skip navigation

Navigation

ProgramsPrograms

ResourcesResources

Links and Additional InformationLinks and Additional Information

Toddler Programs Chapter

By Laura Douglas

“All You Need Is Love”

The Beatles (1967)

Books to Share

Books to Show or Booktalk

Bulletin Boards

I Love Books

Design a simple background using red, white, pink, or purple paper decorated with hearts. Or display pictures of people expressing affection through hugs, holding hands, etc. Develop a coloring sheet and the children to color and display.

All You Need is Love

Develop a bulletin board using a 60’s theme with a tie die background or 60’s pop artwork. Draw a boarder of smiley faces or peace signs. Display book covers or booklist of books with love as a central topic. For example, the focal point of the board could be a VW bus decorated with “graffiti” from the time period. In each window could be a small book cover displaying titles such as I Love You Through and Through by Bernadette Rossetti-Shustak. Or, ask the children to bring photographs of themselves to put in the windows of the bus.

Nametags

Hearts

Create nametags using a heart-shaped die cut.

Displays

A Dozen Books for Toddlers from the 1960’s

Display the following books along with memorabilia from the 1960’s, such as Play-Doh, Yo-Yo’s, Hot Wheels®, items representing the space race, or poplar television shows such The Flintstones, Gilligan’s Island, or The Jetsons.

Refreshments

Have the parents or caregivers assist the children in decorating store bought sugar cookies. Use tube icing to draw a peace sign, hearts, or yellow smiley face on each cookie.

Serve these popular foods in the 1960’s.

Rhymes and Poetry

“One I Love”fromI’m a Little Tea Potby Jane Cobb.

Gertie The Goldfish

(Traditional. Encourage the children to smack their lips like a kiss after each line.)

Gertie the goldfish goes kiss, kiss, kiss.

She looks at me and goes kiss, kiss, kiss.

She doesn't laugh, doesn't sing, doesn't do anything,

Just blows big kisses like this:

Kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss.

Here We Go Up

(Traditional.)

Here we go up, up, up, (Stretch up)

Here we come down, down, down. (Bend down)

Here we go forward, (Step forward)

Here we come backward, (Step backward)

Here we go round, round, round. (Turn around)

Songs

Skinnamarink

(Traditional.)

Skinnamarinky dinky dink, (Place right elbow in left hand and wave fingers of right hand)

Skinnamarinky doo, (Switch to left elbow in right hand)

I (Point to eye)

Love (Place both hands on heart)

You! (Point to child/adult)

Skinnamarinky dinky dink, (Place right elbow in left hand and wave fingers of right hand)

Skinnamarinky doo, (Switch to left elbow in right hand)

I (Point to eye)

Love (Place both hands on heart)

You! (Point to child/adult)

I love you in the morning, (Clasp hands at knee level for sun in the morning)

And in the afternoon, (Raise clasped hands to waist level)

I love you in the evening (Raised clasped hands high overhead)

Underneath the moon. (Swing arms open for the moon)

Skinnamarinky dinky dink, (Place right elbow in left hand and wave fingers of right hand)

Skinnamarinky doo, (Switch to left elbow in right hand)

I (Point to eye)

Love (Place both hands on heart)

You! (Point to child/adult)

Audio Recordings

Crafts

Family Photo Albums

Materials
Directions

Prior to the program ask parents or caregivers to bring family photos from home for this activity. Distribute four sandwich bags and four pieces of paper to each child. Let them decorate the paper by coloring and with stickers as a backdrop for the pictures they will add to their album. If parents brought pictures to the program, let them tape or glue the photos on each page. Encourage the adults to use the first page as a title page for the album and to let the child name the book, which the parent will write on the page. Insert each sheet into a bag. Hole punch the upper corner and tie the sandwich bags together loosely with yarn. Photographs can be added later if necessary.

Love Bugs

Materials
Directions

In advance, use a die cut to cut out hearts in various sizes and colors. Provide each child with several hearts. Encourage the children to glue the heart shapes together to resemble different types of insects, real and imaginary. Decorate with crayons, stickers, and other materials, as desired.

Love bug craft

Games and Activities

Heart Hop

In advance, cut out large heart shapes in a variety of colors. Securely tape the hearts to the floor or use carpet tape to adhere them to the carpet. Allow the toddlers to hop from heart to heart. Play some lively music while the children hop around.

Early Literacy Skills Activities

These activities support six early literacy skills that children need to know before they learn how to read: letter knowledge, phonological awareness, print awareness, narrative skills, vocabulary, and print motivation. For more information, see the introduction to this manual, or visit the Every Child Ready to Read @ your library web site, www.ala.org/ala/alsc/ECRR/ECRRHomePage.htm.

I Love You Through and Through

As you read I Love You Through and Through by Bernadette Rossetti-Shustak, encourage the children to name the body parts and concepts illustrated by the pictures. Point to the words and pictures as you read, pause when you want the audience to fill in the words.

I Kissed the Baby

Develop a flannel or a magnet board from the pictures in I Kissed the Baby by Mary Murphy. Add each character to the board as they appear in the book. After the story has been read aloud once, use the pieces to retell the story. Ask the children to identify the characters and questions like “What did the squirrel do with the baby?” and “Who’s the baby?” etc.

Mother, Mother, I Want Another

Extend the story Mother, Mother, I Want Another by Maria Polushkin Robbins with puppets and props, as narrator, play up the confusion the mother mouse experience when the child asks for another kiss. Ask the children what baby mouse really wants, and whom he wants it from.

Statements about the six early literacy skills that may be used in the program to educate and inform parents about the importance of early literacy may be found in the book, Early Literacy Storytimes @ Your Library by Saroj Nadkarni Ghoting and Pamela Martin-Diaz.

Videos/DVDs/Films

If you have public performance rights, show these videos and DVDs, or segments of them, to the children. Otherwise, display them for home use. The length listed is for the entire film.

“I Love You Like Crazy Cakes” on I Love You Like Crazy Cakes: And More Stories About Families. (62 minutes)

Professional Resources

return to top