Halloween Preschool Storytime

October 31, 2013, 10:00 a.m., Attendance - 14 lively preschoolers

Books: What's in the Witch's Kitchen? by Nick Sharret
            The Spooky Box by Mark Gonyer
            Silly Skeletons by Janet Lawler

Board Stories: "Snacks for Ghosts"
                        "The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything"
                                   
Rhyme: "Flap, Flap, Flap Go the Wings of the Bat..." by Katie Ahearn Fitzgerald

Rhyme with Prop: "Five Little Ghosts"

Magic Envelope: In went parts, out came a Jack O'Lantern

Game: Find the Bat Under the Witch's Hat

Craft: Paper plate Jack O'Lantern (Craft from Oriental Trading)

Notes: This group was ready to celebrate! Most came in costume. We played a trick on them for I switched with the librarian who usually does the preschool storytime. We started with a cryer (evidently this was not unusual for him) which caused me to change my plan a bit. I had wanted to start with a book but instead started with "Snacks for Ghosts" which caught every one's attention. From then on we had a great time and could have gone well beyond our thirty minutes.

Haunted Houses, Courtesy of Flannel Friday

I'm planning a Halloween Preschool Storytime. Two years ago, I did a Halloween Family Storytime. (Last year we did a Monster Family Storytime in October.) I wanted to do another family program but due to a bump in my personal life, it was not to be. However, since our regular preschool storytime takes place on the 31st, I will be doing that program instead. Since I don't want to repeat everything that I did before (at least one of my family storytime regulars will be attending), I decided to look for some new ideas. Of course the first place I went to was the Flannel Friday Halloween Pinterest board.

I found several haunted house props. Amanda of Trails & Tails created an amazing haunted house play mat with removable finger puppets. It goes with her "Jack Lantern, Jack Lantern, What Do You See?" rhyme. Sarah of Read, Sarah, Read made a great haunted house to go with Ten Timid Ghosts by Jennifer O'Connell. She also added a rhyme, "Five Little Ghosts" that could be adapted for use with the haunted house. Andrea of RovingFiddlehead KidLit has a simple but very effective haunted house for the song, "The Haunted House." Another haunted house prop has also been added to the Halloween board from this year's Halloween Round-Up. Sarah inspired Lisa of Thrive After Three to create her fantastic haunted house for Ten Timid Ghosts.

Since our story room is quite small, I did not need a large prop. I decided to go with the "Five Little Ghosts" rhyme found on Sarah's blog. Of course I adapted the rhyme to suit the characters I wanted to use. I drew my own figures. For me it was quicker than trying to size clip art to fit the "windows." I did use clip art for inspiration.

The haunted house is made from orange card stock. The roof and chimney are made from construction paper. I used leftover laminating film to cover the windows. I made pockets by taping a piece of card stock to the back of each window to hold the figures.

The figures are glued onto card stock pieces that fit in the pockets with a ghost on one side and the one who chases it away on the other side. As I say the rhyme, I simply turn the piece to the other side and return it to the pocket. At the end, the piece is turned again to have the ghosts return. I numbered and labeled the pockets so that I would have the figures in the correct order for the rhyme.

This is my adaptation of the rhyme:

                                    "Five Little Ghosts"

                    Five little ghosts in a haunted house at play,
                    Along came a witch who chased one ghost away.
                    Four little ghosts in a haunted house at play,
                    Along came a monster who chased one ghost away.
                    Three little ghosts in a haunted house at play,
                    Along came a vampire who chased one ghost away.
                    Two little ghosts in a haunted house at play,
                    Along came a mummy who chased one ghost away.
                    One little ghost in a haunted house at play,
                    Along came a bat who chased that ghost away.
                    Let's find the ghosts and say:
                    1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ghosts come back and play!

 

Shadows on the Moon

Flannel Friday's Annual Halloween Round-Up is this week. Last year I contributed a draw and tell story. I have another one for this year.

Shadows on the Moon: A Halloween Draw and Tell Story

by Linda Meuse

(Notes from the Story Room - 10/4/13)



It had been a great night for trick-or-treating. Mike and Sara were on their way home with bags full of candy. Sara glanced up to see a full moon in the night sky. (1) "The moon looks different tonight. It seems to have lots of shadows on it," said Sara. (2) "Some of those shadows look more like spots," replied Mike, stopping to look at the moon. "See, there is one right in the middle." (3) Sara also stopped to look carefully at the moon. "I see it," she said, "and there's an even bigger one under it!" (4) Mike started to get excited. "I see two more!," he said. "They are on top of the other spots. There is one on each side." (5) "It looks like the moon has a face," said Sara. "There is also something on top of the moon. It looks like the moon is wearing a funny hat." (6) Sara and Mike looked at the moon and then looked at each other. They both smiled for they realized that the moon was having some Halloween fun too!

