Tag: sensory

some bugs and a good place book covers

Stories & Stations: Bugs

Posted on by msemilylibrary

Bugs is such a fun theme – there are so many kinds of bugs and so many ways to think about presenting a program on them! Even though “bugs” is not a scientific category, I like using it as it can include all kinds of creepy-crawlies including insects, arachnids, worms, snails, and even terrestrial crustaceans (AKA roly poly pill bugs!) My colleague planned this one, and I love the different ways she incorporated bugs in the stations. We used one of my flannels, Going on a Bug Hunt, which is a really nice activity that spans the age ranges that we’re seeing.

This was our last storytime of May, and our last indoor Stories & Stations* for the foreseeable future. In June and July we will be doing Stories & Stations outside, and when we return in August we may have a new staff member and possible rethinking of how and what we offer 0-5 year old kiddos in our community. I generally don’t blog over the summer months, so you probably won’t see me again until August – I hope everyone has a great summer! And one last note – if you are someone who maintains your library’s Storywalk, I’ve added quite a few new titles in the last month or so – submissions and ones I’ve done. These include a fun BUG one (Bug in a Bog by Jonathan Fenske) and our newest for the SRP theme Unearth a Story – Sam and Dave Dig a Hole by Mac Barnett & Jon Klassen.

See other versions of this theme from 2021 (old library and new library).

*We are doing a new format for our storytimes in a transition period of personnel change and calling it Stories & Stations (you can read the whole saga of the whys and hows at this post.)

some bugs book cover, showing various bugs including bees, preying mantis, ladybug, wasps and more in a natural setting.
a good place book cover, showing a dragonfly, bee, ladybug and beetle on flowers.

Early Development Tip: When you enjoy a book, let your child know that you like it and why. Sharing your enjoyment gives them a positive attitude toward books. This positive attitude carries over when they get to school and start learning to read. Let your child choose their books and tell you why they like them. –from The Early Literacy Kit: A Handbook and Tip Cards by Betsy Diamant-Cohen & Saroj Ghoting

Welcome Song: Hello, Friends* 
Even with a larger number of kids, I still go around and sing this with everyone’s name. The kids really do love it, and it helps me learn names and storytime participants to learn each others’ names.

Hello Friends rhyme sheet. Includes a smiling rainbow and two yellow ducks at the bottom. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

Warm Up Song: Wiggle and Wiggle and STOP*
This week I rolled my “Bug Movement” cube to select our two additional movements. You can download a copy of the six sides (that can be put on a square tissue container) here!

bug movement cube, showing "March like an ant" "zip like a dragonfly" and "buzz like a bee" showing on three sides.

we wiggle and stop thumbnail, with a graphic of two pink worms. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

Lifting Rhyme: Toast in the Toaster* 
Okay, this one *seems* to be better for younger kids, but all I have to do is encourage the older kids to jump as high as they can at the end and it is instantly perfect for a 5 year old, too. I always give the option for a lap bounce and lift as well.

Toast in the Toaster thumbnail, with a graphic of a toaster with a piece of bread hovering above it. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

Intro: Our planet is home to millions of different kinds of bugs, each with their own special “job.” Some help pollinate the flowers (like bees & butterflies). Others like to eat old leaves and turn it into fresh soil (like worms & beetles). And many bugs are food for other animals (like birds & anteaters)! Whether they crawl, hop, or fly, every bug plays a vital role in keeping our environment healthy and vibrant. Let’s read about some bugs!

Transition: If You’re Ready for a Story*

Straight into our book this week! This is such a perfect book, as it showcases so many bugs and the things they do, with a really short text that’s great for all ages. 
Read: Some Bugs by Angela DiTerlizzi & Brendan Wenzel

some bugs book cover, showing various bugs including bees, preying mantis, ladybug, wasps and more in a natural setting.

A great backup with Cousins’ signature bright, bold colors.
Backup Read: A Good Place by Lucy Cousins

a good place book cover, showing a dragonfly, bee, ladybug and beetle on flowers.

So let’s go on our own bug hunt!
Similar to Going on a Bear Hunt, but without the “Can’t go over it…” parts. Each time we get out a new flannel piece, they get excited! Then we do a little motion or sound to go with each. I only ended up doing bee, butterfly, ladybug, ant, and roly poly (who curls up when you flip him over).
Flannel/Rhythm Chant: Going on a Bug Hunt
Pat lap in rhythm and repeat between each bug:
We’re going on a bug hunt! (We’re going on a bug hunt!)
We’re going to see some big ones. (We’re going to see some big ones.)
What a sunny day! (What a sunny day!)
Are we ready? OK! (Are we ready? OK!)

Oh, my! A bee! A black & yellow bee, Flying over the flowers. BUZZ
Oh, my! An ant! A tiny, black ant, Crawling through the grass. SHH
Oh, my! A grasshopper! A big, green grasshopper, Hopping around the tree. BOING
Oh, my! A butterfly! A pretty, orange butterfly, Floating in the sky. WHOOSH
Oh, my! A spider! A big black spider, Creeping on the tree. CREEP
Oh, my! A ladybug! A bright red ladybug, climbing up a flower. CLIMB
Oh, my! A roly-poly! A gray, armored roly-poly, hiding under a rock. ROLL
Source: adapted from Small Town Story Time Lady Blog

Picture of felt bug hunt set, including a tree trunk, grass, flower, and rock, with a roly poly, bee, ladybug, butterfly, ant, grasshopper, and spider.

Closeup of the roly poly felt flipped to the other side, showing it rolled up in a ball.

going on a bug hunt thumbnail, with a graphic of a grasshopper and a bee. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

Let’s get out our scarves! Can we roll our scarves like a roly poly pill bug?
Time for props!
Scarf Rhyme: Roly Poly
(roll scarf accordingly)
Roly poly, roly, poly, up, up, up
Roly poly, roly, poly, down, down, down
Roly poly, roly, poly, out, out, out
Roly poly, roly, poly, in, in, in
Roly poly, roly, poly, BIG, BIG, BIG
Roly poly, roly, poly, very, very small
Roly poly, roly, poly, fast, fast, fast, fast, fast!
Rol…ly… po…ly… in… your… lap!
Source: Rebecca Jane Flanagan

roly poly thumbnail, with a graphic of a toy ball. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

Bugs have to pay attention to the weather, too.
Scarf Song: Rain Is Falling Down
Rain is falling down (flutter scarf down) –
SPLASH! (sweep scarf to the side)
Rain is falling down – SPLASH!
Pitter patter pitter patter (wave scarf up and down quickly)
Rain is falling down – SPLASH!

Sun is peeking out – PEEK! (hide behind scarf, then peek)
Sun is peeking out – PEEK!
Peeking here, peeking there,
Sun is peeking out – PEEK!
Source: Jbrary

Rain is falling down thumbnail, with a graphic of a sun peeking out from behind a raincloud, both with faces. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

Here’s a song about a spider who goes UP and DOWN. Can you make your scarf into a spider?
This was pretty easy to convert to a scarf song – we gripped our scarves in the middle to simulate a spider, climbed her up the spout, then the scarf becomes the rain falling. I held both ends above my head to make the sun before making a spider again.
Scarf Song: The Itsy Bitsy Spider 
The itsy bitsy spider climbed up the water spout
Down came the rain and washed the spider out
Up came the sun and dried up all the rain
So the itsy bitsy spider climbed up the spout again
Source: traditional

the itsy bitsy spider thumbnail, with a graphic of a smiling spider next to a rain gutter attached to a red brick wall. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

Can you scrunch up your scarf in your hands and get small? We’re going to start this rhyme very quietly! Pretend to be a jumping spider!
Scarf Rhyme: Jack in the Box
Jack in the box (scrunch scarf up in fist)
Sits so still
Will he come out?
Yes, he will! (throw scarf in the air)
Source: Jbrary

jack in the box thumbnail, with a graphic of a colorful jester's head coming out of a box with a crank. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

After collecting our props, we released to stations! I let everyone know that I’d put out toys and puzzles in the current room, so they could stay if they wanted, and opened the door to the other room for everyone else to go to stations. I’m noticing that some of the youngest kiddos are staying to just play with toys the whole time and not bothering with stations, which is totally fine.

Art Station: Fingerprint Ladybug Bookmark
My colleague Ali created this, drawing all of the little bugs! She said it was okay to share the template, which you can download here! Kids could stamp their fingerprints to make the ladybug bodies. We put out just a couple of colors – red, orange, and purple. Such a cute and simple craft!

love bug bookmark, one with red stamped ladybugs and one with orange. each says "I will always be your love bug"
finger print art station, showing messy trays holding a bookmark with ladybug heads and spots that says "I will always be your love bug." Large stamp pads are on the table, as well as a package of wet wipes.

Gross Motor Stations: Flower Pistil Leap
We encouraged kids to buzz like a bee or flit like a butterfly from one flower to another for this simple station. Photographs of flower blooms were laminated and stuck to the floor with painter’s tape.

flower pistil leap station, with printed and laminated flowers in a zigzag pattern on the floor.

Fine Motor Station: Sorting Stations
We put out several sorting stations on the rug for multiple kids to enjoy at once. One was a repeat from last week – the craft stick sort. There’s also a ball sort and drop that I have used for several summers past (made with Baker and Taylor boxes, RIP). The instructions I used to make them are from the Taming Little Monsters blog. Then Ali created a spider sorting box – it’s long and skinny and she drew adorable spiders coming down. Each spider body is a hole outlined in a color, and we provided pom poms to put through the holes.

craft stick sort and spider sort stations, with colored craft sticks to be put into small boxes with small color coded holes, and a long cardboard box with spiders drawn on the side and a tray of pom poms nearby. The spider bodies are outlined in a color and are a hole sized for a pom pom to fit in
ball sort station, with brown cardboard boxes with holes in the top, cut to have a "tray" where the balls can be retrieved.

Sensory Station 1: Bug Sensory Bins
Another fun sensory bin, this time with uncooked rice colored green, with various plastic bugs, pom poms, fake flowers and foliage, and collecting/viewing cups to capture the critters!

bug sensory bin showing green colored rice in a bin with fake flowers, foliage, pom poms, and plastic bugs.
bug sensory bin station, showing two bins on a fitted sheet held down by two tables.

Sensory Station 2:
We also put the colored rice in shallow messy trays with letter cards to encourage finger tracing for the older kiddos. I pulled out the letters A N T and B U G to get them started and set the rest of the letter cards to the side.

letter tracing, showing green colored rice in shallow messy trays. letter cards above the trays spell A N T and B U G, with other letter cards to the side.

Toys and Puzzles
Our regular baby toys and puzzles, as well as soft food, babies in a basket, and lacing cards came out as another option for play. I didn’t capture a picture of this one.

After 20 minutes of free station time, I ring our bell to gather everyone again in the storytime room. Everyone helps put away the toys and puzzles before we end with our last two songs.

Action Song: Zoom, Zoom, Zoom!*

zoom zoom zoom thumbnail, with a graphic of a rocket ship. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

Goodbye Song: See You Later Alligator*

See you later thumbnail, with a graphic of a green alligator, brown crocodile, ladybug, and jellyfish. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

Other books I had available for families to browse (and may work for you on this theme)
Bugs! Bugs! Bugs! – Bob Barner
Hustle Bustle Bugs – Catherine Bailey & Lauren Eldridge
The Gentleman Bug – Julian Hector
Hello Bugs, What Do You Do? – Loes Botman
A Way with Wild Things – Larissa Theule & Sara Palacios
Six Little Sticks – Tiffany Stone & Ruth Hengeveld
How to Say Hello to a Worm – Kari Percival
Beehive – Jorey Hurley
Step Gently Out – Helen Frost & Rick Lieder
Giant Steps – Anaïs Lambert & Johanna McCalmont
Bug in a Bog – Jonathan Fenske
Becoming Charley – Kelly DiPucchio & Loveis Wise
Holey Moley – Lois Ehlert
Du iz tak? – Carson Ellis
Bugs on the Move – Charlotte Guillain
The Honeybee – Kirsten Hall & Isabelle Arsenault
A Closer Look – Mary McCarthy
One Million Insects – Isabel Thomas & Lou Baker-Smith

This storytime was presented in-person on 5/13 & 5/14/26.

Storytime Handout:

handout with book suggestions, rhyme and song lyrics.

*Lyrics to these songs can be found on the Repeated Songs & Rhymes page.

† Click the image of rhyme/song sheets to download a non-branded PDF

cold crunchy colorful, hello ocean/hola mar, and here book covers

Stories & Stations: Five Senses

Posted on by msemilylibrary

I’ve never done a five senses storytime before, but doing it as a storytime with stations* was a perfect way to explore this concept! I had a lot of fun creating each of the stations, and they seemed to go over well.

*We are doing a new format for our storytimes in a transition period of personnel change and calling it Stories & Stations (you can read the whole saga of the whys and hows at this post.)

cold crunchy colorful book cover, showing photographs of ice cream, walnuts, and red and orange pansies
Hello Ocean/ Hola Mar book cover, showing a girl kneeling and examining a beach with the surf just behind her
here book cover, showing a light skinned child with short brown hair standing and looking up in a field with leaves around them.

Early Development Tip: You can encourage healthy brain development by helping your child explore their five senses. Talk with your child and see, hear, feel, smell, and listen to what is around you together. This will give them lots of new vocabulary to use to describe their world! –North Olympic (WA) Library System

Welcome Song: Hello, Friends* 
Even with a larger number of kids, I still go around and sing this with everyone’s name. The kids really do love it, and it helps me learn names and storytime participants to learn each others’ names.

Hello Friends rhyme sheet. Includes a smiling rainbow and two yellow ducks at the bottom. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

Warm Up Song: Wiggle and Wiggle and STOP*
This week I did “pat” (lap) and “clap” in addition to Wiggle.

we wiggle and stop thumbnail, with a graphic of two pink worms. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

Lifting Rhyme: Toast in the Toaster* 
Okay, this one *seems* to be better for younger kids, but all I have to do is encourage the older kids to jump as high as they can at the end and it is instantly perfect for a 5 year old, too. I always give the option for a lap bounce and lift as well.

Toast in the Toaster thumbnail, with a graphic of a toaster with a piece of bread hovering above it. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

Intro: Most people have five different ways to experience the world around us – we call them our senses! Our five senses help us to [put up flannel pieces] see with our eyes, to smell with our nose, to hear with our ears, to taste with our tongue, and to feel or touch – we can feel with our whole body, but when we want to feel something usually we will reach out our hands to touch it. (That’s why I used a hand here [flannel]). See the flannel below, and download a copy of the senses labels here.

Okay, let’s limber up all of our senses.
This is such a silly one! The kids loved the tongue calisthenics, so even though I felt silly doing it, seeing them giggle was worth it!
Themed Action Rhyme: Five Senses Stretch
Rub your hands to get some feeling
Stretch your ears to make sure you’re hearing
Sniff, sniff to test your smell [what do you smell?]
Sniff, sniff to test your smell [do you smell anything else?]
Blink, blink to test your sight [How many fingers am I holding up?]
Blink, blink to test your sight [NOW how many?]
Lastly, it’s time for some tongue push-ups! Ready…
Stick your tongue out!
Up down—up down!
Now left right—left right!
Round and round!
Source: Teeny Tiny Library

five senses stretch thumbnail, with a graphic of a tongue, eyes, ear, hand, and nose. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

Can we can identify what senses we would use for these things?
This was a great idea that I saw on The Lion is a Bookworm’s blog. You can essentially use any random flannels you have in your collection, which I did. I tried to choose at least one that incorporated all the senses (food items) and some that *excluded* at least one sense. So, you can’t smell or taste the sun, you probably wouldn’t want to taste your dog, you can’t see the wind – at least not the wind itself! So, you’d put up an item, then go through the senses: Can you see it? Can you hear it? Can you smell it? Can you touch it? Can you taste it? I love that this is a great activity to stimulate conversation and critical thinking. You can download my template for the senses words and symbols here!
Themed Flannel Game: Five Senses Flannel
Source: The Lion is a Bookworm

five senses flannelboard game - showing labels for see hear smell taste and touch, and flannels including an apple, dog, sun, pickup truck, flower, doughnut, and a symbol for the wind.

