Welcome to the Storytime at Home series! Every other week, we share a list of book options tied to a kid-approved theme, a craft you can set up to go along with the theme, songs/rhymes you can do during storytime, and additional enrichment activities. All books are available at Richmond Public Library, and crafts will involve items you likely have at home already! Our hope is that we can make it easy for you to share stories with your little ones and create a little bit of library magic at home.
P.S. Love library storytimes? Take a look at all in-library storytime options here. There is a storytime for your child every morning at our various branches!
Okay, now to the fun stuff…
Today’s storytime theme is OCEAN!
The ocean is a *sea* of possibility. Kids love hearing about interesting creatures and seeing them come to life in vivid colors on the pages. Books about the ocean provide learning opportunities like color recognition and counting practice. They can also help young ones use their imaginations and explore important, complex themes like anxiety (oceans can be scary!), kindness (why be mean to the smaller fish?), environmental friendliness (no littering!), and more. An ocean theme also comes with fun and effective songs and rhymes that help children practice motor skills and learn basic concepts like up and down, etc. The library has some wonderful books about the ocean and creatures in it, and we’ve included some of our favorites below. When you visit, you can also search in our catalog or ask a librarian to help you find the perfect book for you and your child.
Books
Reading to your kiddos turns them into confident thinkers. Making books a regular part of your daily routine is a great way to build children’s love of reading and learning. Storytimes also help build excitement around reading to support their literacy development.
Here are a few book options you can choose from for your ocean-themed storytime.
Preschool
- Poor Little Guy by Elanna Allen
- The Mermaid by Jan Brett
- Nellie’s Big Splash by Cori Doerrfeld
- Ocean by Natasha Durley
- Just Be Jelly by Maddie Frost
- Field Trip to the Ocean Deep by John Hare
- My Ocean is Blue by Dareen Lebeuf
- Wave by Suzy Lee
- Way Down Deep in the Deep Blue Sea by Jan Peck
- Ocean Day by Shelley Rotner
- I’m the Biggest Thing in the Ocean by Kevin Sherry
- Crab Cake by Andrea Tsurumi
Toddler/Baby
- Baby Shark by John John Bajet
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar’s Ocean Hide & Seek by Eric Carle
- Bubbles by Ben Clanton
- What Goes into the Ocean? by Dori Elys
- Shapes with Ocean Animals by Melanie Watt
- Ten Little Fish by Audrey Wood
There are many ways to make reading fun and engaging for your little one!
Click here to see some of our favorite tips for bringing stories to life at home.
- Point at the pictures and ask your child what they see. Help build their vocabulary by pointing to pictures and saying the word aloud.
- Ask your child questions about the story: What do you think will happen next? How do you think this character is feeling?
- Read with expression and enthusiasm, and use different voices for different characters.
- Act out what’s happening in the story.
- As your child gets older, count objects in a book, discuss the different colors they see, point out shapes in the story, etc.
- Snuggle up and be patient. Reading is great bonding time for you and your child. Take your time walking them through the story. If your child wants to turn the page or be finished with reading, that’s OK too. You don’t have to read every word or even every page for reading with your little one to be beneficial for their development.
Songs and Rhymes
We love adding songs and rhymes to our storytimes. This is a great way to practice language with your child and support their physical (motor) development through movement.
Here are two songs and rhymes you can use for this themed storytime.
Counting Rhyme: Five Little Ocean Friends
Hold up five fingers and put them down as you count down
Five little ocean friends on the ocean floor,
The starfish walks away and now there are four
Four little ocean friends living in the sea
The crab slides away now there are three
Three little ocean friends looking for a clue
“Glub, glub,” said the lobster now there are two
Two little ocean friends not having much fun
Off swam the sea horse now there is one
One little octopus sad and all alone
Back swims the starfish, back swims the crab,
Back swims the lobster, back swims the sea horse
And they played in the sea foam, safe in their home.
Movement Song: The Ocean Song
We love The Elevator Song! This children’s storytime blog shared a version about the ocean. This one is so fun for kids to get their bodies moving. You can do it sitting or standing. Have fun!
Source: Jbrary
Arts and Crafts
Adding a craft along with a book is a great way to continue allowing your child to learn, explore, and grow. Crafts are a nice supplement as they encourage motor development, creativity, self-confidence, and more.
In fact, art and craft activities:
- Build fine motor skills. Actions such as painting, coloring, gluing, and cutting develop small muscles in small hands and improve coordination skills as children learn to use both hands at the same time.
- Support early literacy. When children make art, they learn vocabulary and how to follow directions when getting verbal instructions from parents and caregivers. They also boost their communication skills via talking about their work!
- Teach early math concepts. Math skills are used frequently in arts and crafts. Kids learn about and recognize different shapes, count and sort art supplies, and even measure out materials.
- Encourage creativity. Art helps develop creativity, self-expression, problem-solving, and curiosity.
- Boost self-esteem. Doing arts and crafts can give children a sense of achievement and allow them to take pride in their work, which builds confidence.
- Offer bonding time. Kids love spending quality time with parents and caregivers, and arts and crafts are a great opportunity for this.
Here is a craft activity you can do along with the ocean theme.
Odds and Ends Ocean Scene Craft
Materials Needed*
- Blue paper plates (or use white ones and color them blue)
- Construction paper
- Bottle caps
- Straws
- Goldfish crackers
- Googly eyes
- Tissue paper
- Glue
- Q-tips
- Rice or dried beans for sand
- White paint
- Optional: Fish / sea life stickers, glitter
*The fun thing about this craft is that you can use whatever you have on hand! Get creative with your materials to make it work for you!
Source: Ducks in a Row
Directions
- Pour glue onto the bottom edge of one side of the plate. Spread it thinly using a Q-tip and immediately sprinkle rice on it.
- Move the rice around by tipping the plate till it sticks. You may want to lightly press it into the glue. This will be the sand on the ocean floor.
- Next, glue paper triangles on the plate. They will be the tail fins for the larger fish.
- Dip the bottle cap edges in the glue and set them over the tail. Wait for it to set for a few minutes.
- Add a drop of glue on the bottle caps and set a googly eye on. Draw the smile on each bottle cap.
- Squiggle glue on the side of the fish and tail and then add glitter on the squiggles.
- If desired: Glue shredded green paper on as seaweed. Glue Gold Fish crackers on for little fishies in your scene. Add some sea life stickers.
- Pour white paint onto a clean space. Using a straw, dip the end in the paint and lightly tap white rings on your scene as bubbles.
Additional Enrichment Ideas
The fun doesn’t have to end at books, songs, and a craft. There are many ways to enrich a storytime with additional activities and lessons. Here are a few ideas for you and your child:
- Take a trip to the ocean! Virginia Beach is less than two hours away. Make a whole day of it with a stop by the Virginia Aquarium to see sea creatures.
- Can’t make it there? Bring the ocean home with sensory play. Check out this article with lots of great ideas including spaghetti bins, jell-o oceans, and more.
- Make a seascape with playdough. Can you make coral and seaweed? How about fishies and crabs? Add some rocks from outside for “seashells.” Have animal figurines? Throw them in for more fun!
- Explore STEM skills with activities like a saltwater density experiment, blubber demonstration, and more.
- Make ocean slime with hours of endless sensory fun.
- Make mealtime more fun with a ocean treats like this sea turtle or this fish scene.
We share these Storytime at Home posts twice a month, so be sure to check back soon for more. You can also search “#storytimeathome” to see all past posts.
Have a suggestion for the next theme we cover? Email Sarah at sarah.fenninger@rva.gov and let us know!
