For over 20 years the children of San Antonio have been calling in to Dial-A-Story to hear a children's story. The children's librarians record new stories every Tuesday and Friday, one in English and one in Spanish.
Just call 210.207.4466 to listen!
Happy in Our Skin by 
I'm Like You, You're Like Me by 
It's Okay to Be Different by 
Lola at the Library by 
Lola en la Biblioteca by 
My Friends by Resources
As parents and caregivers, you can begin helping children to understand racial differences and racism from an early age. See below for a list of resources and to learn more:
Two little hands, ten little fingers,
Two little hands, ten little fingers,
Two little hands, ten little fingers,
Count them all with me.
One, two, three little fingers,
Four, five, six little fingers,
Seven, eight, nine little fingers,
And one more makes ten.
Dos manitas, diez deditos,
dos manitas, diez deditos,
dos manitas, diez deditos,
cuéntalos conmigo.
Uno, dos, tres deditos,
cuatro, cinco, seis deditos,
siete, ocho, nueve deditos,
y uno más son diez.
Opening: Hello Song
Read Aloud: Jump! by Tatsuhide Matsuoka
Let’s jump like a kangaroo! Jump, Jump Kangaroo Brown (Caregivers, you can help your baby to jump like in the video. That’s quite fun! It’s also fun to see if your toddler will jump with you while you say the rhyme.)
“Jump, Jump”
Jump, jump, Kangaroo Brown.
Jump, jump, up and down.
Jump, jump, Kangaroo Brown.
Jump, jump all around.
Now let’s watch a frog jump. . . Frog Jumping
Closing: Goodbye
Opening song: If You're Ready for a Story
Read Aloud: Not a box by Antoinette Portis
Song and guessing game: Mystery box
Time to move: Follow me
Pretend Play: Cardboard boxes can transform into almost anything… truck, rocket ship, fort, train, time machine… an empty box is full of possibilities.
Here are four fun activities to inspire your child’s creativity and imagination with empty boxes.
Use empty boxes to create a castle or fort. Add blankets and pillows for extra fun.
A big box makes the perfect stage for puppets. Use toys and dolls from around the house, or make your own, and put on your own show
Make a tunnel - cut out the tops and bottoms from different sized boxes and make tunnels for crawling. Tip: tape them together for a homemade maze.
Make a coloring cave - have your child crawl inside an extra-large box for a four-walled coloring canvas.
Song: Hello Song
Read Aloud: Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes by Mem Fox
Rhyme: The Little Piggy
Song: I have ten little fingers
Goodbye Song: Goodbye
Body Parts Game: Help your child name the different parts on his or her body with this easy game.
Point to your baby's body parts and name them. Start by pointing to your own nose and say 'nose'. Then point to your baby's nose and repeat 'nose'. Repeat this activity with other body parts for several days in a row for each part.
Now make a game out of finding the right body part. Call out: “Where is baby's mouth?” Then ask your baby to point to his or her mouth. When your child does it correctly, praise your baby. Repeat with other familiar body parts and soon your baby will be able to identify many parts of the body.
Opening Song: Hello Hello
Read aloud: Maria Had a Little Llama by Angela Dominguez
Finger Play: Happy Llama, Sad Llama
Song: I am Nana LLama
Activity: Nature Scavenger Hunt for Toddlers
Opening Rhyme: See the Little Mousie
Read Aloud: “In The Tall, Tall Grass” by Denise Fleming
Movement Song: “Caterpillar Crawled”
Ending Song: “The Little Turtle”
Family Activity: This is a great book for counting activities. Count how many different kinds of animals there are in this book. Can you see how many times the caterpillar shows up throughout the book? How many bees are in the story? What about how many bunnies?
Opening Song: Hello Friend
Read Aloud: The Kindness Book by Todd Parr .This sweet book shows many ways to express kindness. Feel free to stop the video and talk if your child wants to add something! This only reinforces the learning and focus.
