Halloween – Toddler Storytime

Happy Halloween everyone!

SONG: Welcome Song

MOVEMENT: “Clap Everybody and Say Hello” from Sally Go Round the Sun: songs and rhymes from the parent-child Mother Goose program by Kathy Reid-Naiman

MOVEMENT:
Open Shut Them*

LETTER FLANNELBOARD:
H is for Halloween  (not pumpkin)

Today we reviewed the sound the letter H makes, drew it with our fingers, and talked about a hand, horse, hen, heart and Halloween.  (I didn’t have a good cutout for Halloween, so I just did a pumpkin, which we discussed does NOT start with H), but the saying on it does!.

AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE SIGN: “Halloween”

BOOK:

Plumply, Dumply Pumpkin written by Mary Serfozo, illustrated by Valeria Petrone

MOVEMENT: “Roll Your Hands” from Toddlers on Parade by Carol Hammett & Elaine Bueffel

COUNTING FLANNELBOARD:
Pumpkins / Jack-o-Lanterns

Pumpkins from ArtFelt

Today we counted 9 pumpkins!

Sing:
It’s counting time, it’s counting time
so let’s all count while I put these in a line.

Then we count the whatevers as they go up.

Sing:
It’s counting time, it’s counting time
so let’s all count as they go bye-bye

FLANNELBOARD:
Mouse’s Halloween House

(Pattern & story from Mother Goose’s Playhouse by Judy Sierra)

One day in the fall, a little gray mouse found a big orange house.
She nibbled a hole in the middle to make the door.
She nibbled 2 holes near the top to make windows.
She nibbled a wide hole near the bottom so her children could run in and out.
Then she put a candle inside so the house was never dark.

The mouse’s little house
was a sight to be seen.
It was a jack-o’-lantern —
Happy Halloween!

MOVEMENT: “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” from Songs for Wiggleworms by the Old Town School of Folk Music

MOVEMENT: Itsy Bitsy Spider

FLANNELBOARD (10am Storytime):
 
Felt Pieces from ArtFelt

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate.
The first one said, “Oh, my, it’s getting late!” (Hands beside face in surprised look)
The second one said, “There are witches in the air!” (hand flies overhead)
The third one said, “Well, I don’t care!” (shake pointer finger)
The fourth one said, “Let’s run, and run, and run!” (run with feet)
The fifth one said, “I’m ready for some fun!” (point to self)
Then WHOOOOOOSH went the wind (make sound and whoosh hands back and forth.)
and OUT (clap) went the lights.
And the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight.  (Roll hand over hand.)

BOOK (11am Storytime):

Pumpkin Trouble by Jan Thomas

MOVEMENT: Two Little Blackbirds*

VIDEO:

“Bat” from Good Night Maisy

MOVEMENT: Storytime’s Over

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL IDEAS:
    

 

Book: It’s Halloween Night! written by Jennifer O’Connell, illustrated by Jennifer Morris
Book: Duck & Goose Find a Pumpkin by Tad Hills
Book: Sheep Trick or Treat by Nancy Shaw, illustrated by Margot Apple
Book: What Am I? Halloween by Anne Margaret Lewis, illustrated by Tom Mills (make this into a flannelboard)
Book: Pumpkin Eye by Denise Fleming
Book: Ten Orange Pumpkins by Stephen Savage
Book: Mouse’s First Halloween by Lauren Thompson, illustrated by Buket Erdogan
DVD: Tucker’s Spooky Halloween based on the book by Meslie McGuirk
DVD: Max & Ruby’s Halloween
DVD: Little Bear: Halloween Stories

THOUGHTS ON THIS STORYTIME:
Halloween is an exciting day, and in my 10am storytime it was a little hard to keep the excited toddlers focused on a book.  I started, as I usually do, reading a second book, but quickly realized that that was no going to hold their attention.  So I stopped reading about two pages in, put the book down, and pulled out the Five Little Pumpkins flannelboard instead.  My tip for parents was, “If you realize that your child is not interested in a book, you don’t have to keep reading it!  Find a better time.”  Some times we need to take our own advice. 🙂

11am storytime was a little more focused (after nap time), so I was able to read two books with them.

