Tips

Repetition is fun for babies and helpful for parents, particularly if you're teaching a rhyme that is unfamiliar. Parents may also surprise you by knowing a rhyme that you thought was obscure. For any rhyme that seems obscure, it doesn't hurt to print out the words in a large font and clip them to the top of the flannelboard.

Follow the Group. When you're actually the "leader," this can be hard to remember to do. If the parents in this session know a different set of words, try to adapt to their words rather than sticking with your own. Within the program itself, try to gague the level of the audience. If the group is older, say all over 18 months, then more visual stimulus will work. If they are younger, more acoustic stimulus will be helpful, since their eyes may not be developed enough yet to see you. In all the ways you can, try to follow where the group leads you.

Using songs on tape was most effective when we sang the rhyme/song and did the gestures once all together in a group without the tape, then repeated the song and gestures along with the tape. That way the audience is warmed up, and the tape provides a way to repeat the activity with a higher energy level. For example, after leading the group through Itsy Bitsy Spider one time, I then played a version of Itsy Bitsy Spider sung by Little Richard (from an album called For Our Children, put out by Disney) The tape was faster paced than our group rendition, and the second time around was lots of fun.

Use two themes if you need to. The adults will understand the connections, and the program can build in more varied kinds of activities for the babies. If you only need one theme to have plenty of activities, then one is enough.

Props: Remember the oral stage. Anything you choose to give the babies to play with will be chewed on. It will also draw their attention to their own hands and away from you. For this reason, props like scarves should be passed out near the end of the program, not near the beginning, and should relate directly to some activity. For example, I used scarves after reading Color Dance by Ann Jonas, which shows children dancing with scarves. I passed them out, and then played the song "Pretty and Shiny-O" by Woody Guthrie (from the album called Grow Big Songs) which gives a series of cleaning actions to do. We did the cleaning actions together (with parents moving babies' arms for them) and it was extremely effective. Immediately afterwards, I played another song for "dancing," which some babies can do on their own while others have their hands clapped by parents.

Flannelboards: Again, these kids are oral. Anything you use may be chewed on, although this is less likely if you use it on a flannelboard. When making transitions from one activity to the next, quickly whisk away the old materials and whisk in the new material, be it a book or simply your hands getting ready to do something. As always with babies, distract them when it's time to take anything away!

Think multi-sensory input. Without overburdening yourself, you basically want to use an acoustic and a visual stimulus at all times. Even if you're playing a taped song, you should have some gestures or flannel creatures providing a second stimulus. This serves two purposes: 1)babies can focus on the stimulus they are more ready for or like more, and 2)it gives adults ideas of things to do with babies while they listen to music or chant play rhymes at home. You want to be doing more than the parents, although you shouldn't try to do more than two things at once, so that you stimulate the parents' imaginations about ways to play with their child.

The Fun Stuff: Watching the Babies. There's plenty for you to focus on in a program for six to twenty-four month olds when little people walk up to eat your flannel board or stick their noses as close as they can to your book so that you have to wave it around them for the other people to see. In spite of it all, try to keep a focus on the babies, not on protecting props. This takes practice, but after a few times you'll be able to see the ways in which the babies really are responding to your words and gestures. They don't have the motor skills or verbal skills to follow you exactly, but if you watch closely you'll see them trying to imitate your words and motions. It's so fun.


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