Camping and Hiking We Go - A Storytime Outline

Summer is a great time to go camping with the family and explore the world of nature on a hike. Granted, if you are in Texas right now, it may be a little (a smidge...) too hot to actually do it. So! I brought camping and hiking to the library's storytime! The children thought it was a fun program, and some told me that they went camping too. We all loved our discussion about s'mores!

T = Toddler Storytime
P = Preschool Storytime

BOOKS

Baby Bear, Baby Bear What Do You See? written by Bill Martin, Jr. and illus. by Eric Carle (T)
This was a great book for the toddler program. All the animals in the story where ones that you might come across when you're hiking through nature. One little boy loved seeing all the animals and would help me name all of them. 

We're Going on a Bear Hunt written by Michael Rosen and illus. by Helen Oxenbury (T)
This was a little long for toddlers, so I skipped over some of the elements that we had to go through. 

Camping Day written by Patricia Lakin and illus. by Scott Nash (P) 
This was a fun book to read. The children thought it was funny that alligators were scared of their own shadow. 

One-Dog Canoe written by Mary Casanova and illus. by Ard Hoyt (P) 
Of all of the books, this was one of the most popular with the preschool children. They kept on shouting that there was no more room in the canoe whenever the next animal appeared, asking if they could come aboard. 

Ten Flashing Fireflies written by Philemon Sturges and illus. by Anna Vojtech (P)
The children did a great job with keeping tack of the number of fireflies in the jar and outside the jar!

SONGS & RHYMES

Open, Shut Them (T, P)
follow actions
Open, shut them
Open, shut them
Give a little clap
Open, shut them
Open, shut them
Lay them in your lap
Creep them, creep them up to your chin
Open your mouth wide, but don't put your fingers in!
Open, shut them
Open, shut them
Give a big clap
Open, shut them
Lay them in your lap.

Row, Row, Row Your Boat (T)
Row, row row your boat
Gently down the stream
Merrily, merrily, merrily
Life is but a dream.

Rock, rock, rock your boat
Gently down the stream
Merrily, merrily, merrily
Life is but a dream.

Five Little Fireflies (T)
One little firefly shines very bright
Two little fireflies show their lights
Three little fireflies glimmer and glow
Four little fireflies watch them go!
Five little fireflies fly in the night
Blink! Blink! Blink! (open and close fingers when blinking!)
My! What a sigh!
Source: King County Library System

Row, Row, Row Your Boat Backwards! (P)
Row, row row your boat
Gently down the stream
Merrily, merrily, merrily
Life is but a dream.

Rock, rock, rock your boat
Gently down the stream
Merrily, merrily, merrily
Life is but a dream.

Row, row row your boat
BACKWARDS down the stream
If you see an alligator
Don't for get to scream! Aaaaggghh!
Source: Sturgis Kids 

A-Camping We Will Go (P)
A-camping we will go
A-camping we will go
Hi-ho and off we go
A-camping we will go

Other Lyrics
First we pitch our tent
Next we chop some wood
We Light the campfire now
We cook our dinner now
We tell fun stories now
It's time to go to sleep
Source: Kinder Korner

Touch Your Nose (T, P)
follow actions

Touch your nose

Touch your chin

That's the way this game begins

Touch your eyes

Touch your knees

Now pretend you're going to sneeze!

Aaachooooo!

Touch your hair

Touch one ear

Touch your two red lips right here

Touch your elbow where it ends

And that's the way this touch game ends.

FLANNEL BOARDS

Five Little Fireflies (T)
To go along with the rhyme I created a felt jar and a bunch of fireflies. In the picture below you'll see that I have more than five fireflies. This is because I had about ten toddlers in the program and I let them all put a firefly in the jar.
 
A-Camping We Will Go (P)
To create a visual for the song, I made a tent, camp fire, a hot dog, a book, and a sleeping bag. The children kept on telling me that the sleeping bag was too close to the fire.

ACTIVITIES

Egg Shakers (T)
You can't get enough egg shaking!

CRAFTS

Firefly Coloring Page (T)
The toddlers had to glue a picture of a cartoon firefly onto a sheet of black construction paper then paste little bits of yellow and orange paper to its bottom, which helped create the look that he was glowing. The really fun part, in my opinion, was everyone using the special construction paper crayons. They crayons are AMAZING! You can color on black paper and you can see the crayon marks! All our pictures looked like the night sky!

Glowing Fireflies (P)
I saw this craft idea online at Inner Child Fun and loved it immediately. I took more construction paper and pre-cut six oval shapes. The preschool children had to glue little squares of yellow tissue paper on the backside of all the holes. Then they used the amazing construction paper crayons to create the bug's body and the rest of the night sky. If you hold your finished work of art up to a light or window, it looks like the fireflies are glowing! The children left the program dancing around the program room with pictures held up to the ceiling were all our lights were.

PICTURES 

Five Little Fireflies (or can be Ten Flashing Fireflies),
Toddler Storytime, Created by Dorothy WP-CC, 2012.

A-Camping We Will Go flannel board, Preschool Storytime,
created by Dorothy WP-CC, 2012.

Firefly Coloring Page Craft, Toddler Storytime,
Created by Dorothy WP-CC, 2012.

Glowing Fireflies Craft, Preschool Storytime,
Created by Dorothy WP-CC, 2012.

MORE BOOKS

Let's Go Camping written by Jan Mader (T, P)
Maisy Goes Camping written and illus. by Lucy Cousins (T)
Tiny Goes Gamping written by Cari Meister and illus. by Rich Davis (T, P)
Duck Tents written by Lynne Berry and illus. Hiroe Nakata (P)
Bailey Goes Camping written and illus. by Kevin Henkes (P)
Molly and Emmett's Camping Adventure written and illus. by Marylin Hafner (P)
When the Fireflies Come written by Jonathan London and illus. by Terry Widener (P, SA)