PRESENTED: Tuesday, October 31, 2017

ATTENDANCE:  10 am:  48 people      11 am: 46 people

* For these songs, please see my Storytime Movements & Music page

Halloween – Infant Storytime

Today is Halloween, so we shared stories about Halloween costumes and pumpkins!

MOVEMENT: Welcome Song*

MOVEMENT: Peek-a-Boo*

BOUNCE: Icky Bicky Soda Cracker*

AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE SIGN: “Halloween”

BOOK:

It’s Halloween NIght! written by Jennifer O’Connell and illustrated by Jennifer Morris

MOVEMENT: “Clap, Tap and Bend” from It’s Toddler Time by Carol Hammett and Elaine Bueffel

FLANNELBOARD:
Five Little Pumpkins

Felt Pieces from ArtFelt

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate.
The first one said, “Oh, my, it’s getting late!” (Hands beside face in surprised look)
The second one said, “There are witches in the air!” (hand flies overhead)
The third one said, “Well, I don’t care!” (shake pointer finger)
The fourth one said, “Let’s run, and run, and run!” (run with feet)
The fifth one said, “I’m ready for some fun!” (point to self)
Then WHOOOOOOSH went the wind (make sound and whoosh hands back and forth.)
and OUT (clap) went the lights.
And the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight.  (Roll hand over hand.)

BOUNCE: “Ladies Ride”

MOVEMENT: Patty Cake*

BOOK:

Duck & Goose Find a Pumpkin
 by Tad Hills

TICKLE: Slowly, Slowly, Very Slowly, Goes the Garden Snail*

NURSERY RHYME FLANNELBOARD:
Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater

Flannelboard from Little Folk Visuals

Peter, Peter, pumpkin-eater
Had a wife and couldn’t keep her;
He put her in a pumpkin shell,
And there he kept her very well.

MOVEMENT: “Itsy Bitsy Spider” from Children’s Favorite Songs Volume 3 from Walt Disney

MOVEMENT: “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” from Songs for Wiggleworms by the Old Town School of Folk Music

MOVEMENT: Storytime’s Over*

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL IDEAS:

Book: On Halloween by Lark Carrier

HOW IT WENT:
This was a fun storytime.  Plus, a lot of the infants dressed up, and that was adorable.  This was fun when doing It’s Halloween Nightbecause I was trying to see if y of the kids were dressed as the characters in the book were.  I shorted that book by one character to make it a little better for infant attention spans.

PRESENTED: Tuesday, October 31, 2017

ATTENDANCE: 50 people (adults and children)

* For these songs, please see my page Storytime Movements & Music

Halloween – Toddler Storytime

I love doing Halloween storytime with the toddlers, because they are SO CUTE when they come in costume.

MOVEMENT: Welcome Song*

MOVEMENT: “Clap Your Hands, Clap Your Hands” from Tickles and Tunes by Kathy Reid-Naiman

MOVEMENT: Open Shut Them*

BOOK:
PumplyDumplyPumpkinbySerfozo
Plumply, Dumply Pumpkin by Mary Serfozo, illustrated by Valeria Petrone

MOVEMENT: “Roll Your Hands” from Toddlers on Parade by Carol Hammett and Elaine Bueffel

MOVEMENT: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

COUNTING SONG:*
10 Pumpkins Flannelboard 2 cropped with logo
10 Pumpkins (from Artfelt)

FLANNELBOARD:
Little Mouse’s Halloween House
MousesHalloweenHouseFlannelboard
 (Pattern & story from Mother Goose’s Playhouse by Judy Sierra)

One day in the fall, a little gray mouse found a big orange house.
She nibbled a hole in the middle to make the door.
She nibbled 2 holes near the top to make windows.
She nibbled a wide hole near the bottom so her children could run in and out.
Then she put a candle inside so the house was never dark.