Transition: If You’re Ready for a Story*

A nonfiction title that’s simple and full of colorful photographs of real objects. This was a good one, but a little bit long. I noticed some kiddos getting antsy toward the end. 
Read: Cold, Crunchy, Colorful: Using Our Senses by Jane Brocket

cold crunchy colorful book cover, showing photographs of ice cream, walnuts, and red and orange pansies

I really love this book. It was a backup as I was thinking that the illustrations may be a little more difficult to see in a big group, but I kind of wish I had just gone for it.
Backup Read: Hello Ocean/Hola mar by Pam Muñoz Ryan & Mark Astrella

Hello Ocean/ Hola Mar book cover, showing a girl kneeling and examining a beach with the surf just behind her

A second back up. I liked how this one connected the five senses with mindfulness practice.
Backup Read: Here: I Can Be Mindful by Ally Condie & Jaime Kim

here book cover, showing a light skinned child with short brown hair standing and looking up in a field with leaves around them.

Let’s get out our shaker eggs! Okay, how can you make your shaker SOUND?
Time for props! We did the full song for this one, with all the verses. “Drive your shaker like a car” is my favorite line!
Shaker Song: Shake Your Shakers
(tune of London Bridge)
Shake your shakers in the air,
Shake it here, shake it there
Shake your shakers in the air,
Shake your shakers

additional verses:
Shake it high and shake it low, shake it yes, shake it no…
Shake it up and shake it down, shake your shaker on the ground…
Shake it near and shake it far, drive your shaker like a car…
Shake it fast and shake it slow, shake it stop, shake it go…
Source: Jbrary

shake your shakers thumbnail, with a graphic of three shaky eggs - blue, purple, and yellow. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

Mmm, a snack I love to TASTE is popcorn
Shaker Rhyme: Pop, Pop, Pop
Pop, pop, pop, Put the corn in the pot
Pop, pop, pop, Shake it ’til it’s hot
Pop, pop, pop, Lift the lid and what have you got?
Popcorn!
Source: Jbrary

pop pop pop thumbnail, with a graphic of a small pile of unpopped popcorn kernels and two popped. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

Shaker Song: Shake it to the East
Shake it to the east,
Shake it to the west
Shake it all around and
Then you take a rest
Shake your shakers up
Shake your shakers down
Shake it, shake it, shake it, and
Then you settle down!
Source: Jbrary

shake it to the east (egg edition) thumbnail, with a graphic of four kids - three dancing with maracas and one sitting with a book. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

Can we pretend we are making a tasty milkshake? How would yours smell? Taste like? Look like? Sound like? Feel?
Shaker Song: The Milkshake Song
You take a little milk – pour some milk!
And you take a little cream – pour some cream!
You stir it all up, You shake it and you’ll sing…
Milkshake, milkshake shake it up, shake it up!
Milkshake, milkshake shake it all up!
Milkshake, milkshake shake it up, shake it up!
Milkshake, milkshake shake it all up!
Source: Old Town School of Folk Music, from the album Songs for Wiggleworms via Jbrary

the milkshake song thumbnail, with a graphic of a tall pink milkshake with a straw, whipped cream, and a cherry. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

After collecting our props, we released to stations! I let everyone know that I’d put out toys and puzzles in the current room, so they could stay if they wanted, and opened the door to the other room for everyone else to go to stations. I’m noticing that some of the youngest kiddos are staying to just play with toys the whole time and not bothering with stations, which is totally fine.

Art Station: Scented Paint
I saw this idea at Play to Learn Preschool. She used baking extracts to make her paint scented, but that seemed a little expensive. I found these “super strength flavorings” intended for candy making that came in small containers, so I opted for them. They worked okay, but our tempera paint had its own fairly strong paint smell. I think that when the paint dried the scent was a little bit stronger, but honestly, it wasn’t as super strong as I’d hoped. I did stick to only three colors/scents so they weren’t overwhelming. The scents that came in the three pack were grape, strawberry, and watermelon. I paired grape with purple, strawberry with pink, and watermelon with green. It was a nice simple art station for free expression, even if the scents weren’t very strong. [You can see the squirrel from the scavenger hunt (see below) on the window here, too!]

scented paint sample, showing abstract pink swirls and dots.
scented paint station, with messy trays with blank paper, and small plates with three colors of paint and brushes.

Gross Motor Stations: Balance Beam
We have a rubber balance beam that we got from a Special Olympics Young Athlete’s grant. I’ve been starting to use the equipment as movement stations (you’ll see more of that in my summer programming), but it’s really nice to be able to use. For this station, I encouraged kids to use their sense of feeling and “sense of balance” to walk the balance beam, and if they wanted an extra challenge, they could do it while balancing a beanbag on their body somewhere. [You can see another scavenger hunt item (see below) – a pink car – in this picture, too!]

balance beam station, with an orange rubber balance beam on a rug, with a sign explaining what to do. a pile of bean bags is nearby.

Fine Motor Station: Craft Stick Sort
Kids could use their SIGHT to match the color of craft stick to the color coded hole in the box. This is a station I have used for summer for many years, and an easy add to this setup.

Craft stick sort station, showing colored craft sticks strewn on a table with two small boxes with color coded holes.

Sensory Stations: Five Senses Stations
This was the biggest part of the station set up and required the most pre-program prep. I had a separate station for each of the five senses. Inspiration for this drew heavily from this post on The Lion is a Bookworm blog.

See Station
For sight I created a scavenger hunt using random flannels from my collection. I put them up around the room with painter’s tape and they stayed up just fine for about a week. There were a few difficult-to-find ones, but I tried to make them pretty findable for littles. I chose ten items – Pete the Cat, a Lois Ehlert squirrel, a pink owl, a soccer ball, a pink car driven by a bunny, a red tractor, an orange stegosaurus, a purple elephant, a mint green fish, and a rainbow popsicle.

See sign: "use your EYES to find objects around the room. Grab a scavenger hunt key and check them off as you find them." a line drawing of two eyes is on the sign.
See station - showing a sign explaining a scavenger hunt, a basket of golf pencils, and a finding aid with a photo of each hidden image.

scavenger hunt finding aid, with a photograph of the flannels used with numbers beside each.

Hear Station
For hearing I put various items in paper bags and stapled them closed. The kids could shake the bags to guess what was inside. These included coins, jingle bells, cotton balls, Lego pieces, popcorn kernels, and rubber bands. I wrote what the answer was on the bottom of the bag.

Hear sign: "Use your EARS to guess what is in each container, based on the sound it makes when you shake it! Note to adults: the answers are on the bottom of the containers." a line drawing of an ear is on the sign.
hear station, with a sign explaining and six white paper bags that have been stapled shut

Smell Station
For smelling I used various scented items on a cotton ball in a small condiment cup for sniffing. These were vanilla extract, almond extract, coffee grounds, and lemon, cinnamon, and spearmint essential oils. I wrote what they were on masking tape labels on the bottom of each cup.

Smell sign: "Use your NOSE to guess what is in each container. Note to adults: the answers are on the bottom of the containers." a line drawing of a nose is on the sign.
Smell station, showing six small condiment cups. Each has a cotton ball - the sign prompts participants to smell each and guess what it is, with answers written on the bottom of the cups.

Taste Station
For taste I wanted to provide something to actually taste, but I didn’t want to give anyone with allergies any trouble. Per The Lion is a Bookworm blog, I used table salt, Country Time lemonade mix, and granulated sugar to represent salty, sour, and sweet! I got the smallest paper tasting cups I could find (1/2 oz) and just put a few granules in each one. I marked them 1, 2, and 3 and had a post it on the back of the sign holder to show adults what was in each. I set up this station on the counter next to our sink and also provided some disposable cups in case someone wanted to rinse out a taste! [You can see a little bit of Pete the Cat from the scavenger hunt in this photo.]

Taste sign. "Use your TONGUE to guess what is in each container. Note to adults: the answers are on the back of this sign." a line drawing of a mouth with a tongue sticking out is on the sign.
taste station, showing three messy trays with small tasting cups on them, labeled 1, 2, 3. A sign explains what to do, and there are styrofoam cups next to the nearby sink.

Touch Station
For the touch station, I just gathered a bunch of items with different textures! It was fun to choose. I tried finding things that were natural as well as synthetic. You could do LOTS with this one. The items I ended up with were: a dust mop head, a natural sponge, cardboard with the corrugation exposed and ridged craft paper (similar but different feels), a smooth polished rock and a rough rock, a feather, a bit of tree bark, cotton balls, a small branch with needles from a pine tree, and a sprig of a juniper bush.

touch sign: "Use your HANDS to feel these objects! Describe them with words like rough, smooth, soft, and hard." A line drawing of two hands is on the sign.
touch station showing a sign explaining, with various textured objects - a fuzzy mop head, natural sponge, ridged cardboard, smooth rock, feather, rough rock, tree bark, pine branch with needles, and cotton balls.

Toys and Puzzles
Our regular baby toys and puzzles, as well as soft food, babies in a basket, and lacing cards came out as another option for play. I didn’t capture a picture of this one.

After 20 minutes of free station time, I ring our bell to gather everyone again in the storytime room. Everyone helps put away the toys and puzzles before we end with our last two songs.

Action Song: Zoom, Zoom, Zoom!*

zoom zoom zoom thumbnail, with a graphic of a rocket ship. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

Goodbye Song: See You Later Alligator*

See you later thumbnail, with a graphic of a green alligator, brown crocodile, ladybug, and jellyfish. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

Other books I had available for families to browse (and may work for you on this theme)
Five for a Little One – Chris Raschka
I Hear a Pickle – Rachel Isadora
My Ocean Is Blue – Darren Lebeuf & Ashley Barron
A Sense of Red – Kate Riggs & Eleonora Pace
Baby Loves the Five Senses – Ruth Spiro & Irene Chan
Have You Ever Seen a Flower? – Shawn Harris
Stop and Smell the Cookies – Gibson Frazier & Micah Player
I Hear the Snow, I Smell the Sea – Janice Milusich & Chris Raschka
All Food Is Good Food – Molli Jackson Ehlert & Fanny Liem
Listen – Holly M. McGhee & Pascal Lemaître
Taking the Long Way Home – Jake Hope & Brian Fitzgerald
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? – Bill Martin, Jr. & Eric Carle

This storytime was presented in-person on 5/6/26.

Storytime Handout:

handout with book suggestions, rhyme and song lyrics.

*Lyrics to these songs can be found on the Repeated Songs & Rhymes page.

† Click the image of rhyme/song sheets to download a non-branded PDF

change starts with us and the earth book book cover gallery

Stories & Stations: Earth Day

Posted on by msemilylibrary

April 22 is Earth Day! Here is our Stories & Stations* storytime, planned by my wonderful colleague (we alternate planning weeks.) There were a few activities that were planned but for time reasons weren’t ready, so we made adaptations. It was a good reminder that our families like the experience of storytime, and they roll with us on our themes, but all the theming is really more for our ease of planning and not really something our 2- and 3-year-olds care about. It’s okay to repeat activities. It’s okay to go off-theme. Everything we do should be to promote early literacy and associate the library and books with fun, and all the rest is icing!

This week’s prop was beanbags, which I don’t use often enough in my regular storytimes! It was really great to see everyone shaking, tossing, and balancing their beanbags and having a really fun time with them.

See another version of this theme from 2021.

*We are doing a new format for our storytimes in a transition period of personnel change and calling it Stories & Stations (you can read the whole saga of the whys and hows at this post.)

change starts with us book cover, showing five children doing various things with the earth, including planting a tree, throwing away recycling, and holding protest signs.
the earth book book cover, showing a large picture of the planet earth with a heart on it and being held by two children.

Early Development Tip: Moving to music, dancing, swaying, running, and jumping help young children feel rhythm and begin to understand how their bodies work. Such movements also help them gain muscle control and improve their balance, which all contributes to your child’s gross motor development. –from The Early Literacy Kit: A Handbook and Tip Cards by Betsy Diamant-Cohen & Saroj Ghoting

Welcome Song: Hello, Friends* 
Even with a larger number of kids, I still go around and sing this with everyone’s name. The kids really do love it, and it helps me learn names and storytime participants to learn each others’ names.

Hello Friends rhyme sheet. Includes a smiling rainbow and two yellow ducks at the bottom. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

Warm Up Song: Wiggle and Wiggle and STOP*
This week I did “Stomp” and “Roll” (arms) in addition to Wiggle.

we wiggle and stop thumbnail, with a graphic of two pink worms. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

Lifting Rhyme: Toast in the Toaster* 
Okay, this one *seems* to be better for younger kids, but all I have to do is encourage the older kids to jump as high as they can at the end and it is instantly perfect for a 5 year old, too. I always give the option for a lap bounce and lift as well.

Toast in the Toaster thumbnail, with a graphic of a toaster with a piece of bread hovering above it. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

Intro: Today is a very special day called Earth Day! Our Earth gives us so many wonderful gifts: the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the crunchy apples we eat for a snack. Today people all over the world are on a mission to be kind to our Earth. We might check the ground for “lost” trash, or turn off the lights when we’re not home – there are lots of actions we can take to help keep our world clean, green, and beautiful.

Let’s start with a story about things we can do to help the Earth.
Sometimes it just makes more sense to start with our book and then go to the themed activity.
Transition: If You’re Ready for a Story*

Even though this is a board book, it is a relatively large format one, so it still works for reading to a group. It’s cute and age appropriate, although I always skip the page about eating less meat that shows a barnyard scene. It just feels a little too omnivore-shaming – I don’t disagree with the sentiment, but I wish the illustration featured a plate full of vegetables instead. 
Read: Change Starts with Us by Sophie Beer

change starts with us book cover, showing five children doing various things with the earth, including planting a tree, throwing away recycling, and holding protest signs.

I read this title for my evening program, and it worked okay. Some of the points made feel just a little too simplified.
Read: The Earth Book by Todd Parr

the earth book book cover, showing a large picture of the planet earth with a heart on it and being held by two children.

Here’s an old song about loving our Earth. Someone wrote a new verse for Earth Day – let’s sing them both together!
Ukulele Song: This Land Is Your Land (Earth Day Edition)
This land is your land, This land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream Waters
This land was made for you and me

This land is your land, This land is my land
Let’s work together to make it better
From the tall green forests to the clear blue waters
This land depends on you and me
Source: Woodie Guthrie, Earth Day verse from Santa Clarita Public Library

Get a downloadable ukulele songsheet for “This Land Is Your Land” here!

thumbnail of ukulele songsheet for this land is your land

this land is your land thumbnail, with a graphic of an earth with clouds. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

Let’s get out some beanbags! Let’s see, can you gently toss your beanbag and catch it? Okay, can you let your beanbag drop to the ground? How about tossing it from one hand to the other – if you can’t toss, then try just moving it from hand to hand. Okay, you are ready for our first beanbag rhyme!
I’ve adapted the traditional Tommy Thumbs rhyme for different uses – like for egg shakers and scarves. It also works for beanbags, but the motions are a little bit different since they are especially fun to toss and drop.
Beanbag Rhyme: Beanbags Up
Beanbags up (toss gently)
Beanbags down (let drop)
Beanbags dancing all around (toss from hand to hand)
Beanbags on your shoulder
Beanbags on your head
Beanbags on your tummy
And tuck them into bed! (between two hands)
Source: adapted from the traditional Tommy Thumbs

beanbags up thumbnail, with a graphic of four square beanbags: yellow, purple, red, and blue. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

Earth Day is a great time to celebrate all the animals of the planet. How about the frog? Can you pretend your beanbag is a frog?
We start by bouncing our “frogs” on our toes – at the end, I made my frog jump extra high on the “Ribbit!” Then you can move to any other body parts.
Beanbag Song: Froggy’s Hopping
(tune of Round the Mulberry Bush)
Froggy’s hopping on my toes
On my toes, on my toes
Froggy’s hopping on my toes…
RIIIIIIBBIT!
Source: Allegan District (MI) Library

froggy's hopping thumbnail, with a graphic of a green frog about to land from a hop. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

Mmm, the earth provides so many delicious things to eat! Can you pretend your beanbag is an apple now?
Beanbag Rhyme: Way Up High in the Apple Tree
Way up high in the apple tree (beanbags/fists up)
Two red apples smiled at me (wiggle apples)
I shook that tree as hard as I could (shaking motion)
Down came the apples… (beanbags/fists fall)
And mmm, they were good! (rub tummy)
Source: traditional

way up high in the apple tree thumbnail, with a graphic of a tree with two red apples in it. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

Okay, it’s beanbag hard mode now! Can you balance your beanbag on your head?! If that’s too difficult, you can try balancing it on your hand, instead.
Beanbag Rhyme: Walk Along the Tightrope
With my bean bag on my head
I stand so very tall
I walk along my tightrope
And will not let it fall
Source: Allegan District (MI) Library

walk along the tightrope thumbnail, with a graphic of a figure on a tightrope and a child balancing a beanbag on their head. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

After collecting our props, we released to stations! I let everyone know that I’d put out toys and puzzles in the current room, so they could stay if they wanted, and opened the door to the other room for everyone else to go to stations. I’m noticing that some of the youngest kiddos are staying to just play with toys the whole time and not bothering with stations, which is totally fine.

