Books

“Who Sank the Boat” by Pamela Allen
“Sheep on a Ship” by Nancy Shaw
“Little Tug” by Stephen Savage

Five Little Boats (Tune: Five Little Ducks)

Five sailboats went out one day
(hold up 5 fingers)
Over the waves and far away
(make wave motion with hands)
With the wind, they began to rock
(rock side to side)
And one little sailboat returns to the dock
(remove sailboat from board)

(count down)

Have You Ever Seen a Sailboat (Tune: Did You Ever See a Lassie)

Have you ever seen a sailboat, a sailboat, a sailboat
(looking motion)
Have you ever seen a sailboat waving it’s sail?
(wave arms in front)
Wave this way and that way, wave that way and this way
(swing arms side to side)
Have you ever seen a sailboat waving it’s sail?
(looking motion)

Have you ever seen a sailboat, a sailboat, a sailboat
(looking motion)
Have you ever seen a sailboat rock back and forth
(rock side to side)
Rock this way and that way, rock that way and this way
(rock side to side)
Have you ever seen a sailboat rock back and forth
(looking motion)

Source: Jbrary

Sailboats in the Water Flannel Board (Tune: Do You Know the Muffin Man)

For this song I made 20 flannel sailboats in a variety of colors, I had a volunteer pass out the sailboats and had the children put them on the flannel board when their color was called.

If you have a red sailboat, a red sailboat, a red sailboat
If you have a red sailboat, put it in the water!

(repeat with different colors)

Row, Row, Row Your Boat

Row, row, row your boat gently down the stream
(rowing motion with arms)
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily life is but a dream

Row, row, row your boat gently down the river
If you see a polar bear, don’t forget to shiver
(shiver and say brrrr)

Row, row, row your boat gently down the stream
If you see a crocodile dont’ forget to scream AHHH
(clasp hands to cheeks and yell)

Parachute

To end the story time I brought out a parachute and some beach balls. First I had the children make small waves and then bigger ones, I also had the parents mushroom the parachute over the children’s heads. Next I put a few beach balls on the parachute, the kids and parents loved making the balls fly!

How it Went: Overall this story time was a huge hit. I gave the adults a copy of the songs that we were singing before the program started, this way I wasn’t the only one singing in a large group. I find that when parents have the words in front of them they are more likely to join in and get the children participating as well.