Planning Storytime: a Beginners Guide
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Storytimes are a staple of public library service, but few MLIS programs provide training in presenting storytimes. This presentation demonstrates the basic steps and structure of a typical storytime to get beginners started.
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Planning Storytime: a Beginners Guide
- 1. The beginner’s guide to story time with a NCKLS Story Time Kit
- 2. • The Big Decisions: • Selecting the Books • Putting them in Order • Songs and Rhymes • Finger Plays and Activities • The Not so Big Decisions: • Introduction • Conclusion • Transitions • Wait, there’s more: • Should I add 6 by 6 or STEM?
- 4. • Bounce Doreen Cronin • Hop! Phyllis Root • Move! Steve Jenkins • Jump! Scott M. Fischer • Stretch Doreen Cronin • Clip-Clop Nicola Smee • Dance with Me Charles R. Smith Jr. • Get Up and Go Nancy Carlson • Hop, Hop, Jump! Lauren Thompson • Hilda Must be Dancing Karma Wilson • Clap Your Hands Lorinda Bryan Cauley
- 5. • 102 Children’s Songs: Volume 2 • 10 foot Parachute • 5 Knubby balls • 6 Traffic cones • 27 Scarves • Action Cube • Tunnel
- 7. • Pick a broad theme • Search my collection & NorCat • Read each book for: • Appropriate length • Relevance to theme • Usefulness in story time • Are the illustrations big enough to see? • Are the illustrations vivid? • Is the book fun to read? • Is the text cumbersome?
- 8. • Read the books • Separate into stacks: • Good • Better • Best • Select the Theme • What do the books I like best have in common?
- 10. • Some criteria for selecting final books: • Subthemes • Similar characters • Similar tone • Can I visualize how they work together?
- 13. • How long are the stories? • Two long stories, plus rhymes and songs, are enough to fill a normal story time period. • Three medium length stories, plus rhymes and songs, can fit in the same length story time.
- 14. • What is the age range and size of the audience? • Younger children have a shorter attention span. • Larger groups have a shorter attention span.
- 15. • What else am I planning? • I have a song, rhyme, or activity in between each story that I read. • I always have a story time introduction and conclusion. • Sometimes I have an early literacy skill or STEM topic to discuss along with the books and activities.
- 17. • Common Strategies: • Start with the longest and progress to the shortest. • Medium first, Longest second, Shortest last. • Read the book I like best first.
- 18. 1. Clip-Clop by Nicola Smee 2. Move by Steve Jenkins 3. Hop by Phyllis Root
- 20. • There are a lot of options for additions to story time. • Rhymes • Songs • Finger Plays • Flannel Boards & Flannel Stories • Prop Stories • Interactive Story Telling • Other
- 21. • Story Time introduction • Welcome song • Rhyme, song, or other activity in between each story • Good-bye song • Story Time conclusion
- 22. • Should all my materials relate to the same theme? • Novelty is fun. • Exposes children to more rhymes and songs. • Multiple choices in the Story Time kits related to the kit’s theme.
- 23. • Should all my materials relate to the same theme? •Time to learn the rhyme •Favorites •Extra work
- 24. • My Compromise • Consistent welcome song • Consistent good-bye song • Themed filler interspersed • During the 30 days that I have the Active Play story time kit, I will do one consistent filler activity that relates to the overall theme.
- 25. • Welcome Song: “We Clap and Sing Hello” • Following Clip-Clop: “This is the Way the Ladies Ride” with parachute • Following Move: “Animal Dances” • Following Hop: Reenactment with tunnel. • Good-bye Song: “We Clap and Sing Good-bye”
- 27. • Turn off all cell phones; • Parents need to participate with their children; • It’s okay for kids to move around as long as they aren’t disruptive; • If your child needs to leave, that’s fine. Feel free to come back when your child ready.
- 28. • Be sure to involve the children in the introduction. • Guessing Game Clues: • Nametags or hand stamps given to the children • Small toys, puppets, hats, or art displayed by the librarian.
- 29. • Focus on one skill. • Discuss the skill at least three times during story time. • Provide information about the skill in the story time handout.
