“My son loves the Sticky Bubble Gum song you sang in storytime last week and has been singing it ever since, but we can’t quite remember the words. Would you mind recording it?” Of course! Video recordings of popular storytime songs and rhymes are just one of the many services the library provides and we are always happy to take requests.
Begun as a project when the library was closed to the public during the pandemic, our Storytime Songs & Rhymes catalog has now grown to include 150 recordings, with new videos recorded and uploaded by Youth Services staff on a regular basis. These videos serve as an at-home storytime supplement for little visitors who can’t get enough storytime, as in the real-life example above, or as an accessible way for those who cannot leave the house, for whatever reason, to still experience storytime. The videos also are a valuable resource and learning tool for early childhood educators, librarians, teachers, parents, and our own staff who are training to do storytime. Many videos have been viewed hundreds, or even thousands, of times.
The advent of the updated PPL website this month also brought an updated Storytime Songs & Rhymes browsable web page. Library staff have been testing this page in a beta version for months and are very excited to debut it to the public. Songs are arranged alphabetically by title and searchable via a search box on the right side of the page. A variety of song themes are available to select on the right side of the page allowing users to easily filter and explore songs by topic or interest. Youth Services staff hope this dynamic resource will prove to be a valuable tool for anyone raising or working with young children. Please share it with anyone you know who is doing one or both of those things and if you know of a storytime song or rhyme missing from this page, let us know. We are always happy to take requests.