Art Station: Fingerprint Stamped Flowers
I think originally we were planning to use actual flowers on the stamp pad, but that seemed too fragile for a bunch of kids to cycle through. So instead, we made flowers using our own fingerprints! We have these large stamp pads that are perfect for this sort of craft. This was a nice one since it didn’t require a lot of clean up (like the paint crafts from the last few weeks!)

Craft showing a stamped hand in green. Each finger tip has a flower stamped in different colors.
art station with paper, stamp pads, and baby wipes.

Gross Motor Stations: Walk the Plank
I think this was originally going to be a different activity, but we just grabbed a sign from a previous program (Oceans of Possibilities) and taped a line on the floor. Kids still enjoyed it!

walk the plank activity, showing a blue taped line on the floor and a sign

Gross Motor Station 2: Animal Habitat Building
Another borrow, this time from the Baby Animals program a few weeks ago. We got out our big blocks (like Legos, but much bigger!) to build habitats for some of our animal puppets. I love how the kids can be so creative in what they build with fairly limited materials.

blocks and puppets on a rug

Fine Motor Station 1: Seed Sorting & Cut the Grass
This was a re-use of two stations from the Garden program. It’s always good to have several activities available!

table showing a seed sorting station on one side and a cut the grass (construction paper) on the other.

Sensory Station: Kinetic Sand
Another quick one from the past is kinetic sand – and it’s always a hit. We had some little colorful animal figurines that were hidden in the sand.

Kinetic sand station, with two bins on top of a fitted sheet held down by two tables.
closeup of a kinetic sand bin, showing the bin, some plastic shovels, and plastic animals

Toys and Puzzles
Our regular baby toys and puzzles, as well as soft food, babies in a basket, and lacing cards came out as another option for play. I didn’t capture a picture of this one.

After 20 minutes of free station time, I ring our bell to gather everyone again in the storytime room. Everyone helps put away the toys and puzzles before we end with our last two songs.

Action Song: Zoom, Zoom, Zoom!*

zoom zoom zoom thumbnail, with a graphic of a rocket ship. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

Goodbye Song: See You Later Alligator*

See you later thumbnail, with a graphic of a green alligator, brown crocodile, ladybug, and jellyfish. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

Other books I had available for families to browse (and may work for you on this theme)
To Change A Planet – Christina Soontornvat & Rahele Jomepour Bell
Thank You, Earth – April Pulley Sayre
The Earth Book – Todd Parr
My Friend Earth – Patricia MacLachlan & Francesca Sanna
Stand Up! Speak Up! – Andrew Joyner
We Are Water Protectors – Carole Lindstrom & Michaela Goade
Milk and Juice – Meredith Crandall Brown
Sea Bear: A Journey for Survival – Lindsay Moore
What a Wonderful World – Bob Thiele, George David Weiss & Tim Hopgood
The Old Boat – Jarrett Pumphrey & Jerome Pumphrey
Lights Out – Marsha Diane Arnold & Susan Reagan
Earth Day – Emma Carlson Berne & Mike Bundad
Go Green With Sesame Street – Jennifer Boothroyd & Mary Lindeen
A Little Round Panda on the Big Blue Earth – Tory Christie & Luciana Navarro Powell
Home – Matt De La Peña & Loren Long
What Does It Mean to be Green? – Rana DiOrio & Addy Rivera Sonda
On Earth – G. Brian Karas
A Pocket Full of Rocks – Kristin Mahoney & E.B. Goodale
I Love Our Earth – Bill Martin Jr, Michael Sampson, Dan Lipow
Home – Isabelle Simler

This storytime was presented in-person on 4/22 & 4/23/26.

Storytime Handout:

handout with book suggestions, rhyme and song lyrics.

*Lyrics to these songs can be found on the Repeated Songs & Rhymes page.

† Click the image of rhyme/song sheets to download a non-branded PDF

up down and around and goodnight veggies book covers

Stories & Stations: Garden

Posted on by msemilylibrary

This week we celebrated spring with a gardening theme! We are doing a new format for our storytimes in a transition period of personnel change and calling it Stories & Stations (you can read the whole saga of the whys and hows at my last post.)

I had worked with a community member earlier in the year to do a one-off all-ages drop-in evening program about gardens, so I reused some of those activities in the planning for this, and added a few others. Gardens and gardening is a fun theme – you can talk about flowers, vegetables, bugs, dirt, weather, the earth, and the environment – so many possibilities!

See another version of this theme from 2021.

up down, and around book cover, showing kids by a large corn stalk
goodnight, veggies book cover, showing a cutaway side vew of a garden, with two beets on either side of a worm wearing a sneaker and hat.

Early Development Tip: Helping children hear the smaller sounds in words, the syllables, by clapping them out is one way to develop their phonological awareness. Children can hear the syllables more easily than each individual sound in words. –from The Early Literacy Kit: A Handbook and Tip Cards by Betsy Diamant-Cohen & Saroj Ghoting

Welcome Song: Hello, Friends* 
Even with a larger number of kids, I still go around and sing this with everyone’s name. The kids really do love it, and it helps me learn names and storytime participants to learn each others’ names.

Hello Friends rhyme sheet. Includes a smiling rainbow and two yellow ducks at the bottom. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

Warm Up Song: Wiggle and Wiggle and STOP*
This week I went with garden themed actions so in addition to wiggling, we also did “dig” and “pick” – digging was a little frenetic, which is fun, but for “pick” I said that we’re picking some delicate berries, so we were very fastidious! Spinning the actions in different ways (do it slowly! Make your voice quieter! Pick as high up on the berry bush as you can!) is a great way to give this song some dynamics.

we wiggle and stop thumbnail, with a graphic of two pink worms. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

Lifting Rhyme: Toast in the Toaster* 
Okay, this one *seems* to be better for younger kids, but all I have to do is encourage the older kids to jump as high as they can at the end and it is instantly perfect for a 5 year old, too. I always give the option for a lap bounce and lift as well.

Toast in the Toaster thumbnail, with a graphic of a toaster with a piece of bread hovering above it. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

Intro: Today we’re talking about gardens and gardening. It’s fun to grow plants and this is the time of year we see little plants start to grow. In a garden, you can grow flowers or vegetables or fruit. Do any of you have a garden at home?

A garden can attract a lot of wildlife! Let’s see who else is enjoying our veggies!
I made this flannel set awhile ago, it’s always nice to get more use out of them. For time, I only did the frog, crow, mouse, and worm.
Guessing Game: Something In My Garden
There’s something in my garden, Now, what can it be?
There’s something in my garden,That I can’t really see.
I hear its funny sound…. RIBBIT – RIBBIT – RIBBIT
A … FROG is what I found! RIBBIT – RIBBIT – RIBBIT

Repeat with other animals found in a garden.
Ribbit – Frog – bugs from a lettuce plant
Thump – Rabbit – nibbling a carrot
Squeak – Mouse – tasting a blackberry
Caw – Crow – pecking at some corn
Buzz – Bee – gathering pollen from a flower
Wiggle – Worm – chewing an old leaf
Flutter – Butterfly – sipping nectar from a hyacinth
Source: Storytime Katie

Laminated printed "flannel" showing a frog, lettuce plant that has bugs on it, rabbit, carrot, crow, corn, mouse, blackberry, worm, flat brown leaf, hyacinth flower, bee, and butterfly.

something in my garden thumbnail, with a graphic of a rabbit hiding behind some carrot greens and a frog behind some lettuce. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

Let’s play a game with some gardening words. We are listening for the syllables that make up the words – a syllable has the smaller sounds in words.
I planned to do garden, flower, worm, vegetable, but was running behind so we only did garden and vegetable!
Word Game: Super Duper
Super duper, 1 – 2 – 3
Can you say this word with me?
Say it! Clap it! Pat it! Tap it! Whisper it! Shout it!
Practice words and separate the syllables for great early learning!
Source: Betsy Diamant-Cohen & Saroj Ghoting

super duper thumbnail, with a graphic of a red and yellow diamond shaped superhero insignia with the word wow in the middle. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

Transition: If You’re Ready for a Story*

This is an oldie but a goodie, and I make it interactive by telling the group to either stand up or raise their arms when I say UP, crouch or touch the floor when I say DOWN, and either spin their bodies or their arms when I say ALL AROUND.
Read: Up, Down, and Around by Katherine Ayres & Nadine B Westcott

up down, and around book cover, showing kids by a large corn stalk

Another awesome title for my backup – I love the illustrations so much, especially that cool worm with his knee sock, sneaker, and hat.
Read: Goodnight, Veggies by Diana Murray & Zachariah OHora

goodnight, veggies book cover, showing a cutaway side vew of a garden, with two beets on either side of a worm wearing a sneaker and hat.

Let’s get out our ribbons! I know a song about a little teapot, do you? I was thinking about gardening, and something we use in the garden also has a handle and a spout – a watering can! So let’s be watering cans to help our gardens grow.
We go straight to our props after the book! This week was our wrist ribbons. There’s no need to theme these prop activities, but if I can find some kind of thread, I can’t help myself. I kind of balled up the ribbons in my hand until the last line and let them be the “water” coming out. I am sure someone else could change the “steamed up” line to be more like a watering can, but I never got there.
UPDATE: Miss Liz from the Bethel Library in CT sent me her PERFECT words to replace the “steamed up” line. Thank you, Miss Liz! I’ve updated the rhyme sheet.
Ribbon Song: I’m a Little Water Can
I’m a little water can short and stout
Here is my handle, here is my spout
When I get all steamed up then I shout:
When it’s time to water then I shout:
“Tip me over and pour me out!”
Source: adapted from the traditional, with help from Miss Liz from the Bethel Library (CT)

i'm a little water can thumbnail, with a graphic of a yellow watering can tipped and watering a small sprout. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

I usually do this one as a shaker song, but it works just as well with scarves or ribbons.
Ribbon Song: Wave Your Ribbons High
(tune of Grand Old Duke of York)
You wave your ribbons high
You wave your ribbons low
You wave your ribbons fast, fast, fast
And then you wave them slow
Source: Harris County (TX) Public Library

wave your ribbons thumbnail, with a graphic of blue, yellow, and green ribbons. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

A garden needs pollinators like bees and butterflies!
This one was originally a beanbag rhyme. It works really well with ribbons or scarves, too! For the last line, we threw our ribbons up in the air and caught them.
Ribbon Rhyme: Butterfly, Butterfly
Butterfly, butterfly in the sky
Flap your wings and up you fly
Back and forth to and fro
Up, up, up and… Away you go!
Source: Evansville-Vanderburgh Co (IN) Public Library

butterfly butterfly thumbnail, with a graphic of a yellow and blue butterfly. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

King County shows the first two lines as a chorus repeated between every other two lines, but for time I just did it straight through. The tune I did was something akin to Going to Kentucky (which I think sounds like some traditional clapping/jump rope songs like Miss Lucy had a baby…)
Ribbon Song: I Have a Little Streamer
I have a little streamer, I wave it in the air
I wave it over here and I wave it over there
It can be a flag waving way up high
It can be a sailing ship slowly floating by
It can be a carousel going round and round
It can be a shooting star falling to the ground
It can be a branch swaying in the breeze
It can be a flying kite caught up in the trees
Source: King Co (WA) Library System

little streamer thumbnail, with a graphic of a pennant flag, a shooting star, and a kite. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

After collecting our props, we released to stations! I let everyone know that I’d put out toys and puzzles in the current room, so they could stay if they wanted, and opened the door to the other room for everyone else to go to stations. I’m noticing that some of the youngest kiddos are staying to just play with toys the whole time and not bothering with stations, which is totally fine.

Art Station: Garden Process Art
We cut the tops off brussels sprouts and celery into sticks to do some paint stamping, and also had brown paint and brushes and dried beans for kids to create their gardens however they liked. I was inspired by this post by Buggy and Buddy.

garden art station, with messy trays with brown construction paper, plates with paint, brussels sprouts and celery, and bowls with dried beans.

Gross Motor Stations: Weed Toss & Garden Yoga
This is just a beanbag toss game with a sign to help kids imagine their beanbags are weeds in the garden that need to be pulled and tossed into the bucket. I also had a poster with “Garden Yoga Poses” over by the rug, but I didn’t see anyone doing them and I forgot to get a picture. The free printable poster is from Childhood 101.

garden weed toss, showing beanbags and buckets with a sign on the wall explaining that the beanbags are weeds to pull and toss

Fine Motor Station 1: Seed Sorting
Someone put this container on the free table in our break room – it was originally for tea, and has six compartments in a box with a hinged lid. It was perfect for this! I printed some labels and added some dried seeds from our seed library and beans from the sensory bins. There were tongs for older kids to practice, but anyone could sort the seeds using their fingers, too.

seed sorting station, showing a box with 6 sections. a mix of seeds are in the two middle sections, and the four others are labeled: sweet corn, lima beans, pinto beans, and black beans.

Fine Motor Station 2: Match the Seed to the Plant
I did some extra stations since I had these activities leftover from the previous program. This was a set of cards that show a plant and a seed that could be matched. The cards are a free printable from Preschool Powol Packets. I did modify the cards: cards said something like “sunflowers” and “sunflower seeds” which felt too easy. I kept the label on the plant but removed it from the seeds.

Garden seed match card station, showing cards with either a plant or its seed for matching.

Fine Motor Station 3: Cut/Tear the Grass
I’ve used this activity before, and it’s a fun one. We put out safety scissors for the older kids, but younger ones can tear. It works on lots of developmental skills, including crossing the midline as well as pincer grip/scissor manipulation. Plus it’s fun to see what is hidden! I taped a few of the sheets to the edge of the table so they were vertical, but put the others down flat for varying ways to interact. Download a printable PDF of the artwork here!

cut the grass station, showing green construction paper sheets with 1 inch strips cut halfway down to make grass. Underneath are papers with various things that may be found in grass: flowers, apples, bugs, etc.

green construction paper sheets with 1 inch strips cut halfway down to make grass. Underneath are papers with various things that may be found in grass: flowers, apples, bugs, etc. Pictured is a leaf and a pillbug

Sensory Station: Garden Sensory Bins
I made these for that earlier program (mentioned in the intro, above) and I knew we had a garden theme planned, so I’d saved everything, making this a really easy station! The “dirt” was made of a mix of dried black beans and pinto beans (giving it a look of potting mix with perlite in it) and added various “garden” things like shovels, fake flowers and foliage, plastic bugs and critters like frogs and salamanders, little seed starter peat pots, pom poms. Like last week’s kinetic sand station, I put this one on a fitted sheet held down by two tables to make cleanup easier.

garden sensory bin, showing two bins on a fitted sheet with black beans and various gardening toys like shovels, plastic bugs, fake flowers, plant labels, and small seed starter containers

Toys and Puzzles
Our regular baby toys and puzzles, as well as soft food, babies in a basket, and lacing cards came out as another option for play. I didn’t capture a picture of this one.

After 20 minutes of free station time, I ring our bell to gather everyone again in the storytime room. Everyone helps put away the toys and puzzles before we end with our last two songs.

