I have been using a song to start off my 3-5 year old story time called “My Hands Say Hello,” which I found on Abby the Librarian’s awesome blog.

The song goes like this, waving your hands in the air:

(to the tune of The Farmer in the Dell)
My hands say hello
My hands say hello
Every time I see my friends
My hands say hello

Then you repeat with different body parts. It’s a great way to get the kids (and the parents) participating right away. I always ask the kids to name a part of the body we can use to say hello. Usually it’s feet, elbows, knees. If they don’t say anything, I’ll suggest one to get them started. Sometimes they’ll say belly, hair, eyes, lips, etc. which gets a little bit silly and fun. I do feel like I’m asking for trouble sometimes, since you never know which body parts they’ll mention. The other day was a first though, when I asked for body parts to say hello with, a little boy, who I don’t even think is 3 yet, yelled out – “your booty!” The parents burst out laughing and the boy’s mother rolled her eyes and grinned. It was pretty funny. I considered going with it, but decided not to, as I wasn’t feeling overly confident in “booty” region. 🙂