L is for Leaves Falling All Around

Opening: If You Want to Hear a Story

Book: Bear Feels Scared

Fingerplay: Big Bear

Big bear, big bear, turn around.

Big bear, big bear, touch the ground.

Big bear, big bear,  clap your hands and touch your knees.

Big bear, big bear, turn around and stomp your feet.

Big bear, big bear, roar real LOUD!

Big bear, big bear, jump up and down.

Big bear, big bear, turn around.

Big bear, big bear, sit back down.

Book: Hedgehugs Hide and Squeak

Hiding Game:

Look who is hiding in the leaves?

1,2,3 who could it be?

*For this I have popular book characters and I cover them up with a giant leaf.  The only part I have showing is their shoes, to give a clue to who they are.

Book: Tap the Magic Tree

Closing: We Wave Goodbye (Tune: Farmer in the Dell)

We wave goodbye like this, we wave goodbye like this.

We clap our hands for all our friends, we wave goodbye like this.

We wave really fast, we wave really slow.

We turn around and take a bow, and then its time to go!

Extra Books:

Opening: Big Books 

Book: One Leaf, Two Leaves, Count With Me!

Activity: Riddles

So many leaves are falling on the ground.

Orange ones, yellow ones and even brown.

But the one little leaf that rhymes with....

Is my favorite color, it's the color...

Credit: Verona Storytime

Book: Fall Is Not Easy

Fingerplay: Scarecrow, Scarecrow, Turn Around

Book: Sneeze, Big Bear, Sneeze!

L is for Leaves Falling All Around (Preschool and Two's)

Preschool Storytime:

Opening: Big Books

Book: One Leaf, Two Leaves, Count With Me!

*For this, I made a giant tree and put this up on my flannelboard. As I was reading, my volunteer put up ten green leaves. During the story, the leaves changed from green to red or yellow. When that happened, my volunteer flipped the leaves over and the preschoolers loved seeing this happen! What I love about this book is not only does it teach all the seasons of the year but it also teaches counting. You start out counting from one to ten, then you go backwards from ten to one. I also like that on each page there are big numerals to show what number you are on. A great literacy tool to help with numbers and seasons.

Fingerplay/Flannel:

Acorn, acorn, where do you hide?

Are you under the _____ leaf? 

Let's peek inside!

Credit: Literary Hoots

File Folder: Fall Is Not Easy

*I was a little worried that my preschoolers were too young to enjoy this, but they liked it! A few years ago my boss made this story into a file folder story, which makes it much more enjoyable to me.

Fingerplay: Scarecrow, Scarecrow

Scarecrow, scarecrow, turn around

Scarecrow, scarecrow, touch the ground

Scarecrow, scarecrow, clap your hands and touch your knees.

Scarecrow, scarecrow, turn around and stomp your feet.   

Swing your arms so very slow.

Now real fast to scare the crows!

Tap your head, now jump up and down.

Turn around and sit back down.

Credit: Play-and-Learn!

Action: Scarf Dancing

Our craft is an owl with leaves scattered all around him.  The preschoolers adored gluing the leaves down, I think that was their favorite part!

Credit: Glued To My Crafts

Extra Books:

Time for Two's Storytime:

Opening: Big Books

Fingerplay: If You Want to Hear a Story

Book: We’re Going on a Leaf Hunt

*This book is on the premise of "I'm going on a bear hunt", but you guessed it, we are gathering leaves instead! Whenever I find a leaf while I'm reading the book, I stop and ask where my leaf is?  Then the puppet appears behind me with the leaf in its mouth. The two's were astonished when the puppets appeared with leaves for me!

Fingerplay/Flannel:

Acorn, acorn, where do you hide?

Are you under the _____ leaf? 

Let's peek inside!

Credit: Literary Hoots

Fingerplay: Scarecrow, Scarecrow

Scarecrow, scarecrow, turn around

Scarecrow, scarecrow, touch the ground

Scarecrow, scarecrow, clap your hands and touch your knees.

Scarecrow, scarecrow, turn around and stomp your feet.   

Swing your arms so very slow.

Now real fast to scare the crows!

Tap your head, now jump up and down.

Turn around and sit back down.

Credit: Play-and-Learn!

Book: Tap the Magic Tree

* I didn’t read all of this book, because the two's were very active today!

*For the craft, the two's did the same one as the preschoolers, which is at the end of the preschool post above.

Extra Book:

Leaf Jumpers (Preschool and Two's)

Time for Two’s Storytime:

Opening: Big Books

Fingerplay: If You Want to Hear a Story

Book: We’re Going on a Leaf Hunt

*I love to have my volunteer behind me with puppets.  When I find a leaf while I'm reading the book, I stop and ask where my leaf is?  Then the puppet appears behind me with the leaf in its mouth. The kids love to tell me to look behind me to find that leaf!

Fingerplay/Flannel:

Acorn, acorn, where do you hide?

Are you under the _____ leaf?

Let's peek inside!

Credit: Literary Hoots

Fingerplay: Scarecrow, Scarecrow

Scarecrow, scarecrow, turn around

Scarecrow, scarecrow, touch the ground

Scarecrow, scarecrow, clap your hands and touch your knees.

Scarecrow, scarecrow, turn around and stomp your feet.   

Swing your arms so very slow.

Now real fast to scare the crows!

Tap your head, now jump up and down.

Turn around and sit back down.

Book: Baby Loves Fall

File Folder: Fall Is Not Easy

Fingerplay/Flannel: 5 Bright Leaves

5 little leaves in the tall tall tree

As bright and pretty as they can be.