- 30. • What should the conclusion do? • Provide encouragement to the children • Wrap it up • Remind everyone of upcoming events • Mention the story time handout
- 31. • Short and sweet • I always try to compliment the children and/or the activity. • Introduce the next activity. • For example: “That was a fun story. You really helped me out with those rhymes. Are you ready to wiggle your fingers now?”
- 32. • I write out longer transitions on my story time planning sheet. • Sample longer transition: “Thanks for helping me clean up the parachute. It’s funny that the duck, cat, pig, and dog ride Mr. Horse. Would a duck really ride a horse? How do ducks really move? What about a cat? In this next book, we’ll hear about ways that animals really move. It’s called Move by Steve Jenkins.”
- 34. Theme Animal Moves Greeting & Song “Clap and Sing Hello” Book Clip-Clop by Nicola Smee Fingerplay /Rhyme/ Song This Is the Way the Ladies Ride w/parachute Transition Horses really do run like that, but the other animals in that story acted a lot like people. 1. Would a duck/cat/pig/dog really ride on a horse? 2. How does a duck/cat/pig/dog actually move? This next story tells us how some animals really move. Book Move by Steven Jenkins Fingerplay/ Rhyme/ Song “Animal Dances” (big or little depending on energy level) Book Hop by Phyllis Root Final Activity Reenact Hop using the tunnel Closing Song “Clap and Sing Goodbye” Craft/Take Home Rocking Rabbit Craft
- 35. Hi everyone! Thank you for coming to story time today. I’m Melendra, and today we’re reading some great books, singing songs, and doing a lot of fun activities. Before I begin, I want to remind all the adults to turn their cell phones to silent or vibrate and if you need to take a call, you’ll have to go outside the story time area. I also want to invite you to participate along with your child. Sometimes children are shy, and that’s okay, but if you participate, your child is more likely to participate too. Finally, if your child needs to move around during story time, that’s fine, but if she becomes disruptive, please step out. When she’s ready, you can always come back. Let’s get started with our Welcome Song!
- 36. “Close your eyes tight. Count to three. 1, 2, 3. Open your eyes, and tell me what you see!” (When their eyes are closed, I’ll pull out my movement cube.) Do you know what this is? (Pause for answers.) Right, it’s a box/cube/dice. Can you see what’s on it? (If they are having trouble, read some of the movements.) Yes! Different animals and some of the movements they make. Can you guess what we might be reading stories about today? (Allow for a 2-3 guesses.) We are talking about animals, and about the ways that different animals move!
- 37. Wow! That was fun. I’m so glad to see all of you today. You were great listeners! I can’t wait to see you at next week’s story time. If you look at the back of the story time sheet, you’ll find all the rhymes and songs that we used in story time today. There is also a list of other animal and movement books that are available in the library.
- 38. North Central Kansas Library System nckls.mykansaslibrary.org
Editor's Notes
- Hello, I’m Melendra Sanders, the North Central Kansas Library System Youth Services Consultant. This presentation focuses on creating a story time using one of the NCKLS themed Story Time Kits.
- Planning a story time takes some practice, but it can be a lot of fun. It also calls into play many typical “librarian” duties, like research, evaluation, and creativity. During this presentation, I’ll share my process for creating a story time along with ideas for making future story time planning easier.
- The kit I’ll be using is Active Play. This kit and 19 others are available for check out by North Central Kansas Library System libraries. The kits are for use both in story time and as the librarian sees fit within the library. For a listing of all our story time kits, see the NCKLS website.
- There are 11 books related to a particular theme in each story time kit. We’ve included this many books with the idea that 1 story time kit can supply a library with a month’s worth of story times. With this in mind, the books cover a spectrum on the theme.
- Each kit contains toys, music, and activities, as well as rhymes, songs, crafts, and other story time necessities related to the kit’s theme. This particular kit has a lot of movement toys in it, while other kits may have more sedentary activities, including items like flannel boards and puzzles.
- If I’m creating a story time from scratch, I need a place to start when it comes to looking for books. I like to start with a broad theme. This allows me to do some searching through my collection to create a large selection of books to chose from. If I have a small selection of books on the topic I want to use, I can also search NorCat (the NCKLS’s consortium OPAC) to see if there are any titles I’d like to ILL for the story time.
