Sensory storytime is for children with Sensory Integration Issues, Autism Spectrum
Disorders or other developmental delays, their friends and families.
The program includes fine/gross motor activities, songs, fingerplays and stories.
A predictable, visual schedule guides our
sessions.
The program is open to all
ages, but is geared towards a preschool interest level.
This week our theme was Fall and we had a lot of fun!
I introduce myself and go over storytime rules. They are simple!
1. Participate
2. If anyone gets too rowdy, they are welcome to go to the calming corner (where there is a calming caddy; a small caddy filled with fidgets, stress balls and other manipulatives) and come back to the circle once they are settled.
3. A little movement around the room is ok, but if the child gets too close to any materials that are being used, please bring them back to their square.
The visual schedule is already on a flannelboard. I go over the activities we are going to do today, pointing at each card as I talk.
Time to sing! We go around the room and welcome everyone by singing to the tune of The Farmer in the Dell:
___________ is here today,
___________ is here today,
Everybody wave hello
'Cause __________ is here today.
Open shut them, Open
shut them,
Give a little
clap clap clap!
Open shut them,
Open shut them,
Put them in your
lap, lap, lap!
Creep them, crawl
them,
Creep them, crawl
them,
Right up to your
chin, chin, chin!
Open wide your
little mouth,
But do not let
them in!
Falling, falling,
falling, falling
Almost to the
ground, ground, ground
Slowly pick them
up again and turn them ‘round and ‘round, ‘round, ‘round
Faster, faster,
faster, faster, faster, faster
Clap, clap, clap
Slower, slower,
slower, slower
Put them in your
lap, lap, lap
We read There was an old lady who swallowed some leaves by Lucille Colandro.
I read it through completely the first time, asking questions along the way to ensure children are following the sequence of events. Prior to the storytime,
I made 9 cards :
1.
2. some leaves
3. a pole
4. a rope
5. a pumpkin
6. some pants
7. some hay
8. a shirt
9. a scarecrow
I found the images on Teachers pay Teachers. It is a Freebie, but you will have to set up a free account to download the PDF:
After we read the book the first time, I hand out 4 of the cards. I read the book again, and ask the children to hold up their cards as we reach that part of the story.
At the end of the storytime, I give each child the rest of the cards (on the back, I put the numbers 1-9) so they work on sequencing and can retell the story at home.
I created a sensory bin; a plastic shoe box filled with different hand-on fall materials. Our bin included fabric leaves, pumpkins, gourds and various foam shapes. I took the bin around and allowed each child to put their hands in and tell me about the first thing they felt. Then I handed each child 2 leaves from the bin.
We held the leaves as we sang:
The Leaves in the air
(tune: The Wheels on the Bus)
The leaves in the air go up and down,
Up and down,
Up and down,
The leaves in the air go up and down.
All through the fall.
.... round and round
...go whooshing by
...fall gently down
The children are allowed to keep their leaves so they can sing the song at home, so I instruct them to put them to one side as we move on to the next activity.
This is actually a Flannelboard song. I handed out a couple of feathers to each child and sang:
Turkey Feathers
(tune: Mary wore her red dress)
Turkey wore his red feather,
Red feather, red feather
Turkey wore his red feather
All day long
...yellow
...orange
...brown
The children brought their feathers up to the board and put them onto the turkey as we sang about the colors they were given.
Leaf Jumpers by Carole Gerber. This book is filled with colors. It was a little long, so I paperclipped a couple of pages to shorten it.
Before reading the book, I gave each child a Ziploc bag with a blob of red and a blob of yellow paint in it, secured with packing tape across the opening.
We discussed the colors in the bag and asked what color we would make if we mixed the colors. I instructed children listen to the story and I asked if we had the colors mentioned in the book in our bag; Do we have brown in our bag? Gold? Yellow?
We did not have orange in our bag when we read about that color but by the end of the book, the bags were mixed enough that we could say we did have orange!
I give a scarf to each child, they make a "bird" with their scarf and we sing:
There's a bird in the air
(tune: There's a spider on the floor)
There's a bird in the air, in the air (pinch scarf in the middle, then flap it in the air like a bird)
There's a bird in the air, in the air
There's a cird in the air, now he's flying in my hair! (put bird on hair)
There'a a bird in the air, in the air.
There's a bird on my leg, on my leg (put bird on leg)
There's a bird on my leg on my leg,
There's a bird on my leg and he's getting pretty big,
There's a bird on my leg, on my leg.
There's a bird on my hand, on my hand
There's a bird on my hand, on my hand.
There's a bird on my hand, but look, he's my friend!
There's a bird, on my hand, on my hand.
We then use our scarves to hide and sing song:
Peek-a-Boo, I see you- I see you in the morning
Peek-a-Boo, I see you- I see you in the afternoon
Peek-a-Boo, I see you- I see you in the evening!
We sing a clean up song as I take the scarves and transition into:
Two little blackbirds, sitting on a hill,
One named Jack and one named Jill,
Fly away Jack,
Fly away Jill.
Come back Jack and come back Jill.
Tickle the Clouds
Tickle the clouds,
Tickle your toes
Turn around and tickle your nose
Reach down low
And reach up high
Storytime's over- wave good-bye!
As a parting activity, I hand out bubbles and play a song and allow children to blow bubbles around the room.
It is important to give children an opportunity to play and parents an opportunity to socialize, so I open our play room; you could bring out toys.
I remind parents and children about the items I have given them and instructions on how to continue the activities at home.
I gave them all a sensory bag, filled with colored rice and fall foam stickers as an additional home activity.
My final words are to remind parents and children about our next storytime.
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