The mouse’s little house
was a sight to be seen.
It was a jack-o’-lantern —
Happy Halloween!

MOVEMENT: “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” from Songs for Wiggleworms by the Old Town School of Folk Music

MOVEMENT: Itsy Bitsy Spider

BOOK:
DuckandGooseFindaPumpkinbyHills
Duck and Goose Find a Pumpkin
 by Tad Hills

MOVEMENT: “Two Little Blackbirds” from Fingerplays and Footplays by Rosemary Hallum and Henry “Buzz” Glass

VIDEO:

“Goblin Night” from Little Bear Halloween Stories

MOVEMENT:  Storytime’s Over*

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL IDEAS:

Book: 10 Orange Pumpkins by Stephen Savage
Book: What Am I? Halloween by Ann Margaret Lewis, pictures by Tom Mills
Book: Mouse’s First Halloween by Lauren Thompson, illustrated by Buket Erdogan
Book: It’s Halloween Night by Jennifer O’Connell, illustrated by Jennifer Morris

HOW IT WENT:
The 10am storytime was really hard.   Infant today was difficult too, and I just think that carried over.  As I mentioned in my infant post, I think that wearing a costume has a freeing effect — it gets the kids excited.  But it also is adorable, so I don’t want to do away with it.

I feel like sometimes I am running the program with two different minds — one is focused on reading the books, and following the agenda for the storytime.  The other is taking stock of what is happening in the room, and wondering if I should be doing something about, or modifying behavior, or things like that.  If two kids are running around, do I just ignore it and focus on the ones who are listening?  I don’t know.  I need to become better at crowd management/control.

The 11am storytime was a lot better though.  And there were not as many children in costume.  Coincidence?

ATTENDANCE:  10 am:  40 people      11 am: 48 people

* For these songs, please see my Storytime Movements & Music page

Halloween – Infant Storytime

It’s that time of year for pumpkins, costumes and fun!

MOVEMENT: Welcome Song*

MOVEMENT: Peek-a-Boo*

BOUNCE: Ride a Little Pony*

BOOK:

What Am I? Halloween by Ann Margaret Lewis, illustrated by Tom Mills

MOVEMENT: “Clap, Tap and Bend” from It’s Toddler Time by Carol Hammett and Elaine Bueffel

FLANNELBOARD:
5 Little Pumpkins
5 Little Pumpkins Flannelboard cropped with logo
(Flannelboard pieces & Rhyme from ArtFelt)

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate.
The first one said, “Oh my, it’s getting late!”
The second one said, “There are witches in the air!”
The third one said, “Well, I don’t care!”
The fourth one said, “Let’s run, run, run!”
The fifth one said, “I’m ready for some fun!”
OOOOOOoo went the wind and
OUT (clap) went the lights.
And the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight.

BOUNCE: “Ladies Ride” from Wiggleworms Love You by Old Town School of Folk Music

BOOK:
DuckandGooseFindaPumpkinbyHills
Duck and Goose Find a Pumpkin
 by Tad Hills

NURSERY RHYME FLANNELBOARD:
Hickety, Pickety, My Black Hen
HicketyPicketyFlannelboard1 HicketyPicketyFlannelboard2
(Template and Rhyme from Mother Goose’s Playhouse by Judy Sierra)

Hickety, pickety, my black hen.
She lays eggs for gentlemen.
Gentleman come everyday
To see what my hen doth lay.
Sometimes nine and sometimes ten,
Hickety, pickety, my black hen.

