Beach Storytime

Those summers by Aliki.
New York: HarperCollins, c1996.
A little girl remembers summers at the seashore where children swim, romp on the beach, collect shells, build sandcastles, and enjoy other fun-filled activities.

Secret seahorse written by Stella Blackstone; illustrated by Clare Beaton.
Barefoot Books, 2004.
A sea horse leads the reader past coral reefs and underwater creatures to a sea horse family hidden in a cave.

D.W. all wet by Marc Brown.
Boston: Little, Brown, c1988.
D.W. bosses her brother Arthur into carrying her on his shoulders at the beach because she maintains that she hates the water, until she gets a big wet surprise.

Flip-flops by Nancy Cote.
Morton Grove, Ill.: Albert Whitman, 1998.
Even though Penny is annoyed that she can only find one of her flip-flops on the day she goes to the beach, she discovers a number of uses for it and enjoys her time there.

The boy on the beach story and pictures by Niki Daly.
New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books, c1999.
Reluctant to let the surf crash over him, Joe runs down the beach and has an adventure with an old boat.

The sand children by Joyce Dunbar; illustrated by Mark Edwards.
New York: Crocodile Books, 1999.
A boy and his father make a sand giant while camping at the beach, and during the night it comes to life to make sand children.

Six sandy sheep by Judith Ross Enderle and Stephanie Gordon Tessler; illustrated by John O'Brien.
Honesdale, Pa.: Boyds Mills Press, 1997.
Six sheep can't seem to stay out of trouble when they go to the beach.

The old ball and the sea by Warren Gebert.
New York: Bradbury Press, c1988.
A boy and his dog spend the day at the beach building sand castles, watching ships, and playing with the ball that washes ashore.

Beach play by Marsha Hayles; illustrated by Hideko Takahashi.
New York: Henry Holt, c1998.
The sunny beach offers many fun and exciting activities for those who spend a day playing on its warm sands and in the water.

Spot goes to the beach by Eric Hill.
New York: Putnam, c1985.
His parents take Spot the puppy to the beach for a fun-filled day. Flaps conceal parts of the illustrations.

Sally goes to the beach written and illustrated by Stephen Huneck.
New York: Abrams, 2000.
Sally, a black Labrador retriever, goes to the beach, where she enjoys various activities with other visiting dogs.

Grandma summer by Harley Jessup.
New York: Viking, 1999.
On a visit with Grandma to the old family summer house at the shore, Ben finds both the beach and the house filled with history and treasures waiting to be discovered.

Down at the bottom of the deep dark sea by Rebecca C. Jones; illustrated by Virginia New York: Bradbury Press; Toronto: Collier Macmillan; New York: Maxwell Macmillan International Pub. Group, c1991.
Andrew hates water and intends to stay away from the ocean while at the beach, but he changes his mind when he needs water for the sand city he is building.

Grandma and the pirate written by David Lloyd; illustrated by Gill Tomblin.
New York: Crown Publishers, c1986.
At the beach a little boy pretends to be a pirate until his grandmother neatly turns the tables.

How will we get to the beach? by Brigitte Luciani; illustrated by Eve Tharlet.
New York: North-South Books, c2000.
The reader is asked to guess what Roxanne must leave behind (ball, umbrella, book, turtle, or baby) as she tries various means of transportation to get to the beach.

Rhinos who surf by Julie Mammano.
San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books, c1996.
Rhinos who surf get up early, paddle out, and have fun until the sun goes down when they ride the last wave to shore. Includes surfer lingo and a glossary of terms.

The happy hippopotami by Bill Martin, Jr.; illustrated by Betsy Everitt.
San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, [1990?], c1970.
The happy hippopotami enjoy a merry holiday at the beach, wearing pretty beach pajamas, dancing the maypole, or battling with water guns.

Lottie's new beach towel by Petra Mathers.
New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, c1998.
Lottie the chicken has a number of adventures at the beach, during which her new towel comes in handy.

Tom and Pippo on the beach by Helen Oxenbury.
Cambridge, Mass.: Candlewick Press, 1993.
Tom and his stuffed monkey Pippo trade sun hats when they go to the beach with Daddy.

Beach days text and photographs by Ken Robbins.
New York, N.Y., U.S.A.: Viking Kestrel, 1987.
Hand-tinted photographs and simple, poetic text recreate the fun of a beach trip.

At the beach by Anne & Harlow Rockwell.
New York: Macmillan; London: Collier Macmillan, c1987.
A child experiences enjoyable sights and sounds during a day at the beach.

Ebb & Flo and the greedy gulls by Jane Simmons.
New York, N.Y.: Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2000, c1999.
Somebody has stolen the picnic sandwiches, and Ebb runs away when she is accused of being the thief.

One seal by John Stadler.
New York: Orchard Books, c1999.
A boy runs after his kite down to the beach and meets an amazing assortment of animals who help him get his kite back--temporarily.

Sand castle by Brenda Shannon Yee; pictures by Thea Kliros.
New York: Greenwillow Books, c1999.
Jen starts to build a sand castle at the beach, and others come along to help make the moat, path, wall, and road around it.

