Baby Bloomers & Crawlers- Valentine's Day

This winter, I started a new group called the "Crawlers" and it has been a hit. I started for a few different reasons, like needing to break down the age difference between some of my younger babies ( 3 months old) and those reaching "toddler stage". I also was facing challenges trying to manage activities for such a wide range of ages, having two separate groups has helped facilitate a better story time since both groups are closer in age and the activities we can engage with are more appropriate. Plus, our story hour room is very small and when you have that many kids it feels even smaller.  I enjoy both groups equally; it is amazing to see the excitement of a 9 month old when we wiggle our way into a story and you have to love the 15 month old who can shake his sillies and jump with you. I definitely will keep this structure for the future and while my handouts, which will be a different posting, are the same the songs and activities change depending on the group.  For example today, I had 14 kids with lots of energy since we have all been coped inside our homes.  I switched from my planned songs to my Tot disc and we listen and moved to "Shake Your Sillies" and "Clap, Clap, Clap". I had planned a rhyme using "If You Are Happy..." instead I decided to use the song and have them act out the actions.  The big hit was my new bubble machine. They loved it and it helped everyone transition into our closing and playing time.  I had little goodie bags to celebrate Valentine's Day made for them with of course, small bubble bottles and I think everyone opened theirs and started to blow bubbles away.  Here is the handout with the stories and rhymes we listened to