Dirt, Sand, & Mud!

The Plan

Books

Bebe Goes to the Beach by Susan Middleton Elya
Dini Dinosaur by Karen Beamont
Mr. Gumpy’s Motor Car by John Burningham
Sea, Sand, and Me! by Patricia Hubbell
Underground by Denise Fleming

Extension Activities

Flannelboard: “Five Clean and Dirty Pigs”

Flannelboard: “Five Pretty Sandcastles”
Five pretty sandcastles standing on the shore,
The tide came in (whoosh!) and then there were four.
Four pretty sandcastles standing by the sea,
The tide came in (whoosh!) and then there were three.
Three pretty sandcastles standing by the ocean blue,
The tide came in (whoosh!) and then there were two.
Two pretty sandcastles standing in the sun,
The tide came in (whoosh!) and then there was one.
One pretty sandcastle just out of reach,
The tide came in (whoosh!) but it stayed on the beach!
Credit: Storytime Secrets

Song: “We’re Going to the Beach”
We’re going to the beach,
We’re going to the beach.
I think we’ll see some sand there!
We’re going to the beach.
(water, fish, towels, whatever else they said!)
Credit: Storytime Secrets

Craft

Yes, I attempted sand art at storytime! And I have to say, even to my surprise, it was a success! Three things that made this a remarkable joy: spoons + funnels + Tacky Glue. I put the sand in bowls for the kids to spoon into their funnels. I did have to buy additional funnels since the kit only came with two — but I would have had to do that anyways since this wasn’t the only sand art program we did last summer. And, of course, the caregivers were game to help their kiddos out which made it possible for me to man the finishing station where I put Tacky Glue inside the cap to permanently close the necklace.

How It Went

Thursday morning
I did this storytime on my birthday and it was a great theme given how much I love the beach! The kids had a great time with the flannelboards, which I left out for them to play with after storytime. My parents really enjoyed “Bebe Goes to the Beach” since it has some Spanish vocabulary in it. The kids were very fascinated with “Underground”, which was the book that inspired this whole storytime!

Friday morning
My Friday group loved all the mud activities today: “Mr. Gumpy” and “Five Clean and Dirty Pigs.” I had a lot of very excited kids when I flipped each pig — they weren’t expecting the mud to suddenly appear!