Turtle Storytime 3/7/18

By Awnali Mills

Today’s storytime theme was turtles.  It was an unfortunate set of circumstances that led up to this storytime.  I had the flu, I went on vacation, and then went to a conference.  I didn’t have much planning time, but I had ordered some books, put together my flannels, and planned fingerplays and a game.  I had one day to put everything together.

And only one of the books worked.  Aack!

I totally wouldn’t have minded switching things up, but darn it, I had already put all the time and effort into everything else for the storytime!  So, I went with Turtle Island by Kevin Sherry and In a Small, Small Pond by Denise Fleming (which has one page of turtles in it).

We sang If You’re Happy and You Know It, and then I brought out my turtle puppet.  We coaxed him to come out of his shell and he brought us the letter T.  We talked about the sound that T makes and then did the fingerplay I Have a Little Turtle.

I have a little turtle (put hands on top of one another)
He lives in a box (make box)
He swims in a puddle (swimming motion)
He climbs on the rocks (climbing motion)
He snapped at a mosquito (clap)
He snapped at a flea (clap)
He snapped at a minnow (clap)
And he snapped at me (clap)
He caught the mosquito (cup hands together)
He caught the flea (cup hands together)
He caught the minnow (cup hands together)
But he didn’t catch me! (shake finger “no”)
Credit: Childhood

Then I read Turtle Island and we talked about how big turtles really are.  I showed a picture of the smallest turtle, the Stinkpot Common Musk Turtle, and we talked about how big they grow (3”-4”), and how old they get (50 years!).  Then I showed a picture of a baby leatherback turtle, and we talked about how she would fit in their hands.  I asked them to guess how big they got.  After they guessed, I showed them a picture of an adult leatherback.  They’re huge!  They get to be as big as our storytime carpet (6’-7.2’)  I had planned to measure it out with the kids, but totally forgot my ruler.  Fudge!  At any rate, they can weigh as much as a cow or a small car—2000 lbs.  And, they live to about 45 years.  Pretty amazing facts!

We rolled the song cube and sang This Is the Way We Take a Bath, then did the flannel Five Little Turtles. that I got from Storytime Katie.

One little turtle, feeling mighty fine
Sitting by the pond in the bright sunshine
Here’s another turtle that wants to play.
Now how many turtles do we have today?

2 happy turtles, feeling mighty fine
Swimming in the pond in the bright sunshine.
Here’s another turtle ready to play.
Now how many turtles do we have today?

3 slow turtles feeling mighty fine!
Blinking their eyes in the bright sunshine.
Here’s another turtle that’s come to play
Now how many turtles do we have today?

4 green turtles feeling mighty fine,
Resting by the pond in the bright sunshine.
Here’s another turtle ready to play
Now how many turtles do we have today?

5 tired turtles feeling might fine
Taking a nap in the bright sunshine.
They had fun together with their turtle play
Now how many turtles slowly walk away?
(count down as you remove each turtle until they’re all off and then wave “goodbye”)

5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Goodbye turtles!

Next we read In a Small, Small Pond.  This was my Hail Mary book; it’s only saving grace is that it has one page of turtles in it.  I asked them to call out when they spotted the turtles, and then we counted them together.

Then we did the fingerplay My Little Turtle.
This is my little turtle.(Make fist)
He lives alone in a shell.
He likes his little home.
He thinks it’s really swell. He pokes out his head(Poke out thumb)
When he wants to eat.
Then he pulls it back in.(Hide thumb in fist)
When he wants to sleep.

Next I did the flannel I Had a Little Turtle that goes with the song.
I had a little turtle, his name was Tiny Tim.
I put him in the bathtub, to see if he could swim.
He drank up all the water, he ate up all the soap.
And now he’s sick in bed, with a bubble in his throat!
Bubble, bubble, bubble, bubble, bubble, POP!
Bubble, bubble, bubble, bubble, bubble, POP!

I wanted an activity to go with this theme, so I created a Snapping Turtle Game.  I used turtle clipart, put the numbers 1-10 on their shells, and then laminated them.  I clipped each turtle to a sturdy piece of cardboard with a clothspin, and the children got to “snap” the turtle off the cardboard.  I started off by asking for volunteers to snap the turtles off in numerical sequence, then changed it up by giving them different numbers.  I had two sets of 1-10, and two lengths of cardboard ready to go.  The kids loved this game.  My plan had been to have them try to put the turtles in line on the floor according to their number after they had snapped them all, but they were so jazzed up by the snapping part that I just collected them.

Since we’d done the flannel with the bubble in the turtle’s throat, I pulled out the bubbles and blew them around.  But nobody got them stuck in their throats—thank goodness!