Toddler Time

This morning we attended our first session of Toddler Time at the Rossford Library.  I'm not quite sure what I thought of the whole experience at this point.  I know that it is unfair of me to judge the librarian with my teacher scrutiny, especially since she was working with a group of children that I would never take on myself!  I can pretty much assure you, with full confidence, that I will NEVER be using the PreK part of my teaching license!

There were about 15 toddlers there altogether, Logan seeming to be one of the younger ones.  We saw a few people that we knew with their kids, so that made me feel slightly more comfortable.  I had a hard time getting Logan to cooperate at the beginning, most likely because he wanted to keep playing with the toys rather than sit and pay attention to the activities.  The librarian started off by having each child find a magnetic letter representing their name and move it from one cabinet door to another.  This was a cute way to teach children what letter their name begins with, but she only had one of each letter, so not everyone got a turn.  Since there was a Lilly, Logan didn't get a chance to try this out.  She then continued with a story called Tickle Teddy.

Supposedly each child was supposed to bring a stuffed animal from home.  We didn't know since we hadn't been there the previous week, though it would have been nice information for the library to share with me when I called to sign up this morning.  Luckily the librarian had a few extras that we could borrow.  The story names different body parts on the teddy bear, and as she read the book, the kids were supposed to tickle that part of their animal.  The book was okay - a cute idea, but pretty short, even for someone Logan's age.  I was glad that, by this point, Logan had settled down and was sitting nicely on my lap.  I can't say the same for all of the other kids, especially the one sitting next to us!

After the story, we talked about our body parts and sang "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes."  I had to show Logan his shoulders because we haven't talked about that part too much, but the others he definitely knows.  I don't know if he was overwhelmed, shy, or just busy observing, but he was pretty reluctant to point to any body parts during this song.  Then came Logan's favorite part - the beanbag song!  Each child got a beanbag and they got to do various activities that coincided with a song.  The kids were supposed to throw the beanbag from one hand to the other (VERY difficult for a 20 month-old), spin around, and put the beanbag on their heads and walk around the room.  Again, Logan was pretty hesitant about doing a lot of these things, but I helped as much as I could.  He pretty much just wanted to "throw beanbags," which is the only thing he knows to do with them, so I can't blame him for that.  Guess we'll have to work on this at home a little bit before next week.  He was NOT at all happy when it was time to put the beanbags away at the end of the song, and he kept asking to get them back out for the rest of the time we were there!

After the songs, the librarian got out some foam blocks in different shapes and they spent some time talking about colors and shapes.  The shapes part was a little over Logan's head, as we haven't really gotten there yet, but I did have him repeat each shape name to me as the other kids named them.  Each child got to take one block that was the same color as something they were wearing, one other block in a color of their choice, and then the librarian distributed one more block to each child and gave them a few minutes to play and build with them.  For us, it was pretty much me building and Logan knocking them down, but he enjoyed it anyway.

When the block time was over, the librarian handed out finger puppets for each child and read the story Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?  

We have this in both the board book and hardcover versions, along with the other books in the series: Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?, Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See?, and Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What Do You See?  We read all four before a nap last week, so I was excited to read it again because Logan really seemed to enjoy them.  

We had the white dog finger puppet, and when she read that page Logan got to put the puppet on his hand and wave it around.  He did pretty well with it, but again, didn't really want to give it back when the story was over.  We then wrapped up with a few minutes of reading time where the librarian put out a basket of books and the kids could choose one at a time to read.  We read Max's Toys and A Very Spotty Flap Book, both selected by Logan.  

The librarian assured me that most of the activities are the same from week to week, so I'm thinking after a few more sessions, Logan might start to get the hang of it.  I'm not completely sold on this particular story time but I'm not ready to give up on it yet either.  I think we'll try again next week and see how that plays out first.  I promise an update (aren't you proud of my recent surge of blog posts?  I am!). 

Logan didn't check out any books today because we have SO many at home that we haven't even looked at yet, but Mommy got two of her own books.  I've been spending Logan's nap times the past week split between reading by the pool and prepping dinner for the night.  Both are relaxing and enjoyable, and I'm enjoying having some "me" time in the middle of the day.