Spooktacular Storytime!

A Halloween storytime and play event for preschool and early elementary students.

A few Halloween stories and a halloween magnet board (This is the House that is Haunted)

And lots of fun afterwards!

Catch and graph the spiders!

A Fall Wreath

Tube Halloween Friends

Disappearing Monsters

Spooktacular Storytime

We hosted a Halloween Storytime for kids PreK-3rd grade.  I did one on a Saturday afternoon (Oct 18) and another one (at a different library) on Tuesday afternoon (Oct 29).

Books

The Little Ghost that Lost Her Boo!

by Elaine Bickell; illustrated by Raymond McGrath

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything

by Linda Williams; illustrated by Megan Lloyd

At the Old Haunted House

by Helen Ketteman; illustrated by Nate Wragg

Flannel Board

Fall Riddles

Five Little Pumpkins

Songs and Movement

Monster Boogie

Laurie Berkner

Activities 

(I was not on the planning committee for this one) 

Emoji Jack O' Lanterns

Water Color black cat

(blow the water color with a straw to make a hissing cat)

Hanging, Whirling Ghost 

Spider Web

(walk the masking tape web and pick up spiders)

Fall Favorites

Because it can be tricky doing storytimes around holidays. 

I love fall and the holidays in the fall.  But after an experience of a family leaving storytime when I started reading a Halloween book (and then they didn’t come back the next week…or the next…or ever) I have avoided reading any holiday specific books during my regular storytimes.  Although the District doesn’t have a policy against doing holiday themes in storytimes we want to be aware and inclusive of all our families and I never want another family to walk out of my storytime because of a holiday book!  Many of our outreach storytime visits discourage any holiday themes.  So instead of Halloween and Thanksgiving books here are some of my favorite fall themes for storytime!

• Apples
• Dressing Up
• Food/Eating
• Gratitude/Saying Thank You
• Hibernation/Animals in Fall
• Leaves
• Pumpkins
• Spiders
• You Don’t Scare Me!  (Books about being brave)

 A few books to consider:

Super Rawr! (by Todd H. Doodler)

Just What Mama Needs (by Sharlee Glenn)

Apple Farmer Annie  (by Monica Wellington)

The Apple Pie Tree (by Zoe Hal)

Before We Eat: From Farm to Table (by Pat Brisson)

Snip, Snap! What’s That? (by Mara Bergman)

A few rhymes and fingerplays you can use:

Dress-Up 
A pretty princess wears a crown
Bunny's ears flop up and down.

A beautiful ballerina dances round and round,
A butterfly flies without a sound.

A cowboy with his boots and horse,
A doctor with a stethoscope.

I like to dress-up and to pretend,
On my own or with a friend!

5 Little Pumpkins
5 little pumpkins sitting on the gate
The 1st one said, "Oh, my! It's getting late!"
The 2nd one said, "There's a chill in the air"
The 3rd one said, "But we don't care"
The 4th one said, "I'm ready for some fun"
The 5th one said, "Let's run, run, run!"
The whooooosh went the wind
And out went the lights
And the 5 little pumpkins rolled out of sight.

Fall Riddles
Beneath your feet you hear them crunch

Then they get raked up into a bunch.

What are they?  LEAVES

This drops off trees and there it lies

Til someone baked it into pies

What is it? APPLE

This stands in the field and scares a bird,

But it doesn’t say a single word.

What is it? SCARECROW

It’s cold in autumn, if it blows

It swirl the leaves to make a show.

What is it? WIND

Of all the flowers this one’s queen

When yellow petals and seeds between.

What is it? SUNFLOWER

It’s big and orange and quite a catch

When you pick it from the patch

What is it? PUMPKIN

My all-time favorite fall book:

The Little Old Lady who was not Afraid of Anything  (by Linda Williams)

Slightly Spooky Storytime

The Saturday before Halloween we had a "Slightly Spooky Storytime" where kids could wear their costumes and we could read Halloween books and do some Halloween crafts

Mother Ghost:  Nursery Rhymes for Little Monsters

by Rachel Kolar; illustrated by Roland Garrigue

Boys and Girls Come Trick-or-Treat

Zombie Miss Muffet

Twinkle, Twinkle, Lantern Jack

Wee Willie Werewolf

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything

by Linda Williams, illustrated by Megan Lloyd

Click, Clack, Boo!

by Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin

Activities

Witch's Brew

Song (tune: Farmer in the Dell)
The brew is boiling up
The brew is boiling up
Simmer, stew, this nasty goo
The brew is boiling up.

First we'll add the ___________
First we'll add the ___________
Simmer, stew, this nasty goo
The brew is boiling up.

Now we'll add the __________
Now we'll add the __________
Simmer, stew, this nasty goo
The brew is boiling up.