- Because this story time is going to be based on one of the NCKLS Story Time Kits, I won’t need to round up the books. But, if I were finding all my own books, these are some important things I’d look for in a good story time book. How long is the book? If it’s too long, my story time audience may loose interest. How closely does it fit the theme? Subject headings and titles can be deceptive when it comes to picking books on a theme. Will the book be a hit in story time. It’s important that the books I select have illustrations that are fun to look at and language that isn’t awkward for me to read.
- Since there are 11 books in each themed kit, much of the selection has been done for me. However, for each story time, I only need 2 to 3 books. This means that I still have selecting to do, and that requires that I read all the books in the kit. As I read the first time, I’m going to sort the books into piles based on which I like the best. Hopefully the books in these kits are all excellent, after all that’s part of why they were selected. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to like them all equally, and it’s important that the books I read in story time be books that I really like. With that in mind, I’ll make a pile of books I like, books I like more, and books I like the most.
- Then I need to think about what the books I like best have in common. Of course, all the books in the kit were selected for a specific theme, which means that they should all have at least that one thing in common. However, if I’m planning to use this kit more than once in the month I have it checked out, then I need to find sub-themes for my story times.
- To find the sub-themes, I will read the books I like best a second time. If I find a theme that works among my favorites, wonderful; otherwise, I’ll go on to read the other books until I find a subtheme I’m happy with. There are lots of ways to group books, so I can usually find a subtheme that ties the ones I like best together. But occasionally discovering a theme will make me change my mind about which books I like best.
- With the Active Play kit, some of the books have animal movements in them while others focus more on the exercise aspect of movement. For the story time I’m planning today, I’ve decided to use the animal movement sub-theme, in part because I really like Hop by Phyllis Root and Holly Meade. I’ve chosen Hop, Move, and Clip Clop for this story time. Hop is a very short and fairly small book, so I plan to make a fun activity out of reenacting it with the kids.
- Although I would read more than three books in a one-on-one situation with a child, for story time I limit the number of books I use to three. I always select my books prior to story time. I’ve attended story times where the librarian had a pile of books she riffled through in the middle of story time, and it was incredibly distracting for both me and my son.
- I selected three books for this story time, for a number of reasons: One is that most of the story times I plan are about 25 – 30 minutes long. Three medium length books, plus all the other stuff I normally do during story times, fill this amount of time well. However, if I’m using longer books, I might cut back to two stories instead of three.
- Another thing to keep in mind, when deciding how many books to read, is the age range and size of the audience. For babies and young toddlers, three books may often be too many in a story time setting. For this audience, I would select only two books and shorten my story time to about 20 minutes. Larger groups often loose interest more quickly than smaller groups because the children distract one another, and it is more difficult to see if when there are more people. If I want to do three books with a larger group, I will often turn one of the books into a prop story or flannel board.
- Finally, I need to consider the other activities I have planned. For most story times, I include a rhyme or finger play in between each story, an opening and closing song, and a dance time with music and shakers or scarves. Normally, in 25 – 30 minutes, I can do three stories and all of these other things. If I decide I want an especially long flannel or prop story, I will substitute it for one of the books. (I really like to adapt long stories to prop stories.)
- Although planning out the sequence of my stories may seem like micromanaging, the order really can have a significant impact on a story time. This is especially true when I am using books that present the theme in different lights or if I have an activity that needs to tie to a specific story. Planning the sequence also makes the creation of transitions much easier.
- When I am deciding the sequence of my books, there are some common strategies for figuring deciding the order. One is to start with the longest book and progress to the shortest book. Another is to start with the medium length book, move to the longest book, and finish up with the shortest book. Finally, sometimes there is one book that is so perfect that no matter its length, I start with it.
- For my story time, I plan to read Clip-Clop first, Move second, and Hop last. This puts my middle length book first, my longest book second, and my shortest book last. The reason behind this order is that Clip-Clop differs from the other two books because the animals in it don’t behave as real animals would. To me, it feels out of place in between Move and Hop. I have some ideas for transitioning from Clip-Clop to Move that I’ll discuss later.
