Today’s installment of storytime props are egg shakers in storytime. (Previous post: Scarves in Storytime.)
Before we dive in, let’s cover some of the basics:
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- How do you pass egg shakers out?: Um, as un-chaotically as I can. I have a basket at the front of the room and ask the children to come up and take an egg. It takes a bit of time to pass them out, but it works at my library. I’ve heard of librarian having caregivers take an egg as they come in and hide it until it’s egg shaker time. I’ve also heard of librarians who have prop baskets throughout the room.
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- How do you put egg shakers away, keep them clean, and store them?: I ask everyone to clean up together. Sometimes, I call out, “If you have a red shaker, come put it away” or “If you are two years old, come put your egg away”. I always offer the option for the caregivers of friends who are having difficulty separating to bring it back at check-out time or after playtime.As for keeping them clean, I disinfect every single egg shaker — no matter who had it, I don’t know if it went in mouths…or pants. (Yes, that’s happened.)
And then I store them in a fabric bin. When I’m doing outreach, I count out how many egg shakers I’ll need and put them in a freezer bag to take with me.
- How do you put egg shakers away, keep them clean, and store them?: I ask everyone to clean up together. Sometimes, I call out, “If you have a red shaker, come put it away” or “If you are two years old, come put your egg away”. I always offer the option for the caregivers of friends who are having difficulty separating to bring it back at check-out time or after playtime.As for keeping them clean, I disinfect every single egg shaker — no matter who had it, I don’t know if it went in mouths…or pants. (Yes, that’s happened.)
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- Where do you get egg shakers?: I’ve been using Lakeshore Learning egg shakers since 2009 and I’ve never had one break. Ever. One of my preschools uses these ones from Nino. You can also use home-made egg shakers in storytime, but please be aware that these often contain potential choking hazards if the egg shaker breaks.
- Have your egg shakers held up over the years?
Our 80 egg shakers at my current library have been going strong since I purchased them in 2014. And we still have all 80 accounted for!
As for the biggest question…what do you do with egg shakers in storytime? I’ve got some answers here.
Stop and Go Games
Egg Shakers in storytime are some of my favorite props to teach self-regulation. Because of the fun noise that they make, it takes a bit of self-regulation to get a friend to stop and hold their egg during our Stop and Go games. I do a lot of these games with recorded music, as egg shakers tend to get very noisy in the room and it can be hard to hear me talk over it.
But I also love to use these rhymes in a small class setting:
“We Wiggle and Wiggle and Stop”
We wiggle and wiggle and stop
We wiggle and wiggle and stop
We wiggle and wiggle and wiggle and wiggle
and wiggle and wiggle and stop
Thanks to Jbrary for this song!
I tweak the lyrics here to work with egg shakers: shake, pat, roll.“Everyone Can Shake”
Everyone can shake, shake, shake
Everyone can shake, shake, shake
Everyone can shake, shake, shake
And now let’s make a stop.
Thanks again to Jbrary for this song!
Egg Shakers In Storytime as…
I also LOVE using egg shakers in storytime with books. I have a new favorite book out called Shake the Tree by Chiara Vignocchi and I invite my friends to shake their eggs left and right with the book. Other books to use: Ol’ Mama Squirrel by David Ezra Stein, Shake a Leg, Egg! by Kurt Cyrus, and Opposites by Eric Carle.
Recorded Music
Some of my favorite songs to use with egg shakers:
Opposites & Stop and Go
Fast and Slow – Laurie Berkner
I Can Shake My Shaker Egg – The Learning Groove (starts slow and gets faster)
I Know a Chicken – Laurie Berkner
Movement
Shakin’ Everywhere – Jim Gill
Shaky Shaky – The Wiggles
The Shimmie Shake – The Wiggles
Super Shaker Song – Culture Queen
Imagination
Alabama, Mississippi – Jim Gill
Fruit Salad Salsa – Laurie Berkner
Milkshake Song – Old Town School of Folk Music
Rolling Ball – The Learning Groove
I hope you’re racing out to buy egg shakers for your library after this post. And if you already have or use egg shakers in storytime, please share YOUR favorites in the comments to keep this post as robust as possible. Next time, I’ll be back discussing parachutes in storytime!
– Katie Salo
Early Literacy Librarian
Indian Prairie Public Library
http://storytimekatie.com
This post addresses the following ALSC Core Competency: III. Programming Skills.
Rick
One of my favorite shaker songs:
“Loud and Quiet” by Caspar Babypants (from Sing Along!)
Katie Salo Post author
A great one indeed!
Kara Decarlo
I love shakers!
Before I put on the music, I give the toddlers a good minute or two to explore the shakers. After that we try to think of all the different ways we can play them: shake them, roll them, tap them. Next we shake way up high and way down low. Then we shake really really fast and r e a l l y r e a l l y sloooooooow. Lastly, we shake by various body parts.
After all of that, I usually play Shaky Shaky by the Wiggles and either Shakin Evberywhere by Jim Gill or Laurie Berkner’s Milkshake Song. (Once I tried La Bamba, but the kids were NOT having it)
Thanks for your music suggestions! I look forward to trying them out.
Elizabeth M. Timmins
Thank you!
Meg Boucher
Thank you! Just what I needed! My eggs are easy to sanitize and I want to use them more often!
Valerie Mathre
My favorite is definently “I Know a Chicken” by Laurie Berkner. I’ve used that one a lot! Thanks for so many ideas. Another one I like, will not specifically for shakers is the “Hot Diggety Dog” song from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse tv show. (Although I’m dating myself as it hasn’t been on tv for awhile).