Ducks!

I was so excited to do this storytime — I love ducks and was incredibly lucky to find an amazing craft! Yes, this is one of those storytimes that was built around a craft. But I had nothing to fear, there are a plethora of great duck books, songs, and rhymes!

Storytime began with a classic: “Little Quack” by Lauren Thompson.

This is a wonderful story about five little ducks getting ready to swim with mama duck. Of course, one is scared and stays behind and that’s Little Quack. The kids loved the repetition of this book and were quick to pick up how the story was going to end. And after such a successful story (there was clapping at the end), I moved immediately to “Duck Dunks” by Lynne Berry.

This is another book from a seasonal series and we have all of the books in our storytime collection. I love the almost tongue-twister rhymes and the sweet, soft illustrations. In this book, the ducks are going to the beach, which was perfect for our summer session! Next up, the kids needed to get up and move, so we did our action rhyme:

“Little Duck”
I saw a little duck go hop, hop, hop (hop three times)
I told the little duck to stop, stop, stop (hold up hand for stop)
I went to the window to say, ‘How do you do?’ (hold out hand for handshake)
He wagged his little tail and far away he flew! (shake tail and fly away)

Just adapted an action rhyme that I’ve done before to fit my theme! And then followed it up by singing with our flannelboard:

“Five Little Ducks”
Five little ducks went out to play, over the hill and far away
Mother duck said, “Quack, quack, quack, quack”
And only four little ducks came back
(count down until)
Sad mother duck went out one day, over the hill and far away
Mother duck said, “Quack, quack, quack, quack”
And all of her five little ducks came back

I was positive that I learned this song from Kidsongs, but after searching, I’m not so sure. Either way, it’s a song that I know from childhood, and I actually had a few kids chime in — they had learned the song from their mom!

Next up, I read “Dimity Duck” by Jane Yolen & Sebastien Braun.

This is a great story about two friends — Dimity Duck and Frumity Frog — and their adventures together. I considered using this book for both my duck and frog storytime (which is upcoming), but ultimately chose it for duck storytime because Dimity is the main character.

Song: “Little Ducks”
Little ducks go quack, quack, quack
Quack, quack, quack
Quack, quack, quack
Little ducks go quack, quack, quack
In the springtime
Credit: Duck Theme – Step By Step

A quick song before finishing up storytime with “10 Little Rubber Ducks” by Eric Carle.

This story about rubber ducks was a fun deviation from real ducks! My favorite part is the ending, when the kids were quacking along with the real ducks, and I pushed the sound button for the rubber duck noise — they stopped quacking and started laughing. Storytime was over, and we got up to do our craft:

I found this great craft on Danielle’s Place and was immediately sold on doing it for a storytime. I couldn’t find paper plates in the right color yellow, so I did substitute plastic plates and also switched to Glue Dots. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, but those Glue Dots are a *lifesaver* when it comes to preschool crafts!

The kids had a great time at duck storytime, and left with a super adorable craft. There is nothing cuter than kids running around, quacking and chasing each other as they leave.