Sensory Story Time: Fruits and Veggies

The Library offers sensory story time (almost) every month, and last month's theme was fruits and veggies! Seven kids and three adults attended, with the kids ranging in age from 3 years old to 6 or 7 years old. 

 

The plan: 

1. Hello! I introduced the theme and the structure of this story time, including explaining how the visual schedule worked. We practiced signing “all done” so we knew how to do it at the end of each activity. 

2. Welcome Song: "The Story Time Ball"  (tune: "Wheels on the Bus")

(Roll ball back and forth to each child) 

The story time ball rolls back and forth, 

back and forth, back and forth. 

The story time ball rolls back and forth, 

Let's see who it found. Hi ______! 

Now roll it back to me. 

(Keep rolling back and forth until each child has said their name.) 

3. Mindfulness Exercise: Tap and Wiggle from the Mindful Kids card set by Whitney Stewart and Mina Braun 

4. Active Rhyme: Bananas Unite (source: Jbrary) 

Bananas unite! 

Peel bananas, peel, peel bananas 

Chop bananas, chop chop bananas  

Mash bananas, mash mash bananas  

Eat bananas, eat, eat bananas   

Go Bananas! 

 

5. Story: Piranhas Don’t Eat Bananas by Aaron Blabey

In this book, a piranha named Brian tries to persuade other piranhas to try different fruits and vegetables. In response to each fruit Brian offers, the other piranhas say “no, we eat [body part].” I asked the kids to point to or move the body part on each page. 

6. Sensory Rhyme: Way Up High in the Apple Tree (with stretch bands) 

Way up high in the apple tree, (pull the stretch band up) 

two little apples smiling at me.  

I shook that tree as hard as I could, (quickly pull the stretch band in and out) 

and down came the apples. (clap hands) 

Mmmm... they were good! (rub your tummy) 

7.  Picture book with sensory experiences: Veg Patch Party by Clare Foges and Al Murphy 

In this book, vegetables on a farm have a party after the animals go to sleep. Certain vegetables are featured, so I brought in as many of those vegetables as I could. This included potatoes, parsnips, carrots, peas, and brussels sprouts. The kids were familiar with potatoes and carrots, but many had never seen a parsnip before.  

8. Parachute activity: "Fruit Salad Salsa" by Laurie Berkner. I played the song out loud and we walked and moved the parachute to match the lyrics. 

9. Goodbye song and stretch: "Tickle the Clouds" 

Tickle the clouds. 

Tickle your toes. 

Turn around and tickle your nose. 

Reach down low. 

Reach up high. 

Story time's over. 

Wave goodbye! 

Arts and Crafts: Carrot with handprint stalk. I provided white construction paper with a carrot outline, orange and yellow dot markers, and green finger paint.  

Sensory Activity: Fruit matching game. I buried plastic fruit counters in lentils and provided tongs for the kids to use for pulling out the fruit and match them to the pictures on the trays. 

 

Outreach Story Time: Thanksgiving and Food

We’re once again offering sensory story time at Wing Lake Developmental Center monthly! It’s a good Friday when we get to visit, especially when we see our regulars. They asked for November’s theme to be related to Thanksgiving, food, and families.


1. Hello (Talk about the visual schedule.)

2. Talk about theme: Today, we are talking about a holiday coming up this month when we get together with our family and friends: Thanksgiving! What is your favorite thing about Thanksgiving? What food do you look forward to at dinner time?


3. Story: There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Turkey by Lucille Colandro

We used props with this book! We have an Old Lady puppet that you can put things in, so we printed out and laminated the objects in the book for the puppet to “eat” while reading the book.


4. Flannel Rhyme: Two Little Turkeys

Two little turkeys sitting on a hill
One named Jack, one named Jill
Fly away Jack, fly away Jill
Come back Jack, come back Jill

Unfortunately, we forgot the flannel board, but we each held a felt turkey and moved them behind our backs and back in front.


5. Story with Sensory Experiences: Rah, Rah, Radishes!: A Vegetable Chant by April Pulley Sayre

This is a great story to use for sensory experiences because all you need are vegetables! There are a lot of different veggies in this book, so we tried to find some that had different textures and smells. We ended up with Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, corn on the cob (still in the husk), onion, kale, and asparagus.

