Mother Goose on the Loose

Let Mother Goose on the loose in your library and jump-start children's learning and brain development. Here are activities that will build motor, music, social, and preliteracy skills in infants and toddlers. Mother Goose on the Loose incorporates books, rhymes, fingerplays, flannelboard stories, music, dance, and child-parent interaction into dynamic programs that will bring whole families into the library. Award-winning program creator Betsy Diamant-Cohen offers this valuable manual that helps librarians and educators create their own Mother Goose on the Loose (MGOL) routines with ready-to-use plans and materials. The guide features ten MGOL programs - each one with complete scripts and instructions! In addition, you'll find planning and scheduling sheets for implementing the program and instructions for designing your own original MGOL sessions. Chapters outline the learning process for infants and toddlers, including the importance of repetition, ritual, play, reading, movement, and music; provide tips for communicating with parents; and suggest ways to incorporate books, instruments, and props. Diamant-Cohen includes suggestions for expanding and evaluating the MGOL program and a list of FAQs (and answers) for sharing with parents and administrators. The companion CD-ROM features all of the rhymes and songs as well as a complete Mother Goose on the Loose script.