Action Song: Zoom, Zoom, Zoom!*

zoom zoom zoom thumbnail, with a graphic of a rocket ship. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

Goodbye Song: See You Later Alligator*

See you later thumbnail, with a graphic of a green alligator, brown crocodile, ladybug, and jellyfish. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

Other books I had available for families to browse (and may work for you on this theme)
Miguel’s Community Garden – JaNay Brown-Wood & Samara Hardy
Lola Plants a Garden – Anna McQuinn & Rosalind Beardshaw
Here Are the Seeds – JaNay Brown-Wood & Olivia Amoah
How to Say Hello to a Worm – Kari Percival
No Nibbling! – Beth Ferry & AN Kang
Prunella – Beth Ferry & Claire Keane
Flower Garden – Eve Bunting & Kathryn Hewitt
My Garden – Kevin Henkes
Planting a Rainbow – Lois Ehlert
Jayden’s Impossible Garden – Mélina Mangal & Ken Daley
Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt – Kate Messner & Christopher Silas Neal
Everything Grows in Jiddo’s Garden – Jenan A. Matari & Aya Ghanameh
The Hidden Rainbow – Christie Matheson
Uncle John’s City Garden – Bernette G. Ford & Frank Morrison
No, No, Gnome! – Ashlyn Anstee
See Marcus Grow – Marcus Bridgewater & Reggie Brown

This storytime was presented in-person on 4/15/26.

Storytime Handout:

handout with book suggestions, rhyme and song lyrics.

*Lyrics to these songs can be found on the Repeated Songs & Rhymes page.

† Click the image of rhyme/song sheets to download a non-branded PDF

I was born a baby and animals move book covers

Stories & Stations: Baby Animals

Posted on by msemilylibrary

My library is in a transition time. Our longtime and beloved preschool programmer just retired after more than 40 years! We won’t be hiring her replacement for several months, so we are doing some creative programming solutions. Rather than splitting age groups for Itty Bitty (0-3.5) and Preschool (3.5-6) ages as we have up until now, my Itty Bitty colleague and I are increasing our capacity and offering storytime for ages 0-5 until the end of summer. To streamline and make it relevant to that wider age range, we changed our format to “Stories & Stations,” using my summer programming formula as a basis. We’ll be indoors in April and May, and outdoors (as weather permits) in June and July.

So, what does that mean? Instead of a 45 minute storytime (which included a craft and playtime), we are doing just 15-20 minutes of traditional storytime activities and then doing 20 minutes of exploring various stations in a more free-form way. That helps with breaking up a bigger group. We are fortunate to have two children’s storytime rooms that adjoin and have a temporary wall and pass-through door. That gives us a lot of flexibility. We ultimately decided to keep the wall closed and keep the storytime portion in one room and the stations in the other, opening the door when we are ready to release to stations.

We also decided to go “light” on our themes – really only having one or two truly themed songs/rhymes during the storytime portion and a themed book, then moving to props and songs that work well for them regardless of whether they’re on theme or not. I realize a lot of libraries do this already!

For the stations portion, we planned four stations in the second room: art, gross motor, fine motor, and sensory. Then we put out our baby toys and wooden puzzles in the storytime room as another station. This spread out the group enough that everyone got a chance to try different things and not feel crowded doing it.

Our first session was around Easter, so we chose “baby animals” as the theme. It was my colleague’s turn to do the planning, and we have both enjoyed how easy it is to put together a plan with this new template. Baby animals was a cute and fun theme (and one I’ve never done before), and the plan worked well for our older newcomers as well as our tried-and-true itty bitties. We had to do some tweaking on timing, but stations were all received well and everyone seemed to have a good time.

I was born a baby book cover, showing a small Black boy in a diaper only, with various baby animals standing behind him, including a cow calf, fawn, piglet, bear cub, rabbit kit, and horse foal.
animals move book cover, showing a photograph of a kitten pouncing in a meadow

Early Development Tip: Musical activities stimulate the auditory cortex and language centers in the brain. When children listen to and create rhythms, they’re engaging the same brain processes needed for decoding language. –My Little Conservatory

Welcome Song: Hello, Friends* 
Even with a larger number of kids, I still go around and sing this with everyone’s name. The kids really do love it, and it helps me learn names and storytime participants to learn each others’ names.

Hello Friends rhyme sheet. Includes a smiling rainbow and two yellow ducks at the bottom. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

Warm Up Song: Wiggle and Wiggle and STOP*
I’ve used this as my warm-up song every summer for a few years! We decided with the broader age range to put “Wake Up Feet” on hold as it skews a bit younger. Wiggle and STOP is one everyone enjoys! I realized after re-watching the Jbrary video that I’ve morphed into a different tune. One of these days I’ll record my version. I have been doing “Wiggle” and two other verses/actions that change each week. Some options are jump, twirl, run, splash, hop, swim, stretch, stomp, wave, sway, march, lean, roll [arms,] hug, but you can really use any action here!

we wiggle and stop thumbnail, with a graphic of two pink worms. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

Lifting Rhyme: Toast in the Toaster* 
Okay, this one *seems* to be better for younger kids, but all I have to do is encourage the older kids to jump as high as they can at the end and it is instantly perfect for a 5 year old, too. I always give the option for a lap bounce and lift as well.

Toast in the Toaster thumbnail, with a graphic of a toaster with a piece of bread hovering above it. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

Intro: Spring is here, and this is the time of year that many animals will have their babies! Did you know that most animals have a special name we use for their babies? Who knows what a baby cat is called? A kitten! A baby owl is called an owlet, and he likes to stay in the nest until he’s ready to fly. A tiny kangaroo is a joey, and when she travels, she sits in her mama’s pouch. And a baby goat is called a kid (just like you!) Learning their names helps us understand how every big animal started out small.

Let’s see if you can guess the names of these animals.
My colleague had both some printed photographs of baby animals and she also made a flannel that highlighted the babies in their natural habitats. We talked about the photos and then she had a very cute guessing game rhyme for the habitats. I unfortunately forgot about the rhymes and didn’t have them printed out, so I just showed the animals and asked them to guess the baby names – which were not easy! It was good to have a few stumpers – I think everyone learned something! Rabbit was maybe the most surprising. I noted that we sometimes call a baby rabbit a bunny, but that’s really just a nickname. Rabbit babies are actually called kits! The flannel she made for this was really beautiful, too.
Flannel Game: Guess that Animal
My baby is called a tadpole.
I have four legs that help me jump.
I like to live near ponds and rivers.
I say “ribbit”.
What am I? A frog!

My baby is called a kit.
I have four legs.
I like to eat carrots.
I am small and fast.
What am I? A rabbit!

My baby is called a calf.
I have four legs.
I have a trunk that I use to grab my food.
I am big and gray.
What am I? An elephant!

My baby is called a pup.
I live in the ocean.
I have fins and a tail.
I’m a carnivore. I like to eat meat.
What am I? A shark!
Source: Ms Ali

printed cards of photos of baby animals - a kitten, puppy, lamb, calf, and chicks.

animal habitat flannel showing a pond with lily pad, a meadow with flowers, a savannah with acacia tree, and ocean with small school of fish
animal habitat flannel revealing animals: frog on the lily pad, a rabbit in the meadow, an elephant on the savannah, and shark in the ocean

What if we had a whole farm of baby animals?
I think we ended up doing 3 or 4 verses total. The phrasing was a little awkward, but it almost made it even more silly fun!
Themed Song: Old MacDonald Had a Baby Farm
Old MacDonald had a baby farm, E-I-E-I-O!
And on that farm he had a puppy, E-I-E-I-O!
With a woof, woof here
And a woof, woof there
Here a woof, there a woof,
Everywhere a woof, woof!
Old MacDonald had a baby farm, E-I-E-I-O!

Additional verses:
kitten – meow, lamb – baa, calf – moo, chicks – cheep, foal – neigh
Source: adapted from traditional

old macdonald had a baby farm thumbnail, with a graphic of a red barn. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

Transition: If You’re Ready for a Story*

This title would be a little long for the youngest group, but with a mixed group it seemed to work okay.
Read: I was Born a Baby by Meg Fleming & Brandon James Scott

I was born a baby book cover, showing a small Black boy in a diaper only, with various baby animals standing behind him, including a cow calf, fawn, piglet, bear cub, rabbit kit, and horse foal.

A neat back up – the photographs are pretty cool, and there were some very unusual babies, like porcupettes. It also has a built-in interactive element with all the movement!
Read: Animals Move by Jane Whittingham

animals move book cover, showing a photograph of a kitten pouncing in a meadow

Let’s get our scarves out now. Baby animals love to play! Can we roly poly our scarves like a baby puppy likes to roll in the grass?
We go straight to our props! There’s no need to theme these, but if I can find some kind of thread, I’ll make it! My coworker did this one like Jbrary does, to the tune of Frere Jacques, but I do it more as a chant like I saw in a video from storyteller Rebecca Jane Flanagan.
Scarf Rhyme: Roly Poly
(roll scarf accordingly)
Roly poly, roly, poly, up, up, up
Roly poly, roly, poly, down, down, down
Roly poly, roly, poly, out, out, out
Roly poly, roly, poly, in, in, in
Roly poly, roly, poly, BIG, BIG, BIG
Roly poly, roly, poly, very, very small
Roly poly, roly, poly, fast, fast, fast, fast, fast!
Rol…ly… po…ly… in… your… lap!
Source: Rebecca Jane Flanagan

roly poly thumbnail, with a graphic of a toy ball. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

Let’s have a snack. Ms. Ali says that before it becomes popcorn, we have baby kernels!
Scarf Song: Popcorn Kernels
(tune of Frère Jacques)
Popcorn kernels, popcorn kernels (wave scarves overhead)
In the pot, in the pot (bunch up scarf in your fist)
Shake them, shake them, shake them!
Shake them, shake them, shake them! (shake)
‘Til they POP! ‘Til they POP! (toss scarves up into the air)
Source: Jbrary

popcorn kernels thumbnail, with a photograph of two popped popcorn kernels. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

Can you scrunch up your scarf in your hands and get small? We’re going to start this rhyme very quietly!
Scarf Rhyme: Jack in the Box
Jack in the box (scrunch scarf up in fist)
Sits so still
Will he come out?
Yes, he will! (throw scarf in the air)
Source: Jbrary

jack in the box thumbnail, with a graphic of a colorful jester's head coming out of a box with a crank. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

We had one more scarf song ready but I was out of time at this point, so I skipped it!
Scarf Song: Fish In The Sea
(tune of Wheels on the Bus)
Fish in the sea go swish, swish, swish,
swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish
Fish in the sea go swish, swish, swish
All day long

additional verses:
Dolphins in the sea swim round and round
Waves on the sea go up and down
Source: Jbrary

Fish in the sea thumbnail, with a graphic of waves at the bottom and photos of a clownfish, small school of fish, dolphin and yellow tropical fish. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

Now we released to stations! I asked littles to come first, then the older kids, then I got out the toys and put them up in the storytime room for those who wanted to play right away.

Art Station: Sponge Paw Print Painting
My colleague cut out different kinds of animal prints from sponges, including birds, elephants, lizard/dino, humans, and die cut dog paws. We had art smocks and just let everyone make whatever they wanted from the sponge prints.

animal paw print art station showing a table with blank paper and paint, and on the wall is a sign for the station and examples of art
animal paw print art station table, with 8 messy trays and small plates with paint and sponges in the shape of different animal prints. there are art smocks on the chairs.

Gross Motor Station: Koala Swing
We have some small athletic cones, so this was basically a slalom, which turned into a Koala swing! Kids could grab a beanbag to be their koala joey and safely swing them from “tree” to “tree.”

koala swing station, showing athletic cones with pictures of trees on them

Fine Motor Station: Habitat Building
So this went through a bit of an evolution – I think the original idea was to make habitats with smaller materials, but it got changed to using our big blocks (like Legos, but much bigger!) to build habitats for some of our animal puppets. It was a very popular station, even if it was a little less “fine motor” skills. We are happy to be flexible and use the materials we have!

big blocks habitat station showing big legos on a rug with realistic animal puppets

Sensory Station: Animals on Vacation (Kinetic Sand)
Ha, so we didn’t feel like we really needed to theme every station, but this was just too good. We got out our kinetic sand from summers past and added our plastic farm animals for fun. Another very popular station.

kinetic sand station, showing a fitted sheet held down by two tables, and two clear bins with sand and plastic farm animal figurines

Toys and Puzzles
Our regular baby toys and puzzles, as well as soft food, babies in a basket, and lacing cards came out as another option for play. I didn’t capture a picture of this one.

After 20 minutes of free station time, I ring our bell to gather everyone again in the storytime room. Everyone helps put away the toys and puzzles before we end with our last two songs.

Action Song: Zoom, Zoom, Zoom!*

zoom zoom zoom thumbnail, with a graphic of a rocket ship. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

Goodbye Song: See You Later Alligator*

See you later thumbnail, with a graphic of a green alligator, brown crocodile, ladybug, and jellyfish. click the image to download a non-branded PDF

Other books I had available for families to browse (and may work for you on this theme)
Little Blue Truck’s Springtime – Alice Schertle & Jill McElmurry
Close Your Eyes: A Book of Sleepiness – Lori Haskins Houran & Sydney Hanson
Five Fuzzy Chicks – Diana Murray & Sydney Hanson
Pouch – David Ezra Stein
Puppies – Julie Murray
Baby Penguins Love Their Mama – Melissa Guion
Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother, Too? – Eric Carle
Hello, Baby! – Mem Fox & Steve Jenkins
Kitty’s Cuddles – Jane Cabrera
Baby Animals Moving – Suzi Eszterhas
Hello, Baby! I’m Your Mom – Eve Bunting & Jui Ishida
In Between – April Pulley Sayre
The Little Lamb – Phoebe Dunn
Loon Baby – Molly Beth Griffin & Anne Hunter
Peep Leap – Elizabeth Verdick & John Bendall-Brunello
Sweetest Kulu – Celina Kalluk & Alexandria Neonakis

This storytime was presented in-person on 4/8/26.

Storytime Handout:

handout with book suggestions, rhyme and song lyrics.

*Lyrics to these songs can be found on the Repeated Songs & Rhymes page.

† Click the image of rhyme/song sheets to download a non-branded PDF

Summer Storytimes: Adventure Begins at Your Library

Posted on by msemilylibrary

Hello, again, readers! I hope you have had a wonderful summer, full of adventures and fun. We certainly did here at the library. I love summer, and everything it means at the library. Sometimes our negative feelings about summer reading as library staff can be in front of mind – it’s a lot of work, we’re out of our routines, we have a lot more people to manage with their needs and quirks and behaviors – it’s easy to get burnt out. But I love the summer reading season and I keep in mind that all that extra work, all that foot traffic and so on means that our library is an important part of our community. That means a lot in these uncertain days. And the smiles and appreciation of our patrons of all ages give me a lift every single day. So, fellow librarians, I hope you were able to take care of yourselves AND enjoy the vibrant chaos.

Our library generally uses the theme and graphics from the Collaborative Summer Library Program, or CSLP, a national initiative that helps libraries plan summer programming. This year’s theme was “Adventure Begins at Your Library.” Adventure is a broad theme! I used many of the weekly theme ideas from the CSLP manual and applied them to the framework I’ve been honing in the last couple of years: an outdoor storytime with sensory stations. It’s a big hit and I saw great numbers. All summer, I offered Family Time for ages 0-3.5 Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, with siblings welcome. As an organization we have also been working toward more weekend and evening programs, so there were a couple of those sprinkled in as well this year. I do have an indoor backup option when the weather is bad, so I still do registration and am limited by that, but it’s a bigger room than I usually use, so space isn’t generally an issue.

For each session, we had about 15-20 minutes of storytime rhymes, songs, and a book, including parachute play, then 20 minutes of free play at various sensory stations. We end with bubbles and a goodbye song. Stations are a really great way to promote socializing, practice skills like sharing and being gentle, and allow for unstructured play, which science tells us is so important to learning and development.

I only did one new station this year (in week 2, see below), the rest were all repeats from the last couple of years, which you can read about in depth at this blog post.

Photo showing the backs of families on a grassy yard on blankets and camp chairs. Emily is at the front (farthest in the picture) holding a ukulele.
I don’t think I took any photos this year, so here’s one from last year – same set-up!

I just learned how to set up anchor links, so click for the overall or specific themed activities!
Repeating Weekly Plan
Week 1: Travel Adventures
Week 2: Adventures Close to Home
Week 3: Adventures in Imagination
Week 4: Animal Adventures
Week 5: Adventures at Sea
Week 6: Adventures in Reading
Week 7: Adventures in the Dark

Sign showing "Storytime Area. Gather here at 10 AM for storytime. We will release to stations during the program. Thank you to grown-ups for keeping stations clear until the time is right" with graphics of various children sitting and reading.