 

6. Goodbye Song: If You’re Thankful and You Know It

If you’re thankful and you know it, clap your hands
If you’re thankful and you know it, clap your hands
If you’re thankful and you know it and you really want to show it
If you’re thankful and you know it, clap your hands
Additional verses: stomp your feet, shout “hooray”, do all three

7. Craft Activity: Dot marker turkeys. We provided turkey outlines printed on cardstock and dot markers for students to use after story time. Staff members took extra turkeys to give to students who couldn't attend story time.

A game changer for our outreach sensory story time visits is using a document camera for the books instead of an iPad. We're not limited to what's available as an e-book, and there's less room for error. We just hook up the document camera to the school's projector using an HDMI cable and we're good to go!

Welcome new Blogger, Lauren!

Welcome to the Blog, Lauren!

Hello! My name is Lauren Catoni-Ellis. I’ve been a librarian since 2017, but I’ve been working in libraries since 2015. I’ve been involved in accessible library services since 2020 when I became responsible for the Universal Access Collection at Troy Public Library. In 2022, I became the Youth Services Assistant Department Head at Bloomfield Township Public Library and currently oversee the Accessibility Support Collection that Jen started. I’ve been passionate about disability advocacy in and out of libraries for a long time, and I strive to make the world a more accessible place in all areas of life.

 

I’m excited to share my sensory story time plans and experiences on this blog! I am involved in the Library’s monthly sensory story time as well as the Library’s visits to a local school for students with severe cognitive impairments and severe multiple impairments. I have also collaborated with the local high school on library visits from students in the special education program.

 

In my spare time, I enjoy reading (of course!), watching Star Trek, and spending time with my wife and cats. 

Outreach Sensory Story Time: Fall Open House

 

 

We were so excited to visit the Wing Lake Developmental Center for our first visit since the "before times!" Our new Assistant DH, Lauren, and I updated a previous story time plan from 3 years ago and presented this sensory story time for Wing Lake's Fall Open House in late October, and we are thrilled to have monthly visits scheduled there in the coming months. 

Here's the plan:

1. Hello (Talk about the visual schedule)

2. Talk about theme: "Today we are having fun with things that we experience in the fall! What do you like about fall? (Colorful leaves, apples and cider mills, Halloween) For their Fall Open House, students and their families were invited to wear costumes for some Halloween activities throughout the evening. So we also talked about our costumes and what we find around Halloween time (scarecrows, pumpkins, trick or treaters).

3. Story: Scarecrow, Scarecrow, What Do You See? by Lisa Erwin, SLP

This is an adapted book with interactive images. I enlarged this book and interactive image pieces to poster-size, looped ring clips through the top and attached it to our portable easel to flip through.

(source: My Speech Tools)

4. Flannel rhyme: Apples Juicy, Apples Round (tune: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star)

In addition to putting flannel apples in red, green, and yellow on our board, Lauren and I also brought in red, green, and yellow apples to pass around for students and their families to see, feel, and smell.

Apples juicy, apples round,

On the tree or on the ground.

Apples yellow, green, and red,

Give us pie and juice and bread.

Apples juicy, apples sweet, 

Apples are so good to eat!

(source: unknown)

5. Sensory Story: Full of Fall by April Pulley Sayre

Another fantastic picture book from Sayre with beautiful photograph illustrations of outdoor fall scenes and simple narrative. We projected the eBook version on a large screen for better visual accessibility and also passed around different colorful leaves, twigs, and bark to better experience the story and illustrations with our senses of sight, touch (the different textures of the leaves and bark), smell, and hearing (the crinkle of the leaves).

6. Goodbye Song: "If You're a Monster and You Know It" (tune: If You're Happy and You Know It)

If you're a monster and you know it,

wave your arms.

If you're a monster and you know it,

wave your arms.

If you're a monster and you know it,

then your arms will surely show it.

If you're a monster and you know it,

wave your arms.

Additional verses: show your teeth, roar out loud

(source: preschooleducation.com)

7. Craft activity: Apple Trees (blue construction paper, green circle, strip of brown construction paper, glue sticks, and bingo dauber markers)

Virtual Sensory Story Time: Bath Time!