- Now that I have my books selected and in sequence, I need to add my glue. I think of the filler material as a chance to let the listeners have a wiggle break and an opportunity for me to highlight aspects of the stories that I want the kids to remember. Filler activities and transitions can also tie different stories together by focusing on a particular thing the stories have in common.
- Every story time needs filler material. Rhymes, Songs, Finger Plays, Flannel Boards, Prop Stories, Activities. You name it, someone has tried it in a story time. I love prop stories, and if you’re interested in doing some yourself, I’ll have a workshop on that soon.
- My standard story time will have an introduction, welcome song or rhyme, additional activities (like a rhyme, song, finger play, or flannel board) in between each story, good-bye song, and a conclusion. This format provides a little break after a book during which the kids can move around a little and work off some energy before the next book.
- I love themes, and in most of my story times, the filler elements relate to whichever theme I’ve chosen. This is fun, and it means that I don’t get sick of the “same old” rhymes. Theming my rhymes and songs also allows me to expose my audience to new rhymes. With this in mind, the story time kits have a number of “filler” rhymes, songs, and activities that relate to the kit’s theme. So, I have the option of using only theme related stuff if I want to.
- However, there is something to be said for consistency. Not just for the kids, but also for the librarian. Although exposing children to more rhymes and finger plays is good for them, it is also good to give them time to really learn a rhyme. This is especially true with something that has actions, as it’s difficult to get the words, tune, and actions down in just one or two repetitions at story time. Along with learning the rhymes, children will often develop favorites. One of the libraries I worked for always ended story time by singing The Wheels on the Bus with the audience doing the actions while the librarian manipulated the pop-ups and pull-tabs on the Zelinsky version of the song. Occasionally the head librarian got tired of The Wheels on the Bus and tried to retire it, but inevitably the families would protest. Finally, matching all the filler to the theme can add a great deal of extra work to story time planning from scratch.
- My general compromise is that I always use the same Welcome and Good-bye songs for a story time season. This not only allows the kids to learn the songs, it also provides clear structural cues during story time. The children know, when we sing our welcome song that they need to get ready for sitting and listening. They also know when we sing our good-bye song that we’re wrapping up and they’ll get their take home soon. Since I have the NCKLS story time kit for 30 days, and I plan to do multiple story times using it, I will also select one of the themed rhymes to use during each week’s story time.
- As I mentioned earlier, I plan to reenact Hop. In part because there is a tunnel in this kit, but in part because reenacting stories is a great way to PLAY and to LEARN. Since this is a movement story time, I’m going to be a little crazy with my filler activities and plan two big activities. The first one will be a parachute and ball activity with slightly altered “This Is the Way the Ladies Ride” rhyme. The rhyme is in the Active Play binder. For my middle filler, I’ll use the “Animal Dances” song. Depending on the energy level, I will modify the song’s actions. If the children are brimming with energy, I’ll have them do the full body actions. On the other hand, if they are tired, I will adapt the movements by having the children hop and jump their hands for the bunnies and frogs, wiggle their arms for the worms, rock back and forth for ducks, and stretch their backs for cats. “Animal Dances” is the rhyme I’ll keep for the whole month of story times.
- After all that, what’s left? Well, the story time introduction, conclusion, and transitions, of course.
- In addition to all of this, I like to have a brief introduction to each story time that welcomes the children and their parents if it is a joint story time. The introduction is a great place to layout some guidelines for story time behavior. These have to be done in an upbeat way and can’t be too long. Some common things I like to remind my audience: 1) Turn off all cell phones; 2) Parents need to participate with their children; 3) It’s okay for kids to move around as long as they aren’t disruptive; 4) If your child needs to leave, that’s fine. Feel free to come back when your child is ready. This aspect of my story time introduction is always the same. At the end of the presentation, I’ve included a sample of how I actually say this in story time.