Repeating Weekly Plan
Each week, the structure of the storytime was the same, with only three parts that changed depending on the theme: a themed song, a book, and one fresh parachute song. (Stations also changed weekly.) All the other songs and rhymes were the same:

Welcome Song: Hello, Friends
(tune of Goodnight, Ladies)
Hello, friends! Hello, friends!
Hello, friends, it’s time to say hello!
Hello, [name 1], hello, [name 2]!
Hello, [name 3], it’s time to say hello! (repeat as needed)
(ASL motions: salute for “hello,” then take the index fingers on each hand and you link them together as though they are hugging each other back and forth for “friends”)
Source: Glenside Public Library District

Warm-Up Rhyme: We Wiggle and Stop
(Use the ASL sign for the word “stop” – one hand “chops” across the opposite hand)
We wiggle and we wiggle and we STOP
We wiggle and we wiggle and we STOP
We wiggle and we wiggle and we wiggle and we wiggle
And we wiggle and we wiggle and we STOP
(We wiggled every week, but then added 2 more motions. Motions we did throughout the summer: jump, twirl, run, splash, hop, swim, stretch, stomp, wave, sway, march, lean, roll [arms,] hug)
Source: Jbrary

Intro: Our theme this summer is Adventure Begins at Your Library. Are you ready to go on an adventure? Short intro to the weekly theme (see below)

Themed Song (see below)

Transition Song: If You’re Ready for a Story
(tune of If You’re Happy and You Know It)
If you’re ready for a story, clap your hands (clap, clap)
If you’re ready for a story, clap your hands (clap, clap)
If you’re ready for a story, if you’re ready for a story,
If you’re ready for a story, clap your hands (clap, clap)
Source: Miss Keithia (my predecessor)

Themed Book (see below)

Parachute! What sorts of adventures can we have with our parachute?

Let’s head out on our adventure. Our road is going to start out very smooth. Can we wave the parachute slowly and gently?
Parachute: A Smooth Road
A smooth road! (repeat x4) (slowly, and gently)
[Uh, oh! Our road has turned a little bumpy! Can we wave the parachute medium-fast?]
A bumpy road! (x4) (a little faster)
[Oh, no! The road has gotten very rough!]
A rough road! (x4) (frantic waving of the parachute ensues!)
Oh, no! A hole! (lift the parachute up high and then down)
Source: Jbrary

Rotating Parachute Song (see below)

Breathing Break
Whew, I am out of breath! I’m ready for a breathing break. Let’s take a big breath in and lift the parachute up, then breathe out and lower it. We’ll repeat a few times.

At this point the kids are usually darting under the parachute, so I go with it!
Okay, if grown-ups can grab the edges of the parachute, kids can go underneath if they want (if you prefer to just watch from the outside, that’s always fine!)
This was originally intended to be a song where we walk around in a circle, but with the age of the kids, grown ups generally wanted to stay kind of close to where their kid was and not walk around. So we just waved up and down until the very end, where we pulled the parachute down (briefly) around the kids underneath. I also originally intended to do a second verse where we stood up, but I didn’t think it was a good idea for the kids to be trapped under the parachute for the length of a verse, so I never did it. It’s included here in case you were curious!
Parachute Song: Merry Go Round
(tune similar to Mulberry Bush, see link below for a recording)
The merry go round goes round and round (walk in a circle with parachute or wave it up and down)
The children laugh and laugh and laugh
So many were on the merry go round
The merry go round collapsed! (fall to the ground or bring parachute down)

(stand up verse)
Fishies in the ocean (stay crouched/fallen)
Fishies in the sea
We all jump up with a
1 2 3! (stand up)
Source: Read Sing Play

Okay, grown ups – for our last parachute song we’re going to let the parachute fly – so let go at the very end after we count down and I say “FLY.”
Parachute Song: Parachute Fly
(tune of Skip to my Lou)
(kids go under the parachute and adults raise and lower)
Up, up, up it goes,
Down, down, down so low
Raise our parachute to the sky
Count to 3 and watch it fly
Spoken:
Up on one…
Down on two…
Up on three…
and FLY! (adults let go and leader pulls ‘chute in to themselves)
Source: Gymboree

Release to Stations
I have eight stations each week, which involve a mixture of dry, wet, and art/creativity stations. We spend about 20 minutes before I ring the bell to call everyone back to the grassy area. See more detail here.

Everybody loves bubbles! The trick to doing bubbles outside is to figure out which way the wind is blowing and get upwind of your group!
Recorded Bubble Song: Pop, Pop, Pop by Nathalia
From the album “Dream a Little,” available on Spotify

CD album cover for Nathalia's Dream a Little

Goodbye Song: See You Later, Alligator
(tune of Clementine)
See you later, alligator (wave with one hand, then the other)
In a while, crocodile (open and shut arms like a croc’s mouth)
Give a hug, ladybug (hug yourself or a loved one)
Blow a kiss, jellyfish! MWAH! (move hand like a jellyfish then blow a kiss!)
Source: King County Library System

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Weekly Themes

Week 1: Travel Adventures 6/4, 6/5/24

Intro: This week we’re talking about travel adventures. Sometimes you think the adventure will happen when you reach your destination, but adventures can happen on the way, too!

I varied whether I did the themed song or the book first, just depending on what made the most sense to me.

Themed Read: Go, Go, Go! by Bob Barner There are lots of ways of going on an adventure!
This is a very simple book – a beginning reader – but I had the group do a noise and motion for each kind of vehicle, which made it very interactive.

book cover of go go go

Let’s get our own adventures underway!
Themed Song: Row, Row, Row Your Boat/Car/Plane/Bus
Row, row, row your boat (row arms)
Gently down the stream
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily
Life is but a dream!

Additional verses:
Drive, drive, drive your car (steering wheel arms)
Gently down the street…Life is but a treat

Fly, fly, fly your plane (airplane arms)
Gently in the sky…Watch the clouds go by

Drive, drive, drive your bus (big wide steering wheel)
Gently down the way
Stop to let some people out
To ride another day
Source: Grandview Heights Public Library
(this is the source I had in my notes, but I’m not finding a link now)

Parachute Song: The Wheels on the Bus
I used the verses that worked well with the parachute:
Wheels: we just flapped the parachute
Horn: We held the parachute taut and “beeped” our hand on it
Wipers: we swished the parachute from side to side
People: again, flapped the parachute up and down
Source: traditional

Week 1 Stations: (details here)
Pouring Station
Pool Noodle Soup
Fly Swatter Slap
Kinetic Sand
Sort Beanbags
Sort Craft Sticks
Color the Parachute
Ice Painting

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Week 2: Adventures Close to Home 6/10, 6/11, 6/12/24

Intro: This week we’re talking about adventures close to home. You can have an adventure in your backyard or close to home – camping, exploring, and more!

This is a fantastic book with a lot of opportunity for interaction. Whenever we said “Roll, roll, little pea” they joined and rolled their arms. They called out the animals on each page and we made their noise. Great storytime book.
This story is about a little pea who finds adventure wherever it rolls
Themed Read: Roll, Roll, Little Pea by Cécile Bergame & Magali Attiogbé

book cover of roll roll little pea

Let’s do a fingerplay about five plump peas.
Themed Rhyme: Five Plump Peas
Five plump peas in a peapod pressed (make a fist and cover with the other hand)
One grew, two grew, and so did all the rest (raise all fingers on first hand one by one)
they grew, and they grew, and they grew, and never stopped (hands get wide)
They grew SO BIG that the peapod… POPPED! (hands spread wide, then CLAP!)
Source: Jbrary

Since eyes, ears, mouth, and nose are all in the same place, I changed that line. We did this three times, getting faster!
Parachute Song: Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes
(move parachute to correct height)
Head, shoulders knees and toes, knees and toes
Head, shoulders knees and toes, knees and toes
Wave the parachute up and down
Head, shoulders knees and toes, knees and toes (repeat, faster)
Source: traditional

Week 2 Stations: (details here)
Pouring Station
Lemon Sensory Bin
Mystery Water
Kinetic Sand
Pool Noodle Sort
Feed the Croc
Color the Parachute
Spray Silhouettes

New Station: Spray Silhouettes!
I used liquid watercolors in spray bottles and provided a myriad of shapes to create negative image artwork. Some of the shapes were plastic food, big puzzle pieces, the shapes from a baby toy sorter, and duplos. Basically anything I could find that could lay mostly flat and be okay getting wet. It was important to set the spray bottles to “mist” instead of “stream,” and we still had kids who just saturated the paper, but it’s all about the process and not the product! Idea and photo on the sign from Picklebums.

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Week 3: Adventures in Imagination 6/17, 6/18, 6/19, 6/20/24

Intro: This week we’re talking about adventures in imagination. When we imagine, we can make adventures anywhere with anything.

To start, we all pretended we had a stick. Then we did some kind of action for each imagined use as we read.
Themed Read: Not a Stick by Antoinette Portis

book cover of not a stick

Let’s put our imagination hats on and get some practice.
Themed Rhyme: Can You Pretend?
Let’s hear you roar like a lion
Let’s see you jump like a frog
Let’s see you snap your jaws like a crocodile
Let’s hear you howl like a hound dog
Pretend you’re an elephant with a big, looooong, trunk
Pretend you’re a monkey
Let’s see you jump, jump, jump
And now you’re a mouse
Just let me see
How very, very quiet you can be
Source: YouthScope

Teddy Bear is going on an adventure – up and down a hill with LOTS of friends.
Parachute Song: Funny Teddy Bear
(tune of Grand Old Duke of York)
Funny teddy bear
Bear had a thousand friends
Bear marched them up to the top of the hill and
Marched them down again
And when you’re up you’re up
And when you’re down you’re down
And when you’re only halfway up you’re neither up nor down
Source: Storytime Katie via ALSC Blog

Week 3 Stations: (details here)
Pouring Station
Sponge Play
Scooping Blocks
Kinetic Sand
Colored Ball Sort
Pompom Sort
Color the Parachute
Fly Swatter Painting

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Week 4: Animal Adventures 6/23, 6/24, 6/25, 6/26/24

Intro: This week we’re talking about animal adventures. Can you imagine going to see amazing animals in the wild?

Themed Read: It’s a Tiger! by David Larochelle & Jeremy Tankard

book cover of it's a tiger

Can you imagine being a tiger? A SLEEPING tiger?!
Themed Song: Sleeping Tigers
(tune of Sleeping Bunnies)
See the fearsome tigers sleeping till it’s nearly noon
Shall we wake them with a merry tune
Oh so still! Are they ill?
Wake up, wake up, wake up sleeping tigers!
Wake up, wake up, wake up sleeping tigers!
Wake up tigers and roar, roar, roar
(repeat, second time: pounce, pounce, pounce)!
Source: adapted from the traditional

Even tiny animals might go on an adventure.
Parachute: Itsy Bitsy Spider
(move parachute up and down as indicated in lyrics)
The itsy bitsy spider climbed up the water spout
Down came the rain and washed the spider out
Up came the sun and dried up all the rain
So the itsy bitsy spider climbed up the spout again
Source: traditional

Week 4 Stations: (details here)
Pouring Station
Pool Noodle Soup
Whisking Bubbles
Kinetic Sand
Beanbag Sort
Craft Stick Sort
Color the Parachute
Shape Sorter Stamping

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Week 5: Adventures at Sea 7/1, 7/2, 7/3/24

Intro: This week we’re going out to sea – get your lifejackets on!

I tried this book at the first session as a “sing aloud” but it just did not go over well, even with several pages clipped to shorten it. I ditched it for the other two sessions.
Themed Read: Port Side Pirates by Oscar Seaworthy & Debbie Harter (Monday only)

book cover of port side pirates

This one worked much better – we did some kind of motion or noise for each page to make it interactive. I wish the book itself was bigger and the illustrations were more vibrant, though.
Themed Read: Sheep on a Ship by Nancy Shaw & Margot Apple (Tuesday and Wednesday)

book cover of Sheep on a Ship

When the ocean gets rough, that’s an adventure!
Themed Song: The Ocean Song
(tune of The Elevator Song)
Oh, the ocean is great and the ocean is grand!
There are lots of big ships but very little land
And we sleep down deep in a hammock near the floor
And this is what we do when we go out to shore:
(ready?) We… ride… the…
waves going up, we ride the waves going down
we ride the waves going up, we ride the waves going down
we ride the waves going up, we ride the waves going down
And we turn… a-… round!
Source: Jbrary

I remind everyone to start rowing very gently, then after the first verse, say, “Oh, the wind is picking up, can we row more firmly?” and before the third verse, “Oh, no, there’s a storm! Row as strongly as you can!”
Parachute: Row Your Boat 
(repeat 3 times)
Row, row, row your boat
Gently/Firmly/Strongly down the stream
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily
Life is but a dream
(Wave the parachute gently, then firmly, then wildly!)
Source: traditional

Week 5 Stations: (details here)
Pouring Station
Ping Pong Fishing
Ice Play
Kinetic Sand
Pool Noodle Sort
Feed the Croc
Color the Parachute
Dot Painting

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Week 6: Adventures in Reading 7/8, 7/9, 7/10/24

Intro: This week we’re celebrating books, and all the adventures we can have in them!

Here’s a song about someone who wears glasses getting ready to read.
I’ve found that if I set this one up right, it’s very fun, and if I don’t, it’s a little awkward. We practice making glasses, putting them on and taking them off. Then we make a book and practice opening and closing it (several times!) THEN we sing.
Themed Song: These Are My Glasses 
These are my glasses, this is my book
I put on my glasses and open up the book
Now I read, read, read
And I look, look, look
I put down my glasses and
Whoop! Close up the book!
Source: “Whaddaya Think of That?” by the Laurie Berkner Band

I’ve used this book for years in outreach and for library tours, so I was a little disappointed that it didn’t go over quite as well with the toddler set as the preschoolers. A good reminder that developmental age matters! Another good option for this week would have been Hooray for Books! by Brian Won, but I wasn’t able to get it last minute. The parents enjoyed the jokes, but the kids got antsy.
Themed Read: Book! Book! Book! by Deborah Bruss & Tiphanie Beeke

book cover of book book book

Teddy Bear is going on an adventure – up and down a hill with LOTS of friends.
Parachute Song: Funny Teddy Bear
(tune of Grand Old Duke of York)
Funny teddy bear
Bear had a thousand friends
Bear marched them up to the top of the hill and
Marched them down again
And when you’re up you’re up
And when you’re down you’re down
And when you’re only halfway up you’re neither up nor down
Source: Storytime Katie via ALSC Blog

Week 6 Stations: (details here)
Pouring Station
Flower Sensory Bin
Scooping Blocks
Kinetic Sand
Colored Ball Sort
Pompom Sort
Color the Parachute
Finger Painting

(back to contents)

Week 7: Adventures in the Dark 7/14, 7/15, 7/16, 7/17, 7/18/24

Intro: This week is about adventures you might have after dark. Have you ever taken a walk with your family after sunset in your neighborhood? Or maybe gone outside to chase fireflies after dark? I love fireflies. Did you know that the Indiana State Insect is the firefly?

Let’s do a rhyme about some fireflies. Can you make your hands “blink” like a firefly light? (Open and close fingers)
Themed Song: Two Little Fireflies
(like Two Little Blackbirds)
Two little fireflies, Blinking in the sky (open and close hands)
One blinked low, And one blinked high
Fly away low, Fly away high
Come back low, Come back high

Other options, choose 2 or 3 more:
…Blinking in the grass…one blinked slow And one blinked fast…
…blinking by the car. . .1 blinked near, one blinked far…
…blinking by a gate… 1 flew wobbly and the other flew straight…
…blinking by the lilies, 1 was serious, the other was silly…
Source: adapted from the traditional

I love doing this one. It’s so silly. And thanks to a librarian friend, I can do the song with my ukulele, which always captures the group’s attention.
Themed Read: Let’s Sing a Lullaby with the Brave Cowboy by Jan Thomas

Get a copy of the sheet music here!
Listen to the song on the Jan Thomas website!

book cover of let's sing a lullaby with the brave cowboy

In honor of our brave cowboy, let’s sing the Itsy Bitsy Spider!
Parachute: Itsy Bitsy Spider
(move parachute up and down as indicated in lyrics)
The itsy bitsy spider climbed up the water spout
Down came the rain and washed the spider out
Up came the sun and dried up all the rain
So the itsy bitsy spider climbed up the spout again
Source: traditional

Week 7 Stations: (details here)
Pouring Station
Sponge Play
Fly Swatter Slap
Kinetic Sand
Beanbag Sort
Craft Stick Sort
Color the Parachute
Chalk Art

(back to contents)

Back to our regular indoor storytimes next week – upcoming themes include Sports, Alphabet, Counting, Shapes, and more!