Seaside Poems collected by Jill Bennett, illustrated by Nick Sharratt
Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, c1998.

Rocks

Big rocks into pebbles
pebbles into sand.
I really hold a million million rocks here in my hand.
~Florence Parry Heide~

At the Seaside

When I was down beside the sea
A wooden spoon they gave to me
To dig the sandy shore.
My holes were empty like a cup,
In every hole the sea came up,
Till it could come no more.
~Robert Louis Stevenson~

I found a purple sea star
One day on the shore
I liked it so much
I wanted more.

So I made a wish
As I held it in my hand
This is what I said
As I stood on the sand.

"Sea stars, sea stars,
On the rocks in the sea,
Crawl through the waves
And come to me."

I watched and I waited
What seemed a long timee.
Then out of the waves,
They came in a line.

First came the sea star
As blue as the sky
Then a yellow one
With ten arms crawled by

Next was a red one
Lying in the sand
Close to an orange sea star
With a speckled band.

"This is enough sea stars,"
I cried, "no more!"
But still they came
Upon the shore

Beige and pink
And brown and white
And two beautiful
Sea stars as black as night.

I cried "Sea stars, sea stars,
Out in the sea.
Please stay there,
don't crawl to me."

I took a breath
And waited to see;
Soon all of the sea stars
Crawled back to the sea.

Make five-armed starfish in the following colors: tan, brown, pink, orange, sky-blue, purple, white, red, and two black. Make a large, ten-armed starfish out of yellow. Pattern is available in the July/August 2001 issue of Totline Magazine.

One of my favorite wishes	hold up one finger
Is to play in sand that squishes	pretend to squish sand
To make a sand castle and sand cake	pretend to pat sand castle
And leave them in the sun to bake	point up to sun
Will it feel good, do you suppose?	point to friend
To squish the sand between my toes?	wiggle toes

Swimming in the water cool and bright	pretend to swim
I kick my feet with all my might.	kick feet
And when I'm tired I turn and float	lie on back
Pretending that I'm a boat.
I like to hold my breath and dive	pretend to take breath and dive
I swim beneath the water and count to five.	count to five on fingers
Wow! What a dive!

I want to learn to swim	Point to self
Out in the ocean blue	Make waves with hands
I want to learn to swim	Point to self
Who'll teach me, will you?	Point at self, then point out

One little seashell	Hold up one finger
Lying on the shore
In rolls a wave	Make waving motion with hand
Then there's one more	Hold up two fingers
Two little seashells	Hold up two fingers
Lying side by side
One gets picked up	Bend over like picking up
One washes away with the tide	Wash shell away with hand

Five little children	hold up five fingers
Playing on the shore
One went fishing	pretend to cast fishing rod
And then there were four	hold up four fingers
Four little children
Swimming out to sea	make swimming motions
One went back	wave hands goodbye, and swimming motions
And then there were three	hold up three fingers
Three little children said
"What do we do?"
One built a sand castle	pantomime building a sand castle
And then there were two.	hold up two fingers
Two little children
Reading in the sun	act like reading
One went for drinks	pretend to drink from imaginary glass
And then there was one.	hold up one finger
One little child
Didn't want to stay
He said, "I'm bored,"
And he walked away	make walking motion with fingers.

Beach days : celebrating the beach with rhymes, songs, projects, games, and snacks written and compiled by Elizabeth McKinnon ; illustrated by Marion Hopping Ekberg.
Torrance, Calif.: Totline, c2000.
Activities for fun with sand, water, seashells, and more. Designed to be done at home.

Here are some great ideas from the talented people on the PUBYAC listserv.

I had a Beach Party in January, and in between the storytime portion of the program and the craft portion. I had the kids go "fishing." Each child was given a small blue napkin as their bit of ocean, a stick pretzel for the pole, goldfish crackers for the fish and a small condiment cup (like you get for ketchup at McDonalds) of peanut butter for the bait. The object was to try to catch a fish by dipping the pretzel in peanut butter and then getting a fish to stick to it. The kids loved it, and it kept them busy while I set up the craft.

For the craft, we made sunglasses. I had the pattern copied on cardstock so the kids cut them out and decorated them with markers, stickers, etc. Our kids like making things they can wear, and we got some great "Kodak moments"
of them modeling their creations.

Jane Kearn
Youth Specialist
Johnson County Library

Paper Plate Crab

1 paper plate
9 pipe cleaners (if they are very long, cut them in half and use the halves)
drinking straws cut into 1/4-1/2 inch pieces hole punch What you do:

Punch 8 fairly evenly spaced holes in the rim of the plate. Punch two holes close together on the rim in between the other holes. Take a pipe cleaner piece and loop it through one hole. Add as many straw pieces as will fit. Bend the end of the pipe cleaner to keep straw pieces from falling off. Repeat with the other seven holes. Take the remaining pipe cleaner and thread it through the two holes so about half is through each hole. Twist the two halves together to make eye stalks (or whatever it is that crabs have.) Adjust the legs and your crab will stand up. The kids can also decorate the crab's shells anyway they want.