Happy Halloween! (Two's and Preschool)

Time for Two’s Storytime:

Opening: Big Books

Fingerplay: “If You Want to Hear a Story”

Book: Little Blue Truck’s Halloween

*This is a classic book that I always use for the two's at Halloween, and just adore it! I really love using puppets with it, so that they can see the animals and help make all the noises too.

Fingerplay: Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed

Book: I Am Bat

*I decided to stick with the bat theme and go with a favorite bat book of mine. For this one, I have some cherries stuck up behind me on my puppet stage. I tell my two's to keep watch on my cherries and let me know if anyone take my cherries! It took a little bit for the two's to catch on that the puppets were sneaking up to take the cherries. It's a great book to use, but next time I believe I'll just use it with the older kids.

Fingerplay/Flannel: Little Bat, Little Bat

    Little bat, little bat, are you behind the _____ hat? (Use witch’s hat)

Credit: Jbrary

Action: Halloween Movement Cards

Fingerplay: It’s Halloween!

Over there I see a ghost!  My, oh my, a scary ghost!!

Mom says "No, it’s all OK.  That’s a costume! Take it away-

And you’ll see it’s your good friend sheep!

Out on Halloween night!

Credit: Library Village

Today was our Halloween party, so we didn't have a craft. Instead, we had a party! Everyone brought food and the library provided juice. You can click here to see the games we played. I decided to dress up as a pirate, so that I wouldn't be too scary for the two's!

Preschool Storytime:

Opening: Big Books

Book: Ready, Steady, Ghost!

*This is the first time I've ever read this book before in storytime, and you could have heard a pin drop! The preschoolers were so engrossed in this book, it was precious!

Fingerplay/Flannel: Five Little Monsters Jumping on the Bed

Book: Just Say Boo!

*I love using this book because it helps teach the kids how to spell and read the word "boo".  Normally the preschoolers love shouting BOO at me.  But this time I think they were just too excited about Halloween and our party happening.  Still, I recommend using this book, it's a great read-aloud.

Fingerplay: Pete the Cat Guessing Game

‘Trick-or-treat, trick-or-treat.  Can I have something yummy to eat? …Please?’

When all of a sudden, from out from the shadows jumped a scary witch!

Was Pete scared?  Goodness no! That witch is just a cat you know.  So Pete kept walking.

‘Trick-or-treat, trick-or-treat.  Can I have something yummy to eat? …Please?’

When all of a sudden, from out from the shadows jumped a monster!

Was Pete scared?  Goodness no! That monster is just a cat you know.  So Pete kept walking.

‘Trick-or-treat, trick-or-treat.  Can I have something yummy to eat? …Please?’

When all of a sudden, from out from the shadows jumped a mummy!

Was Pete scared?  Goodness no! That mummy is just a cat you know.  So Pete kept walking.

‘Trick-or-treat, trick-or-treat.  Can I have something yummy to eat? …Please?’

When all of a sudden, from out from the shadows jumped a ghost!

Was Pete scared?  Well… maybe a little.  But, Pete, he knew just what to do.  

He looked at that ghost and he said:  BOOOOOO  and Happy Halloween!

*I was so excited to use this precious flannel! I made all of my cats, just like the website showed, but I think the preschoolers were just too wound up by this point to pay much attention. It's such a boo-tastic idea, I love it!

Credit: Miss Sarah Storytime

Today was our Halloween party, so we didn't have a craft. Instead, we had a party! Everyone brought food and the library provided juice. You can click here to see the games we played.

Extra Read-Alouds:

October Sensory Bins and Games (Preschool and Two's)

Boo to you!  I love the month of October when I can pull out some of the spookier games!  Not to spooky though!

1.) Mummy Shape Matching
For this fun game, I have big mummies laid out and tiny mummies inside bowls with shredded paper.  The two's did fa-boo-lous matching the shapes! (I apologize, the mummy just looks like a big triangle, but he's really a mummy!)

Credit: File Folder Heaven

2.) Monster Knockdown
For this game, all you need are empty boxes and construction paper!  I took my empty boxes and covered them all to look like pumpkins and boxes.  I do believe the two's would have played with these boxes for hours if I had let them!  Super easy and the kids go crazy over stacking and knocking down the boxes.

