Storytime: Camping

Books

Scare a Bear by Kathy-jo Wargin

Camping Day by Patricia Lakin

Sheep Take a Hike by Nancy Shaw

Maisy Goes Camping by Lucy Cousins

Do Princesses Make happy Campers? by Carmela LaVigna Coyle

A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee by Chris Van Dusen

Camping was a fun theme for the summer months. Most of the children had been camping before so they could tell me what kinds of things they did while camping and what foods were good for cooking over a fire. I expanded the theme a little to include outdoor activities like hiking to have more book options to choose from.

For extension activities click read more.

Flannelboard: Bear in the Lair

If I come up with more rhymes and songs to go with this flannel set, the post will be edited to reflect that. If you have other ideas for ways to use this set, please share!

Flannelboard

I used this board for my hibernation and camping storytimes. I am honestly a little surprised that I haven't seen anyone else use this idea. I found a lot of hibernation themed storytimes for inspiration, but none of the flannelboards were quite what I wanted for the theme. I eventually latched onto the idea of a “Mouse in the House” variation with a sleeping bear in a den. I decided to keep the rocks for all the dens grey and just change the colors of the moss and foliage around the den. 

Rhymes, Songs, Games, and Fingerplays

“Bear in the Lair”

“Sleepy bear, sleepy bear, are you in the (color) lair?”

Source: Written by me!

Storytime: Hibernation

Books

Old Bear by Kevin Henkes

Hibernation Station by Michelle Meadows

Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson

Time to Sleep by Denise Fleming

Sleep Bear! by Shelby Alinsky

Hibernation by Margaret Hall

This was a really fun theme and a great one for including some nonfiction titles. There are a lot of fantastic books related to hibernation. As you can tell by the covers, most of them feature bears, but Time to Sleep, Hibernation Station, and Hibernation all talk about other animals that hibernate as well. I love Old Bear. It's a sweet story and the illustrations are so lovely!

For extension activities click read more!