Summer Storytimes: All Together Now, Part II

Posted on by msemilylibrary

Summer is a great time to break out of the storytime structure I find myself in during the rest of the year. There’s nothing wrong with having structure, of course, but I find it invigorating to mix it up and feel free to try new things and be experimental during a set time of year.

In the summer, I offer outdoor programs for kids ages 0-3.5 and their caregivers. We spend about 15-20 minutes doing songs, rhymes, books, and extension activities, and then take about 20 minutes at free-play sensory stations that engage kids and caregivers to talk, socialize and practice social skills, engage in science and age-appropriate STEM inquiries, flex creative muscles, and have lots of fun, associating the library with positive feelings. This post will detail these stations.

You can read more about the Storytime half of the summer sessions here, Summer Storytimes: All Together Now, Part I.

Each week I had eight stations that families could wander through. There was no requirement that they had to go to each station or change stations at any certain time, or at all. They chose their path and self-regulated. Some stations were available every single week, some rotated, and some were unique and only appeared during one week. They fell into “wet,” “dry,” and “art” categories. I used old sheets to cover the stations so they wouldn’t be too tempting during the storytime portion of the program, and that worked well.

I also had a backup plan for when the weather or air quality was too poor to be outside. This was the summer of the Canadian wildfires, so there were several days that were not rainy, but smoke and particulates in the air made it unsafe to be outside – especially for the very young and for senior citizens (and many of my caregivers are grandparents in that category!) If we weren’t outside, I had reserved our two largest and adjoining meeting rooms, where I was able to set up both an area for stories and songs and the parachute on one side and stations on the other, so thankfully we didn’t miss out on any activities. If I remembered to take pictures indoors and out, I included both below to give a sense of layout.

The Plan: Stations

Wet Stations

This is a big draw – everyone likes playing in water! Outdoors, I used a hose and outdoor water supply to easily fill my tubs with water and could just pour it all out at the end of the session. Indoors, I hauled buckets from our janitor’s closet and possibly filled everything just a little bit less than I would outside. I used old flannel sheets underneath to absorb spills and make them easier to clean up. The meeting room has an emergency exit door that opens to some landscaping so all the water got dumped there at the end.

Pouring Station (all weeks)
This is a repeat from last year, so I had all of the materials for this one already. It’s also an easy one to set up, so it’s my anchor wet station: we had it out every week. Last year I asked coworkers to collect clean plastic recyclables with wide openings for this station and visited Goodwill for some additional pitchers. We had measuring cups and funnels in our materials, as well as a baby pool, which is the perfect container. I fill the pool with the plastic bins and fill them randomly with water. Original idea from Busy Toddler.

Pool Noodle Soup (Weeks 1 & 4)
I cut sections of pool noodles and used them in three different ways, starting with this wet station. (You’ll see them below as a dry station and an art supply, too.) I used two drawers from a plastic storage bin as my containers, and added water, the noodles, some ladles and slotted spoons, and some squeeze bottles. Original idea (and photo on the sign) from Happy Toddler Playtime.

Fly Swatter Slap (Weeks 1 & 7)
Again, I maximized my materials by using flyswatters in both wet and dry stations on different weeks. The wet station included the (new, clean) swatters and ping pong balls that I drew flies on. I found the plastic containers at Goodwill and they are a little bit smaller than the drawers used above. The swatters were hand-shaped and different colors. Original idea (and photo on the sign) from My Bored Toddler.

Sponge Play (Weeks 2 & 7)
This was another repeat from last year, but one that’s especially great for the youngest of my age group. When it was out it was usually surrounded by the “baby brigade!” The shapes were ocean animals since last year’s theme was “Oceans of Possibility” but they were just as happy with the simple shapes. Original idea (and photo on the sign) from Little Lifelong Learners.

Scooping Blocks (Weeks 2 & 5)
Lego Duplos plus water and scoopers! This one was fun for its obvious purpose, but added bonus: some kids actually took the Duplos out of the water and put them together! We had all the Duplos already, and I added some of the sorting blocks from our baby toys to the mix, as well as ladles, colanders, and sieves from Goodwill. Original idea (and photo on the sign) from My Bored Toddler.

Mystery Water (Week 3)
Another repeat from last year – I originally saw this as on Pinterest as a reel, and was intrigued. Cornstarch and a little food coloring are added to water to turn it murky, and kids can search for items in the water to match up with a finding guide. We had a bunch of colorful plastic cookie cutters in storage that were perfect for this, so I traced them on a separate sheet for the kids to match up. They weren’t as solid and heavy as the original poster’s, so they tended to float a little, unfortunately, but it didn’t really matter. Original idea (and photo on the sign) from bright_little_brains.

Lemon Sensory Bin (Week 3)
Mm, this was one of my favorite stations! It was super easy and smelled so good. I bought a bag of lemons and divided them among my three sessions. That was maybe 2-3 lemons per day? Cut them up into slices and added them to a bin of water along with ladles. I did announce that there was a lemon bin before breaking for stations just in case there was an allergy issue, but no one had a problem. Original idea (and photo on the sign) from Taming Little Monsters.

Whisking Bubbles (Week 4)
Kids could whisk up some bubbles and then use colanders and sieves to play with the result at this station. At first I just thought I would get some dishwashing soap, but then I started thinking about soap in eyes and mouths. I ended up buying some body soap formulated for babies (tear-free) and that worked perfectly. I looked for actual baby bubble bath, but couldn’t find it in store, so was a little worried about how sudsy it would get, but it ended up being just fine. And I’m so glad I went that route – I remember one of the babies did a nose-dive into the bin at one point and, indeed, there were no tears! I added the soap at the beginning and left the water undisturbed so that the kids could create all the bubbles themselves. Original idea (and photo on the sign) from The Empowered Educator.

Flower Sensory Bin (Week 5)
I called our local Kroger florist and asked if they would donate flowers that were past their prime, so I was able to put this bin together without the cost of the flowers! It was also interesting to see the variety that was available on the two days I picked them up. One day I got a bouquet with several kinds of flowers that filled my two little bins, and the other day all that was available were colored daisies. Both were appreciated, and grown-ups commented on the pleasant scent and the novelty of the experience. I also got an action shot (with permission from the participants) on this one, since I wanted to include it in my thank you note to the florist. Original idea (and photo on the sign) from Learning and Exploring Through Play.

Ice Play (Week 6)
Another repeat from last year. I bought a large bag of ice each morning before my program and kept it in a cooler, adding it to the bins JUST before they were played in (so there’s no ice shown in the photos I took before the program). Ladles, colanders, and sieves were added for handling the ice. It was good weather for it – HOT – so the ice was mostly melted by the end of the station play time, but it was just enough. I reminded everyone to take a break if their fingers started to get too cold. Original idea (and photo on the sign) from Busy Toddler.

Ping Pong Fishing (Week 6)
I put the alphabet on ping pong balls and added them with scoopers into the bin. Adding the letters to all four sides of 26 balls took the most time! I think I added the housefly balls from the fly swatter slap station the second and third day, but they aren’t pictured. Original idea (and photo on the sign) from the Imagination Tree.

Dry Stations

There were a few families that didn’t want to get wet, so I was sure to offer three dry stations each week as well. Many of these gave practice in sorting various items by color, shape, or texture.

Kinetic Sand (all weeks)
Along with the Pouring Station above, this was the only station that was available all summer long. I had the supplies from last year, which included the kinetic sand itself as well as recycled fruit cup containers that had fun shapes and plastic shovels. I kept a sheet underneath this station to catch any stray sand that escapes the bins. Because the sand is not taste-safe, I do warn the caregivers that if their kiddo is still exploring with their mouth, they may want to skip this station.

Beanbag Sort (Weeks 1, 4, & 7)
We had these beanbags from Lakeshore Learning that are different colors and shapes. They’re a super easy station where kids can play and sort with them in several ways.

Craft Stick Sort (Weeks 1, 4, & 7)
Another repeat from last year that was already “done.” I noticed in my storage bin that I had these boxes of dot painters that have small holes already in the top. I colored a ring around each hole a different rainbow color and added colored craft sticks for a fine motor and color identification station.

Pool Noodle Sort (Weeks 2 & 5)
A new station this year, but one I’ll repeat. Using the pool noodle slices (from Pool Noodle Soup), I taped a dowel rod to four small plastic cones in red, green, yellow, and blue. Kids could then thread the colored noodles on to the cones. Original idea from this Pin (no blog).

Feed the Croc (Weeks 2 & 5)
Saw this and thought it was very cute, and actually had the container from last year that someone had given to me. I painted it so that the whole thing is green and the label was covered up, added the big googly eyes and made little nostril markings. I found a few metal tongs at Goodwill and added the ping pong balls. Nom, nom, nom! Original idea from Mama OT.

Colored Ball Sort and Drop (Weeks 3 & 6)
Two more repeats from last year. This ball sort and drop was made with Baker & Taylor boxes, but oriented them different ways so one was tall and skinny and one was low and squat. I had purchased ball pit balls and supplied different colors to each box. Photos from last year, which had weird blurs, sorry. Original idea from Taming Little Monsters.

Pompom Sort (Weeks 3 & 6)
A really easy station to put together: I just saved a couple of egg cartons, then poured a handful or two of different colored/sized pompoms into them. The plastic tongs I provided last year were all broken in use, so I bought some metal ice tongs for this year. (And again, weird blur). Original idea from Laughing Kids Learn.

Art Stations

With the exception of Coloring the Parachute, the art stations were all unique, and all were simple process-focused art with different media. To help with mess, I set up a “Rinse Station” near the art every week which consisted of two buckets of water and two old bath towels for washing up as needed.

Rinse Station sign: "Messy hands? Rinse and dry off here!"

Color the Parachute (all weeks)
My library has an interesting smaller parachute (maybe 8 foot diameter?) that is plain white and was advertised as “decorate it yourself!” When I inherited it, there were a small scattering of names from who knows how long ago and the rest was depressingly empty. This summer I was determined to fill it up. I laid it out each week and set it as a station inside the gazebo, with a small handful of permanent markers. I’m happy to say that it looks MUCH better now, though it could still use a lot more personalization to fill up empty spaces. I offered some different ideas as the weeks went on as to what to add, like a favorite animal or insect. The first time we were indoors I offered it as a station, but cleaning up realized there was permanent marker on our relatively new flooring. To keep my director from going nuts, I decided not to put it out indoors anymore. 🙂 You can see the rinse station in the photo as well.

Shape Prints (Week 1)
Using shape sorter blocks that we already had in our baby toy collection, kids could dip them in paint and stamp the shapes onto white construction paper. I use old recycled Lean Cuisine trays to hold the paint – they are a perfect size. Sadly, I missed getting any pictures of this station! Original idea (and photo on the sign) from Nanny Gunna.

Dot Painting (Week 2)
I originally had a different craft planned for week 2, but it was rainy that week and we were indoors the first two days. Dot painting is very easy and not as messy as slapping paint with flyswatters (see week 6 below), so the switch was made. The library has a supply of dot paint markers and I printed out some animal dot coloring sheets. Simple and still fun. I get a lot of these sheets, including the ones pictured, from The Artisan Life.

Pool Noodle Art (Week 3)
The pool noodles make another appearance! Trays of tempera paint and white construction paper are available with the noodles for any kind of art a child wishes to make. I had a few extra pieces of noodles that had been split lengthwise as well as sliced, to make half-circle shapes in addition to the full circles. Original idea (and photo on the sign) from What Can We Do With Paper and Glue.

Ice Painting (Week 4)
This is honestly very simple, but I always get a lot of comments from grown-ups about how cool it is and how they might be able to do it at home. (I LOVE hearing that they’ll adapt what we do at the library at home!) I add small craft sticks to an ice cube tray and put in a little liquid watercolor paint and fill the rest with water. I think it could easily be done with food coloring if you don’t have liquid watercolors, though. I keep the ice cube trays in a cooler in the shade until we’re ready for stations, then get them out to use. They do melt, but usually there’s a bit of ice left by the end of the program. And my groups were quite tidy, so I was able to just refreeze the trays each day and there was plenty of “paint” available for three sessions. Original idea (and photo on the sign) from ARTventurers.

Finger Painting (Week 5)
A classic and super-simple activity – construction paper in our messy trays with finger paints in trays. I actually had several kids who didn’t like the sensory messiness of it, so some of them creatively used the rocks that are there to keep papers from flying away to spread the paint around. I’m not sure of the source of the photo on the sign, I think it’s a stock photo from Canva.

Fly Swatter Art (Week 6)
A messy but very fun art project, using (re-using) supplies from other stations. Kids wielded fly swatters to slap at paint, making some very interesting abstract art. I think the best method turned out to be adding some dots of paint to the paper, then letting the kids aim for them, rather than trying to spread paint on the swatter. I’m grateful for good weather all that week, since this is very much an outdoor activity. Original idea (and photo on the sign) from Play Teach Repeat.

Chalk Art (Week 7)
Another very simple process art project, using black construction paper and sidewalk chalk. It was nice to end the summer with an art station that didn’t involve paint – this librarian was very tired by that point!

Wow, thanks for making it to the end of this very long post. I hope you found some good ideas and jumping-off points for out-of-the-box programming!

Summer Storytimes: All Together Now, Part I

Posted on by msemilylibrary

Welcome back to the blog! My library’s Summer Reading Program is officially over, and I am deep into planning the fall. Summer is so busy that I take a break from blogging, but it was a great season, and I’d love to share it with you. I implemented all I learned in the last couple of years doing outdoor programming, and I think it was the best yet, despite worse weather and air quality this year (boo.)

Our library generally uses the theme and graphics from the Collaborative Summer Library Program, or CSLP, a national initiative that helps libraries plan summer programming. This year’s theme was “All Together Now,” with an emphasis on kindness and community. I focused on a different aspect of this each week for seven weeks in June and July. My program themes then were Community, We Work Together, Kindness, Family, Animal Helpers, and Helping Hands. More detail on how these were interpreted below. I also simplified the usual age requirements that I normally have for my indoor programs through the rest of the year. (So, instead of a Toddler Time for 1-2 year olds on Mondays and a Teddy Bear time for 2-3.5s on Tuesdays, I offered Family Time for 0-3.5 Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.) Siblings are always welcome, and I don’t have a limit to the number of families who can participate, so the programs are open to all.

For each session, we had about 15-20 minutes of storytime rhymes, songs, and a book, then 20 minutes of free play at various sensory stations. We end with bubbles and a goodbye song. Stations are a really great way to promote socializing, practice skills like sharing and being gentle, and allow for unstructured play, which science tells us is so important to learning and development. I added a section of parachute songs weekly, too, which was a treat for everyone. It was easy to do thematically – “A parachute is hard to have fun with by yourself. You need some friends and have to work ‘all together!'”

I also am all about simplicity and repetition over the summer. I have a lot of moving parts, set up and tear down to deal with, so I don’t change a lot in the storytime part and plan everything ahead so I am purely in “execute” mode rather than worrying about planning or learning songs. I changed one song and the book each week, and had a mixture of weekly, rotating, and unique stations. Since so much was the same, I’ll write up the whole summer in two posts: this first one focusing on the storytime half, and the second post focusing on all of the hands-on stations!

And, in addition to being back from hiatus, I finally bit the bullet and bought a domain name and WordPress subscription. Welcome to the ad-free Storytime with Ms. Emily Library experience! Please let me know if anything is wonky or links not working correctly in the transition.

