Effective storytimes don't just happen. They take many hours of practice and preparation. The basics of a good storytime incorporate the following elements:
1. Opening or Welcoming Song. (This song should be the same every week.) Possible songs:
• If You're Happy and you Know It
• Here We Are Together
2. Age appropriate books. Things to remember when choosing your storytime books:
• Don't use long or complicated books with preschoolers.
• Use eye contact, voice inflection, and enunciate loudly and clearly.
• Always note who the author and illustrator are.
3. Songs and fingerplays. These transitional activities engage the children, keep them involved and help them be ready to listen to another book. Below are some great websites for songs & fingerplays to use at storytime:
Preschool fingerplays, action rhymes & songs:
Preschool Rainbow
Twenty pages of fingerplays: (from Weld County Library, CO)
Nursery Rhymes, Songs, and Finger Plays
Songs and fingerplays: (from the Early Childhood Family Education Staff in Apple Valley, MN)
Favorite Songs and Finger Plays
Fingerplays for each letter of the alphabet:
Natural Learning
4. Flannelboard stories, cut and tell stories or draw and tell stories.
5. Flexibility to adapt books, fingerplays and songs to the attention span of the children.
6. Closing Song. (This song should be the same every week.)
7. Have fun -- enjoy what you are doing! If you’re not having fun, your audience is probably not having much fun either.
Putting this information into practice:
1. If possible, observe several different storytellers. What things did you notice that they did to make storytime enjoyable for their audience?
2. Interview different storytellers and ask them what their favorite songs and fingerplays are.
3. Have someone observe you doing a storytime or doing a fingerplay. What suggestions do they have?