It feels good to blog on a cold, snowy evening in January....2021. I have been recording monthly sensory story time videos since August of last year, including a few on Zoom with Ed, which were more geared to all ages in an effort to reach Wing Lake Developmental Center students (ages 3 - 26 with multiple disabilities). We also assembled sensory story time supply bags to go along with these videos, which our patrons could pick up via curbside. 

This past fall was also a time for reflection and some much needed evaluation of personal time. As a result, I may not be blogging here as often, but will certainly still be sharing new accessibility service highlights and some adaptive program favorites here and on Twitter. 

Bath time has always been one of my favorite themes for story time. There are so many wonderful opportunities for sensory engagement, including the use of my favorite sensory tool, bubbles! And don't forget to check the read-aloud permissions on publisher sites for recorded story times. Both of the stories I read were published by imprints of Penguin Random House. Here's their permissions page: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/penguin-random-house-temporary-open-license/ 

Story time plan:

1. Hello and talk about bath time. What do you like about bath time? Do you put bubbles in your bath? Rubber duckies? Toy boats? Show materials in sensory story time supply kit.

Rhyme/song supplies: bubbles and scarf

Supplies for story with sensory experiences: small piece of fine sand paper, pipette/eye dropper, bags of cornmeal and small black pipe cleaners, hot cocoa mix

Supplies needed from home: small ball and bowl of snow or artificial snow

2. Story Time Ball Song 

(Using small ball, roll back and forth on floor or on table with caregiver or family members - I rolled mine back and forth with our large plush Big Bird again!)

tune: "Wheels on the Bus"

(Rolling ball back and forth to each other)

The story time ball rolls back and forth,

back and forth, back and forth.

The story time ball rolls back and forth,

Let's see who it found. Hi ______!

Now roll it back to me.

(Keep rolling back and forth until each person has said their name.)

3. Yoga pose: "Boat pose" (Adapted pose: For people who cannot lift their legs off the floor, they can keep feet on the floor or stay seated and gently rock back and forth -- "rocking the boat on the water.")

4. Sensory tool rhyme: "Bubbles" (using bubbles supplied in kit)

tune: "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

Bubbles floating all around 

Bubbles fat and bubbles round (look at all those bubbles!)

Bubbles on my toes and nose

Blow a bubble, up it goes! (blow bubbles and look up!)

Bubbles floating all around

B..u..b..b..l..e..s f..a..l..l..i..n..g ... to....the....ground (follow bubbles as they slowly fall to the ground)

(source unknown)

5. Flannel story and book: Dog's Colorful Day by Emma Dodd

6. Sensory tool song: "Washing Song" (using scarf in kit)

tune: "Here We Go 'Round the Mulberry Bush"

This is the way we wash our face,

wash our face, wash our face.

This is the way we wash our face,

so early in the morning.

Additional verses with hands, hair, shoulders (upper body parts that can be seen in the limited screen view)

7. Story with sensory experiences: How Do You Take a Bath? by Kate McMullan

Kit supplies used during this story:

fine sand paper (cat's rough pink tongue)

pipette/ eye dropper and bowl of water (elephant's shower)

hot cocoa mix in a bowl with a bit of water (pig's mud)

black pipe cleaners (honeybee's hairy legs)

bag of cornmeal (chicken dust)

8. Goodbye stretch: "Tickle the Clouds"

Tickle the clouds.

Tickle your toes.

Turn around and tickle your nose.

Reach down low.

Reach up high.

Story time's over.

Wave goodbye!

9. Goodbye! and supply suggestions for animal bath follow-up activity: 

• 1 bin of dirt or mud (can also be chocolate pudding)
• 1 bin of clean water
• scrub brush
• small plastic animal toys

Virtual Sensory Story Time: Look Up!

Before going over what I did in my virtual story time, I thought I would share a "behind-the-scenes" video of my set-up (thanks to a suggestion from my coworker, Ms. Liz!).

My theme for this story time is "Look Up!" This is a variation on a previous sensory story time done in person. Here's the plan:

1. Hello and talk about things we see when we look up (birds, trees, the clouds in the sky, balloons, etc.).

2. List supplies needed for story time and show contents of Sensory Story Time supply bags, which can be requested for curbside pickup or placed on our hold shelves to pick up when visiting the Library in person. Here are the sensory items provided in this kit: scarf, feather, pipe cleaner, plastic egg, and bubbles.

