Sing-a-Song Storytime: Pigs and Pirates

 

Despite the library reopening, the world-wide pandemic is still closing down all large gatherings at my library.  Therefore, I continue with my summer offering of virtual storytimes.  I created this video storytime series along with a coworker, who is a talented musician, to get young children moving around and singing.  It is filled with lots of favorite storytime songs and rhymes.  For the summer series, we changed things up a bit!  Instead of a book we are bringing in puppets and a flannelboard story or rhyme.  I really wanted the grown-ups watching along with the kiddos to learn the songs, so I used a split screen technique on the videos to display the words to the songs/rhymes while I am singing and acting them out.  

Opening song – When Animals Get Up in the Morning (adaptation of a traditional song)

When pigs get up in the morning,
They always say “Good Day!”
When pigs get up in the morning,
They always say “Good Day!”
They say, "Oink!, Oink!, Oink!, Oink!,"
that is what they say.
They say, "Oink!, Oink!, Oink!, Oink!,"
that is what they say.

When pigs get up in the morning,
They always say “Good Day!”
When pigs get up in the morning,
They always say “Good Day!”
They say, "Grunt!, Grunt!, Grunt!, Grunt!,"
that is what they say.
They say, "Grunt!, Grunt!, Grunt!, Grunt!,"
that is what they say.

   

 

Flannelboard activity – Five Little Pirate Boats (adapted by Carol Hopkins)

Five little pirate boats, bright and shiny clean.
One tipped over, it was green.

Four little pirate boats, with all sails spread.
One sailed into a storm, it was red.

Three little pirate boats, what a dreadful sight!
One bumped into a shark, it was grey and white.

Two little pirate boats, coming close for a view.
One smashed into the rocks, it was blue.

One little pirate boat, now a lonely fellow.
He went looking for treasure, he was yellow.  

 

Stand-up Activity – Ten Little Pirates (fingerplay found at Born Librarian blog)

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 - or opposite since kids will mirror you)
They marched to the right 
(march hands to right - or opposite since kids will mirror you)
They shouted yo ho! 
(cup hands over mouth)
And gave their captain a fright 
(act scared, cover mouth with hands)

Action song - Have You Ever Seen a Sailboat? (scarf song found at Step By Step Childcare blog to the tune of "Did You Ever See a Lassie?")

Have you ever seen a sailboat,
A sailboat, a sailboat?
Have you ever seen a sailboat
Waving its sail?

Wave this way and that way,
Wave that way and this way.
Have you ever seen a sailboat
Waving its sail?

 

Action rhyme – Row, Row, Row Your Boat (traditional action song)

Row, row, row your boat,
Gently down the stream.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Life is but a dream.

Sway, sway, sway your boat,
Gently down the stream.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Life is but a dream.

Bounce, bounce, bounce your boat,
Gently down the stream.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Life is but a dream.

Twist, twist, twist your boat,
Gently down the stream.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Life is but a dream.

Hide, hide, hide your boat,
Gently down the stream.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Life is but a dream. 

Closing song - Skinnamarink (https://youtu.be/95JkQfANW9M) 

Skinnamarinky dinky dink
Skinnamarinky do,
I love you!

Skinnamarinky dinky dink
Skinnamarinky do,
I love you!

I love you in the morning,
And in the afternoon
I love you in the evening,
Underneath the moon…

Skinnamarinky dinky dink
Skinnamarinky do,
I love you!

 

***The video for this storytime can be found on my library's YouTube channel.

Pirate Day

The following is a program I did for a large multi-age group of children. There were about 60 kids ranging in age from first through fifth grade.

Read: Dirty Joe the Pirate: A True Story by Bill Harley, illustrated by Jack E. Davis

Act Out: Three Pirates Gruff (an adaptation of the story The Three Billy Goats Gruff, I actually used a version of this book to help me tell the story as we acted it out)

Craft: Create a pirate treasure map by wrinkling brown paper bag paper and then drawing with colored chalk (supplies needed: brown paper bags, colored chalk, scissors, cleaning wipes, but I wrote it out below for easy use)

The 3 Pirates Gruff
(props needed: large pirate hat, medium pirate hat, small pirate hat, fishing net, shark puppet)

Once upon a time there were three pirates wanting some treasure. One was very small (put on the small hat), one was middle-sized (put on the middle-size hat), and one was very large (put on the large hat). They were all named Gruff, so people simply called them, “The Three Pirates Gruff.”

