Family Program
By Lucina Carpenter
Family Time With the Whole Crew
This program is designed to involve the entire family in the Texas Reading Club. It can be used as a kick-off event to start your programming or as a special program to re-introduce families to the library. Keep in mind the best scheduling option for families and consider holding this program on a Saturday or in the early evening so that everyone can participate. For additional information on planning family programs, especially storytimes, try Family Storytime: Twenty-four Creative Programs for All Ages by Rob Reid, available online through NetLibrary, a TexShare resource.
Books to Share
- Baby’s Boat by Jeanne Titherington.
- Big Dog and Little Dog Go Sailing by Selina Young.
- Captain Annabel by Neal Evan Parker.
- Dawn Watch by Jean E. Pendziwol.
- Dove by Robin L. Graham.
- Frank and Izzy Set Sail by Laura McGee Kvasnosky.
- Ghost Ship by Dietlof Reiche.
- Henry the Sailor Cat by Mary Calhoun.
- Jack’s New Boat by Sarah McMenemy.
- Little Rat Sets Sail by Monika Bang-Campbell.
- Richard Scarry’s Pie Rats Ahoy! by Richard Scarry.
- Rescuing Einstein’s Compass by Shulamith Levey Oppenheim.
- Sail Away by Donald Crews.
- Sailing With the Wind by Thomas Locker.
- Sailor Cats by Emily Whittle.
- Sailor Moo: Cow at Sea by Lisa Wheeler.
- Sheep on a Ship by Nancy Shaw.
- To the Island by Charlotte Agell.
- The True Adventure of Daniel Hall by Diane Stanley.
- Wynken, Blynken, and Nod by Eugene Field.
Bulletin Board
Safe Harbor
Cover the bulletin board with light blue kraft paper. Copy the quote from Mark Twain provided below and attach it to the bulletin board. Decorate the bulletin board with book jackets and pictures of a few “ports of call,” such as an island, a marina, New York Harbor, etc. Check with a local travel agent for brochures and posters that could be cut up for pictures. Prepare die-cut sailboats and let each family add the title of a book they read in the Texas Reading Club or their family name. See how quickly the water fills with sailors!
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” –Mark Twain
Refreshments
Sweet Fleet Treats
Make rice crispy treats and cut them into triangles to look like sailboats. Make a sail from a piece of white paper cut into a triangle. Insert a toothpick through the top and bottom of the sail and stick it in the rice crispy treat to make it look like a sailboat.
Rhymes and Poetry
Seasick? Not Me!
(By Lucina Carpenter. Inspired by Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See by Bill Martin.)
I climbed aboard a sailing ship (Pretend you are climbing)
And what did I see? (Hand above eyes and lean forward)
A very tall mast (Hand goes from ground to up high)
Looking back at me. (Fingers make “o” shape around eyes)
I climbed aboard a sailing ship ((Pretend you are climbing)
And what did I see? (Hand above eyes and lean forward)
The captain of the ship (Salute and stand at attention)
Looking back at me. (Fingers make “o” shape around eyes)
I climbed aboard a sailing ship (Pretend you are climbing)
And what did I see? (Hand above eyes and lean forward)
The pretty blue ocean (Make wave motions with hands)
Looking back at me. (Fingers make “o” shape around eyes)
I climbed aboard a sailing ship (Pretend you are climbing)
And what did I see? (Hand above eyes and lean forward)
Seagulls, flying, and (Flap arms to sides)
Looking back at me. (Fingers make “o” shape around eyes)
I climbed aboard a sailing ship (Pretend you are climbing)
And what did I see? (Hand above eyes and lean forward)
The big wide sky (Arms come up in front of you and out)
Looking back at me. (Fingers make “o” shape around eyes)
I climbed aboard a sailing ship (Pretend you are climbing)
And what did I see? (Hand above eyes and lean forward)
The horizon going up and down and (Arms straight out in front of you and tilting up and down, speaking slowly)
Looking back at me. (Fingers make “o” shape around eyes)
I climbed aboard a sailing ship (Pretend you are climbing)
And what did I see? (Hand above eyes and lean forward)
The boat was rocking back and forth and (Arms straight out to your sides and going side to side, speaking slowly)
Looking back at me. (Fingers make “o” shape around eyes)
I climbed aboard a sailing ship (Pretend you are climbing)
And what did I see? (Hand above eyes and lean forward)
The sailing ship’s doctor (Put hand on forehead and tilt head back)
Looking back at me. (Fingers make “o” shape around eyes)
I climbed aboard a sailing ship (Pretend you are climbing)
And what did I see? (Hand above eyes and lean forward)
Was I turning blue? (A hand on each cheek)
Seasick? Not me! (Stand tall with finger pointing to self)
I climbed aboard a sailing ship (Pretend you are climbing)
And what did I see? (Hand above eyes and lean forward)
A sailor’s life is a good life and (Make a fist and make scooping motion)
That’s the life for me! (Thumb points to self)
Crafts
Porthole Scene
(Adapted from Fun-to-Make Crafts for Every Day.)
Materials
- Clear plastic lids
- Construction paper
- Rope
- Glue sticks
Directions
Cut construction paper into the shapes of items you want to “see” from the porthole, such as water, sailboat, fish, birds, etc. Take a plastic lid from a ready-made piecrust or the top of a take-out container and turn it upside-down with the rim up. Apply a small amount of glue to the front of the cutout shapes and glue them face down on the small circle in the middle of the lid. Glue a piece of blue construction paper over all of the pieces to cover the scene. Flip the lid over and glue some rope to the outer edge and a small loop of rope to the top to hang it.
Puzzle Sticks
(Adapted from Fun-to-Make Crafts for Every Day.)
