Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Toddler Tales and Tunes Time's Up

Today was the last day of the Toddler Tales and Tunes program at the library. The theme was a visit to the playroom, so songs and activities revolved around playtime and playthings. Jacob had a good time. The lady handed out little drum sticks that we used for banging on the mats or banging together, sometimes slowly/softly, sometimes quickly/loudly. Jacob really liked that, but wasn't very good at being slow or soft. At least he wasn't tossing them across the room like some others. We sang a jack-in-the-box song and pretended to pop out. And the usual tray of toy instruments was brought out. This time as it became empty, Jacob tried to climb into the bin! Luckily I was there to stop him. At the end, she almost forgot to hand out these cute little jack-in-the-box teddy bears. It's a styrofoam cup with a straw poked through the bottom and a little cardboard bear attached on the end of the straw. Pushing the straw up "pops" the teddy bear. Jacob likes it.

This program has been inspirational. The lady running it kept forgetting to do certain songs or activities and would say so. She also didn't like the children to run around and do their own thing; parents were to model appropriate behavior and if one got out of hand, the parent should take the child out of the room. This included not sitting still and quiet for stories. She didn't have a whole lot of energy or animation for the stories. And today was the third of four weeks of almost forgetting the handout at the end.

How is this inspiring? I am inspired by this to volunteer to lead a story time or two. I'm sure I could do at least as well as she did, if not more. The only difficulty is how to get in. I'm sure I'd have to go through some screening/profiling/training/indoctrination before the Howard County Library would let me lead a program for the pre-school set. One of the moms in the group today is a librarian at another branch that knows Jacob, and by extension me. Maybe I can chat with her about what it takes to be a volunteer.

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