MOVEMENT: “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” from Songs for Wiggleworms by the Old Town School of Folk Music

MOVEMENT: “Itsy Bitsy Spider” from Children’s Favorite Songs Volume 3 from Walt Disney

MOVEMENT: Storytime’s Over*

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL IDEAS:

Book: On Halloween by Lark Carrier
Book: Mouse’s First Halloween by Lauren Thompson, illustrated by Buket Erdogan

HOW IT WENT:
Today’s storytime was hard.  I called all the storytime parents yesterday, and let them know that since we were having a Halloween themed storytime, the children were welcome to come in costume.  I think maybe wearing a costume allows the wearer to be a different person, because it seemed harder to get through things today.

As you can see, I forgot to include a parent tip, because I just was so unfocused (and also, since it is new, not in the habit yet.)  What Am I? Halloween was a really long book for this crowd, so I cut out a few of the pages.  The idea that you don’t have to read a book straight through was going to be my parent tip, but I just was so worried about getting the kids’ attention back that I just moved along to the next thing.  I forgot to do 2 verses of Itsy Bitsy Spider.

The Nursery Rhyme just didn’t seem to be as familiar as others as well.  I was thinking that maybe in the future I should have a laminated page with the words of the rhyme on it that is backed in flannel — then I could put that up on the board so that parents would be able to join in.

But the kids in costume were adorable!  And the new bounce worked well.

I work with one of the parents from my infant group, so at lunch today I apologized to her for the storytime.  She told me she didn’t even notice that things were harder.  It’s reassuring to know that even when I feel like things are going all wrong on the inside, it doesn’t always show the audience.

ATTENDANCE: 47 people

* For these songs, please see my page Storytime Movements & Music

Halloween – Toddler Storytime

Is there anything more adorable than toddlers in costume?  At today’s storytimes we had a clown (rosy cheeks and all), a lion, a pumpkin, a football player (with padded fabric helmet), Thor (cape and muscles included), and cowpokes!

MOVEMENT: Welcome Song

MOVEMENT:“Clap Everybody and Say Hello” from Sally Go Round the Sun by Kathy Reid-Naiman.

MOVEMENT: Open Shut Them

BOOK:

Pumply, Dumply Pumpkin by Mary Serfozo

MOVEMENT: “Reach for the Ceiling” from Toddlers on Parade by Carol Hammett and Elaine Bueffel

MOVEMENT: Itsy Bitsy Spider

COUNTING SONG:

Pumpkins from Artfelt (one side is a pumpkin, one side is a jack-o-lantern)

FLANNELBOARD:
Mouse’s Halloween House

Story and Pattern from Mother Goose’s Playhouse by Judy Sierra

One day in the fall, a little gray mouse found a big orange house.  She nibbled a hole in the middle, to make a door.  And she nibbled two holes up near the top, to make two windows.  And then she nibbled a wide hole near the bottom, so that all her children could run in and out.  Then she put a candle inside to light up the darkness.

The mouse’s little house
was a sight to be seen.
It was a jack-o’-lantern –
Happy Halloween!

MOVEMENT: “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” from Songs for Wiggleworms by the Old Town School of Folk Music

BOOK:

It’s Halloween Night by Jennifer O’Connell

MOVEMENT: “Two Little Blackbirds” from Fingerplays and Footplays by Rosemary Hallum and Henry “Buzz” Glass

VIDEO:

“Bat” from Good Night Maisy

MOVEMENT:
Once There was a Pumpkin
Once there was a pumpkin (put hands together to make a circle)
And it grew (separate hands but keep circle shape)
and grew (arms bigger)
and grew (arms bigger)

Now it’s a jack-o-lantern
And it smiles at you (smile and point at audience)
and you (point at audience)
and you. (point at audience)

MOVEMENT:  Storytime’s Over

HOW IT WENT:
Fun!  I like Pumply Dumply Pumpkin, event though at first it seems a bit long.  But the pictures are bright and so fun.  And it’s always great to find a nice new Halloween book for this age group – I read the reviews of It’s Halloween Night! and just got it sight unseen because it seemed like a good fit.  And while the kids were kind of too young to guess, it still made a good read.  Mouse’s Halloween House got a lot of awws.

