Somewhere...Beyond the Sea

The theme of storytime this week was oceans and ocean creatures.  It fits the science-y theme of summer reading program and I’ve always had a fondness in my heart for whales.  It goes back to fifth grade where I thought that I wanted to be a marine biologist (like most girls that age, I think).  I was also reading Ring of Endless Light (and the other books in that series) and LOOOOOOOOVED them.  But anyway, storytime…

BOOKS:

We read Swimmy by Leo Lionni and Clumsy Crab by Ruth Galloway.

I love Swimmy.  It’s cute and fun and the pictures are gorgeous.  Clumsy Crab is okay.  I wish I had one about the ocean that was really funny, but there just wasn’t one in this bunch.  I’ll take any suggestions you have though for next time!

SONG/FLANNEL:

I found this book Somewhere in the Ocean by Jennifer Ward when I was searching for ocean books.  I didn’t know it when I grabbed it, but this is set to the tune of “Over in the Meadow.”  BAM.  Instant song.  I looked and looked and looked for cute clip-art marine animals to go with this for a flannel board, but I couldn’t find any. (Seriously, manatees are not included in cute clip-art.  Who knew?)  So I made my own.

I think they are super cute, but I’m biased.  The song was awesome, but I wish there was a way to incorporate more interaction into it.

CRAFT:

I recycled this craft from our Summer Reading Program.  One of our guests did a watercolor art activity with the kids – coloring with white crayon on white paper to make jellyfish that appear when painted over with watercolors.

(Full disclosure: these are examples from my summer reading program kids, not from storytime kids, but the storytime kids had a blast.  They love painting in all forms and for some of them watercolors were completely new.)