Storytime Plans by Theme – The Mermaid's Tale

Earth Day is today, April 22, and it made for a fun storytime theme last week with stories, songs, and a craft.

We started the way we always do with our library storytime songs “The More We Read Together” and “If You’re Ready for a Story.” The kids wiggle their fingers and stomp their feet slowly for the first round of “The More We Read Together”, then wiggle and stomp and sing a little faster for the second round, then even faster for the third round before taking a deep breath and singing “If You’re Ready for a Story.” The lyrics are as follows:

“The More We Read Together” (Tune: “The More We Get Together”)

The more we read together, together, together,

The more we read together, at the library,

Where your books (point to others) are my books (point to self),

And my books (point to self) are your books (point to others),

The more we read together the happier we’ll be!

“If You’re Ready for a Story” (Tune: “If You’re Happy and You Know It”)

If you’re ready for a story take a seat,

Clap your hands and stomp your feet,

Make your hands all nice and neat,

If you’re ready for a story, take a seat!

We always start our first story after everyone is all settled on their cushions. For Earth Day Storytime, that story was Love, The Earth, written by Frances Stickley and illustrated by Tim Hopgood. I enjoyed seeing one little girl’s face light up when she saw the polar bears in the book!

We took a break after this book to sing “E-A-R-T-H” to the tune of “B-I-N-G-O.” Thanks to the creators at https://www.theholidayzone.com/earth/songs.html for the idea!

“E-A-R-T-H” (Tune: “B-I-N-G-O”)

There is a planet we call home

And “Earth” is its name.

E-A-R-T-H

And Earth is its name.

We must all work to care for her,

To keep her safe and clean —

C-L-E-A-N

This planet we call home.

This song was followed by our next book, The Earth Book by Todd Parr. The vibrant illustrations and simple text are perfect for storytime’s little listeners. Also, this book was enhanced by a lovely soundscape provided by Novel Effect, an app that uses voice isolation technology to listen to your voice and play corresponding music and sound effects for the text. More on this app in another post, but to make a long story short, I’m thrilled my library director agreed this year to purchase a public library subscription for our patrons to use!

After this story, it was time for a song break complete with instruments for the storytime friends to play. For Earth Day Storytime, we used “The Goldfish” by The Laurie Berkner Band (one of my storytime favorites!) and “This Land Is Your Land” by Cooltime Kids.

The book Questions, Questions by Marcus Pfister was our next read after everyone helped clean up the instruments and found their cushions again. I love the wonderment at God’s amazing design for the Earth that this book conveys without being overtly spiritual in its language.

Our next song break was “If You Really Love the Earth” sung to the tune of “If You’re Happy and You Know It.” Thanks to Eric at PreschoolEducation.com for compiling a great list of Earth Day Songs for Preschoolers. Find it here https://preschooleducation.com/searth.shtml

“If You Really Love the Earth” (Tune: “If You’re Happy and You Know It”)

If you really love the Earth, clap your hands.

If you really love the Earth, love it for all its worth,

If you really love the Earth, clap your hands.

Other Verses:

…plant new trees

…then recycle

…turn off the light

…stop the drip

Our last story, again with Novel Effect soundscape, was Brendan Wenzel’s A Stone Sat Still. The soothing sounds were a perfect complement to the beautiful muted colors of Wenzel’s illustrations of all the purposes a stone can serve in nature.

We wrapped up our storytime with a craft, idea courtesy of The Simple Parent. Find the idea here https://thesimpleparent.com/earth-day-craft-preschoolers-will-love/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=pinterest&utm_campaign=tailwind_tribes&utm_content=tribes&utm_term=566987976_20943222_148584 I prepped the tan construction paper ahead of time into squares for the kids to trace their hands on and cut them out. I also provided red paper hearts, white paper plates, glue sticks, and green and blue paint sticks. These work beautifully for painting projects as they are used like crayons but cover like paint.

Overall, we had a great time celebrating the beauty of our planet and how we can help to preserve it.

“I take care of the earth because I know I can do little things every day to make a BIG difference.” – Todd Parr, The Earth Book