Children’s Librarians and the Stretchy Band For Music and Movement Games
I recently completed a 400 tote bag order for a library in North Carolina. They were our clear pocket tote bag with some additions: custom embroidery and a zippered top. It took me several tries to get the zippered top satisfactory, but I am pleased with the end results and will be adding them to the site soon. I love the clear pocket tote bag for my own use, and having it be zippered just raised it’s likability to even greater heights!
I have also been receiving more orders from libraries, some here in Missouri and others across our country. The most popular items they order are the stretchy band and connect-a-band. You can read about a post I did on my personal love of libraries.
I recently found this blog post featuring some wonderful activity suggestions by a librarian with the stretchy band or connect-a-stretchy band.
The Giant Dance Scrunchie
This is from the Libraryland Blog Post. Here I'll share a portion, and then you must head over to see her song suggestions and how she uses the stretchy bands at the library.
Once upon a time, I attended a Jim Gill early childhood workshop and he brought out a giant dance scrunchie. He showed off how he used his scrunchie and it was a lot of fun! Fast forward about 10 years to when I had extra money in my programming budget and my library got our own giant scrunchie.
I will admit that giant scrunchies are not necessary to putting on a quality story time. There are many supplies that I would get first (such as books, shakers, and scarves), which is why it took 10 years for me to get one. There is a lot of good that you can do with them, though, in a group environment.
The scrunchie that I bought is from Bear Paw Creek. There are various sizes that you can purchase, depending on your needs. I use the XL stretchy band that they say works with 11-14 people, but I can easily fit 25 2-year-olds around it. While it would be possible to make your own, this one is brightly colored and durable.
My ideal group to use this with is with kids ages 2-5. I have tried it with the babies (under 24 months) and they like to squish it. They just aren't ready for the movement that this entails. With my 2-year-olds, we used to do Ring Around the Rosie and hold hands in a circle. My kids here don't like to touch so we would end up with a snaky shape, rather than a circle. They will hold the stretchy band though.
When looking for songs, I look for ones that use a circle, similar to what I would do when planning parachute activities. Up and down, fast and slow, and colors all work well too. Here are some of my favorites:
Ring around the rosie,
A pocketful of posies,Ashes, ashes,We all fall down!
Click on the image to head over to her blog post!
