Welcome Song: Hello, Friends!
Touching Rhymes/Tickles
- Slowly, slowly, very slowly
- Round and round the garden goes the teddy bear
- Slice slice the bread looks nice
- Eyes nose cheeky cheeky chin
- Roly poly
Book 1: Bear Seas Colors / Karma Wilson
Songs/Bounces
- Oh I wish I were a little bar of soap!
- Bumping up and down in my little red wagon
- The waves on the sea (to the tune of The Wheels on the Bus)
- A hippopotamus got on a city bus
Book Two: Pete the Cat Old MacDonald Had a Farm
Movement Songs
- What shall we do with lazy Katie?
- Zoom zoom
- The elevator song
Soothing Songs
- Orca whale
Goodbye song: Goodbye, Friends!
I ended up just shortening and simplifying the same books I used in my family time, which is a technique I like to share with parents. Lots of picture books can be adapted for different ages, just by skipping pages or only reading part of the text. I just loved the illustrations in Bear Sees Colours so much, and I simply omitted much of the text to create a shorter, simpler introduction to colours. I also find this version of Old MacDonald to be a little long, so I just pick and choose which animals I feel like doing. Get the most out of every picture book!
I had a record four dads at baby time today! One new dad was so relieved when he came in to see the three other dads there (two of them bring their babies by themselves – brave daddies!), and another couple of mums commented on how they were going to try and encourage their partners to come. A new participant even mentioned that he wasn’t sure if dads were allowed to come to baby time! That’s one of the reasons we steer clear of “Mum and Me” or any labels like that – we welcome daddies and grandparents and nannies and all grownups who are taking part in the raising of a baby!