At the Dog Park Moira Court - The Little Big Book ...

At the Dog Park
Moira Court
So many dogs to meet at the dog park! Some are fast while others
are slow, there are noisy dogs and quiet dogs, tiny dogs and giant
dogs, all having fun.
The gentle rhyming text, screen printed and collage illustrations
introduces your little one to opposites and shows a diversity of dogs
enjoying the park.
Full of rich descriptive language with words like grubby, shaggy, idle
and steady At the Dog park is ideal to grow your child’s vocabulary
and learn about dogs and opposites.

Key Message for Parents | Children are born ready to learn
Children are born ready and eager to learn. What and how a baby learns in the early years determines
whether or not the brain develops a strong or fragile foundation, which underpins all of the learning,
behaviour and health that follows.

Some ideas to share with parents are:
   •      Doing actions and singing with your baby helps to develop their senses. Rocking, bouncing and
          moving develops your baby’s vestibular system (sense of balance and spatial awareness).
   •      Reading books that contain animals provides the opportunity to make animal sounds, hence a
          baby will learn animals make noises.
   •      Positive early experiences help connections in a baby’s brain that make learning possible.
   •      Be patient. Babies may not always want to sit and listen to a whole story. If your baby
          becomes restless during a book, stop and try again another time.

Australian Early Years Learning Framework |Outcome 4: Children are confident and involved learners

We can help babies become confident learners by
   •      Allowing time in your day for play, songs and stories. Have fun with babies while you read,
          make silly voices and do animals noises.
   •      Families are a baby’s first teacher. We can be active role models for families by inspiring them
          and giving them ideas for play activities that they can enjoy at home.
   •      Providing opportunities for baby to explore, experiment and be hands on with books. Ensure
          books are accessible for babies to play with, have them on the floor where baby can reach.
          Put some in your bag or pram so they are always part of baby’s day.

Welcome
Ask carers to write nametags for themselves and their children.

Welcome everyone, introduce yourself, remind adults to turn their mobile phones off and that there will
be time for adults to chat after the story and songs.

Welcome Song (or your preferred song)
Have the words available as a handout or written on a board or
butcher’s paper for the adults to read and join in.

Welcome song - Come Along
Come along and sing with me, sing with me
Come along and sing with me, it’s time for story time!

Repeat and replace ‘sing’ with bounce, rock, clap etc.
Come along and bounce with me, bounce with me, bounce with me
Come along and bounce with me, it’s time for story time!

Song

This little doggie (to the rhyme of This little piggy)

This little doggie when to market
This little doggie stayed home
This little doggie had roast beef and
This little doggie had none
And This little doggie went woof, woof, woof, woof all the way home

This song is a variation on the This little piggy rhyme. Do the same actions on baby’s toes or fingers
and tickle them when the dog woofs.

Before Reading
Set up your storytime area so it is warm and welcoming either with some cushions or a rug for families
to sit on. Have copies of the book to hand out as families arrive.

Before you start reading do a brief introduction of yourself and about what will happen during the session
plus any general rules/guidelines that are specific to your centre/library. Explain that this storytime is a
time for parents to interact with their child- to bond and strengthen relationships-and that there will be
plenty of time after the session to chat to other parents. Also outline that if a baby becomes unsettled
during the session to feel free to step away from the group and rejoin when baby is feeling better- we all
have rough days!

You are a role model to parents who may be new to sharing books with babies. Allow time for repetition
and exploration of the book. Things like holding the book, turning the pages are vital for a baby’s
developing book knowledge.

During Reading
Read the book all the way through the first time you share it. This way the story and rhyme will flow.
Encourage lots of dog sounds when reading -Woof, bark, howl. Ask your families to join in and bark and
woof along with you.
Re read the book a second time and pause after reading each page and give your baby time to process
the words and look at the pictures. You can then add your own words to describe what is happening in
the illustrations Eg: This dog is fast and that one is slow. Why is that dog slow? Oh look his leg is
bandaged. He must have hurt his leg so he can only walk slowly.

After Reading
Talk to parents about how animal sounds are great first sounds for babies. Sounds come before words.
Encourage them to respond to any little sounds their baby makes, then to leave a gap to signal its baby’s
turn to talk again. This teaches the baby about the pattern of conversation.

Share some more songs with families. Both the following songs are great for singing with babies as they
introduce opposites and are full of actions.

Open shut them
Open, shut them open shut them
Give a little clap
Open shut them open shut them
Lay them in your lap

Creep them creep them
Right up to your chin
Open wide your little mouth
But do not let them in

Roll them roll them
Roll them just like this
Shake them shake them
Blow a little kiss

Grand ol duke of York
The grand ol duke of York
He had 10,000 men
He marched them up to the top of the hill
And he marched them down again
And when they were up they were up
And when they were down they were down
And when they were only half way up they were neither up nor down.

Extension Ideas
   •   Take your baby for a walk to a dog park. Watch all the dogs as they run and play. Talk to your
       baby about what each dog is doing. eg: look the big black dog is running very fast, the little
       brown dog is shaggy etc.
   •   Place some objects with different textures and sizes into a basket and let your baby explore. As
       they reach for each item talk about its texture and size- is it rough or smooth, big or tiny.

Goodbye
Conclude the session with some suggestions of books that parents might want to share with their
children. The Little Big Book Club suggests the following books to support learning in this area. If your
library has copies, make them available for families to borrow or include them in your story time sesion.

For more stories to share, we recommend the following titles:
•      Roald Dahl Opposites by Quentin Blake
•      Happy Dog by Roger Priddy
•      Oi Dog by Kes Gray

An Activity Time for this book is available to download for FREE from our website. This is a great
resource to share with families, you are welcome to print and distribute as necessary.

Goodbye Song
Depending on the size of your group, you may wish to insert each child’s name in the place of
‘you’ as it develops a more personal relationship between yourself, the child and the family.

Sung to the tune of (Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush) or your preferred choice.

Goodbye
This is the way we say goodbye (use a waving action)
Say goodbye, say goodbye
This is the way we say goodbye
To all our library friends (or) (to our friend……)!