Fall is here! That means visiting the animals at the farm, picking out our pumpkins for halloween, and taking a hayride. I had so much fun doing some outreach story times at our local school farm a couple weeks ago, so I decided to keep the farm theme going for sensory story time at the library. We had a small crowd on this day with only one child and her caregiver, but we had so much fun exploring and playing together!
Here's the plan:
1. Hello!
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. Yoga pose: "Downward Dog" (adapted pose placing our hands on floor and keeping legs bent for our attendee who has some mobility difficulties in her legs)
4. ASL rhyme: "I Went to the Farm" (We went over the ASL signs for pig, horse, and chicken and then signed the words in our rhyme. This was excellent practice for our attendee who is also primarily nonverbal and just learning sign language!)
I went to the farm, and what did I see?
A big chubby pig oinking at me!
I went to the farm, and what did I see?
A big brown horse neighing at me!
I went to the farm and what did I see?
A fluffy chicken clucking at me!
(source unknown)
5. Story: I Spy on the Farm by Edward Gibbs
We used our board book set, so everyone could look through the spy-cut pages as we read along to see which animal was next.
6. Stretch band rhyme: "Clippety-Clop"
(Pull stretch band up and down as the rhyme goes.)
Clippety clippety clop.
The horsie like to trot.
The feisty mare goes up and down,
until it's time to stop!
(source unknown)
7. Sensory Story: The House that Zack Built by Alison Murray
I love this interactive story! After discovering it for story time, I decided to assemble a story box for it to be added to our circulating collection of accessibility support materials for youth with disabilities. (Note: I am so very excited to announce that this collection, which opened over ten years ago, is getting a name change very soon. More on that coming in another post!) Story boxes are a great way to build comprehension for tactile learners to touch and feel manipulatives that represent items in the story while they are listening. We put together "Zack's house" with the blocks and then our attendee and caregiver helped me use the farm animal puppets and fly to interact with the story as I was reading.
8. Parachute rhyme: "Ring Around the Pumpkin"
Our attendee loves sitting underneath the parachute as we go around, so she was our pumpkin in the middle. (Walk around the "pumpkin" in the middle, holding the parachute, raising high like the leaves in the tree then lowering as the leaves fall down.)
Ring around the pumpkin,
pocket full of nuts.
Leaves, leaves,
they all fall down!
(source: Everything Preschool)
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!
10. Play time: Block play
I had some pig pictures ready to "muddy up" with some textured brown finger paint, but our attendees wanted to build some more, so we got out our large set of colorful blocks and continued to build more things on the farm like Zack's house. Flexibility is always best!