ATTENDANCE:   10 am: 36 people     11 am: 42 people

Halloween – Infant Storytime

With today’s date, what else could we do but a Halloween storytime.  I invited the kids to come in costumes, and we had some great ones: a home-crocheted caterpillar costume, a strawberry, lots of Halloween themed shirts, and a cute pumpkin bib.

MOVEMENT: Welcome Song

MOVEMENT: Peek-a-Boo

BOUNCE: Ride a Little Pony

BOOK:

On Halloween
by Lark Carrier

MOVEMENT: “Clap, Tap and Bend” from It’s Toddler Time by Carol Hammett and Elaine Bueffel

FLANNELBOARD:
Mouse’s Halloween House


Pattern and Story from Mother Goose’s Play house by Judy Sierra

One day in the fall, a little gray mouse found a big orange house.  She nibbled a hole in the middle, to make a door.  And she nibbled two holes up near the top, to make two windows.  And then she nibbled a wide hole near the bottom, so that all her children could run in and out.  Then she put a candle inside to light up the darkness.

The mouse’s little house
was a sight to be seen.
It was a jack-o’-lantern —
Happy Halloween!

BOUNCE: “Smooth Road to London Town” from A Smooth Road to London Town: Songs from the Parent-Child Mother Goose Program by Kathy Reid-Naiman

BOOK:

Duck and Goose Find a Pumpking by Tad Hills

This is a board book, but it comes in a great larger size that is perfect for sharing with a group.

NURSERY RHYME:
Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater
 
Peter, Peter, pumpkin eater
had a wife, and could not keep her.


Put her in a pumpkin shell,
and there he kept her very well.

Flannelboard from Little Folk Visuals

TICKLE: Slowly, Slowly Very Slowly

MOVEMENT: “Itsy Bitsy Spider” from Children’s Favorite Songs Volume 3 from Walt Disney

MOVEMENT: “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” from Songs for Wiggleworms by the Old Town School of Folk Music

MOVEMENT: Storytime’s Over

HOW IT WENT:
I thought this was a pretty fun storytime.  Things seemed to move and flow well.  Since I haven’t done a Halloween storytime for this age group, I was a little hesitant about what books to choose — you never know what will frighten someone.  But neither of these books did, so that was great. It’s so much fun to see all the little kids dressed up!

ATTENDANCE: 36 people

1st Grade Storytime – Halloween

You really get a different vibe from a class visit than you do with an open storytime.  The children all know and already relate to each other.  Today the first graders and I had some fun with Halloween stories.

MOVEMENT: My Wiggles

BOOK:

The Hallo-Wiener by Dav Pilkey

FLANNELBOARD:
Five Furry Bats

Patterns and Rhyme from Preschool Favorites: 35 Storytimes Kids Will Love by Diana Briggs

Five furry bats were flying by the moon,
“Did you know,” said the first,
“Halloween is coming soon?”
“There’ll be ghosts!” said the second,
“floating everywhere!”
“And witches,” said the third,
“With long purple hair.”
“There’ll be goblins,” said the fourth,
“And monsters so I’m told.”
“Awesome!” said the fifth,
“Come on, let’s go!”
So the five furry bats flew out of sight,
But they will all return on Halloween night.

MOVEMENT: “Jump Up, Turn Around” from Jim Gill Sings Moving Rhymes for Modern Times by Jim Gill

BOOK:

The Three Bears Halloween by Kathy Duval

VIDEO:

“By the Light of the Halloween Moon” from A Very Brave Witch …and More Great Halloween Stories for Kids! DVD

HOW IT WENT:
It was a nice storytime — especially fun hearing the kids interact with the “witch” in The Three Bears Halloween.  I must admit though, with Halloween, I never know how scary to go, so I usually err on the side of less scary.  You never know what will frighten people anyway.  Maybe I’ll try out some of the other stories on the DVD and see how well they go over.

ATTENDANCE: 26 people