A few weeks ago, I did the ocean as my storytime theme because I was clearly missing it from last summer where I did nothing but water themed storytimes!
The Plan
Books
Big Fish, Little Fish by Ed Heck
Fish Swish Splash Dash by Suse MacDonald
Hooray for Fish by Lucy Cousins
I’m the Biggest Thing in the Ocean by Kevin Sherry
Rub-a-Dub-Sub by Linda Ashman
Extension Activities
Action Rhyme: “I’m a Little Octopus”
Arm #1 goes swish, swish, swish (swing arms back and forth)
Arm #2 helps me catch fish (wiggle hand back and forth)
Arm #3 pats my head (pat hand on head)
Arm #4 makes sure I’m fed (put hand to mouth)
Arm #5 swims me to shore (move arms in swimming motion)
Arm #6 touches the ocean floor (touch hand to floor)
Arm #7 can grab and tug (open and close hands)
But all eight arms give me a hug! (cross arms and hug yourself)
Credit: Pubyac (Library listserv)
Action Rhyme: “Mr. Lobster and Mrs. Crab”
Mr. Lobster and Mrs. Crab pinch and snap all day
Mr. Lobster and Mrs. Crab pinch and snap all day
With a pinch, pinch here and a snap, snap there
Here a pinch, there a snap, everywhere a pinch, snap
Mr. Lobster and Mrs. Crab pinch and snap all day.
Credit: Everything Preschool
Song & Puppet: “Did You Ever See a Fishy?”
Did you ever see a fishy, a fishy, a fishy
Did you ever see a fishy, swim this way and that?
Swim this way and that way, and that way and this way?
Did you ever see a fishy, swim this way and that?
Credit: Childhood
Song: “One, Two, Three, Four, Five”
One, two, three, four, five, (hold up fingers one by one, while counting)
Once I caught a fish alive. (put hands together and wiggle like a fish)
Six, seven, eight, nine, ten, (hold up fingers one by one, while counting)
Then I threw it back again. (make throwing motion)
Why did you let it go? (hold hands out asking why)
Because it bit my finger so. (shake hand, as if hurt)
Which finger did it bite? (hold hands out asking why)
This little finger on my right. (wiggle pinky finger)
Credit: Childhood
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
Craft
On Thursday, we made a paper plate fish that I got from KidsSoup for the Thursday group. For the Friday group, I redid a craft from last summer: Aquariums.
How It Went
Thursday morning
I had a pretty nice sized storytime crowd this morning; 16 kids — which is a perfect amount if you ask me. Everyone had a great time, but my absolute favorite part was when we read “Big Fish, Little Fish.” I have the kids read with me, identifying Big Fish and Little Fish. One of my little girls turned to her mom and said, “I did storytime all by myself!” So cute! The favorite book of this morning, though, was definitely “Hooray for Fish.”
Friday morning
Another pretty packed daycare storytime, with three daycares attending again. This group really enjoyed the “One, Two, Three, Four, Five” song and we sang through it several times at their request. Their favorite book was “I’m the Biggest Thing in the Ocean,” which we re-told as a flannelboard once I finished the book.
storytime katie 
I loved these ideas. I generally only do 1 book and when I did fish, I chose 10 Sly Piranhas and the 3nd time we read it, we counted down by eating goldfish crackers one at a time. The kids loved it. I don’t know if you have the budget for this, but all ages of my story time kids – babies to 5, loved this book and activitiy.