I always think of How I Met Your Mother when I talk about Boats-- probably because of this hysterical link . Boats is a great storytime theme! There are so many fun books, and then you can Row, Row, Row your boat with all of the fun extra verses! Here is a handy list in case your stuck! They even have a mermaid one! Books: Little Tug by Stephanie Savage : This is a great boat book for toddlers and babies. I love using Stephanie's books for that reason! Bright pictures and sparse text work wonders! Sail Away by Donald Crew : I think it's imposssible to talk about transporation and not use a Crew book-- and I love this one for the putt putt putt-ing. At my best storytime moments, the crowd picks up the rhythm and continues it while I read... it is such a beautiful storytime moment! To hear the putt-ing while you chug along with the story. Blue Boat by Linda Hamilton : At the first storytime, I got this book confused with Little Tug, it's a cute book-- but it's a ...
In the summer, I like to stick to summer-ish themes... it's difficult because there aren't a lot of GREAT or AMAZING summer reads for babies and toddlers, but with lots of fun songs... I can make it work! It's also great because it is so NOW for the kids who are exploring these themes in their lives at that time... I get so many adults who tell me that they just went to the beach, or took the kids to the pool, and so talking about it in storytime is really fun for the little ones to make the connections to their own experiences! This week it was time to go Swimming! Case in point for this week because a lot of my swimming books didn't come in for the actual story time! Books Pulled: Let's Swim: Nonfiction book about swimming at the pool. It has short chapters-- I read the first one and picture talked being safe and having fun! It's fun to show real kids at the pool! Swim, Duck, Swim by Susan Lurie: This book is a tad long-- feel free to just get...