3.) Pumpkin Putt-Putt
I didn't take a picture of this one, but all you need is a craft pumpkin.  Just carve out a face and a big mouth.  Then tape it to the ground and put out your plastic putt-putt set.  You're done!  Sometimes I will make a long tongue out of red paper and tape that down, but I just ran out of time this year to do that.  The kids love playing putt-putt too!

4.) Bat Color Matching
Forgive me, I can't seem to find my picture of this.  For this sensory bin, I have cut up red streamers placed inside bowls.  Then, I taped down the different colored bats, with the color word printed below.  The kids then dug out the bats and matched them up to each correct bat.
Credit: Simple Fun for Kids

Hooray for Hat! (Preschool)

Preschool Storytime:

*I have to say, this is my first time doing a hat storytime, and it was so much fun! Everything went really good, and the preschoolers seemed to have a great time. This is a theme I definitely plan on revisiting again. My wonderful volunteer (my mom) made me a beautiful crown to wear for storytime!

Opening: Big Books

Book: Whose Hat is This?

*This is a great guessing book to use for storytime.  The preschoolers really enjoyed guessing who wore each hat!

Fingerplay/Flannel: Little Cat

Little cat, little cat, are you under the {red} hat?

Credit: Miss Mary Liberry

Action: Halloween Action Cards

Book/Flannel: Hooray for Hat!

*If you've never used this book before, I highly recommend it! One of the best parts is the repetition of the line "Hooray for Hat!" It's a great way to get the preschoolers involved in the reading of the book with you. This is a great way to teach your preschooler how to spell h-a-t! I made a flannelboard to go along with the book, and all my animals had a grumpy face and a happy face. I also made little hats to put on each animal. The best part of this book was when a little girl looked at me and said "Boy, you sure are grumpy!" I just had to stop and laugh! This let me know that at least I was portraying the grumpiness!

Fingerplay/Flannel: Cat in the Hat

*For this wonderful idea, I put up Cat in the Hat, but without his hat. Then I asked the preschoolers to help me find his hat! Of course, I put up many things that aren't correct, until I find the one that fits just right! I couldn't link the website, because it isn't secure, but I'm sure you can find it!

Credit: Storytime Thoughts

Book: A Good Day for Hat

*This has quickly become one of my new favorite books, because it can be used for so many themes. Bears, hats or birthday! If you know me and my storytime, one of my favorite things to do is cut up small pieces of things from construction paper and have these items "rain" down onto my preschoolers. Well, in this book bear keeps changing his hat! When the story starts, he goes outside and it's raining! So, I have paper raindrops to "rain" down on the preschoolers. Later on, rabbits are hopping around outside, so I have paper rabbits to "rain" down on the preschoolers. I do this all throughout the book. But I wanted to also show the hats off to the kids, so I made a big bear and taped him to a box, and had each hat made. Then my hats would tape to a box that could be changed out as the story went along. I have a picture below so that this makes more sense. At the end of the story all the hats come tumbling down from the bears head, so I had two boxes stacked up and they all came tumbling down! Even the adults laughed loudly at that! I love thinking outside the box (I couldn't resist!) and bringing the story to life for kids.

Our craft today was a zebra hat! I've never done a hat before with the preschoolers, so I wasn't sure how they would do, but they loved it! All of them wore their hat downstairs after storytime! I will definitely look for another hat craft. I'm wearing the zebra hat, so I hope that you can see what it looks like.

Credit: TeacherspayTeachers

Marvelous Monsters (Preschool and Two's)

This week is spring break for both county and city break, so our number were bigger than normal. I was extremely happy with our crowds this week, I wish we could have these numbers every week!

Preschool Storytime:

Opening: Big Books

Book: Go To Bed, Monster!

*We have had a giant flannel made to go along with this story, and I haven't used it for years. I wanted to change up this storytime a bit, so I decided to pull out the flannel. I'm so glad I did! The preschoolers were just spellbound by my monster coming to life! I think the favorite part was when the monster decided to go to the bathroom!

Fingerplay: “Monster, Monster”

    Monster, monster, turn around.
    Monster, monster, touch the ground.
    Monster, monster, show your teeth.
    Monster, monster, stomp your feet.
    Monster, monster, touch the sky.   
    Monster, monster, wave goodbye.
    Monster, monster, pat your head.
    Monster, monster, go to bed.

