Specs
Age group: toddlers (24 - 36 months)
Group Size: about 8-10 kids and one parent/caregiver per toddler
Time: 10:30am to 11:15am
Parent/Caregiver Handouts
One of my colleagues told me that one of the ways we can encourage parents to participate is to give them printouts of the songs and rhymes we use. This way, they can participate with the child beside them, or on their lap, and the handout close by. Here are the ones we used for this storytime:
Toddler Storytime Rhymes and Songs
Pirate Theme Rhymes and Songs
The Plan
Treasure Hunt Game
Hello Good Morning
Head and Shoulders Knees and Toes
London Bridge is Falling Down
Book: Bubble Bath Pirates
Finger Play: Ten Little Pirate
Song: If You're a Pirate and You Know It
Felt Story Activity: Pirate Patch
Board Book: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Craft: Telescope
Activity: Searching for Colourful Pirate Swords
Parachute + Colouring Sheet
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Treasure Hunt Game
Since this was the first storytime session of the season, I asked the toddlers to follow the squiggly line taped down on the carpet. The line led to treasure! Argh! But not really...before the storytime even started, I emptied out the treasure box and spread some of the coins around the room. Some of these coins have letters on them, and some of them don't. After the toddlers found the empty box, I asked them to help me find coins to put into the box, but only the ones that have the yellow sticker/alphabet letter on them. They did really well distinguishing which ones to take, and which ones to leave behind. We have mini-pirates in the making! Argh!
This treasure box filled with coins was made by one of my friends:
Hello Good Morning
(Tune: La Cucaracha)
Hello good morning, hello good morning
how is everyone today?
CHA CHA CHA
Hello good morning, hello good morning
I am so glad you came to play
CHA CHA CHA
The sun is shining, the birds are singing
What a way to start the day
CHA CHA CHA
If we keep singing, hello good morning
We'll be happy come what may
CHA CHA CHA
Welcome to storytime!
This song comes from Miss Karen and the Hello Music Kids.
Head and shoulders Knees and Toes
Head and shoulders
knees and toes
knees and toes
Head and shoulders
knees and toes
knees and toes
And eyes, and ears, and mouth, and nose
head and shoulders
knees and toes
knees and toes!
I used this version of the song. The linked video is long, but listen to the first minute or so for how to sing it, and how to do the actions.
London Bridge Is Falling Down
London bridge is falling down,
falling down, falling down
London bridge is falling down
My sweet baby
Now come and take a walk around
walk around, walk around
Come and take a walk around
My sweet baby
Time to sit and read a book,
read a book, read a book
Time to sit and read a book
My sweet baby!
Book: Bubble Bath Pirates by Jarrett J. Krosoczka
This book is great to read out loud, with lots of opportunity for asking the audience to yell arrrr! along with you :D
Finger Play: Ten Little Pirates
Ten little pirates stood in a row (hold up all ten fingers)
They bowed to their captain so (lower and raise fingers)
They marched to the left (march hands to left)
And marched to the right (march hands to right)
They shouted yo-ho! (cup hands over mouth)
And gave their captain a fright (act scared, cover mouth with hands)
Song: If You're a Pirate and You Know It
If you’re a pirate and you know it, swab the deck (swish, swish)
If you’re a pirate and you know it, swab the deck (swish, swish)
If you’re a pirate and you know it, then you’ll hear sea winds a’blowin
If you’re a pirate and you know it, swab the deck (swish, swish)
-Walk the plank
-Say arrr, arrrr!
Felt Story Activity: Pirate Patch
I got the idea for this from Loons and Quines at LibraryTime. It is done to the following song, to the tune of Mary Wore a Red Dress:
Pirate wore a red patch,
Red patch, red patch,
Pirate wore a red patch all day long!
-continue with other colours
Board Book: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
We have a collection of board books, all with the same title. This is a great opportunity for toddlers to learn how to follow the story, flip pages, listen to instructions and answer questions.
Craft: Telescope
Materials:
-yarn tubes or paper towel tubes painted yellow
-decorative tape and stickers for decorating
-crayons
Activity: Searching for Colourful Pirate Swords
After the craft, we used the telescopes to look for colourful pirate swords taped around the room. I would ask the toddlers, "Let's look for a ________ pirate sword! Where is it? Can you find it with your telescope?" The toddlers would then look around the room and run to the _________ pirate sword. They really liked this activity!
Parachute and Colouring Sheet
Afterward, I asked the toddlers and parents/caregivers to put away their telescopes and to spread out and grab one of the parachute's ends. We sat around in a circle around the parachute, then sang the Cuckoo Clock song. You can check out this youtube video for how to sing the song. For one o'clock, we lifted the parachute up once and yelled "Cuckoo!" once. If it's five o'clock, we would do the same thing repeated five times.
Tick, tock, tick, tock
I’m a little cuckoo clock
Tick, tock, tick, tock
Now I’m striking one o’clock
CUCKOO!
Afterward, I handed out a pirate themed colouring sheet (pictures were found on the internet).
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Credits: I took the songs and rhymes from a variety of sources, some from work, and others from different parts of the internet. I will try to give credit where it is due, so if something is yours and I haven't credited you, please let me know and I will link back to you. Thank you!