The Plan: Storytime Portion

Welcome Song: Hello, Friends
(tune of Goodnight, Ladies)
Hello, friends! Hello, friends!
Hello, friends, it’s time to say hello!
Hello, [name 1], hello, [name 2]!
Hello, [name 3], it’s time to say hello! (repeat as needed)
(ASL motions: salute for “hello,” then take the index fingers on each hand and you link them together as though they are hugging each other back and forth for “friends”)
Source: Glenside Public Library District

Warm-Up Rhyme: We Wiggle and Stop
(Use the ASL sign for the word “stop” – one hand “chops” across the opposite hand)
We wiggle and we wiggle and we STOP
We wiggle and we wiggle and we STOP
We wiggle and we wiggle and we wiggle and we wiggle
And we wiggle and we wiggle and we STOP
(We wiggled every week, but then added 2 more motions. Motions we did throughout the summer: jump, twirl, run, splash, hop, swim, stretch, stomp, wave, sway, march, lean, roll [arms,] hug)
Source: Jbrary

Intro: Our summer reading program is “All Together Now” and it is all about how wonderful things can happen when we work together. Short intro to the weekly theme (see below)

Themed Song (see below)

Transition Song: If You’re Ready for a Story
(tune of If You’re Happy and You Know It)
If you’re ready for a story, clap your hands (clap, clap)
If you’re ready for a story, clap your hands (clap, clap)
If you’re ready for a story, if you’re ready for a story,
If you’re ready for a story, clap your hands (clap, clap)
Source: Miss Keithia (my predecessor)

Themed Book (see below)

Parachute! A parachute is really hard to have fun with all by yourself. We need friends, and we need to work together!

Parachute Song: Let’s Go Riding in an Elevator
Let’s go riding in an elevator, Elevator, elevator (parachute up and down)
Let’s go riding in an elevator, Ride along with me!
First floor, Second floor, Third floor, Fourth floor, Fifth floor… (shake parachute low, and get progressively higher)
And down, down, down, down, down! (lower parachute)
Source: Jbrary

I remind everyone to start rowing very gently, then after the first verse, say, “Oh, the wind is picking up, can we row more firmly?” and before the third verse, “Oh, no, there’s a storm! Row as strongly as you can!”
Parachute Song: Row Your Boat (3 verses)
Row, row, row your boat
Gently/Firmly/Strongly down the stream
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily
Life is but a dream
(Wave the parachute gently, then firmly, then wildly!)
Source: traditional

Breathing Break
Whew, all that rowing got me out of breath! I’m ready for a breathing break. Let’s take a big breath in and lift the parachute up, then breathe out and lower it. We’ll repeat a few times.

Most people know the first verse, but the second verse is probably newer and much less well known. It was a fun way to get us “up” from falling down. We did this one twice, walking in one direction and then the other.
Parachute Song: Ring Around the Rosie
(walk in a circle with parachute)
Ring around the rosie,
Pocket full of posies
Ashes, ashes,
We all fall down! (fall and stay seated)

Cows are in the meadow, (crouching by the ‘chute)
Eating buttercups
Thunder, lightning, (shake the parachute)
we all stand up! (stand)
Source: traditional

It actually took a few weeks for the adults to “get” this one. Repetition is good for them, too. 🙂
Parachute Song: Parachute Fly
(tune of Skip to my Lou)
(kids go under the parachute and adults raise and lower)
Up, up, up it goes,
Down, down, down so low
Raise our parachute to the sky
Count to 3 and watch it fly
Spoken:
Up on one…
Down on two…
Up on three…
and FLY! (adults let go and leader pulls ‘chute in to themselves)
Source: Gymboree

Release to Stations
I have eight stations each week, which involve a mixture of dry, wet, and art/creativity stations. We spend about 20 minutes before I ring the bell to call everyone back to the grassy area. We’ll go into further detail on these in the next blog post.

Everybody loves bubbles! The trick to doing bubbles outside, I’m finding, is to figure out which way the wind is blowing and get upwind of your group!
Recorded Bubble Song: Pop, Pop, Pop by Nathalia
From the album “Dream a Little,” available on Spotify

CD album cover for Nathalia's Dream a Little

Goodbye Song: See You Later, Alligator
(tune of Clementine)
See you later, alligator (wave with one hand, then the other)
In a while, crocodile (open and shut arms like a croc’s mouth)
Give a hug, ladybug (hug yourself or a loved one)
Blow a kiss, jellyfish! MWAH! (move hand like a jellyfish then blow a kiss!)
Source: King County Library System

Weekly Themes

Week 1: Friends 6/6, 6/7/23

Intro: Friends are the people who we love to play and hang out with, and who help us out when we need it. I love making new friends!

Themed Song: All Together Now I played this one on my ukulele, and asked the group to participate by doing the “response” part of the “all together now” chorus. If you don’t want to sing this one, play the original recording by the Beatles or the cover by Caspar Babypants.
I got the chord sheet from Jim’s Ukulele Songbook. It’s a great resource since he’s got a lot of functionality built into the site and among other things you can change the key of any of the songs and print sheets very easily. I prefer to play and sing this one in the key of G.

Themed Read: Who Has Wiggle Waggle Toes? by Vicky Shiefman & Francesca Chessa This is a story of friends having fun together. Can you join in?

Week 2: Community 6/12, 6/13, 6/14/23

Intro: We live in a community of people, and the people in our community help each other. Some people have jobs that let them help others every day.

I played this one on my ukulele and took suggestions from the group. I prompted them by asking, “who helps us when we’re feeling sick?” if there was a lull.
Themed Song: Community Helpers Song
(tune of Farmer in the Dell)
The teachers teach the kids
The teachers teach the kids
Heigh-ho, they help us so
The teachers teach the kids

Choose 3-5 verses!
The firefighters put out the fires….
The crossing guards help us cross…
The librarians find us books….
The dentists check our teeth…
The doctors keep us well…
The farmers grow our food…
The mail carriers deliver the mail…
Custodians keep us clean…

Click for a ukulele songsheet for “Farmer in the Dell”

I encouraged the group to give a cheer for every page to keep interest up.
Themed Read: Cheer: A Book to Celebrate Community by Uncle Ian Aurora & Natalia Moore

Week 3: We Work Together 6/19, 6/20, 6/21/23

Intro: Working together really makes things go smoother.

Instead of the ukulele this week, we did the ASL motions.
Themed Song: The More We Get Together
The more we get together, together, together
The more we get together, The happier we’ll be
For your friends are my friends, and my friends are your friends
The more we get together, The happier we’ll be

The more we read together… (ASL for read)
We’ll read big books and small books
Read short books and tall books…

The more we work together the stronger we’ll be… (ASL for work)
Source: traditional, ASL for verse one

Themed Read: Blocks by Irene Dickson

Week 4: Kindness 6/26, 6/27, 6/28/23

Intro: One important way to work together is to show kindness. Being kind means thinking of others and doing what you can to be a good neighbor.

The root of all kindness, I believe, is love. Here’s a traditional song your grownups might remember from their childhoods!
Themed Song: Skinnamarink
Skinnamarinky-dinky-dink, Skinnamarinky-doo, I love you!
Skinnamarinky-dinky-dink, Skinnamarinky-doo, I love you!
I love you in the morning, and in the afternoon
I love you in the evening, underneath the moon
Skinnamarinky-dinky-dink, Skinnamarinky-doo, I love you!
Source: traditional, motions from Jbrary

Themed Read: How Kind! by Mary Murphy

Week 5: Family 7/3, 7/5/23

Intro: We can start working together with the people who are closest to us – our families! Who are the people in your family?

Here’s a song for all the people in our families – listen carefully! I included some different iterations to try to be as inclusive as possible. To keep things from getting too long, I sometimes combined (grandma and grandpa). Pairing it with a silly action (and telling grown-ups that they count, too) increases the fun.
Themed Song: If You Have a Brother
(tune of Do You Know the Muffin Man)
If you have a brother
A half-brother, a step-brother
If you have a foster-brother
Please stand up!
Repeat with other family members: sister, mommy, daddy, cousin, aunt, uncle, grandpa, grandma, etc. Ask for suggestions!
Pair with other silly actions: raise your hand, stick out your tongue, wiggle your foot, jump up and down, pat your head, etc.
Source: Abby the Librarian (though I changed the tune)

Themed Read: The Family Book by Todd Parr

Week 6: Animal Helpers 7/10, 7/11, 7/12/23

Intro: Does anyone have a pet at home? Did you know that some animals have important jobs, helping their humans? Some animals help humans who need them to get around or keep them safe. Some animals help soothe people who are lonely or need an animal to help them calm down. Today we are celebrating these animal helpers.

I talked briefly about different helper animals and what they do – including miniature horses, who can be used for the visually impaired! Cats and bunnies are generally therapy animals. I used puppets for each, and asked what sound each one made – including the rabbit! “You’re right, rabbits are quiet! But they can be helpful by being snuggly!”
Themed Song: Animal Helpers Song
(tune of The Wheels on the Bus)
The dog helps his owner with a woof, woof, woof
Woof, woof, woof
Woof, woof, woof
The dog helps his owner with a woof woof
All day long!

The cat helps her owner with a meow, meow, meow…
The horse helps their owner with a neigh, neigh, neigh…
The bunny helps her owner with a snuggle, snuggle, snuggle…
Source: adapted from the traditional

So, I kind of realized after planning that this dog was not a working dog but a pet – the vest threw me off. It still seemed like the best option as far as length. If you know a better option, please let me know in the commets!
Themed Read: Best Day Ever! by Marilyn Singer & Leah Nixon

Week 7: Helping Hands 7/17, 7/18, 7/19/23

Intro: Who likes to be a helper? What are some ways you might help at home? Putting toys away, set the table, put laundry in the hamper, play with a younger sibling, etc.

Since we use this tune for our transitional song, which comes right after this one, I saved the “clap” action for that one and went right into it. I also played ukulele for this one!
Themed Song: If You’re Helpful and You Know It
(tune of If You’re Happy and You Know It)
If you’re helpful and you know it, stomp your feet
If you’re helpful and you know it, stomp your feet
If you’re helpful and you know it and you really want to show it
If you’re helpful and you know it, stomp your feet

If you’re friendly and you know it, peekaboo…
If you’re thoughtful and you know it, shout hooray…
Then go right into “If you’re ready for a story, clap your hands”
Source: adapted from the traditional

Get a downloadable ukulele songsheet here!

thumbnail for ukulele songsheet

Themed Read: Kindness Makes Us Strong by Sophie Beer

Tune in to the next post to learn more about all the sensory stations – like the Fly Swatter Slap, Pool Noodle Sort, Ping Pong Fishing, Mystery Water, Feed the Croc, and more!

Summer Storytimes: Merbabies Play

Posted on by msemilylibrary

The last summer reading storytime, wow. The summer went so quickly this year, probably since it seemed like the library was hopping after two years of interrupted/adjusted service. I’m so pleased with the turnout and response from my storytime families. I heard or overheard someone say every week: “Hey, let’s try this at home!” or “I wouldn’t have thought of this, but we could set this up at home!” That was the most gratifying part. I LOVE being able to spark ideas and inspire families to continue the learning and exploration on their own.

Another great benefit of outdoor storytimes was how welcoming they can be. I occasionally had families stop by who hadn’t registered, and/or had a child who was 4 or 5 (outside my age group), or who were able to bring older siblings. In addition, we didn’t have to worry about masking, and distancing was not a problem since we had lots of space in the outdoor lawn area. For all these situations, I could welcome these families with open arms, with no judgement that they “didn’t do it [registration] right” or worry that they had to find someone else to watch their older kids while they attended storytime with the younger one. These are usual and reasonable limitations when you’re presenting indoors, where space is also limited. But I love having a time of year where I don’t have to turn anyone away.

This week’s theme is “merpeople” and I’m glad that authors, illustrators, and publishers have started being more inclusive with their depictions. I didn’t have to look too far to find masculine presenting merfolk or merfolk of color! I do wish there were more merperson books that were simpler, with less text on the page, but I did some extensive paperclipping to make them work for the youngest group. I also had to do some scouting around to find masculine merkids as coloring pages (see below for links).

For a more in-depth explanation of the structure of this summer’s programs, read the intro to the first session, Ocean Life.

You can find other versions of this theme from 2020 and 2025.

Can I give you a squish book cover, with an enthusiastic merboy with arms raised looking at friends dolphin, crab, octopus, and fish.

Early Learning Tip: “Down By the Bay” is a great song to exercise your creativity on. What silly rhymes can you and your child come up with together? Learning how to rhyme helps your child listen for and discern between the distinct sounds that make up words.

Welcome Song: Hello, Friends 
(tune of Goodnight, Ladies)
Hello, friends! Hello, friends!
Hello, friends, it’s time to say hello!
Hello, [name 1], hello, [name 2]!
Hello, [name 3], it’s time to say hello! (repeat as needed)
(ASL motions: salute for “hello,” then take the index fingers on each hand and you link them together as though they are hugging each other back and forth for “friends”)
Source: Glenside Public Library District

Warm-Up Rhyme: We Wiggle and Stop (repeated)
(Use the ASL sign for the word “stop” – one hand “chops” across the opposite hand)
We wiggle and we wiggle and we STOP
We wiggle and we wiggle and we STOP
We wiggle and we wiggle and we wiggle and we wiggle
And we wiggle and we wiggle and we STOP
(This week we also “marched” and, my favorite, “hugged.” I encouraged everyone to find someone to hug, even if it was themselves. I do two new motions in addition to “wiggle” each week to keep it interesting)
Source: Jbrary

Intro to Weekly Theme: Merpeople are legendary creatures that are half human and half fish. It’s fun to imagine what they might be like!

I had a lot of trouble finding a merfolk song that I liked this week. My second runner up was “Did you Ever See a Mermaid,” but I just wasn’t feeling it. I ended up with “Down By the Bay,” and I had fun coming up with lots of ocean-themed verses. I only actually used the merfolk ones, but it’s nice to have some extras in my back pocket for the future! It was also an opportunity to bring my ukulele, which I hadn’t done at all yet this summer.
Themed Ukulele Song: Down by the Bay
Down by the bay, where the watermelons grow
Back to my home I dare not go!
For if I do, my mother will say:
“Did you ever see a whale with a polka dot tail?”
Down by the bay!
Additional verses:
… a mermaid swimming in lemonade?
… a merman knitting an afghan?
… a merkid riding a squid?
… a merboy hugging his teddy bear toy?
… a mergirl playing catch with a pearl?
… a crab driving a taxicab?
… a shark eating ice cream in the park?
… a clam competing in a poetry slam?
… a pufferfish surfing on a dish?
… a sea star riding in a car?
… a seahorse playing on a golf course?
… an octopus singing to a platypus?
Did you ever have a time when you couldn’t make a rhyme?
Source: traditional, as popularized by Raffi on the album Singable Songs for the Very Young, all additional verses by Ms. Emily!

Download a ukulele songsheet for Down By the Bay!

Thumbnail of "Down By the Bay" ukulele song sheet

Themed Book:
Goodnight Mermaid by K. J. Oceanak & Allie Ogg
OR
Can I Give You a Squish? by Emily Neilson
I *highly* paperclipped Goodnight Mermaid to make it work for my youngest group. It was just way too long (and if I’m being honest, a little nonsensical, too.) But the pictures are fun and the shortened story is reminiscent of Goodnight Moon, which is a familiar structure. My oldest group did great with Can I Give You a Squish, but when I tried it again the next day with my more mixed group, I skipped several pages when they seemed to be losing interest. I’m learning to be very flexible with books!

I adapted the lyrics only slightly from Jbrary’s pirate themed song to be a little more generic ocean. I also let grownups know this could be a lifting song, but only if they’re feeling ambitious! I invite everyone else to do the up and down motions with me.
Repeated Song: The Ocean Song
(tune of The Elevator Song)
Oh, the ocean is great and the ocean is grand!
There are lots of big ships but very little land
And we sleep down deep in a hammock near the floor
And this is what we do when we go out to shore:

(ready?) We… ride… the…
waves going up, we ride the waves going down
we ride the waves going up, we ride the waves going down
we ride the waves going up, we ride the waves going down
And we turn… a-… round!
Source: Jbrary

After the Ocean Song, I’m invariably out of breath, so it’s time for a breathing break. I’d considered doing ocean wave breathing on the theme, but I decided that Five Finger Breathing is an easy one to teach and for kids to remember, which is my point in doing it.
Breathing Break: Five Finger Breathing
Whew, I could use a breathing break! Let’s get out our five fingers and spread our hands out wide. We’re going to breathe in deeply as we trace our fingers up, pause for just a moment at the top of our finger, then breathe out as we trace down. Ready?

