Best Songs and Music for Library Storytime Programs

Best Songs and Music for Library Storytime Programs.

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Songs and music can elevate a merely good library or preschool story time to true greatness. Music and motion in preschool story hours has the ability to engage children, focus their attention, and impose the predictable structure into your story hour that preschool children crave. This article is written with library storytime presenters as an intended audience, but this information can also be useful in a homeschool or co-op preschool setting that changes locations from week to week. Songs like the ones I share in this article are cheerful, fun, and educational.

How much music you include in a story time program depends on the length of the program and the ages of the children. The addition of music during a story hour can stretch a short story hour of 10 to 15 minutes to a half hour or more. Adding art activities or other regular features will make your story hour a success and induce an engaging level of commitment from overscheduled and busy families.

Short story time programs for preschoolers that include 15 to 20 minutes of reading can incorporate a hello song and a goodbye song.

A story hour for toddlers could include the inverse: about 15 minutes of music, finger plays, and action rhymes, plus 2 or 3 toddler-length storybooks. Usually these books are in a chunky board book format and include simplified text. Here are some recommended resources to help you get started using music and motion in your story hour.