Social emotional health is really important, so I’ve recently dedicated one show a semester to teaching it. I mostly handle babies and toddlers, but like anything you teach in storytime, it’s still great to expose them to, even if they aren’t ready to really retain the information. It’s also great to model strategies to the grown-ups, so wins all around. I use a bear mascot for all of my storytime promotions, so I drew some different faces on him to show different emotions:
I’ve never blogged about how I structure my storytimes, so that should be my next post after this, so look for that later.
STORIES
I always go for stories that have an interactive element built in, one ones that I can easily add my own elements into. You can find a my list of interactive books here that I still update when I find good ones.
But my go-to’s for storytime are still “Grumpy Pants” by Clarie Messer and “Moo!” by David LaRochelle. “Grumpy Pants” starts out so great, because we’re shaking around getting the grumpies out for the first part, and the second part is all about strategies about coping with negative feelings, like breathing and counting. “Moo!” is just fun as the cow feels every emotion imaginable, and the crowd can easily join in.
There’s no shortage of other good options, but as far as what I see in an entertaining group storytime potential, I would also recommend “I’m Bored” by Michael Ian Black, “Come On Out” by Alberto Lot, “I Am Happy” by Michael Rosen, and “I Am a Spicy Nugget” by Loryn Brantz. I also love “Hooray for Hat!” by Brian Won, but I save that one for hat storytime which I’ll also blog about later.
RHYMES
I don’t really do special rhymes for this one. This is one I used to use, but don’t anymore–I like being confident in all the elements I perform, and not do something just to fit the theme. But that being said, put this up here for anyone that might find it useful. I remember saying this is a group, and then we all made faces that incorporate the emotion.
Sometimes I feel happy
Sometimes I feel sad
Sometimes I feel scared
Sometimes I feel mad
Sometimes I feel silly
Sometimes I feel surprised
These are all the feelings
That I have inside!!!
SONGS
Easiest one of course is “If You’re Happy and You Know It,” which I do occasionally for all storytimes, but for this storytime I change the lyrics to “If you’re sad and you know it, cry boo-hoo,” and then we pretend to cry and talk really quick about how it’s okay to cry. “If you’re mad and you know it, take a breath” and then we all breathe as a group. And lastly, “If you’re lonely and you know it, get a hug,” either hug yourself or hug your grown up.
ACTIVITY
I use my Excellerations Get Up and Go! Dice at least once a quarter. Been using it for years, I like the size and that the pockets are easy to change. You can pick up one here, though there’s other versions out there of course. Anyway, I know that the pictures I made for this slide in really well to this dice, which you can download here:
I have my kiddos roll it, and from there we talk about coping strategies for each feeling. And then we act them out. It’s basically what we already did for our song, but it’s good to reinforce learning obviously. So here’s some of the strategies we talk about:
Strategies for Happy: Cheer, High Five
Strategies for Sad: Cry, Get a hug, tell a grown up
Strategies for Angry: Breathe, Wiggle it Out
Strategies for Sleepy: Nap, Eat a snack
Strategies for Lonely: Get a hug, Find a friend
Strategies for Worried: Breathe, Wiggle it Out
Great storytime, hope it works out well for you!
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