Today’s Toddler Storytime was all about the ocean. We made an ocean scene with jellyfish, kelp, starfish, swimming fishes and a crab:

ocean flannel

We sang “Open Shut Them” and then read a sweet book by Scott Magoon titled Breathe. The pictures of the little beluga whale swimming through the ocean and all around his arctic environment are so lovely–I’ve been looking forward to sharing this one!

Breathe

We counted down from five to one with a story about Five little fishies who tease a shark (much like the five little monkeys who tease Mr. Crocodile).

five little fishies

Then we sang a song to the tune of “The Wheels on the Bus”:

The sharks in the sea go chomp, chomp, chomp!
Chomp, chomp, chomp!
Chomp, chomp, chomp!
The sharks in the sea go chomp, chomp, chomp
All day long!

The fish in the sea go swim, swim, swim…
The lobsters in the sea go pinch, pinch, pinch…
The clam in the sea goes open and shut…
The sea horse in the sea rocks back and forth…
The octopus in the sea goes wiggle, wiggle, wiggle…

We sang “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” and then we read the book Fabulous Fishes by Susan Stockdale. It’s a good introduction for little ones to all kinds of ocean life.

Fabulous Fishes

We learned another song to the tune of “I’m a Little Teapot” about a little fishie:

I’m a little fishie, watch me swim
Here is my tail and here is my fin
When I want to have fun with my friends
I wiggle my tail and dive right in!

We told a story using the flannelboard about a slippery fish who gets eaten by another fish who gets eaten by another, and so on… illustrating the ocean food chain:

slippery fish

We sang a song called “Once I saw an Octopus”:

Once I saw an octopus
in the deep blue sea (point downward)
I called out, “Mr. Octopus,
won’t you swim with me?” (cup hands around mouth)
Then out came his tentacles
so very long and straight (extend eight fingers)
One and two and three and four
five and six and seven and eight.

We finished with some song cube songs and a video based on the book Swimmy by Leo Lionni. I figured it would make a good video since the book is a little too long for a group of toddlers to sit through. It is a great book though, and worth checking out to read together one-on-one!

Swimmy

Hope to see everyone for more stories and songs next week!