On a certain morning, the Three Pirates Gruff were on their way to a distant island for some treasure. But to get to the island, they had to row their boats across some deep water. An in that water lived a great, big, ugly shark!

The smallest Pirate Gruff went first. He started to row across the water (sing “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”). When all of a sudden he heard the shark roar from below, “WHO’S THAT ROWING ACROSS MY WATER?”

“It’s only me, the smallest Pirate Gruff,” the little pirate answered in his tiny voice. “I’m going over to yonder island where I will find treasure.”

“NO, YOU’RE NOT,” roared the shark, “BECAUSE I’M GOING TO EAT YOU UP!”

“Oh, no!” cried the little pirate, “Please don’t eat me up! I’m much too small to make a meal for you. Wait for the second Pirate Gruff, he’s MUCH bigger than I am!”

“Well, maybe you’re right,” growled the shark. “So be off with you!” And the smallest Pirate Gruff finished rowing over to the island.

Then the second Pirate Gruff started rowing across the water (sing “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”). When all of a sudden he heard the shark roar from below, “WHO’S THAT ROWING ACROSS MY WATER?”

“It’s me, the second Pirate Gruff. But please don’t eat me. Surely I am much too small a snack for you. The biggest Pirate Gruff is right behind me, and he is MUCH bigger!”

“Oh really?” growled the shark, “Get on with you then. I’ll wait right here for the big one.” So the second Pirate Gruff rowed safely across the water to the island.

Then the biggest pirate rowed across the water (sing “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”). When all of a sudden he heard the shark roar from below, “WHO’S THAT ROWING ACROSS MY WATER?”

“It’s me, the BIGGEST Pirate Gruff!” hollered the pirate in a voice as loud as thunder.

“WHOEVER YOU ARE, I’M GOING TO CHEW, CHEW YOU UP RIGHT NOW!” roared the shark jumping at the boat.

Right then the biggest Pirate Gruff pulled out a humongous fishing net. As the shark leapt through the air, the pirate caught that shark in the net. The shark pulled with all of his strength to get out of the net. The pirate pulled with all of his strength to keep that shark from getting away. The pirate and the shark kept on pulling each other back and forth, this way and that until along about sunset when all of a sudden the shark when flying through the air. The biggest Pirate Gruff pulled so hard that the shark flew over 10 islands and was never seen again.

Now, the biggest Pirate Gruff finished rowing to the island. To this day, that island is the favorite place for the Three Pirates Gruff to look for treasure.

Pirate Party

Library program for children ages 4 to 12 and their families.

To start the whole pirate she-bang off, we started with a reading of the book Dirty Joe the Pirate: A True Story by Bill Harley. We read this book in one of the meeting rooms to allow all the late comers to arrive before starting the party off proper.

Next we handed out a "Pirate Path" for our pirate horde to follow, scavenger hunt style. We had 12 activities planned plus the ending treat. To start off with our large crowd, we handed each family a sheet and told them to start at different numbers. This spread everyone out at the beginning.

1. Head due NORTH to make your own Jolly Roger.
In the North Meeting Room we had cut up bed sheets (less expensive than buying fabric, especially when purchased at Goodwill) for flags with puffy paints and fabric markers. Note to self: the puffy paints took too long to dry for this activity.

2. Where would you find information book about the ocean? When you get there, you can make your own ocean waves. Make them calm, make them wild, make the sea creatures stay in the water!
For this station we had a parachute spread out next to the children's non-fiction section. There were small marine animal stuffed toys for the kids to bounce on the waves of the parachute.

3. The dangers of the deep are vast. What animal will you find at j597? _____
Now we are making them work! This was one of the parts we actually got compliments about. So many parents commented that they had no idea where are non-fiction books were located. We weren't too picky about what they wrote down. Some families found j597.98 and thought they were in the right place. I say close enough.

4. Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate hat's for you. Make yer necessary pirate garb in the TEEN ZONE of dread.
For this station we made everyone go upstairs to the second floor teen zone where we had tables set up to make folded newspaper hats plus markers to color them with, and a skull and cross bone to cut out and glue on if desired. Note to self: you need way more tables for this activity than you think you do. I put out 2 tables and this was not enough. Plus too many parents did not want to read the posted directions and kept asking the library staff to just make it for them.