Along came the wind

Blowing all around,

And one bright leaf

Fell to the ground. (Yellow, Orange and Red)

Credit: Sunflower Storytime

*For this, I decided to make five leaves and put them onto my flannel tree. Then, when each tree fell off, I had paper leaves to throw onto the preschoolers.

Our craft today was a peek-a-boo log.  The most precious part of this was when I was showing the craft to everyone, and I lifted the edge to show the preschoolers that the end lifted up, and the parents ooohed and aahed!  It just melted my heart!

Credit: The Mailbox Magazine

Preschool Storytime

Opening: Big Books

Book: We’re Going on a Leaf Hunt

*I love to have my volunteer behind me with puppets.  When I find a leaf while I'm reading the book, I stop and ask where my leaf is?  Then the puppet appears behind me with the leaf in its mouth. The kids love to tell me to look behind me to find that leaf!

Fingerplay/Flannel:

Acorn, acorn, where do you hide?

Are you under the _____ leaf?

Let's peek inside!

Credit: Literary Hoots

*I absolutely love telling this story, and my boss made this into a file folder story a couple of years ago.  The preschoolers loved this and laughed so much at the crazy things the tree turned into!

Fingerplay: Scarecrow, Scarecrow

Scarecrow, scarecrow, turn around

Scarecrow, scarecrow, touch the ground

Scarecrow, scarecrow, clap your hands and touch your knees.

Scarecrow, scarecrow, turn around and stomp your feet.   

Swing your arms so very slow.

Now real fast to scare the crows!

Tap your head, now jump up and down.

Turn around and sit back down.

Book: Sneeze, Big Bear, Sneeze!

*I love to involve the preschoolers in my books, and one of the ways I do this is by making paper items from the books I'm reading "rain" down onto the preschoolers. Well, in this delightful book, big bear thinks that he is making the items fall down, which are the leaves and apples on the tree. So, I had leaves and apples to "rain" down on the preschoolers. Thankfully, the preschoolers loved this. But, they loved it a little too much and didn't pay as much attention to the book, which is adorable! So, next time, I will read this book without throwing the paper items out onto the preschoolers.  This made it a little too distracting for them.

Our craft today was a peek-a-boo log.  The most precious part of this was when I was showing the craft to everyone, and I lifted the edge to show the preschoolers that the end lifted up, and the parents ooohed and aahed!  It just melted my heart!

Credit: The Mailbox Magazine

Extra Books:

L is for Leaf Hunt (Preschool and Two's)

Preschool Storytime

Music: I decided to change up our music and use something from the internet today.  To listen to what I played, click here. 

Opening: Big Books

Book: We’re Going on a Leaf Hunt

*I wanted to change up how I read this book, so I had my volunteer behind me with puppets.  When I find a leaf while I'm reading the book, I stop and ask where my leaf is?  Then the puppet appears behind me with the leaf in it's mouth.  The kids went crazy!

Flannel: Hunt for bird under tree.

Credit: Sunflower Storytime

File Folder Story: Fall Is Not Easy

*My boss made a fabulous file folder story of this book, and I love using it!  

Fingerplay: Scarecrow, Scarecrow

Scarecrow, scarecrow, turn around

Scarecrow, scarecrow, touch the ground

Scarecrow, scarecrow, clap your hands and touch your knees.

Scarecrow, scarecrow, turn around and stomp your feet.   

Swing your arms so very slow.

Now real fast to scare the crows!

Tap your head, now jump up and down.

Turn around and sit back down.

Credit: Play-and-Learn!

Book: Where, Oh, Where is Baby Bear?

*This is a new book, and i"m in love with it!  I had my volunteer pop up the bear puppet after the kids found baby bear inside book.  They went crazy telling me the bear was behind me!

Fingerplay: “5 Little Acorns”

    3 little apples sitting in a tree

Teasing Mr. Horse, you can't reach me!

Along came Mr. Horse as hungry as could be

and SNATCHED that acorn right out of the tree!

* I changed the words to the original, which you can view.  I was really impressed with the kids, by the time we got to the end of the song they had caught on to the tune and was singing along with me.  I changed the words to a horse and 3 apples)

Credit: The Dilley Dally

Book: Tap the Magic Tree

*This is my all-time favorite book to use, and I love to make all the parts of this book.  When the apples would fall from the tree inside the book, I would have paper apples to "rain" down on the kids.  They went crazy over this happening!

Our craft today was an autumn tree. The leaves and trunk are all torn-paper.

*We had games this month and you can check them out here!

Time for Two’s Storytime

Opening: Big Books

Fingerplay: If You Want to Hear a Story

Book: We’re Going on a Leaf Hunt

*I wanted to change up how I read this book, so I had my volunteer behind me with puppets.  When I find a leaf while I'm reading the book, I stop and ask where my leaf is?  Then the puppet appears behind me with the leaf in it's mouth.  The kids went crazy!

Flannel: Hunt for bird under tree.

Credit: Sunflower Storytime

Fingerplay: Scarecrow, Scarecrow

Scarecrow, scarecrow, turn around

Scarecrow, scarecrow, touch the ground

Scarecrow, scarecrow, clap your hands and touch your knees.

Scarecrow, scarecrow, turn around and stomp your feet.   

Swing your arms so very slow.

Now real fast to scare the crows!

Tap your head, now jump up and down.

Turn around and sit back down.

Credit: Play-and-Learn!

Book: Tap the Magic Tree

*This is my all-time favorite book to use, and I love to make all the parts of this book.  When the apples would fall from the tree inside the book, I would have paper apples to "rain" down on the kids.  They went crazy over this happening!

Our craft today was an autumn tree. The leaves and trunk are all torn-paper.  For the two's we had the brown trunk already glued down.



*We had games this month and you can check them out here!