Bat Poop--Coco Puffs
Dried Flies--Chocolate chips
Drops of Dragon's Blood--M&Ms
Fish Guts--Goldfish crackers
Ghost Boogers--Mini-marshmallows
Cat Claws--Candy Corn

Scavenger Hunt

"Eyeball" Race

Spin a Spider Web

Bean Bag Toss 

Paper Plate Ghosts

I Love You Storyime

Books

No Hugs for Porcupine
by Zoe Waring

Click, Clack, Moo I Love You
by Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin

Songs/Flannel

H-E-A-R-T
Tune: Bingo

There is a shape that I can make that shows that I love you
H-E-A-R-T
H-E-A-R-T
H-E-A-R-T
A heart shows that I love you!

There is a shape that I can make that shows that I love you
H-E-A-R-(clap)
H-E-A-R-(clap)
H-E-A-R-(clap)
A heart shows that I love you!

Continue taking away a letter from the end of the word until you clap 5 times.

If You're Happy and You Know It

If you're happy and you know it blow a kiss
If you're happy and you know it blow a kiss
If you're happy and you know it then your face will surely show it
If you're happy and you know it blow a kiss.

Give a hug
Say "I love you!"
Do all three

Play and Learn

Cut out heart collage
Match flannel heart halves
Play matching heart game

Slightly Spooky Storytime Celebration

I like that I was able to do a holiday storytime because it was scheduled specifically on a different day and well advertised as a "Halloween Storytime".

Books

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything

by Linda William, illustrated by Megan Lloyd

We're Off to Find the Witch's House

by Mr. Krieb; illustrated by R. W. Alley

Flannel/Song

This is the House that is Haunted

This is the house that is haunted ...

This is the moon that shines on the house that is haunted.

These are the bats that fly past the moon that shines ...

This is the ghost that startles the bats that fly past the moon ...

These are the trees that sway in the breeze that flutters the ghost who startles the bats ...

This is the cat that sits by the trees that sway in the breeze ...

This is the pumpkin that glows in the dark that warms the cat who sits by the trees ...

Witch’s Brew

(tune: The Farmer in the Dell)

The brew is boiling up

The brew is boiling up

Simmer and stew

This nasty goo

The brew is boiling up

Add ingredients to the cauldron!

Bat Poop--Cocoa Puffs 

Fish Guts--Goldfish crackers

Cat Claws--Candy Corn

Ghost Boogers--Mini-Marshmallows

Dragon's Blood--M&Ms

Fried Flies--Chocolate Chips

Activities

Scavenger Hunt
Eat Witch's Brew
Masking Tape Mummies
Roll a Jack O' Lantern
Bean Bag Toss
Create a Monster

Turtle Storytime

We celebrated World Turtle Day on May 23!  And continued to celebrate on three other days as I took this storytime to two Outreach Storytimes, and an All Ages Storytime!

Books

Take Your Time: A Tale of Harriet, the Galapagos Tortoise

by Eva Furrow and Donna Jo Napoli; illustrated by Laurel Molk

*only for Preschool Storytime

Hare and Tortoise

by Alison Murray

The Birthday Pet

by Ellen Javernick; illustrated by Kevin O'Malley

 *For outreach and all ages storytimes

Songs/Rhymes/Magnet Board

ABC Welcome Song

T-U-R-T-L-E

(tune: “Camptown Races”)

T-U-R-T-L-E

Turtle, Turtle

T-U-R-T-L-E

Turtle’s what that spells

Turtles lie in the sun

Turtles swim for fun

T-U-R-T-L-E

Turtle’s what that spells!

Tiny Tim

(tune: Grand Old Duke of York)

I had a little turtle

His name was Tiny Tim

I put him in the bathtub

To see if he could swim

He drank up all the water

He gobbled up the soap

And when he tried to talk

He had a bubble in his throat.

Chorus:

Oh, bubble, bubble, bubble

Bubble, bubble, POP! (clap)

Bubble, bubble, bubble

Bubble, bubble, Pop! (clap)

Repeat chorus several times each time increasing the speed!

Play and Learn

Children glued a variety of green/brown paper onto the turtle to make the shell.

Gingerbread Houses

We were so excited to host another school-age program before Christmas...A Gingerbread House Build!  We had 60 people attend!  Kids of all ages (3-adult) had fun creating gingerbread houses out of graham crackers, icing, and goodies (pretzels, mini-marshmallows, gumdrops, Fruit Loops and mini candy canes).  If I were doing the program myself I would have made up cups that were a "variety" because kids would only take two cups.

Check out these awesome creations!

Halloween Party!

Friday night the Bellevue Public Library hosted their annual Family Halloween Party!  We had a nice turn out and a lot of fun with crafts and games!  A special thank you to our wonderful Jr. Friends for their help and also the assistance of four additional adults.  Your help was invaluable!!  Here are some pictures of the after hours event!