3. Welcome Song: "Story Time Ball Song" (I recorded this separately, on the floor with our large, plush Big Bird!) Viewers can do this with any ball they have at home (which is noted on the supply bag and at the beginning of story time. They can roll the ball back and forth with their grownup(s), siblings, or stuffed friend on the floor or over a table to each other.

tune: "Wheels on the Bus"

(Roll ball back and forth to each other)

The story time ball rolls back and forth,

back and forth, back and forth.

The story time ball rolls back and forth,

Let's see who it found. Hi ______!

Now roll it back to me.

(Keep rolling back and forth until each child has said their name.)

4. Mindfulness exercise: "Balloon breath" (This breathing exercise can be down while seated or lying down.)

5. Story with sensory experiences: Hooray for Birds! by Lucy Cousins

Before reading, I thanked Candlewick Press for allowing me to share this story with our community in an unlisted video that families could view at a time convenient for them. Please see the SLJ Covid-19 Publisher Information Directory to find out the latest on publishers' shared reading guidelines.

As I read the story, I prompted viewers to join me in these sensory experiences:

Page spread with rooster - say "Cock-a-doodle-doo!

Next page spread with two birds flying - flap your arm "wings" like the birds are flapping their wings

Page with bird hopping - stand up and hop or bounce up and down in your seat

Page with woodpecker - make pecking noise by knocking on seat or table

Page with duck (or swan?) - look up as you stretch your neck nice and tall

Page with parrot - say "hello darling."

Page spread with starlings - grab your scarf from the supply bag and swoop it up, down, and around, just like the starlings

Page with bird scratching its feet - use your fingers to scratch the ground or the air

Page with bird catching fly - open your mouth and try to catch the fly

Page with flamingo - stand up on one leg or lift one foot while seated

Page with hen - say "cluck, cluck" and pull out your plastic egg from the supply egg - how does the egg feel?

Page with bird and snake - pull out your pipe cleaner from the supply bag (which they were instructed beforehand to bend/curve like a snake), set it down on the floor or table, catch up the snake and stretch our your wings

Page spread with birds singing - repeating various bird songs and sounds

Page with penguins - let's waddle side to side in our seats

Page with ostrich running - let's pat our hands on our laps to make a running sound

Page spread with peacock - reach into supply bag and pull out your feather (how does it feel?). Hold it up as you puff out your chest like the peacock

Page with birds cuddling - cuddle up with your grownup or reach around to your back with both arms criss-crossing and give yourself a big cuddle hug!

And of course, don't forget to whoo along with the owl at the end!

6. Flannel rhyme: "Five Little Birds"

There was one little bird in the one little tree.

He was so alone and didn't want to be,

So he flew far away, over the sea

And brought back a friend to live in the tree.

Now there are two little birds in the one little tree...

Now there are three little birds...

Now there are four little birds...

Now there are five little birds in the one little tree.

They were not alone anymore, they were family!

(source unknown)

7. Sensory tool rhyme: "Bubbles" (using bubbles supplied in kit)

tune: "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

Bubbles floating all around 

Bubbles fat and bubbles round (look at all those bubbles!)

Bubbles on my toes and nose

Blow a bubble, up it goes! (blow bubbles and look up!)

Bubbles floating all around

B..u..b..b..l..e..s f..a..l..l..i..n..g ... to....the....ground (follow bubbles as they slowly fall to the ground)

(source unknown)

8. Goodbye stretch: "Tickle the clouds"

Tickle the clouds.

Tickle your toes.

Turn around and tickle your nose.

Reach down low.

Reach up high.

Story time's over.

Wave goodbye!

9. Goodbye and supply suggestions to make discovery bin at home with bird seed, sticks and leaves from the backyard, and cutting up the pipe cleaner from the kit to make "worms" to find in the bin, pulling them out with large tweezers at home (or making these craft stick tweezers) like a bird might with its beak.

Adaptive Umbrella Workshop: Virtual Edition!

