Okay, that was lame. I admit.
But yes, this is a storytime about fish. Or, more broadly, sea creatures. I start with my fish puppet hidden and ask the kids what animals live in the ocean. I get lots of suggestions before the fish comes out to “bloop bloop” his hello. And, we’re off swimming!
- Diesen, Deborah. The Pout-Pout Fish. One of the reasons I love this book is for the performance opportunity it gives me.
Let's go for a swim!
The Pout-Pout fish sounds a bit like Eeyore, I think, and that’s how his voice comes out of me. Plus, the story is sweet.
- Grace, Will. The Three Little Fish and the Big Bad Shark. The kids recognize this as a variation of “The Three Little Pigs,” which is cool!
- Flannelboard: “Five Little Sea Creatures” I substituted a crab for the lobster because that’s the pattern I had. The kids named all the sea creatures and helped with the counting.
- Peck, Jan. Way Down Deep in the Deep Blue Sea. As early literacy skills learning goes, this book is a winner. It’s repetitive, has opportunities for the kids to participate (by naming the sea creatures and “swimming away”), and is generally just all around fun.
- Song: “Slippery Fish” – by Charlotte Diamond. Oh, we love this song! It’s silly and gets us all up and moving as we pretend to “swim” our hands like fish, wiggle our tentacles like octopus, and use our arms as a shark’s gaping jaws.
Other books I might substitute based on group’s mood/attention span or my boredom:
- Blackstone, Stella. Secret Seahorse. The kids look for the seahorse on each page and tell me where it is. They are not allowed to simply point and say “there!”; they have to describe it’s location with more vocabulary.
- Cousins, Lucy. Hooray for Fish! “Spotty fish, stripy fish. Happy fish, gripy fish.” Hello, new vocabulary word! Easily deciphered as a synonym for grumpy based on the fish’s face.
- Heck, Ed. Big Fish, Little Fish. The kiddos help “read” this one, as I read “big fish,” and they can easily recognize the refrain “little fish.” There are also lots of opposites.
Now I gotta get out of the water. My fingers are getting pruny.
missmaryliberry.com 
Thanks for including The Pout-Pout Fish in your fishy story times!
Best Fishes,
Debbie Diesen (author of The Pout-Pout Fish)