I like to mention that this song was adapted by an occupational therapist as a reminder of ways to self-soothe.
Repeated Movement Song: Big Sea Star
(tune of A Ram Sam Sam)
A big sea star, a big sea star
Little cuddle clam and a big sea star
A big sea star, a big sea star
Little cuddle clam and a big sea star
A pufferfish! A pufferfish!
Little cuddle clam and a big sea star
A pufferfish! A pufferfish!
Little cuddle clam and a big sea star
Source: Jbrary

Release to Stations
I have seven stations each week, which involve a mixture of dry, wet, and an action station. We spend about 20 minutes in free play.

Repeated Stations:
Kinetic Sand (Dry)
I bought some kinetic sand and added it to two plastic bins. In the recycling bin I found some fruit cup containers that had fun shapes and added them plus some plastic shovels. I keep a sheet underneath this station to catch any stray sand that escapes the bins. I didn’t realize until after I planned this station that kinetic sand should not be put in mouths, so I do warn the parents that if their kiddo is still exploring with their mouth, they may want to skip this one.

Kinetic sand station outside - two bins set on a blue sheet, with small plastic containers, plastic shovels, and sand in them

Pouring Station (Wet)
I asked coworkers to collect clean plastic recyclables with wide openings for this station and visited Goodwill for some additional pitchers. We had measuring cups and funnels in our materials, as well as a baby pool, which is the perfect container. I fill the pool with plastic bins and fill them randomly with water from the hose each week. (Also, I must have had some sunscreen on my lens taking pictures outdoors – there’s a weird blur!)

Pouring station, with a faded red baby pool filled with various plastic containers of all shapes and sizes

Rotating Stations:
Pompom Sort (Dry)
A really easy station to put together: I just saved a couple of egg cartons, then poured a handful or two of different colored/sized pompoms into them. Provide some plastic tongs and you’re done. (And again, weird blur)

Pompom Sorting station: two shoebox sized plastic bins hold two natural cardboard egg cartons with various shaped and colored pompoms and plastic tongs.

Colored Ball Sort and Drop (Dry)
This was inspired by a Pinterest post from Taming Little Monsters. I made two, from our ubiquitous Baker & Taylor boxes, but oriented them different ways so one was tall and skinny and one was low and squat.

Ball sort and drop station: two cardboard book boxes hold plastic "ball pit" balls. Both have holes cut into the top with an open space below for the balls to be retrieved.

Dodge the Seaweed (Action)
We had some small cones in our action set, so I duct taped a paint stirrer to the tops of them, then haphazardly added green crepe paper to look like seaweed. For the amount of time it took me, I think they look pretty good! I was fully expecting them to get kind of torn up after the first week of use, but they held up. I’m amazed that I didn’t need to repair them once over the summer! 

Dodge the seaweed station, with green and blue cones topped by green crepe paper "seaweed"

Unique Stations: UNIQUE-ISH – I had two other stations planned, but decided to actually repeat two previous stations instead. My other plans were to do a “paint with water” on dry concrete, but the only concrete we have near our storytime area is a sidewalk RIGHT next to the street. It made me nervous to bring everyone that close to speeding cars, so I nixed it. For the art station, I had a vague idea of using pinecones to stamp merfolk tails with paint, then draw in the details, but A) that was a little advanced for my group, and B) I was too tired to think about cleaning up lots of paint at the end of the summer. I went the easy route and redid these instead:

Sponge Play (Wet)
Based on this Pinterest idea from Little Lifelong Learners, I just had sponges in bins of water for little ones to play with. Of course, I have to do some theme stuff, so in addition to simple shapes (sticks, triangles, circles), I cut out some ocean animals as well. These sponges were reused in a sponge painting craft in week two.

Picture of two bins with multicolored sponges in them. Shapes include seahorses, fish, sea stars, clamshells, dolphins, triangles, sticks, and circles.

Dot Painting (Art/Messy)
So as I was planning this week and thinking about how I’d make the pinecone painting as easy as possible, I got a blog post in my email from The Artisan Life that had mermaid dot painting sheets. Well, let’s just make things easy on myself. Plus, the kids seemed to like doing the dot painters when we did them a couple weeks ago, a and it’s a more “unusual” craft supply that not everyone has at home. BUT – I was a little unhappy that there were no merboys (and that all the mermaids looked kind of the same, with the same kinds of hair.) I did a search for merboy coloring sheets and found this lovely set (which also includes different hair types, yay!) by Simple Everyday Mom. Did you know you can make any coloring sheet into a dot marker sheet? I used Canva, but you could certainly do the same thing in Publisher. Just add .75 inch dots to the sheet on blocks of color (avoiding faces and slender limbs like arms). Easy peasy.

After about 20 minutes exploring stations, I rang the bell to call everyone back to the storytime area. 20 minutes felt like a good time – kids had generally found their way to all the stations and were winding down.

Everybody loves bubbles! The trick to doing bubbles outside, I’m finding, is to figure out which way the wind is blowing and get upwind of your group!
Recorded Bubble Song: Pop, Pop, Pop by Nathalia
From the album “Dream a Little,” available on Spotify

CD cover of Nathalia's "Dream A Little" album.

Goodbye Song: See You Later, Alligator
(tune of Clementine)
See you later, alligator (wave with one hand, then the other)
In a while, crocodile (open and shut arms like a croc’s mouth)
Give a hug, ladybug (hug yourself or a loved one)
Blow a kiss, jellyfish! MWAH! (move hand like a jellyfish then blow a kiss!)
Source: King County Library System

Other books I had available for families to browse (and may work for you on this theme)
The Ocean Calls: A Haenyeo Mermaid Story by Tina Cho & Jess X. Snow
Oona by Kelly DiPucchio & Raissa Figueroa
Oona and the Shark by Kelly DiPucchio & Raissa Figueroa
Pearl by Molly Idle
Julián Is a Mermaid by Jessica Love
The Little Mermaid by Jerry Pinkney
Mermaids Fast Asleep by Robin Riding & Zoe Persico
Mermaid and Me by Soosh
How to Catch a Mermaid by Adam Wallace & Andy Elkerton
You Are My Sparkly Mermaid by Joyce Wan
Mabel: A Mermaid Fable by Rowboat Watkins

Mermaids fast asleep book cover, showing a mermaid hugging a merchild with fish all around

This storytime was presented in-person on 7/18, 7/19, & 7/20/22.

Summer Storytimes: Pirates

Posted on by msemilylibrary

Oh, Pirates. You’re so complicated. You did horrible things. You probably (on average) lived a fairly short and brutal life, with lots of disease, injury, and discomfort. But you also seem so freewheeling, wear awesome clothes, say fun phrases in a fun accent, keep amazing pets, and have been romanticized into something almost unrecognizable from your historical form. (Not to mention modern-day pirates, who have so many of the negative features without much of the fun ones).

But who am I to over-analyze!? We got to do the Pirate version of Zoom, Zoom, Zoom (the space version has been a regular and favorite in my regular school-year storytimes) and hunt for gold doubloons hidden in our kinetic sand and mystery water stations. The pirate books are pretty fun, too.

For a more in-depth explanation of the structure of this summer’s programs, read the intro to the first session, Ocean Life.

Early Learning Tip: Books about unusual topics like pirates or dinosaurs are wonderful for building vocabulary! These books use words that aren’t usually said in common conversation, so your child will be hearing lots of new words and phrases. Feel free to explain what new concepts mean – like when pirates say “Shiver me timbers,” they’re comparing a feeling of surprise like being up on the ship’s mast when a wind blows through.

Welcome Song: Hello, Friends 
(tune of Goodnight, Ladies)
Hello, friends! Hello, friends!
Hello, friends, it’s time to say hello!
Hello, [name 1], hello, [name 2]!
Hello, [name 3], it’s time to say hello! (repeat as needed)
(ASL motions: salute for “hello,” then take the index fingers on each hand and you link them together as though they are hugging each other back and forth for “friends”)
Source: Glenside Public Library District

Warm-Up Rhyme: We Wiggle and Stop (repeated)
(Use the ASL sign for the word “stop” – one hand “chops” across the opposite hand)
We wiggle and we wiggle and we STOP
We wiggle and we wiggle and we STOP
We wiggle and we wiggle and we wiggle and we wiggle
And we wiggle and we wiggle and we STOP
(This week we also “climbed” imaginary pirate ship rigging and “swayed” as if we were up in the crow’s nest – I’ll do two new motions in addition to wiggle each week to keep it interesting)
Source: Jbrary

Intro to Weekly Theme: Arr, mateys! Today’s theme is pirates! Pirates liked to sail the ocean, look for treasure like these special gold coins called “doubloons,” and get into trouble. Does anyone know what a pirate’s favorite letterrrrrr is? (Hopefully a grownup will say “R!”) Oh, ye’d think it’d be “R,” but it’s really the “C” a pirate loves!

As mentioned above, Zoom Zoom Zoom is a song I would repeat almost weekly at indoor programs this spring. We hadn’t done it at all this summer until this week, so there was a lot of excitement from regulars!
Themed Song: Pirate Zoom, Zoom, Zoom
Zoom, zoom, zoom
We’re hunting for doubloons!
Zoom, zoom, zoom
We’re hunting for doubloons!
If you want to take a trip
Climb aboard my pirate ship
Zoom, zoom, zoom
We’re hunting for doubloons
In 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 – AHOY!
Source: Jbrary

Themed Book:
Bubble Bath Pirates by Jarrett J. Krosoczoska
OR
Pirate Jack Gets Dressed by Nancy Raines Day & Allison Black

I adapted the lyrics only slightly from Jbrary’s pirate themed song to be a little more generic ocean. I also let grownups know this could be a lifting song, but only if they’re feeling ambitious! I invite everyone else to do the up and down motions with me.
Repeated Song: The Ocean Song
(tune of The Elevator Song)
Oh, the ocean is great and the ocean is grand!
There are lots of big ships but very little land
And we sleep down deep in a hammock near the floor
And this is what we do when we go out to shore:

(ready?) We… ride… the…
waves going up, we ride the waves going down
we ride the waves going up, we ride the waves going down
we ride the waves going up, we ride the waves going down
And we turn… a-… round!
Source: Jbrary

After the Ocean Song, I’m invariably out of breath, so it’s time for a breathing break. I’d considered doing ocean wave breathing on the theme, but I decided that Five Finger Breathing is an easy one to teach and for kids to remember, which is my point in doing it.
Breathing Break: Five Finger Breathing
Whew, I could use a breathing break! Let’s get out our five fingers and spread our hands out wide. We’re going to breathe in deeply as we trace our fingers up, pause for just a moment at the top of our finger, then breathe out as we trace down. Ready?

I like to mention that this song was adapted by an occupational therapist as a reminder of ways to self-soothe.
Repeated Movement Song: Big Sea Star
(tune of A Ram Sam Sam)
A big sea star, a big sea star
Little cuddle clam and a big sea star
A big sea star, a big sea star
Little cuddle clam and a big sea star
A pufferfish! A pufferfish!
Little cuddle clam and a big sea star
A pufferfish! A pufferfish!
Little cuddle clam and a big sea star
Source: Jbrary

Release to Stations
I have seven stations each week, which involve a mixture of dry, wet, and an action station. We spend about 20 minutes in free play.

Repeated Stations:
Kinetic Sand (Dry)
I bought some kinetic sand and added it to two plastic bins. In the recycling bin I found some fruit cup containers that had fun shapes and added them plus some plastic shovels. I keep a sheet underneath this station to catch any stray sand that escapes the bins. I didn’t realize until after I planned this station that kinetic sand should not be put in mouths, so I do warn the parents that if their kiddo is still exploring with their mouth, they may want to skip this one.

Kinetic sand station outside - two bins set on a blue sheet, with small plastic containers, plastic shovels, and sand in them

Pouring Station (Wet)
I asked coworkers to collect clean plastic recyclables with wide openings for this station and visited Goodwill for some additional pitchers. We had measuring cups and funnels in our materials, as well as a baby pool, which is the perfect container. I fill the pool with plastic bins and fill them randomly with water from the hose each week. (Also, I must have had some sunscreen on my lens taking pictures outdoors – there’s a weird blur!)

Pouring station, with a faded red baby pool filled with various plastic containers of all shapes and sizes

Rotating Stations:
Craft Stick Sort (Dry)
I noticed in my storage bin that I had these boxes of dot painters that have small holes already in the top. I colored a ring around each hole a different rainbow color and added colored craft sticks for a fine motor and color identification station.

Craft stick sort station with small cardboard boxes with eight small holes in each, ringed in color, and a pile of colored craft sticks in front of them

Beanbag Sort (Dry)
We had these beanbags from Lakeshore Learning that are different colors and shapes. They’re a super easy station where kids can play and sort with them in several ways.

Beanbag sort station, with shiny plastic beanbags in cube, sphere, and pyramid shapes in rainbow colors.

Walk the Plank (Action)
Rather than capital punishment, I framed this walk the plank activity as going between two ships. But the “waters” are definitely shark-infested! I used the rubber dots I had from Ocean Boulder Leap to attach shark fins to, and there is a sturdy rubber balance beam in the same active play set my library has. This one looks cool from across the yard, when the shark fins really look like they’re swimming in the grass!

Unique Stations:
Mystery Water (Wet)
Inspired by this Pinterest pin from bright_little_brains, I used some plastic cookie cutters we had in storage, traced their shapes on a large sheet of paper, and laminated. The water was mixed with a few tablespoons of cornstarch and several drops of food coloring to make the water murky. I also added some of my toy pirate gold to each bin. Unfortunately, the cookie cutters weren’t very heavy and kind of floated to the top, but it wasn’t a disaster and the kids enjoyed the activity anyway.

Three bins are shown with murky green or blue water, in which different brightly colored plastic cookie cutters are floating. Next to each bin is a laminated sheet with the outline of each cookie cutter.

Chalk Art (Art/Messy)
This summer, crafts were all about the process. I tried to mix up some different crafting materials that we had laying around and just let the kids do with them what they would. This week I put out black construction paper and sidewalk chalk for them to draw with.

Art station on a picnic table, with messy trays set on the bench and art supplies on the table. Includes black paper and sidewalk chalk, as well as a sign explaining the station.

After about 20 minutes exploring stations, I rang the bell to call everyone back to the storytime area. 20 minutes felt like a good time – kids had generally found their way to all the stations and were winding down.

Everybody loves bubbles! The trick to doing bubbles outside, I’m finding, is to figure out which way the wind is blowing and get upwind of your group!
Recorded Bubble Song: Pop, Pop, Pop by Nathalia
From the album “Dream a Little,” available on Spotify

CD cover of Nathalia's "Dream A Little" album.

Goodbye Song: See You Later, Alligator
(tune of Clementine)
See you later, alligator (wave with one hand, then the other)
In a while, crocodile (open and shut arms like a croc’s mouth)
Give a hug, ladybug (hug yourself or a loved one)
Blow a kiss, jellyfish! MWAH! (move hand like a jellyfish then blow a kiss!)
Source: King County Library System

Other books I had available for families to browse (and may work for you on this theme)
On a Pirate Ship by Sarah Courtauld & Benjie Davies
The Grumpy Pirate by Corinne Demas, Artemis Roehrig, & Ashlyn Anstee
Pirate’s Perfect Pet by Beth Ferry & Matthew Myers
Roger, the Jolly Pirate by Brett Helquist
Pirate Pete by Kim Kennedy & Doug Kennedy
How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long & David Shannon
Give Me Back My Bones! by Kim Norman & Bob Kolar
Pirates Don’t Go to Kindergarten by Lisa Robinson & Eda Kaban
Port Side Pirates! by Oscar Seaworthy & Debbie Harter
Sheep on a Ship by Nancy Shaw & Margot Apple
The Pirate Jamboree by Mark Teague
Captain Cat and the Pirate Lunch by Emma J. Virján

This storytime was presented in-person on 7/11, 7/12, & 7/13/22.