Boats: All-Ages

9:30 program: 70 total
10:30 program: 72 total
I changed my storytime theme without much notice (to myself) and came up with this pretty quickly.  No fancy props, no fancy flannel board pieces... but it ended up being one of my favorites.  I found books about boats that shined all on their own and didn't really need a whole lot of extra help from me.

In addition to our regular routines, songs, and puppet friends, this is what we did....

Letter of the Day:  Ww
Water, wave, and when the kids used their bodies to make the letter "W", they got lots of, "Wows!" from me.

Books:
Splish Splash by Nicola Smee with rain/bead stick.  The whole lovable gang is back and this time they are taking a trip in a boat.  But the ocean's looking choppy and the waves are getting bigger!

Every time the phrase "splish splash" appeared in the book, my lovely coworker tilted this bead stick which sounded very much like water sloshing and all the kids would know it was time to say, "Splish splash," with me.  As the waves got bigger, the sounds and responses from the audience got louder too!  Of course I at least doubled the amount of splishing and splashing for lots of audience engagement.

 

 Row, Row, Row Your Boat by Jane Cabrera.  The first verse is a familiar one, but as the pages turn we meet different animals and are encouraged to make their sounds.

I love Jane Cabrera and this book is no exception!

 Music:

We sang "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" after reading the book.  I encouraged the kids to find a lap to sit in and many of them scrambled to do so.  I use this song in babytime so it's not new to me, but so many of the parents and children applauded after it.  It was so sweet!

Listen to this fun version here.

"Beep, Beep" by Little Groove.  This song is also charming and we moved like cars, trains, airplanes, and sail boats.  The parents and kids loved this song too!

Listen here

 Rhyme:

Hickory Dickory Dare

Hickory dickory dare
The lobster flew up in the air
Captain Brown soon brought him down
Hickory dickory dare

I grabbed all my sea creature puppets ahead of time and did this rhyme multiple times with the kids using the animals they were calling out.  I had all of them  (except turtle): lobster, whale, crab, shark, dolphin fish.

This is a great one for parents to do at home using their own stuffed animals and even letting the kids throw them up if they want.  (I did not throw mine; I just lifted them with much excitement over my head.)