Beach!

This week in storytime, we went to the beach and read beach-themed stories! And when we called to remind our parents about storytime, we also asked them to bring a beach towel to make storytime a little more fun.

Started off with “To the Beach” by Linda Ashman.

This is a great story all about a family who tries to get to the beach, only to forget a ton of items and have to go back. Once they finally are ready to go, it begins to look like rain. They eventually go to the beach in their backyard. I liked this A LOT because I know that a lot of my families can’t afford giant vacations to the beach.

Next, I read “Fun Dog, Sun Dog” by Deborah Heiligman.

I love the rhyming pace and fun text of this book. The beach is only on a few pages of the book, but I definitely want to use this book again for a different theme another time.

Flannelboard: “Five Little Ocean Friends”
Five little ocean friends on the ocean floor,
The starfish walks away and now there are four
Four little ocean friends living in the sea
The crab slides away now there are three
Three little ocean friends looking for a clue
“Glub, glub,” said the lobster now there are two
Two little ocean friends not having much fun
Off swam the sea horse now there is one
One little octopus sad and all alone
Back swims the starfish, back swims the crab,
Back swims the lobster, back swims the sea horse
And they played in the sea foam, safe in their home.
Credit: Beach Fingerplays from Carroll County Public Library

And then I read, “Sand” by Pam Miller.

I had a hard time finding any books about just the ocean or the sand. This was a Rookie Reader book, which is a little bigger than the average board book. Reading it aloud involved lots of panning, and a few “I can’t see!”s. While it wasn’t a huge disappointment or catastrophe, this was the first and last reader I plan on using in storytime.

Chant: “Picnic Time”
Going on a picnic, gonna pack a lunch.
What should we bring to munch, munch, munch?
(suggest different foods)
Ready for a picnic,
Ready with a lunch,
Now we’re ready to munch, munch, munch!
Credit: Kidsparkz

Then, I read “What If?” By Laura Vaccaro Seeger.

This book is an interesting one to read in storytime. The kids had a lot of fun telling me exactly what was happening in each of the spread. (The text prompts them with “What if? and “But then…” and I wound up asking the kids what was happening in the pictures.) I’m not sure that I could use this one in every storytime, but I was very lucky to have a very verbal crowd this week. A twist on a familiar song:

Song: “The Sea” (Tune: Wheels on the Bus)
The waves on the sea go up and down, up and down, up and down
The waves on the sea go up and down all day long.
The shark in the sea goes snap, snap, snap…
The fish in the sea goes swish, swish, swish…
The boats on the sea go toot, toot, toot…
Credit: Perpetual Preschool

And for the last book of storytime, “Beach Day” by Karen Roosa.

This was a sweet, simple story with vibrant illustrations and nice rhyming text. It was the perfect end to storytime. And for our craft, we decorated surfboards!

This was actually a last minute craft replacement because I had wanted to do sandcastles, and the recipe I found wasn’t working well for me.