It's an honor to host our 6th Adaptive Umbrella accessibility workshop in the same year as the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. There is still so much work to be done in the accessibility field, and we must listen and amplify the voices of the disability community to set new goals. You cannot have a workshop or conference about accessibility without including self-advocates on your stage, whether it's in the building or a virtual platform. Originally scheduled for April, our workshop was put on hold until fall. The possibility of postponing until an in-person event could safely be held in 2022 was considered, but this is not the time to remove sources of support. During the months of quarantine and working from home, many of us have found ways to adapt our programs, classrooms, and services to a virtual format, going beyond ADA to engage people of all ages and abilities. In an effort to support this ongoing learning process, we are taking the Adaptive Umbrella workshop virtual on September 23rd! The day is geared to librarians, educators, and caregivers working with the disability community and features presentations/discussions with disability self-advocates and professionals in the field developing adaptive services.

This September, we look forward to virtually welcoming:

Keynote speaker:

Morénike Giwa Onaiwu

“Forged by Fire: The Intersection of Race, Disability, and Gender”

Morénike Giwa Onaiwu, Ed.D(c), M.A., is an Autistic woman of color, educator, public speaker,

a parent of Autistic children, and advocate. She is involved in various social justice activism

endeavors and is a contributing author/editor of several publications, abstracts, and books

focusing on community engagement, HIV, research, disability, diversity, self-advocacy, and

nontraditional leadership.

Morénike has spoken at the White House, the United Nations, the AIDS Clinical Trials Group Network plenary, and several national conferences. Her board membership includes Autistic Self-Advocacy Network, Autism in Adulthood Journal, Ethical Autism Research Expert Group, the National Disability Parenting Research Center and other entities. She has written for or been featured in Salon, Huffington Post, NPR, POZ, Atlantic, and Conde Nast (Iris).

Morénike, a full-time college faculty member, Co-Chair of the Women’s HIV Research Collaborative of the NIH, and Co-Director of the Autistic Women and Nonbinary Network, is (along with Lydia X. Z. Brown and E. Ashkenazy), an editor of the first anthology of Autistic people of color, All the Weight of Our Dreams: On Living Racialized Autism and co-coordinator of a grassroots microgrant program that supports people of color on the autism spectrum.

More information about Morénike can be found on her website: morenikego.com

Featured Speakers:

Ashley Grady

"Sensory-Friendly Programming & Services for Families" 

Ashley Grady is the Senior Program Specialist at the Smithsonian Institution in the Access Smithsonian office where she manages programs for families of children with disabilities, adults with dementia, and young adults with intellectual disabilities seeking employment. Prior to working at the Smithsonian, Ashley was a special education teacher in Washington, DC and Nashville, TN. 

Glenna Godinsky

"Dementia-Friendly Programming & Services" 

Glenna Godinsky is a Certified Dementia Practitioner and the Life Enrichment Liaison at the Gail Borden Public Library District (IL) where she and her team of 22 volunteers have previously traveled to locations across Elgin, IL, every month to bring programming to seniors and developmentally disabled youth and adults. She has recently converted the Elgin Memory Cafe into a monthly virtual cafe and is also running programs for people with dementia through pre-recorded videos.

Disability Advocacy Panel of Self-Advocates & Caregivers

Interactive discussion with disability self-advocates & caregivers

(Names withheld by request to protect anonymity)

• Teen with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and parent
• Young adult with schizophrenia and caregiver
• Adult with intellectual disability and caregiver - Update! Our previous panelist is unable to join us. We will now have a young adult with Down syndrome and his caregiver joining us.
  (Did you know -- Down syndrome is the most common genetic cause of intellectual disability?)

Adaptive Virtual Programs: An Interactive Discussion and Tips Share

Ed and I will be sharing how we are taking our adaptive, multisensory story times to a virtual platform.

Caroline Braden, Accessibility Specialist at The Henry Ford and Chair of the Michigan Alliance for Cultural Accessibility (MACA), will be sharing how they are converting their programs geared to disability groups to a virtual format. 

We will also invite attendees to share how they are creating or adapting programs with accessibility in mind during this interactive discussion.

Join us on September 23, 2020! You can register (free!) here:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/adaptive-umbrella-tickets-75744857909