Puff Learns to Swim is the start of my Puff the Duck series. When I first published it, I never imagined that I would now be over 20 books in. It was simply a cute little beginner reader that I wrote about an adorable little duck. Why ducks? I really have no idea. Back then, I wanted to write something dealing with birds of some kind, and I eventually landed on ducks. Then I just started penning the book. Then another and another. Puff Learns to Swim is the first one, because part of me thought that’s one of the first things a little duck should learn how to do.
With over 20 books in, I decided that I wanted to expand this series to more young readers! Buy how? I decided to go with an audio version of the books. I felt like the audio version would be WAAAYYY too short to upload to a platform like Spotify or Audible. I decided to go ahead and go with YouTube story times, add some animated features to it, and make it polished. I wanted to go a little deeper than just a storytime, though. I wanted to add a learning element to it and a bit of fun.
Today I’m launching the YouTube storytime series for Puff the Duck, with videos dropping every Friday. The story time includes a reading of the book with some animations and added elements, and a story card scramble to help kids work on putting stories in sequence and working on recall of what’s been read. I also have a duck cam at the end for a little added fun. My plans right now are to keep this format for a while, but I will see how it goes. I have all of these resources available for parents (the book, story time resources, and story cards)
Puff Learns to Swim
Oh No! Puff is a little duck who doesn’t know how to swim, but he must learn! As little ducks do, he tries everything in an attempt to get out of it, from picking flowers in the fields by his home to showing off his gardening skills. But when he finally gets in the pond, he loves it!
This is a level-one easy reader with simple words. It is designed for the preschool and kindergarten levels. Puff Learns to Swim is perfect for kids who are just starting to match spoken words with those on the page. It has simple vocabulary, short sentences, large print, and pictures! This is a fun choice for reluctant swimmers!
Book Excerpt:
Hop! Hop! Hop!
Puff runs through the grass.
Story Time Scramble Cards
I have the story cards up on my Teachers Pay Teachers page. These include 4 cards that you can print, cut out (or have your little one cut out for extra scissor practice), and have your kiddo arrange them in the order of the story. These go along with the YouTube story time but can also just be paired with the book.
YouTube Story Time
I’ve posted the YouTube story time with interactive elements, the story cards, and the duck cam. You can check that out on the YouTube channel!
