The Parachute Song for the Ukulele

One year ago, I was at the first-ever Guerrilla Storytime at ALA in Chicago. It was there that I met IRL librarian Kendra Jones, who shared her parachute song with attendees in response to a challenge. I've used the song several times since then--it's simple, mentions the colors on the parachute, and gives something to move around to with the parachute. I just recently started playing the song on the ukulele when there are enough caregivers in a program to manage the parachute without me.

Apples and Bananas for the Ukulele

Raffi singing "Apples and Bananas" was a staple of my childhood, as it was for many a fellow youth services provider. I've found that this quintessential millennial's song remains popular with todays young kiddos, too--they love the silliness and catch on to the repetitiveness, making it a great singalong for storytime groups.

I played around with a few ways to accompany the words with the ukulele, and this is the version I like best. Now go sing about fruit!

Baby Bumblebee for the Ukulele

I visit local preschools and early childhood centers to provide outreach story times on a pretty regular basis, which means that, over the past few years and the course of many visits, many kids have chosen their favorite story time songs. I recently had a high number of kids requesting one song in particular, so I decided to make that tune my latest ukulele accomplishment.

Ladies and gentlemen, "I'm Bringing Home a Baby Bumblebee" for the ukulele!

If All the Raindrops for the Ukulele

The weather in Missouri, like in much of the country (world?), has been a bit wonky this winter. That's provided many preschools, daycares, and families with ample opportunity to talk about the weather quite frequently, and it helped me to choose my March ukulele song.

We've been talking lots about snow and rain and sun and the like; but what if we got a bit silly and turned that weather into candy? Yum. Also, the "mouth open wide" part of the song is always, always, always a hit.

Stick to the Glue for the Ukulele

This February, my new ukulele song is one to which I found the chords after learning the words at a Guerrilla Storytime in Chicago. Illinois librarian Lindsay Huth was at that Guerrilla Storytime and shared one of her favorite songs for having the wiggles: "Stick to the Glue," a rendition of "Skip to My Lou." I wanted to use this song because it doesn't require everyone to stand up; in many of my outreach classrooms, there simply isn't room for all the kids to stand up for a wiggle song, so sit-down versions are my bread and butter.

In this song, kids start out by pouring imaginary glue on their hands. Then, with each verse of the song, their hands get stuck to a part of their bodies (elbows, knees, shoulders, etc.). Kids can get out some energy after each verse as they have to use all their muscles to unstick their glued hands.

When I've shared this song on the ukulele, I usually sing it first without the instrument to demonstrate how it goes and how the actions work. Once the children have that down, I'll pick up my uke and we get to jamming.

Here are the chords I use for "Stick to the Glue":

If you're interested in an alternate version of this song, check out Jim Gill's version, which is a bit more active and requires kids to stand up.

Sleeping Bunnies for the Ukulele

My resolution to learn and use a new ukulele song in my story times each month is off to a great start! I opted to begin 2014 with the song "Sleeping Bunnies," which I've heard recommended by many a librarian I admire. I've found it's an excellent song for most any story time group, both in the library and at outreach, as it incorporates fine motor play, soft and energetic music, and a great level of participation.

Start with sleeping bunnies--either the kids themselves are the bunnies, lying down and asleep, or the kids hold up two fingers for a snoozing bunny. Then, as the song progresses, those bunnies get up and hop, hop, hop! Every time I've shared this song, it has resulted in tons of smiles as well as hopping children and hands. A wonderful addition to my ukulele repertoire!

Here are the chords/strings I use in playing "Sleeping Bunnies":

Check out Miss Mary Liberry's video tutorial for playing this song on the ukulele:


sleeping bunnies from Mary K on Vimeo.


And don't forget to watch the Jbrary ladies sing the song a cappella:



Happy ukulele-ing!

Story Time Goals for 2014

I've been giving some thought to my goals for library services in this new year. Last year was all about STEAM in so many ways, and I'll continue to spend considerable time on my own STEAM initiatives as well as promoting STEAM at conferences in 2014. What I decided, though, as I reflected on the fact that 2013 birthed the Storytime Underground movement, is that my story time skills could use some expansion.

I gave that general goal some thought, keeping in mind that the heavy majority of the story times I provide happen at large outreach locations and thus have few story time "extras" (i.e., parachute, shakers, bells). What I came up with were two monthly tasks for myself to both spruce up my story times and push my librarian skills, as well as a goal to better use the plethora of resources out there in libraryland.

My 2014 story time goals:

1) Share a new (to me and my kiddos) ukulele song every month. That'll be a total of 12 new songs added to my repertoire by the end of the year. Since I'm the sort of person who needs a chord sheet in front of me in case my mind fizzles out come story time, I'll be putting together simple lyrics-and-chords sheets and sharing them here on the blog (copyright permitting, of course).

2) Create and use a new felt story every month. My personal felt story collection currently consists of a store-bought Little Red Hen. It's an okay, generic set. With plenty of encouragement and tutelage from the fantastic folks at Flannel Friday, however, I am embarking on a journey to create 12 felt story sets that work with the way I tell stories.

3) Pay better attention to the resources being shared by outstanding story time librarians, and go beyond just bookmarking them "for later." I'll keep a close eye on Anne's Instant Professional Development series, for example. And I'm ALWAYS grateful to see the storytime badassery that Cory links to at Storytime Underground.

With some thought and hard work, I'm going to make my 2014 story times even better than their 2013 cousins. If you've got tips to help me achieve these goals, I'd love to hear them in the comments or on Twitter. And love and support to you as you aim still higher for your own library services this year!