Drawing Sequence:

(1) Draw moon

(2) Draw shadows

(3) Draw middle spot

(4) Draw big spot

(5) Draw two more spots

(6) Draw hat

Just for fun - Picasa automatically made this:

Click on "Halloween" in the Labels list to the right to find other Halloween storytime ideas on this blog.

This week's Round-Up is hosted by Storytime ABC's. Information about Flannel Friday can be found on the Flannel Friday blog. Follow us on Facebook and Pinterest.



Costume...Or Not?

This week's Flannel Friday Roundup features Halloween storytelling ideas and is hosted by Mary of the Miss Mary Liberry blog. This year I have a Halloween draw and tell story:

Costume...Or Not?

A Halloween Draw and Tell Story

by Linda Meuse

Notes from the Story Room

http://meusenotes.blogspot.com/

Tom and his brother Will had spent the evening trick-or-treating along their street. (1) The last house on the street was set back from the street but there was a path to the door. (2) It was lit by a smiling Jack O' Lantern. (3) They went up the path to the huge front door. (4) After just one knock a ghost came through the door. (5) He was holding two of the biggest chocolate bars that Tom and Will had ever seen. (6) "Thank you so much!" said Tom as the ghost dropped one into his bag. "Wow, thanks," said Will when he got one too. "By the way," added Will, "That's the best ghost costume I've ever seen." "Thank youuuuu...," said the ghost as it floated back through the door. Tom and Will started down the path but suddenly stopped. They both looked at each other realizing what had just happened. "Maybe that wasn't a costume after all!" exclaimed Tom. The boys ran home as fast as they could. What do you think? Costume...or not?

Drawing sequence:

(1) Draw street

(2) Draw path

(3) Draw Jack O' Lantern

(4) Draw door

(5) Draw ghost

(6) Draw candy bars



More Halloween posts:

One Little Ghost (rhyme)

Snacks for Ghosts and Bats in Hats (board story and game)

Big Pumpkin Deconstructed and Big Pumpkin Constructed (props for an audience participation retelling of Erica Silverman's Big Pumpkin)

Evening Family Story Time #2 - Halloween! (family story time program with crafts)

Evening Family Story Time #2 - Halloween!

Family Story Time - Thursday, October 27, 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., Attendance 68 (40 children, 28 adults).

This evening's program was truly a family story time.   Entire families came out on a cold, rainy night.  I had lots of dads this evening.  Everyone seemed to have had a great time including the parents.  I did not notice any restless children while telling the stories though a couple of the two-year-olds joined the older children up front when we were doing the "Big Pumpkin."  Even the babies were good.  Having a wide variety of stories worked well. (Even the twelve-year-old who came with younger siblings put down his book and listened.)  Having easy and difficult crafts also worked well later.  A staff member had donated several containers of Halloween foam pieces (Thank you Brenda!) which kept the younger children very happy and gave me time to pass out the other craft materials.  The older children also enjoyed the fortune tellers. 

Program:

Books:  Brooms Are For Flying by Michael Rex
             Ghosts in the House by Kazuno Kohara

Board Stories:  "Snacks for Ghosts" (see post for 10/14/11)
                       "Juan and the Ghost" from Multicultural Folktales for the Feltboard and Readers' Theater by Judy Sierra

Board Rhyme:  "One Little Ghost" (see post for 10/7/11)

Board Game:    "Little Bat and the Witches' Hats"  - a guessing game (see post for 10/14/11)

Paper Cutting Story:  "The Little Orange House" from Paper Stories by Jean Stangl (Best collection of paper cutting stories ever!)

Draw & Tell Story:  "The Ghost on Pedersen's Farm" from Frog's Riddle & Other Draw-and-Tell Stories by Richard Thompson (Highly recommended though the stories are not simple to draw)
 
Participation Story:  "Big Pumpkin" based on Big Pumpkin by Erica Silverman (see posts for 10/21/11 and 10/23/11)
 
Crafts:  Halloween picture or card - Halloween themed foam pieces glued on purple construction paper
            Halloween fortune teller
            Jack-O-Lantern smile
            Flapping Bat
 

(A quick shot of the crafts - the bat flaps upside down)

 

Big Pumpkin - Constructed

While figuring out how to make the pumpkin for the Big Pumpkin participation story I plan to use in my Family Story Time on the 27th (see my post for 10/21/11), I had three things to consider - foremost it had to be big, yet it had to be light enough to pick up and it had to be easily storable. 

