Here are the books we read:
Hilda Must Be Dancing by Karma Wilson, illustrated by Suzanne Watts
Hilda the hippo loves to dance: Ballet, rumba, disco, you name it! Unfortunately, Hilda is also a big animal and her favorite hobby isn't exactly quiet. Her stomping and swaying is making a lot of noise and is disturbing the other animals. They try their best to get Hilda to try a new hobby, but nothing works! Finally, Hilda decides to try swimming and, fortunately for everyone, she discovers the joys of water ballet dancing. This book has great rhyming text and I love Hilda's dancing costumes in the illustrations.
How Can You Dance? by Rick Walton, illustrated by Ana Lopez-Escriva
I have the kids stand as I read this book. On each page there is a four-line rhyming poem asking the reader how they would dance if they were a certain object or animal. After reading this rhyme I ask the kids to try dancing that way. We probably only spend 10-20 seconds on each page and each type of dance, and the kids were all really good about keeping their own space and getting ready for the next set of instructions as we progressed through the book.
Tanka Tanka Skunk! by Steve Webb
This is a really great book when it comes to rhythm! The book invites readers to clap along to the beat of the story and introduces readers to the basic concept of syllables. I use this book as a great way of introducing parents to the concept of phonological awareness (we spend a minute talking about this concept before we even open the book) and I talk to them about all of the reasons why music is so great for young children. I ask the kids and the parents to all clap along to the beat of the story, and they catch on pretty quickly! We read most pages twice so that everyone can get a good feel for the beat each time.
Wiggle by Doreen Cronin, illustrated by Scott Menchin
I like to keep Wiggle in my back pocket just in case I don't have the right audience for Tanka Tanka Skunk (I find that it works best if you have a few 4-year-olds help to lead the younger ones and/or some really awesome, cooperative parents who will actively play along), if everyone is really rambunctious and needs more moving-around time, or simply as a time-filler should we need an extra activity. Like How Can You Dance? this book is a great one for getting kids on their feet and wiggling in different ways.
This storytime was all about moving and dancing, so we did a few other activities as well. First, we did the Hokey Pokey! This song is a bit of a classic, but even if the kids don't know how this dance goes they all catch on very quickly. For some reason I also find that this song makes the grown-ups in the audience really excited. I'm not sure exactly why, but I'll take it!
To conclude this storytime, I decided to try something a little different. We had a dance party! I put on some music, got out our fancy scarves, and invited the kids to stay in the storytime room and dance for as long as they wanted. Once I showed the kids what they could do with the scarves they were pretty enthralled. The CD that I chose to play was Disney's "Dancin' Tunes," which included such dance hits as "YMCA," "The Twist," "Shout," and plenty more, but just about any music would work for this activity.
I sincerely regret not getting video of the kids dancing! It was too much fun.
Since this group of storytimers also generally expects some sort of craft, and because I figured that a few shy kids didn't want to dance, I also put out a coloring sheet and crayons. Kids could float between coloring and dancing for as long as they wanted.
Cabin fever really must be in full force around here, because this storytime was a big hit! Everyone had a good time, and there were a few kids who had to be pried away from the dance floor.
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