Book: There’s a Monster In Your Book

*This is such a great interactive book to use, the preschoolers love helping me get my cuddly little monster out of my book!

Fingerplay/Flannel: Five Little Monsters Jumping on the Bed
*We all had so much fun jumping up and down like monsters! You can print out some not-so-scary monsters by going here!
Credit: Sunflower Storytime

Book:Go Away, Big Green Monster!

*I probably use this story too much, but when you're doing a monster storytime, you have too! My favorite part was when some of the older siblings started quoting the book along with me!

Fingerplay/Flannel: Monsters Hiding

Time for monsters to rest their head,

Let's put the PURPLE monster to bed!

*My volunteer made lots of cute little monsters for me. After we found all of our monsters hidden behind items on my flannelboard, we handed out monsters to the preschoolers. After this I held up my big bed and the kids tucked their monster into bed. They adored this! I have included a picture below of our monsters and the bed.
Credit: Miss Sarah's Storytime

Our craft today was a green polka-dotted monster!

Time for Two’s Storytime:

Opening: Big Books

Fingerplay: If You Want to Hear a Story

Book: There’s a Monster in Your Book!

*This is such a great interactive book to use, the two's love helping me get my cuddly little monster out of my book!

Fingerplay/Flannel: Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed

Book: Go Away, Big Green Monster!

*I probably use this story too much, but when you're doing a monster storytime, you have too!

Fingerplay: Halloween Action Cards

Fingerplay/Flannel: Monsters Hiding

Time for monsters to rest their head,

Let's put the PURPLE monster to bed!

Fingerplay/Flannel: Monsters Hiding

Time for monsters to rest their head,

Let's put the PURPLE monster to bed!

*My volunteer made lots of cute little monsters for me. After we found all of our monsters hidden behind items on my flannelboard, we handed out monsters to the preschoolers. After this I held up my big bed and the kids tucked their monster into bed. They adored this! I have included a picture below of our monsters and the bed.
Credit: Miss Sarah's Storytime


Our craft today was a green polka-dotted monster!

Extra Books:

Monsters Go Night-Night

Monsters Love Colors

Sound the Sirens! (Two's)

Time for Two’s Storytime:

Opening: Big Books

Fingerplay: If You Want to Hear a Story

Book: This Book Is Out Of Control (Make remote control and use dog puppet)

*For this book, I made a remote control to use, and my volunteer had the dog puppet behind me. If you've never read this book, I highly recommend it! It's precious! The two's loved seeing the dog puppet move and being sprayed by water!

Fingerplay: “Firefighter, Firefighter”

Firefighter, firefighter, turn around.

Firefighter, firefighter, touch the ground.

Firefighter, firefighter, climb the stairs.

Firefighter, firefighter, jump in the air.

Firefighter, firefighter, swing your axe about.

Firefighter, firefighter, spray the fire out.

Firefighter, firefighter, turn around.

Firefighter, firefighter, sit back down.

Fingerplay/Flannel: “Wheels on the Firetruck”

*Before singing I will ask the kids what my firetruck needs, and then we will sing about that part until everything is on the firetruck.

Door-Open and shut

Lights-blink, blink, blink

Siren-woo, woo, woo

Ladder-Up and down

Ax-chop, chop, chop

Hose-Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh

Book:Itty Bitty Kitty Firehouse Fun

*This book is great to read, but it's a tad long for the two's. But they did enjoy listening to it!

Fingerplay: Three Little Firefighters

Three little firefighters standing in a row

1,2,3, let’s slide down the pole! (spin in circle)

Jump on the engine with a shout

Spray the fire, hooray!  It’s out!

*For this, I have my volunteer hold up a building with flames shooting out of top. All of us stand up and do all of the actions. When we get to the end of the fingerplay, we will pretend to spray the fire, and my volunteer will slowly pull the fire down behind the building. (I can't find where I found this wonderful idea, so if it's your idea please let me know!)

Fingerplay/Flannel: “Dog Dancing”

*For this, I printed out some dalmatians with firefighter helmets on.  I have them laminated and velcroed. We dance around with our dogs, then place them upon the flannelboard to end storytime.

