Ravioli, Ravioli, Give Me the Formu-oli (Toddler Storytime Template)

Some days, I experience imposter syndrome when programming, especially during storytimes. I’m not an expert in early literacy or a professional storytime-er, but I really enjoy doing storytimes and teaching. I thought I’d share my basic storytime template here. It’s definitely not a revolutionary approach, but I wanted to share my storytimes on this blog, starting with my go-to formula. If you have any suggestions or ideas for things to add, I’d love to hear them!

Welcome Message/Guidelines - This is the moment I like to share what you can expect from our storytime and introduce the theme we're going to explore together.

Hello Song - We Clap and Sing Hello! 
Matching hello/goodbye songs can be found on Jbrary!

Stretch/Shake the Sillies Out - A stretch or shaking the sillies out could include a yoga pose, a follow-the-direction song (head, shoulders, knees, and toes), or a simple stretch: arms up, down, and in the middle.

Book 1- Usually the longer book of the storytime. 
Felt story or activity - I usually find felt stories on Flannel Friday Pinterest, but they also have a blog.
Flannel Friday Blog here.

Book 2 - Generally shorter than the first book.

Interactive Song - Anything to get the little ones up and moving! My go-to songs are "Icky, Sticky, Bubble Gum" or a follow-the-leader type song.

Finger Play - I might incorporate this anywhere in the storytime. I usually do when I notice that I am losing the crowd. I try to do a song they know to bring it back. Usually, "Itsy Bitsy Spider" is my go-to attention grab song. However, there are tons of fun fingerplays that go along with a variety of themes. 

Book 3 (optional) - Much shorter than the first and second book. 

Props Song - I might throw in a prop song. The one I do on repeat is Hickory Dickory Dock. The version I use is again Jbrary. See link for more! Another great one is Old MacDonald with our farm puppets.
Jbrary's Hickory Dickory Dock.

Instruments Songs - Instruments I use would be egg shakers, jingle bells, tapping sticks, or tambourines.

Props Songs - The props we use for prop songs are scarves or rainbow ribbons.
*We do not use rainbow ribbons as much. They are a bit dangerous in close spaces.

Clean Up Song - Any clean up song works! 

Music CD Song - I love a good instructional music CD song! Laurie Berkner is my go-to, but I know some of the other librarians in my system love Jim Gill. I also love some songs I found on YouTube (unfortunately, we are not allowed to play YouTube songs). If your system allows you to use songs from YouTube, then I recommend them!

Ending Activity - Parachute (toddler/pre-k/baby), Activity cube (pre-k), and bubbles (baby).

Clean Up or All Done Song

Goodbye Song - We Clap and Sing Goodbye (same as above)

Invite families to stay for craft time.

Crafts -I tend to keep my crafts brief because we have a smaller programming room at my branch, but they are still so important to do. I will post a little later about wintertime crafts. 

Catching Up: January - Same Chaos, Better Goals

 2025 me is writing this for 2026 me. It’s the past calling!

Happy New Year! It is time to start fresh. First, I want to share some of my goals for the New Year. Hopefully, when I read this a year from now, I will have accomplished most, if not all, of these goals.

The Grand 2026 Goal List  

- Be a better supervisor  

- Do a craft at EVERY storytime  

- Have at least one unique school-age program each month  

- Start prepping for programs at least two weeks in advance  

Can I do it? I don’t know, but I want to get organized in many aspects of my career. So, this is just a start. I might add more to the list because you can never overdo it on goals, even if they cannot be achieved this year.

Now, January’s lineup of things to do. I will be preparing a Martin Luther King Jr. celebration. It will be an all-month-long passive program. I will post pictures in a January recap post.

The next exciting thing happening in January is the launch of a brand new program series. It is called Snack and Read *See edit*. I will share a brief picture book, and then we will create a snack inspired by it. Some context for that program: we received a kind donation to the library. The branch manager wanted us to get a Charlie Cart to do cooking and food-forward programming. Unfortunately, I was a bit hesitant about doing a cooking program with littles. So, my branch manager kindly agreed to help me with the program. I think having this collaboration will reduce the stress of figuring this out alone.

We will have our regular programming, outreach, and our library fundraiser. This year, I want to be more on top of the fundraiser. I think last year's numbers were a bit low. :\ This year, I plan to hopefully double the amount of participation.

And last, but not least, Summer Reading Planning! It’s that time of year to start organizing performers. I am so excited about the theme, too. I know it’s early, but early is better than later.

Well, now that you know my loaded schedule for January, what are some things you are looking forward to in the new year?

Edit: We had to reschedule Read & Snack because I lost my voice from being sick. So, it will be held on Monday, February 2nd. To be continued.