Storytime: Visiting Friends

Discussion Questions:

How do we go from one place to another place?  How did you get to the library today?

Story: Turtle Island by Kevin Sherry*

Turtle is as BIG as an island, but he gets lonely in the even bigger ocean.  This is a short story so I lengthened it and gave it a bit more depth for our storytime kids by taking this as an opportunity to compare sizes, make animal noises, discuss feelings, and talk about friends and family!  They absolutely loved pointing out new things on each page!

Shaker/Flannel Song: Old MacDonald

Old MacDonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O.
And on his farm he had some chicks, E-I-E-I-O.
With a peep, peep here,
And a peep, peep there,
Here a peep, there a peep, Everywhere a peep, peep,
Old MacDonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O.

Various animals and sounds.  Each was presented as a flannel piece and then shakers were used during the song to keep a rhythm!

Story: I Really Want to See You, Grandma by Taro Gumi*

Yumi and Grandma both want to see each other and so go to visit.  BUT they keep missing one another as they travel on the road and have to go back and forth, back and forth until they finally meet in the middle.  The kids paid a lot of attention to this one as there was a bit of suspense and silliness to keep them engaged.  Each time Yumi or Grandma went out again, we identified how they were traveling (bus, train, truck, scooter, etc.).  The adults loved this one too!

Craft: Floating Boats (based on Our Family of Seven craft idea)

You will need:

• Pre-glued sails (paper or foam triangles on Popsicle sticks)
• Pre-cut pool noodle foam
• Basin with water to experiment with floating their boats! (Optional)

This craft was selected due to an excess of orange pool noodle pieces left over from a pumpkin craft.   To add a bit more STEM to this exercise, I got out a small, plastic container and filled it with water.  I left a sign that asks, "Can your boat float?" near the water and showed kids how mine floated too!  We had very little mess and only one boat capsized (mostly due to excitement from the sailor placing it in the water).

*Links for books are to Amazon; I am not affiliated with the company.