First I took two sheets of 18" by 24" drawing paper and placed them together on the floor.  I sketched out a pumpkin across both sheets so that there would be half a pumpkin on each sheet when separated.  I drew a stem on a separate piece of paper.  I outlined everything in black marker.  I colored the stem with green marker but painted the pumpkin with orange poster paint because it was such a large area.  Once the paint was dry I cut the pieces out.  (The pumpkin pieces could be glued on a firmer backing or could be painted on poster board instead for a sturdier pumpkin.  I just used the materials I had, figuring I will only be using it for Halloween storytimes so it should hold up.) 

I used paper grocery bags as supports.  They are "double bagged" to make them sturdy.  I glued half of a pumpkin to one bag and half to the other.  I then clipped the bags together.  I attached the stem with Velcro (hook and loop) pieces making sure I had one piece on each pumpkin to keep the top of the pumpkin together.  Once everything was in place I had my "Big Pumpkin."

The great thing about using grocery bags is that they can be easily folded for storage.  The other props used in the story can be slipped into the folded bags.

Big Pumpkin Assembled - Front

Big Pumpkin Assembled - Back

Bags Clipped Together

Attaching the Stem with Velcro

Big Pumpkin - Deconstructed Again

Big Pumpkin - Deconstructed

My favorite Halloween book is Big Pumpkin by Erica Silverman.  I don't usually mess with a great book but this title would work very well as a participation story.  Children could be the characters and the audience would contribute the key words to the story.  The librarian would direct the action and narrate.  With this in mind, I came up with -

Title:

Simple props to designate the characters:

Dialog cue cards for the audience:

Big Pumpkin (in progress - I'll post about how I put it together later -waiting for the paint to dry):

The reward:

All the clip art is from Microsoft Publisher.

Now that I have these simple props, I plan to tell this story at my Halloween Family Story Time.

Snacks for Ghosts & Bats in Hats

I wanted to include The Ghost's Dinner by Jacques Duquennoy in my Halloween Family Story Time program but my current library does not own it.  So I ended up doing what I did in July (see my post for 7/6/11) - writing my own story.  This one is much shorter and can be found as a Google document here.

There are several versions of stories that feature the concept of ghosts turning the color of what they eat that can be found by searching the web.  One is called "Three Naughty Ghosts."  My web search also turned up a reference to a book, The Chocolate Chip Ghost by Meighan Peifer.  I'm not familiar with this title but I'm guessing it would be a good one to use.  I also found flannel board versions by searching that title. 

Since my library uses a magnet board I made my own figures.  I'm using the same little ghosts that I used for "One Little Ghost" (see my post for 10/7/11) plus a mama ghost.  I based the food items on clip art.  Once the pieces are laminated I will make a magnet sandwich by stapling a colorful ghost and white ghost back to back.  I made extra wide black borders so I would have room to trim the pieces to match.

 The Snacks

 The Problem

 Mama with the Solution

Ready to Go Halloween Haunting

I am also going to do a version of the critter hiding behind something guessing game (such as "Little Mouse" and those in my blog post for 8/4/11).  I found the idea for a bat hiding behind a witch's hat on Kelly's "Field Acquisitions" blog.

I based the figures on clip art, copied the hats and colored everything with markers.  I made the hat bands black because I plan to hide the little bat behind them.  The figures are not cut out yet because they need to be laminated first.

This week's Flannel Friday Round-up can be found at the "rovingfiddlehead kidlit" blog.

One Little Ghost

One little ghost, waiting to yell boo,
Calls for a friend, so now there are two.
Two little ghosts, hiding in a tree,
Call for a friend, so now there are three.
Three little ghosts decide they need more,
Call for a friend, so now there are four.
Four little ghosts, ready to swoop and dive,
Call for a friend and now there are five.
Five little ghosts, hidden from sight,
Jump out at trick-or-treaters to give them a fright.
One, two, three, four, five - “Boo!”

This Halloween rhyme can be used with flannel/magnet board figures or with finger puppets.

Boo! 

The Flannel Friday Round-up for this week can be found at the Future Librarian Superhero blog.