fingerplay: this fingerplay is another way to involve action and movement, plus it’s a fun one for caregivers with babies on their laps. Thanks, King County Library System for sharing.
Dance your fingers up, dance your fingers down
Dance your fingers to the side, dance them all around
Dance them on your shoulders, dance them on your head
Dance them on your tummy, and put them all to bed.
Dance, Dance, Dance! written and illustrated by Ethan Long
And we’re on to another book! It’d be super fun to read this book if you have an extra librarian around to read the opposite part with you, but I was on my own, so I picked out my horse voice and my fly voice and got to it! Once again, it has simple text, and it has a lot of room for incorporating action. Little ones getting antsy? Have them do the dance moves because it’ll keep them interested!
Dance Wands
Next, we paused for a craft. We made dance wands because we wanted to make our dance storytime even more fun! It was so easy. First, I cut stars out of craft foam using our Cricut machine. And then I used duct tape to tape a wooden craft dowel to the star, followed by coloring the star using markers, and finally, also tying ribbon around the stick. SIMPLE! All I did for the families was put out the pre-cut foam stars, the craft dowels, the tape, the markers, and the ribbon on the tables.
That way, the parents could decide how much they needed to help their children, if at all (depending on the children’s ages). Therefore, it was the perfect craft for a group where I wasn’t sure what the children’s ages would be. In conclusion, it was a great craft for the dance storytime theme, and it was a great craft for the diverse ages present.
Jump Up! (By the Imagination Movers on For those about to Hop)
While others were finishing their crafts, the rest of us started dancing with this song! Consequently, the fun encouraged the others to finish up their crafts quickly and join us! It was perfect for incorporating their craft into the fun as well! Get ready to jump…a lot!
Duck Sock Hop by Jane Kohuth and illustrated by Jane Porter
And again, another book. It’s a silly book about ducks who come across socks and then go to a sock hop. It’s funny, short, and it rhymes. Which is perfect for encompassing a group of kids ages 0-5.
If You’re Happy and You Know It (by Kate Higgins and Steve Wingfield on Do the Hokey Pokey: Learning with Action Songs)
It’s time for another song! This is another classic, so I gave the kids shakers to spice it up a little.
Let’s Shake (by Dan Zanes on Catch that Train)
And due to it being almost the end of our dance storytime: We gotta have one more shaker song first. This song obviously requires shakers, so I’m glad we warmed up our shaking arms with the previous song! Get shaking!
Jump Up, Turn Around (by Jim Gill from Jim Gill Sings Moving Rhymes for Modern Times)
And, finally, for the last song, we did this song by Jim Gill. It’s a follow-along song, which is great for the last song of the dance storytime. (Because the kids can start winding down because we’re almost to the end of our storytime!)
“Tickle the Clouds” Goodbye Fingerplay
Finally, we did this action rhyme. I use it at the end of all of my storytimes because it is short and sweet. Plus, it requires action which keeps kids waning attention. And furthermore, it is great to have some repetition in storytime because kids thrive on repetitiveness.
This rhyme also came from the King County Library System.
Tickle the clouds!
Tickle your toes!
Turn around and touch your nose.
Crouch down low.
And reach up high.
Storytime’s over –
Wave goodbye!
That’s it! That’s the conclusion of our DANCE storytime. It was especially fun and exhausting and it lasted about 45 minutes. Feel free to pick and choose which elements to use, if you have a shorter storytime to plan.