The next time I do this I want to make a big firetruck with velcro so that all dogs will stick to it! The two's loved putting the dalmations around firetruck

Our craft today was a firetruck made out of a box! The two's absolutely adored driving their firetrucks around the room!

Pizza! Pizza! (Preschool and Two's)

Preschool Storytime:

*I don't know what it was, but the preschoolers went crazy over everything! This usually doesn't happen, but they loved all the fingerplays, books and craft. It just made me so happy!

Opening: Big Books

Book: Hi Pizza Man! (Have puppets deliver pizza slices to you.)

*I did something different with this book, I had the puppets deliver a slice of pizza to me!  The preschoolers loved it!

Fingerplay:

Pizza man, pizza man, turn around

Pizza man, pizza man, touch the ground

Pizza man, pizza man, jump up high

Pizza man, pizza man, touch the sky

Pizza man, pizza man do you like cheese?

Pizza man, pizza man slap your knees!

Pizza man, pizza man, turn around

Pizza man, pizza man, sit back down!

Book: Pizza Pig

*This is a new book about pizza pig, and I highly recommend it! Pizza pig delivers pizza to all kinds of animals, so I had to make a pizza for all of the animals that I had puppets for. (I've included a picture of my pizza slices below.) The best part of the book is at the end when turtle won't eat his pizza. Why? Because he wants a friend to eat with, and that friend is pizza pig! Even the adults in the room laughed very loudly, which tickled my heart! I think everyone got such a kick out of my turtle puppet refusing to eat my pizza!

Flannel: Pizza Toppings

*For this flannel, I have four pizzas printed out, with velcro attached to them. I give the preschoolers pizza toppings, with velcro on the back. Then the preschoolers can bring their toppings up and stick them to the pizzas on the flannelboard.

Action: Pizza Time!

*My favorite part of pizza storytime is turning the kids into a pizza! This is based on the book "Pete's a Pizza" and the kids adore it too! All you need to do is cut out pizza toppings from construction paper, and sprinkle them onto the kids. I didn't remember to bring flour this time, but I like to put some flour on my hand and blow it out onto the kids, which they love!

Our craft today was a little chef holding his pizza! I was so excited to see the kids gluing the hands down on the craft, but only a few did. But it's still precious!

Credit: The First Grade Parade Blogspot

Time for Two’s Storytime:

Opening: Big Books

Book: Hi Pizza Man! (Have puppets deliver pizza slices to you.)

*I did something different with this book, I had the puppets deliver a slice of pizza to me!  The preschoolers loved it!

Fingerplay:

Pizza man, pizza man, turn around

Pizza man, pizza man, touch the ground

Pizza man, pizza man, jump up high

Pizza man, pizza man, touch the sky

Pizza man, pizza man do you like cheese?

Pizza man, pizza man slap your knees!

Pizza man, pizza man, turn around

Pizza man, pizza man, sit back down!

Fingerplay/Flannel: Little Snake Hiding Game

Credit: Storytime in the Stacks

Book: Pizza Pig

*This is a new book about pizza pig, and I highly recommend it! It is a tad long for two's, but I made it work. Next time I plan on reading it first for the two's storytime. Pizza pig delivers pizza to all kinds of animals, so I had to make a pizza for all of the animals that I had puppets for. (I've included a picture of my pizza slices below.) The best part of the book is at the end when turtle won't eat his pizza. Why? Because he wants a friend to eat with, and that friend is pizza pig! Even the adults in the room laughed very loudly, which tickled my heart! They even clapped! I think everyone got such a kick out of my turtle puppet refusing to eat my pizza!

Fingerplay/Flannel: Little Snake Hiding Game

Credit: Storytime in the Stacks

Action: Pizza Time!

*My favorite part of pizza storytime is turning the kids into a pizza! This is based on the book "Pete's a Pizza" and the kids adore it too! All you need to do is cut out pizza toppings from construction paper, and sprinkle them onto the kids. I didn't remember to bring flour this time, but I like to put some flour on my hand and blow it out onto the kids, which they love!

Our craft today was a popsicle stick pizza! I forgot to take a picture of our sample, but below is what it would have looked like!

Credit: Gluedtomycraftsblog