Materials
- Craft sticks
- Markers
- Masking tape
- Pencil
Directions
Take twelve craft sticks and lay them side-by-side. Even up the edges and tape the sticks together with masking tape. Label each craft stick with numbers one through twelve. Flip over the craft sticks and use a pencil to draw a sailboat scene on them. Color the picture with markers and then take the tape off. Mix up the craft sticks and put the puzzle back together.
The Nina, Pinta, or Santa Maria
(Adapted from Fun-to-Make Crafts for Every Day.)
Materials
- Paper
- Cereal box
- Drinking straw
- Pencil
- Crayons or markers
- Hole punch
Directions
In advance, collect enough cereal boxes to have one per child. Be sure to check for cereal boxes that do not have writing on the inside of them. Draw a sailing ship on a piece of paper sized to fit the side of the cereal box. Cut out the sailing ship pattern and trace it onto the side of the cereal box. Make sure the bottom of the ship is on the long edge of the box so the side of the box can be the bottom of the ship. After tracing, cut out the ship and turn it inside out. On the blank side, paint the ship any way you want. Use a white piece of paper as a sail and decorate the sail with markers or crayons. Use a hole punch to make a small hole in the top and bottom center of the “sail.” Place a drinking straw through it so that the straw becomes the mast. Bow the paper out a bit to make it look like there is wind in the sail and tape it in place where the straw and sail meet to keep it in place. Staple the top edge of the ship, inserting the straw in the middle. Write the name of the ship on the bow.
Shipshape Vessels
(Adapted from Look What You Can Make With Dozens of Household Items!)
Materials
- Liquid glue
- Plastic bottles from dishwashing detergent
- White construction paper
- Clear packing tape
- Plastic drinking straw
- Modeling clay
- Permanent markers
- Small nautical decorations
- Rope or yarn scraps
- Exacto knife
Directions
In advance, cut the bottom of the detergent bottle off two or three inches from the bottom. This piece will become the boat. Also cut off the neck ring from the top of the bottle. Let the children decorate the boat with permanent markers, scraps of rope or yarn, or other nautical items you can find. Then let them glue the neck ring to the inside of the boat. When the glue dries, they fill the ring with modeling clay. The children cut triangular sails from white construction paper and then color the sails. They glue the leading edge of the sail to the straw and insert the bottom end of the straw into the clay.
Games and Activities
Read Spike and Cubby’s Ice Cream Island Adventure by Heather Sellers. Stop reading after the sentence, “Spike! Spike! Cubby called as loud as he could. But there was no sign of his friend.” Ask the families to write an ending for the story. Encourage each family to let each member contribute in some way to the ending. The ending should be limited to no more than 300 words (the number in the actual book). Pick a member of each family to read the ending aloud. This is not intended to be a contest, but rather a way to encourage families to read and imagine together. Don’t require everyone to share if a family does not want to do so. If necessary, start the ball rolling by asking questions such as, “What makes a story interesting to you?” Serve ice cream after everyone finishes writing and sharing.
Scuttlebutt Word Search
Ahoy, Mateys! How many words can you find? Search up and down and diagonally for these sailing terms.skip word search
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- AFT
- ANCHOR
- BILGE
- BUOY
- CAPSIZE
- FATHOM
- HELM
- JIB
- KETCH
- LEECH
- LIST
- MIZZEN
- PENNANT
- PORT
- RIGGING
- SCULL
- SPINNAKER
- STERN
- TRIM
- WAKE
- WINDFALL
Ship, Captain, and Crew Dice Game
Hold a mini-tournament for families to play this dice game. You need five dice and a cup for each team. Each player rolls all five dice. Look at the dice and see if you have a six. If you get the six, you have the ship. You need a five for the captain and a four for the crew. However, you must have the ship before you can get a captain and the captain before you can get a crew. So unless you roll a six in the first throw, you have to throw again. If you roll a six and want to secure your ship, take that die out of the cup and roll four dice. Each player can have three rolls in one turn. If the player can’t get a ship, captain, and crew within the three rolls, he scores zero points for that round. After rolling the 6, 5, and 4, your score is determined by the total of the two dice that are left. Play five rounds. The winner is the player with the highest score after five rounds. Award that player the “America’s Library Cup” or another trophy. Sets of five dice and a cup and small plastic trophies are available from Oriental Trading Company, www.orientaltrading.com. Give the sets to each family at the end of the game so that they can continue to play at home.
Videos/DVDs/Films
If you have public performance rights, show these videos and DVDs, or segments of them, to the children. Otherwise, display them for home use. Times are indicated for the entire film.
- Adventures of Zimbo: Boats. (30 minutes)
- Call It Courage. (24 minutes)
- Where Do You Think You are Going, Christopher Columbus? (35 minutes)
Web sites
Captain Chaos
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/shared/spl/hi/other_sports/02/americas_cup/
sailing_game/html/game.stm
Navigate the waves in a race against the clock in this “America’s Cup” game provided by the BBC.
Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History
www.ccmuseumedres.com
Replicas of Columbus’ ships are housed at this museum. The web site includes a number of activities, coloring sheets, and maps.
Professional Resources
Family Storytime: Twenty-four Creative Programs for All Ages by Rob Reid. Also available online through NetLibrary, a TexShare resource.
Fun-To-Make Crafts for Every Day edited by Tom Daning.
Look What You Can Make With Dozens of Household Items! edited by Kathy Ross.
Spike and Cubby’s Ice Cream Island Adventure by Heather Sellers.
Oriental Trading Company
www.orientaltrading.com.
Order various ship themed items, as well as dice and trophies from this party and crafts supply company.
