This Little Piggy:Lap Songs, Finger Plays, Clapping Games and Pantomime Rhymes
is a book full of activities and rhymes to play with your toddler or baby.
Books are a wonderful way to share with your child, while they are in your lap.
For fingerplays, AND toddler activities, to entertain little ones around the house,
visit the following websites:
National Network For Childcare Plus
Gayle's Preschool Rainbow

Babies love books, but what to pick? Pick a book with a sentence or two a page with words and pictures they recognize in their little world. Ms. Rachel did Kiss Kiss today in playgroup. Songs and fingerplays come from CDs in the collection. Try some of these:
Little Gorilla with CD Deep In the Jungle by Joe Scruggs.
Quack Daisy Quack with CD Tom Glazer Sings Honk Hiss Tweet
Bear and Dog with CD Unbearable Bears
How Do You Sleep? with CD Lullabies With Mandolins.

Schools start-up, and Fall Library Programs begin.

Ms. Rachel greeted Baby PlayGroup this week with "Old MacDonald Had a Farm". You can sing along with some favorite performers in these recordings:
25 Best Toddler favorites;
Children's first songs with Kevin Roth;
Country blues for kids.

Storytimes & Playgroups

After a short summer break, Storytimes and Playgroups return on September 8 to Traverwood, Pittsfield, Malletts Creek and Downtown. Playgroups consist of fifteen minutes of stories, rhymes, and songs followed by open playtime for babies up to 2 years old. Storytimes are open to children 2 - 5 years old. The complete listing of times and locations can be found on our Events page. Come join us for stories and fun!

I Kissed the Baby was the PlayGroup story told with flannels. This is the Final Week of Baby PlayGroups for the Summer Series.
Of course there are many ways to "Kiss The Baby", and pass on your personal lovey-doveys, until we start the Fall Series in September 2009.
I KISSED THE BABY by Jill Murphy is out-of-print in book format, but the title can be found on the Board Book shelves in the Library.
Look for more kisses for Baby in:
Counting Kisses

"What DO You Do With The BooHoo Baby?"
PLAY with them. Here are some books that help you "play" with the Baby.
One Boy has peek-a-boo pages.
Time To Get Dressed makes dressing a game.
Not A Box reminds you of what you can do with one good box.
Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See? is a rhythm and rhyme game with pictures. Kumasan kumasan nani miteruno? is "Brown Bear" in Japanese, and can be found in the World Language Collections.

Miss Rachel did "stories on wheels" this week for Baby PlayGroups and Preschool Stories. We began with Shoe Baby! If you want to Go-GO with more stories, try:
Don't Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus! by Mo Willems.
The Baby Goes Beep by Rebecca O'Connell
The Bridge Is Up! by Babs Bell
The Boy On The Bus a sing-along book by Penny Dale.
For more songs to sing find these CDs:
Baby Jamz with "Wheels On The Bus".
For The Kids Three with "See You On The Moon"

A great way to entertain the baby is to SING! "Sitting In My Chair, Big Chair, High Chair .... Bang my spoon" sings Hap Palmer in Baby's Busy Day. It's adapted from "Mama's/Papa's Little Baby Loves Shortnin' Bread". More recordings, perfect to sing with Baby, would be Laurie Berkner in Under a Shady Tree; multiple artists in in 101 Toddler Favorites; and Raffi in Corner Grocery Store.

Ms. Rachel is doing FARMS this week in Preschool Storytime and Baby PlayGroups.
For the youngest children:
Farmer Doogie has plenty to do each day.
Follow a Hen on her walk around the farm in Rosie's Walk.
Sing "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" along with Victor Johnson in the CD Country Blues for Kids.
For kids who like more of a story:
The farm is a noisy place in Too Much Noise.

Folks ask ... What do BABIES like to read? Pick books with pictures of things they see in their everyday life. They are learning to say words, recognize things they see, and can extend into new places that are related.

Since it is summer now, I choose "beach" and "sea" books to try:
All You Need For A Beach shows kids and activities at the beach.
Senses At The Seashore uses photos of kids and clearly suggests items for all the senses.
Ocean Babies depicts all kinds of sea life.