We're Going On a Leaf Hunt (Preschool)

“We’re Going on a Leaf Hunt”

Preschool Storytime

Opening: Big Books

Book: “We’re Going on a Leaf Hunt”

*This book reads like "We're Going on a Bear Hunt". You climb over mountains, swim through a waterfall, and as you go along you pick up leaves. I like to make this interactive, and when we come upon each leaf, I will throw cut-out leaves onto the kids. (I didn't do that this time.) Near the end of the book, you come upon something black and white, a skunk! The kids went crazy, and had so much fun at the ending. For some reason, the skunk kept popping back up behind me which added to the chaos!

Fingerplay/Flannel: “Little Bird, Little Bird”

Little bird, little bird. Are you behind the {orange} tree?

*My storytime kids love hunting for things hidden behind my flannel pieces, and this theme fit in perfectly. We hunted for a little bird behind one of our trees. You can download this wonderful pattern for free through this website.

File Folder Storytelling/Book: “Fall Is Not Easy”

*My boss made this wonderful file folder story of the book "Fall Is Not Easy". Every page of the book has been drawn out on a piece of paper. As you read the book, you pull out each piece of paper, changing what the tree looks like. The kids went crazy when the tree started changing into some silly things! Such a big hit with the kids, probably the favorite part of storytime today.

Fingerplay/Flannel: “Five Autumn Leaves”

Five little leaves sitting near a door:

{Alligator} took one, and then there were four.

Four little leaves sitting near a tree;

{Pig} took one, and then there were three.

Three little leaves, with nothing to do;

{Duck} took one, and then there were two.

Two little leaves, in the pale {November} sun,

{Horse} took one, and that left one.

Being alone wasn’t much fun,

Until {Snake} took him, and then there were none

Fingerplay: “Scarecrow, Scarecrow”

Scarecrow, scarecrow turn around then touch the ground.

Scarecrow, scarecrow stand up tall and blink your eyes.

Scarecrow, scarecrow reach to the sky.

Scarecrow, scarecrow clap your hands and tap your knees.

Scarecrow, scarecrow turn around and tap your feet.

Scarecrow, scarecrow touch your nose and then your toes.

Scarecrow, scarecrow swing your arms so very slow,

Now very fast to scare the crows!

Scarecrow, scarecrow pat your head,

Now jump up and down instead!

Scarecrow, scarecrow turn around and sit back down without a sound.

*The kids had a lot of fun with this fingerplay. They really enjoyed trying to figure out what I was going to say next. So much fun! Here is the website where I found this fingerplay.

Book: “Sneeze, Big Bear, Sneeze!”

*This book is really cute, but the kids didn't enjoy it as much as I hoped they would. When bear sneezes, he think that his sneeze causes the leaves and apples to fall off the tree. When this happened, I threw paper leaves and paper apples on the bear puppet. Some of the kids started hollering that they wanted stuff thrown on them, which is what I normally do.

Fingerplay/Action: “Colorful Squirrels

Put a squirrel in the magic tree stump!

Shake it, shake it, shake it a bunch!

Take him out and what do you see?

A cute little squirrel as RED as can be!

*I didn't have time to do this adorable action, but hope to later this month. Here is the website where you can view it.

Book: “Little Old Lady Who Wasn’t Afraid of Anything” (With boxes)

*This is a great interactive book to use this time of year. I used our storytime boxes and put the parts of the scarecrow onto the boxes, and my volunteer stacked the scarecrow up as we read about him. I found the fabulous idea for using boxes here.

*Our craft today was an autumn tree. The kids got to glue the leaves onto the top of the tree. Then they stuck the top of the tree into the toilet paper tube, which was already covered with brown paper.

Read-Alouds:

Count Down to Fall

Hocus Pocus It’s Fall!

How Big Could Your Pumpkin Grow?

Little Boo

Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything

Nuts to You!

One Day in the Eucalyptus, Eucalyptus Tree

Sneeze, Big Bear, Sneeze!

We’re Going on a Leaf Hunt by Steve Metzger

Who Goes There?