Quiet and Loud

We tested the self control of lots of small children by doing a quiet and loud storytime theme. They were very into it.

BOOKS:

We read Don’t Wake Up The Tiger! by Britta Teckentrup and Moo, Baa, La La La! by Sandra Boynton

Moo, Baa, La La La! isn’t necessarily about being quiet and loud, but I have a LOT of toddlers right now and we got to make animal noises and it is just the right length.

WARM-UPS:

I switched it up at the last minute and decided to do “Walking, Walking” from Jbrary but started by tiptoeing instead of walking.

Tip-toe, tip-toe, tip-toe, tip-toe
Hop, hop, hop; hop, hop, hop
Walking, walking, walking
Walking, walking, walking
Now we stop.

I repeated this with different orders so we could practice changing from tiptoeing to running to walking to running and stopping.

Then we transitioned into the action rhyme “Popcorn.” I am not sure where I heard this one from, but I’ve used it in different ways for quite a while.

Popcorn, popcorn (bend down and wrap your arms around your knees)
Sizzling in the pan (start to shake a little bit)
Shake it up, shake it up! (wiggle your whole body)
Bam! Bam! Bam! (Jump up and spread out your arms and legs)

Repeat the same actions for the second verse

Popcorn, popcorn
Now it’s getting hot
Shake it up, shake it up
Pop! Pop! Pop!

Then we jammed out to “Shout” by Otis Day and the Knights.

PROP AND INSTRUMENT SONGS:

We used our rhythm sticks today and practiced tapping slow and loud and quiet and soft while we sang “Grandfather Clock” which I learned from Jbrary.

Grandfather clock goes tick tock, tick tock, tick tock
The little kitchen clock goes tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock
And Mommy’s little watch goes tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick stop!

The chant “Bread and Butter” is perfect for this theme and for using rhythm sticks. I first came across “Bread and Butter” from Yogibrarian.

Bread and butter, marmalade and jam
Tap your sticks as fast as you can
[Repeat with different ways to tap your sticks - slowly, loudly, quietly, etc)

We then listened to “Loud and Quiet” by Caspar Babypants and Frances England and drummed along. For a visual reminder of when we were supposed to drum loudly, I had my wolf puppet out and when we were supposed to drum quietly, I pulled out my hummingbird puppet.

CLOSING SONGS:

For our freeze dance, we listened to “Go Stop Go” by Matt Heaton.

To stretch it out, I adapted Bari Koral’s Silly to Calm (made it a little shorter and only went through once).

Goodbye song: “Skinnamarink” accompanied by the ukulele.