Our coastal town is having a Whale Fest this weekend, so I thought it would be fun to do a storytime about whales.

Here are the books and songs that I did (a combination of Outdoor Musical Storytime and Family Storytime). I also printed out this brochure of whales and other marine mammals from savethewhales.org.

Books:

Oona in the Arctic by Kelly DiPucchio; illustrated by Raissa Figueroa

This is a stunningly beautiful book, with a sweet story about Oona the mermaid coming to the rescue of a lost baby beluga whale. It was a bit too long for my usual Outdoor Musical Storytime crowd, but a big hit at Family Storytime.

The Whale in My Swimming Pool by Joyce Wan

Cute, funny story about a boy who finds his swimming pool occupied by a very large whale. He tries everything he can think of to get it to move, but then discovers that having your own whale isn’t so bad after all. One family asked to check this one out after storytime.

I Love You, Blue by Barroux

Sweet, simple story about a lighthouse keeper who makes friends with a whale named Blue. When he finds Blue at the bottom of the ocean feeling sick, he asks him to open his mouth, and sees that the whale has swallowed hundreds of bags. Taking the bags away makes Blue feel much better. This was a great book for Whale Fest, which focuses a lot on the importance of keeping trash out of the ocean.

Breathe by Scott Magoon

This is a beautiful book, with very little text, showing a baby beluga whale’s day with his mother. The kids enjoyed taking breaths together on the pages that said “Breathe.”

Songs:

Slippery Fish

We sang this one with a fish, octopus, shark, and whale puppet. Lots of swimming schools around here use this song, and it’s always a big hit.

Slippery Fish, Slippery Fish,
Swimming in the water.
Slippery Fish, Slippery Fish,
Gulp! Gulp! Gulp!

She was eaten by an octopus, octopus,
Swimming in the water.
Octopus, Octopus,
Gulp! Gulp! Gulp!

He was eaten by a great white shark,
Great white shark,
Swimming in the water,
Great white shark, Great white shark.
Gulp! Gulp! Gulp!

She was eaten by a humongous whale,
Humongous whale,
Swimming in the water,
Humongous whale,
Humongous whale,
Gulp! Gulp! Gulp!
BURP!! Pardon me!

The Waves on the Sea

We did this one with the parachute, and put a whale puppet on top to go up and down with the waves. It’s to the tune of The Wheels on the Bus:

The waves on the ocean go up and down,
Up and down, Up and down.
The waves on the ocean go up and down,
All day long!

Baby Beluga by Raffi

We sang this as our instrument play-along at Outdoor Musical Storytime.

[C] Baby Beluga in the deep blue sea
Swim so wild and you [G7] swim so free
Heaven above and the sea below
And a little white whale [C] on the go

CHORUS
[F] Baby Beluga, [C] Baby Beluga, [D] is the water warm?
Is your mama home [G7] with you so happy?

[C] Way down yonder where the dolphins play
Where you dive and [G7] splash all day
Waves roll in and the waves roll out
[G] See the water squirting [C] out of your spout

CHORUS
[F] Baby Beluga, [C] Baby Beluga, [D] sing your little song,
Sing for all your friends. [G7] We love to hear you!

[C] When it’s dark you’re home and fed
Curl up snug in your [G7] water bed
Moon is shining and the stars are out
Good night, little whale, [C] goodnight

CHORUS
[F] Baby Beluga, [C] Baby Beluga, [D] with tomorrow’s sun,
Another day’s begun. [G7] You’ll soon be waking.

[C] Baby Beluga in the deep blue sea,
Swim so wild and you [G7] swim so free.
Heaven above and the sea below,
And a little white whale [C] on the go.
[G7] You’re just a little white whale [C] on the go!

Down By the Bay by Raffi

We had so much fun doing this song as an instrument play-along at the end of Family Storytime that I may make it a regular ending song. We sang the first verse the way it’s written below, but I asked the kids for suggestions for the additional verses. They came up with “Did you ever see a shark going to the park?” and “Did you ever see a mouse burning a house?”

[C] Down by the bay, where the watermelons [G7] grow,
Back to my home, I dare not [C] go,
For if I [F] do, my mother will [C] say,
“Did you ever see a whale with a polka dot tail
[G7] Down by the [C] bay?”

Stay & Play: Whale Puppets

I got this idea from OutUpontheWaters.com. It was a bit more involved than my usual crafts, but the kids seemed to enjoy it.

Before storytime, I pre-folded blue construction paper. Unlike the directions, I didn’t cut the paper. Instead, I folded it half lengthwise (hotdog style), and then crosswise (hamburger style). Then I folded the top layer on one side back, so that the end of the paper lined up with the fold. I flipped it over and folded the other top layer the same way. In the end, the sheet was folded in half lengthwise, with crosswise folds that made the shape of a capital letter M.

I also cut several tear-drop shaped pieces of construction paper for the flippers, and semi-circles out of red paper for the inside of the mouth. Finally, I cut some white paper into rectangles to make the water spouts (I let the kids cut the small lines to make it look like water spray).

For the Stay & Play, I put out the folded papers, the paper flippers, the paper mouths, the white paper rectangles, kids’ scissors, googly eyes, markers, and glue sticks. The kids had fun gluing the parts of their whale together and cutting the white paper rectangles to make the spray coming out of the top of the whale’s head. A few kids put the fish stickers I had given out at the end of storytime in the whale’s mouth, which was hilarious.

Do you have any favorite books or songs about whales? Please share them in the comments below.