5. HOLD onto yer hats! Polly wants a cracker and a safe perch to rest. Pin your favorite feathered friend to our lovely pirate lass. Cheaters will be taking a swim with Davy Jones.
This station was set up next to our hold shelves. The children got a paper parrot to color, if they wished to. Then there was some double sided tape and blind folds available to try to "pin" the parrot to the pirate party decoration on the wall.

6. Walk the plank if ye dare, make sure those wiley PICTURE books don't eat you up.
We set up two wood boards and a blind fold in the picture book area. The children were given four levels of difficulty for walking the plank. The easiest was to walk the wood board flat on the ground, with or without a blindfold. The harder level was to put the smaller board under the larger board to make a tiny teeter-totter, and try to walk from one end to the other, with or without blind fold.

7. Toss yer treasure into the chest, but be quick about it! Those librarians at the CHILDREN'S DESK might take that treasure away from ya.
This station was located in front of the children's reference desk. A staff member brought in an old steamer trunk and the children had to toss bean bags into the chest. Note to self: be sure to have a staff member or volunteer working this station. Almost all of our complaints came from this station and the rude parents who would not wait in line.

8. Get stranded in the SOUTHern isles and create your own treasure map.
The South Meeting Room is where everyone went to make maps on crinkled up brown paper bags. Note to self: some grocery stores wanted to charge for the privilege of using their grocery bags, so allow yourself plenty of time to drive and around to find the grocery store that will give them away for free.

9. A pearl of a treasure can be found in an oyster. Yet, an oyster is a type of _________, a group of soft-bodied animals that have no bones.
We didn't care how the families found this answer: online, in a non-fiction book, in an encyclopedia, or ask a librarian. It was all good and all used library resources. I made sure the answer was in the World Book Encyclopedia since we have this encyclopedia set in multiple locations in the library. We got a lot of compliments for this task, especially of parents with young children. These parents did not know we had a reference section or encyclopedias.

10. This book is a wonder to behold. The author of the book Flotsam is __________.
We got a lot of compliments from parents about this one as well, especially with parents of school-age children. This made them learn how to look something up in our online catalog. Of course, some parents took the easy way out and just asked a librarian.

11. Are you a member of the BOARD? No pirate is in his or her right mind without a proper tattoo. Don't forget your!
This station was located in our small meeting room which we call the "Board Room." Temporary tattoos, water spray bottles, and plenty of paper towels completed this station.

12. Beware when coming ashore at the beach. How many legs does a crab have?
This was another research question that we got complimented about.

When finished: You are a pirate sure and true. Yar, you passed the test and did the pirate deeds. Now sail SOUTH for a chance at some gold! But don't even think it, if you haven't walked the path!
We set up a table in the South Meeting Room where all participants could come get some gold fish crackers and gold chocolate coins as their reward for finishing all our pirate tasks.

This program was a HUGE success. We planned for about 100 children and their associated grown ups to attend this program. We actually ended up with over 267 people showing up for this event. The library was packed! Of course, we ran out of some supplies and had to make runs to the copy machine a few times to make more. We had directions at all the stations and the parents mostly did a great job moving their children from station to station. Since we were planning for far fewer attendees, our craft stations did not have enough tables. But most parents were resourceful and found spots on the floor nearby. If I was to do it again with the number of staff and volunteers I actually had, I would probably do one less craft. But wow! What a day!

Pirate Storytime

Storytime for 1-1/2 to 3 year olds:

• Opening - Skinnamarink, Sticky Sticky Bubblegum
• Book #1 – Sail Away by Florence McNeil and David McPhail
• Activity – How Will Pirates Get From Here to There? (action rhyme I learned from someone at the King County Library System)
• Flannelboard/Math Activity - Five Little Pirate Boats (counting rhyme I adapted from a similar one that I found)

Five little pirate boats, bright and shiny clean.
One tipped over, it was green.

Four little pirate boats, with all sails spread.
On sailed into a storm, it was red.

Three little pirate boats, what a dreadful sight!
One bumped into a shark, it was gray and white.

Two little pirate boats, coming close for a view.
One smashed into the rocks, it was blue.

One little pirate boat, now a lonely fellow.
He went looking for treasure, he was yellow.

• Book #2 - Pirate Piggywiggy by Christyan and Diane Fox
• Activity - A Captain and Her Men (a counting fingerplay I learned from someone at King County Library System)
• Closing - Rhythm sticks to the song Goin' On a Bear Hunt (found in Kids In Action by Greg and Steve)
• Craft - Glue tissue paper squares to paper towel tubes to make a special pirate spyglass