- The introduction is also an opportunity to get the children engaged by presenting the story time theme as a guessing game. There are different ways to do this, but some ideas I’ve used are having nametags, hand stamps, small toys, puppets, hats, or art on the story time board that tie into the theme. Really, anything that I can think of that would act as a clue for the children, I’ve used to initiate a guessing game, which goes something like this: “What do you have on your nametags today?” “That’s right, and what am I wearing on my head?” “Yes! Can you guess what we might be reading stories and singing songs about today?” Then whether they guess or not, I take what they’ve said and positively spin it into what I’m focusing on that story time. Sometimes it takes more than one clue to clarify the theme, and sometimes the kids will guess the theme before I’ve even asked the first question. For the Animal Moves story time, I’m going to use my action cube as my clue item. (All the movements on the cube relate to an animal except for “Spin like a top.”
- If I plan to have an Early Literacy or STEM component to my story time, the greeting is a good time for me to introduce that element. I’m not going to discuss integrating 6 by 6 or STEM into story time now, because I have other videos on those topics. However, I will mention that in my story times, I focus on one skill for the whole story time. I write a little bit about the skill on my story time hand out, and I bring it up repeatedly (at least 3 times) throughout the story time. If you want more information about adding early literacy tips or STEM ideas to your story times, see my presentations: Adding 6 by 6 to Story Time and Adding STEM to Story Time.
- Every story time needs a conclusion. It can be brief, but it needs to do a few things: Tell the kids they did a good job Say good-bye Bring up any future library events that you want to advertise Draw attention to the usefulness of the story time handout My conclusions are basically the same every story time, and I’ve included a sample conclusion at the end of the presentation.
- Stringing all of this together is the last step. For the most part, I use really short transitions, like “Wow! That was fun. I’m ready for another story” or “Clip-Clop, Clippity Clop is really fun to say. Do you want to try saying it in a rhyme? What if we use the parachute?” Generally speaking, I don’t write out transitions like this, but if I need a longer transition, then I do write it out on my story time plan sheet.
- I always write down my longer transitions because otherwise, in the middle of story time, I forget them. I’m most likely to do this if I have a specific point, like an early literacy tip, that I want to share. Since I feel like there is a bit of a disconnect between Clip-Clop and Move, I’ve decided to add a slightly longer transition here. I’m going to talk about the difference in the way animals are portrayed in Clip-Clop and Move, as this provides a nice transition between the two books. My plan is to ask some questions like: Would a duck/cat/pig/dog really ride on a horse? How does a duck/cat/pig/dog actually move? Do horses really run?
- As I’m working on my story times, I use an Excel sheet to fill in my ideas, possible books, and rhymes. That is where I keep everything until this point in the process. Once everything is selected, I’ll fill in my story time planning sheet. This sheet is what I’ll take into story time with me to make sure I don’t forget anything or do a rhyme at the wrong time.
- A story time planning template is kept in each story time kit. There is also a sample story time in each kit that can be used by anyone using the kit. I like to keep my story time plans in case I want to do a similar story time in the future. Normally, I do this electronically, because at most of the libraries I’ve worked for there were multiple people doing story times. By creating a story time plan and saving it, my co-workers and I were able to share story time ideas easily. I create fairly detailed plans, but even a brief outline is helpful. These can also be great training tools for future staff or volunteers who want to help with story time.
- After it’s all planned out, don’t forget to practice! Even though I’ve read the books and rhymes multiple times in this process, I haven’t read them aloud. And, usually, I haven’t even tried to do the actions that go along with a rhyme or song. To get really comfortable, I always practice my story time a couple of days prior to performing it. At this point, I usually practice reading the books, rhymes, and songs aloud twice. While I’m practicing, I write down any changes I decide to make on my planning sheet.
- I also use this practice time to organize all my materials. I like to have my materials together and in order prior to story time day. If I’m using puppets or other props, I practice with the props each time. Don’t forget to practice the introduction, conclusion, and transitions! I always practice my introductions. Since these need to look more off-the-cuff, I practice them 3 or 4 times. If I have a long transition, I will practice it just as many times or more. I do this because I like to be really comfortable with all the “Non-reading” parts of story time, and I know that if I don’t practice these parts, I’m more likely to simply leave them out.
- And, because I tend to over-think public performances, I do one last practice on the day of the story time. Don’t forget to smile! All of these samples, as well as copies of the fillers I planned for this story time, can be found on the NCKLS website under Youth: Youth Services Tips: Story Time Planning.