Song: If You’re Happy and You Know It .
Add these verses with actions or make up your own! Smile real big, Hug a friend, Blow a kiss.
Goodbye Song: Goodbye Friend
Family Activity: Talk with your child about ways she/he can be kind, like the pictures in the book. With your child, look through a magazine for examples of kindness and cut them out. Let your child make a kindness collage.
Opening Song: I Love it When you Read to Me
Read Aloud: It’s My Turn! By David Bedford
Fingerplay: 10 Little Fingers
Song: 1, 2, 3, Baby’s on My Knee
Extension Activity: Friendship art- get two sheets of white paper and have your child and their sibling/friend create a picture. After a few seconds tell them to switch so they can continue creating what their friend or sibling was creating. This can be done with crayons, markers and even paint.
Hello Song: Hello
Song: Let's go to the zoo
This delightful story requires your assistance in helping your child understand what is happening. Every other page has no words and the pictures are what move the story forward. You don’t want to miss the humor! Remember, you can stop the video at any point to talk about the gorilla and what he is doing. Also keep your eyes on the mouse as he has his own story. Even babies will enjoy this story because you are interacting with them.
Book: Good Night Gorilla by Peggy Rathbone
Song: Good Night, Gorilla
Activities
Additional Video : Good Night, Gorilla
Opening Song: Wake up feet
Read Aloud: Summer Babies
Song: ABC
Song: Itsy Bitsy Spider
Time to move: If You're Happy and You Know It
Activities: Stacking with plastic cups
Gather up a few plastic cups of different sizes and set out for your child to play.
Babies love to test textures with their mouths. They differentiate between sizes and shapes while gripping and chewing.
For toddlers:
Opening song/Canción de apertura: Buenos Días
Good Morning, Good Morning,
How are you? How are you?
Very well thank you, very well thank you.
And you? And you?
Read aloud/Leer en voz alta: How Are You? ¿Cómo Estás? By Angela Dominguez
Fingerplay/Juego de dedos: Dos Manitas/Two Little Hands
Movement Song/Canciones de movimiento: Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes/Cabeza, Hombros, Rodillas, Pies (en español)
Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes.
Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes.
Eyes and ears and mouth and nose.
Head, shoulders, knees and toes.
Book extension activity: Can you think of other ways you are feeling? ¿Puedes pensar en otras formas de sentir? Can you act it out? ¿Puedes actuarlo?
Additional material/Material adicional: Have fun with/Divertirse con: 123 Andres https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBiFqDyAZGA
Read Aloud: Little White Fish by Guido van Genechle
Song: 12345 Once I Caught A Fish Alive!
Parent Tip: Sensory Play engages the 5 senses.
https://www.parentingforbrain.com/sensory-activities-importance-sensory-play/#benefits
Activities: Create fish using paper, paper plates or cereal boxes. (Make 1 or up to 5). If the child is old enough let him “color” the fish. Engage sight as a sense and talk about the names of the colors they use/see.
Play Hide and Seek – hide the fishes around the house and have your child search for them. For “tummy” babies, put the fish just out of their reach and have them stretch, scoot or crawl toward it. Consider gluing fabric or different textures to the fish to enhance their sensory experience.
Fishing “toddler style” – Put something blue down on the floor like a sheet. Spread out fish on top of it. Place a container like a laundry basket or box nearby. Have the child pick up the fish and put it in the container. Make it more challenging by letting them use tongs or other utensils to help them grab their fish.
Additional Book
Tim the Fish https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eupnmOSRuVs
Opening Song: Pat-A-Cake
Read-Aloud: Dear Zoo, By Rod Campbell
Movement Song: If You’re Happy and You Know It
Extention Activities: Big Gray Elephant
Ask your child questions. As you read to your child, make the experience interactive by asking him/her questions, such as “What do you think will happen next?” Dear Zoo is a perfect book to ask questions such as “What animal do you think is in the box?”
