Halloween Story Time

Book suggestions:
Boo, Bunny!  By Kathryn Galbraith
What a Scare, Jesse Bear  by Nancy White Carlstrom
Monster Mash  by David Catrow
Berenstain Bears & the Haunted House  by Jan & Mike Berenstain
*It’s Halloween Night!  By Jennifer O’Connell
*What’s in the Witch’s Kitchen?  By Nick Sharratt
*Night of the Pumpkinheads  by Michael Rosen
   (use this for pumpkin carving ideas only)
*Clifford Glow in the Dark Halloween  (filed in HOLIDAY under GLOW)
*There’s a Nightmare in My Closet by Mercer Mayer (EBY has Big Book)

Rhyme/fingerplay suggestions:
Five Little Pumpkins
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, "But we don't care."
The fourth one said, "Let's run, let's run!"
The fifth one said, "Isn't Halloween fun?"
 
Then Woooooo went the wind
And OUT went the lights.
And five little pumpkins rolled out of sight.

Owl’s Eyes
See my big and scary eyes? (Make a mask with hands)
Get ready for a big surprise….BOO!

Flutter, Flutter Little Bat
Flutter, flutter little bat,
How I wonder where you're at.

Swooping through the darkest night -
You find your way without a light.

Flutter, flutter little bat,
How I wonder where you're at!

Riddles
Q. Why didn't the skeleton cross the road?
A. He didn't have the guts!

Q. What do ghosts serve for dinner?
A. Ice Scream!

Q. Why don't skeletons like parties?
A. Because they have no body to dance with!

This right here...

...is what it's all about, folks.

Story Time with the Spiders

Book Suggestions:

Anansi and the Talking Melon  by Eric Kimmel
Itsy Bitsy, the Smart Spider by Charise Harper
The Very Busy Spider  by Eric Carle

Activities:

Besides making the spider hat, we will played spider games, such as the spider crawl, "Itsy-bitsy Spider" with a partner, and we spun a web by tossing a ball of white yarn.

Story time with butterflies

I passed out color-by-number pages & some of the children brought me their "homework."

There are so many butterfly books in this library system - cool!  Here are the ones I used:
*The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Eric Carle
*Gotta Go!  Gotta Go!  - Sam Swope
*Katy Duck is a Caterpillar - Alyssa Satin Capucilli
*Butterfly, Butterfly – Petr Horacek
*Ten Little Caterpillars  - Bill Martin

Fingerplay/rhyme suggestion:
Pretty Butterfly - sung to "Up On The Housetop"
First comes a butterfly
Who lays an egg,
Out comes a caterpillar
With many legs,
Oh, see the caterpillar
Spin and spin
A little chrysalis to sleep in.
Oh, oh, oh, look and see,
Oh, oh, oh, look and see.
Out of the chrysalis, my oh, my,
Out comes a pretty butterfly! Creepy Crawly Caterpillar
A creepy crawly caterpillar that I see (shade eyes)
Makes a chrysalis in a big oak tree. (make body into a ball)
He stays there and I know why (slowly stand up)
Because soon he will be a butterfly (flap arms)

Caterpillar Poem
What do caterpillars do?
Nothing but chew and chew.
What do caterpillars know?
Nothing much but how to grow.
They just eat what by and by
Will make them be a butterfly.
But this is more than I can do
However much I chew and chew.

Our awesome volunteers cut these out.  Children glued tissue paper to the back.  This one was a hit!

Story time with the bears

After discussing panda bears, we did this mask craft.
We had pandas walking all over the library.  

Story Suggestions
Goldilocks and the Three Bears  
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? and
     Panda, Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See?  by Eric Carle
Panda Kisses  by Alyssa Satin Capucilli
Clap Your Hands  by David Ellwand
Jamberry  by Bruce Degen
Goldilocks and Just One Bear  by Leigh Hodgkinson

Fingerplay/Rhyme Suggestions:

Teddy bear, teddy bear

Teddy bear, teddy bear, turn around,
Teddy bear, teddy bear, touch the ground,
Teddy bear, teddy bear, reach up high,
Teddy bear, teddy bear, touch the sky,
Teddy bear, teddy bear, bend down low,
Teddy bear, teddy bear, touch your toes,
Teddy bear, teddy bear, go to bed,
Teddy bear, teddy bear, rest your head,
Teddy bear, teddy bear, turn out the lights,
Teddy bear, teddy bear, say "good night".

Activity Suggestions:

We also did some "Bear Facts Flashcards" that I made showing different types of bears, what bears live, what they eat, sizes of bears, etc.

Going on a Bear Hunt story or use the CD: Dr. Jean sings silly songs

Finally, we played a Feed the Bears Game.  We had a picture of a bear with his mouth cut out.  We threw pompoms into the mouth.

Some of the children brought back their coloring pictures.

Latest adult display

Paranormal Fiction is not a genre I normally read, but it's very popular...especially this time of year.

Fall Display

I put approximately 75 fall and Halloween books on this display. 

51 were left after one hour of opening. 

How cool is THAT!?

I thought for sure children would pull on the spider web.  Nope!  Still looking good after a week.

Story time Silliness

Book Suggestions:

818.5402 LAFFIN  Knock Knock Jokes  by Ima Laffin
818.5402 CHWAST  She Sells Sea Shells by Seymore Chwast
Dog Breath by Dav Pilkey

Burnt Toast on Davenport Street  by Tim Egan

Rhymes:
(tongue twisters, of course!)

She sells seashells by the seashore.
The blue bluebird blinks.
I can think of six thin things and of six thick things too.
Inchworms itching.
Mixed biscuits.
Quick kiss. Quicker kiss.

Clapping hands, one and two.
Clapping hands, one and two.

But if one of your hands is covered with glue,
you stick to the glue, my darling.

Glue, glue, stick to the glue,
glue, glue, stick to the glue,
glue, glue, stick to the glue,
stick to the glue, my darling.

Stamping feet, one and two…
Shaking hands, one and two…
Hugging friends, one and two…
Brushing teeth, one and two…

Suggested Activity:
Make Silly Putty
1 part Sta Flo liquid starch
food coloring, if desired

Add a couple of drops of food coloring and mix well.

It needs to dry a bit before it is "workable". It may be necessary to add a touch more glue or starch. You will have to experiment. It may not work well on a humid day. Store in an airtight container.  Beware of contact with clothes and carpet while mixing.

We also made "silly creatures."

Story Time at the Movies

Book Suggestions:

Jumanji by Chris VanAllsburg
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs  by Judi Barrett
Shrek  by William Steig – they liked seeing how different the book is from
      the movie.
I also pulled Spiderman, Ironman, Cinderella, Rapunzel, etc. so they could just browse.

Activity Suggestion:

Cut small paper plates into quarters and have the kids cut out their favorite toppings and glue on top.   

Put a magnet on the back.

I also handed out  Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs coloring sheets and word searches.