Opening Song: My Two Little Hands Go Clap, Clap, Clap
Read Aloud: I Like Myself by Karen Beaumont
Movement Song: Tony Chestnut Knows I Love You
Closing Song: The More We Get Together
Parent Child Talk: After or during the book reading the child and the parent can say what they like about themselves. They can also talk about their favorite body parts after the songs.
Opening Song: Welcome Song
Read Aloud: Barnyard Banter by Denise Fleming
Movement Rhyme: Hokey Pokey
Ending Song: Old MacDonald Had a Farm
Family Extension Activity: Count how many times Goose appeared in this story. How many farm animals were in the story and what were they called? Practice making your favorite farm animals sounds, too!
Opening song: The more we get together
Read Aloud : Whoever you are by Mem Fox
Song: If you're happy and you know it
Activity: Torn Paper collage
Have your child rip up pieces of scrap paper of different colors. You can also use old magazines. Have him stick the pieces onto a blank piece or paper/cardboard or paper plate
Different colors together can make a beautiful picture.
Opening song: Hola!
Read aloud: Lola Loves Stories by Anna McQuinn
A Lola le encantan los cuentos por Anna McQuinn
Song: Mi Cuerpo Hace Musica
Extension Activity: Nature hunt
Arm yourself and your toddler with a little bag or box and head out into the great outdoors on a walk. See how many treasures you can find to pop in your boxes or bags.
Opening song: Hello everybody
Read aloud: My nose ,Your nose by Melanie Walsh
Song: Ten Little Fingers
Activity: Play Peek-a-boo with your baby. Peek-a-boo stimulates baby's senses, builds gross motor skills, strengthens visual tracking, encourages social development and, best of all, listen to those giggles. If you are reading with a toddler, you can play Hide and Seek. Playing this game gives your child some valuable physical benefits and aids muscle development. The challenge of getting into the perfect hiding place will help improve balance, agility, and coordination.
Opening Song: H.E.L.L.O.
Sign Language Song: Picked a Strawberry
Read Aloud: The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear
Action Song: Pop Goes the Berry
Extension Activity: Explore the diet of mice, bears and humans. In the wild, mice love to eat fruits and berries. Bears eat about 30,000 berries a day! Do you like to eat strawberries? What other berries do we eat?
Opening song: Wake up Feet
Read aloud: Shark in the Park by Nick Sharratt
Lap Bounce: Charlie Over the Water
Song: Swing me over the Ocean
Extension Activity: Pretend a part of your house is the ocean where sharks live and have your little ones pretend to be a shark exploring other parts of the house. Ask what they think a shark would do in each area of the house
Welcome: Buenos Dias
Song with Theme: I’m a Turtle
Song with Theme: There Was a Little Turtle
Parent Tip: This book has rich vocabulary building opportunities. The retelling version only has
music. If your family speaks in more than one language this video is great for developing vocabulary.
Retelling Activity: Turtle Splash: Countdown at the Pond by Cathryn Falwell
What are the turtles doing? What is the new animals on each page doing? Point out the water,
the green trees, and the blue sky. Count the turtles, identify colors ,make animal sounds together.
Act out the body movements of the animals; jumping, flying
Opening Song: Pat-Pat-A-Cake
Read Aloud: “Cat’s Colors” by Jane Cabrera
Movement Rhyme: Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes
Ending Song: If You're Happy and You Know it !
If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands.
If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands.
If you’re happy and you know it, and you really want to show it,
If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands.
If you’re happy and you know it, jump up and down...
If you’re happy and you know it, stomp your feet...
If you’re happy and you know it, shout hooray!...
Family Activity : Play "I Spy" games outside - how many different colored objects can you find? Can you find colors that were in the book, Cat's Colors?
Bear Wants More by 
Hooray for Hat! by 
In the Small, Small Pond by 
What Color Is Night? by 
Who Has Wiggle-Waggle Toes? by 
