Monster Mash (Preschool)

Monster Mash

Preschool Storytime

Opening: Big Books

Book: “Monsters Love Colors”

*The kids loved, loved, loved this book! I got the idea for using prop monsters from this website. Below is a picture of what I did during storytime. What I do is I hide my monsters (made from construction paper and laminated) inside a cauldron, behind a pocket. Then I show the kids my empty cauldron. As I read the book, I will put in my two monsters that make a color, and pull out of the pocket the monster that we've created. Then I will place the monsters on the flannelboard and go back to mixing again. At the end of the book you make a rainbow monster. For that, I put all my monsters inside the pocket that I have taped inside the cauldron. Before I pull out the rainbow monster, I will show the kids the empty cauldron and ask them what they did with my monsters. They got super quiet at this point and had the cutest expressions. Then, viola! I pull out the rainbow monster and they went crazy! Such a fun book that teaches how mixing colors will create new colors and it makes you look like you're magical too!

Fingerplay: “Monster, Monster”

Monster, monster, turn around

Monster, monster, touch the ground

Monster, monster, touch the sky

Monster, monster, wave goodbye

Monster, monster, pat your head

Monster, monster, go to bed

Monster, monster, turn around

Monster, monster, sit back down

Book/Flannel: Monsters Go Night-Night”

*This book was the favorite pick by the kids. They asked that I read it again, which hasn't happened in a while. Each page opens up with a monster, and a question. You have four choices to pick from. I asked the kids what they thought the answer was, and it's always the silliest choice. I either had a flannel piece to put on the board or the actual prop to show them to correspond with each correct answer. They laughed more and more with each page, except for the page about where do monsters go to the bathroom. I thought that would be the funniest page, but it ended up not being so. Awesome book that I highly recommend doing and I plan on using it again next year!

Fingerplay/Flannel: “Five Little Monsters Jumping on the Bed”

*Here is the website where you can print out some adorable monsters for your flannelboard. We had a blast jumping up and down! Of course, if you're jumping the kids will want to do this again, and they did.

Fingerplay/Flannel: “Monster, Monster”

Monster, monster, where can you be?

Shout out a color on the count of three!

*I came up with this fingerplay because I wanted to have a hiding game to use with a monster. I used the same pieces from a previous flannelboard where we hunted for a lion, and you can see it here. I just switched the lion out for a monster.

Book: “Monsters Love Underpants

*The cover of this book cracks me up everytime I see it! Sadly, we ran out of time for this book. This is a great rhyming book and the illustrations are hilarious. Definitely a great read-aloud.

Song: “Silly Dance Contest”

*You can't have a monster mash storytime without dancing! We got up danced, shaked and clapped. I was surprised, but the kids wanted to dance again. This reminded me that I need to do more dancing and music with them, which is always fun.

Book: “Go Away, Big Green Monster!”

*Classic book, that you can't go wrong with. The kids were very engrossed with this book and started screaming as I made the monster disappear. I've read it many times, but they really got into it this time. I had so much fun reading it and it's a standby that I will always go to. 

Below is our craft, and here is the website where it was found. There are a lot of other cute variations of it also. My favorite part of this craft is that the mouth of the monster opens up to reveal the tongue and teeth. I think that was the kids' favorite thing about it.

Extra Read-Alouds:

Quit Calling Me Monster!

Pumpkin Trouble

Monster Trouble!

Little Shop of Monsters

Don’t Touch This Book!

Monster Trucks! by Denise

What Do You Do When a Monster Says Boo?

Go to Bed Monster!

There Was an Old Monster

Monsters Go Night-Night

Sound the Sirens (Two's)

“Sound the Sirens”

Time for Two’s

Opening: Big Books

Fingerplay: “If You Want to Hear a Story”

Board Book: “Itty Bitty Kitty: Firehouse Fun"

*This book is so cute! It's great to make interactive, because the kids help guess what is wiggling, which is the firehose and the dog's tail. They also help make lots of fun sounds. The two's really seemed to enjoy this book quite a bit.

Fingerplay: “Helpful Firefighters” (Tune: She’ll be Coming Around...)

Oh, firefighters wear big rubber boots! (repeat twice)

Oh, when fire causes trouble, they’ll be right there on the double.

  Oh, firefighters wear big rubber boots!

*Oh, firefighters drive a great big truck! (vroom, vroom) repeat

Oh, when fire causes trouble, they’ll be right there on the double.

Oh, firefighters drive a great big truck.

*I got this fingerplay from a Mailbox magazine. A great fingerplay to help get wiggles out!

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.

*The kids love doing any version of "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, Turn Around". We had lots of fun pretending to be firefighters.

Book: “Firefighters to the Rescue”

*This is a very simple but great firefighter book. It repeats the phrase "Firefighters to the Rescue!" The kids normally enjoy this one more, but we still had fun with it.

Fingerplay/Flannel: “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!

*Count down until you have no more firefighters left.

*I don't remember where I found this fingerplay, but it was the favorite of everything we did! I made a building out of posterboard, and had flames I printed out and taped to a ruler. After we jumped on the engine, we looked over and the flames were peeking out of the top of my building! Of course, we had to spray the fire with our pretend fire hoses until the flames went down behind the building. We repeated this until we had zero firefighters left. The kids went crazy over this!

Fingerplay/Flannel: “Wheels on the Firetruck”

*We ran out of time for this wonderful song, but I have a big firetruck I place up on the flannelboard. 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.

Fingerplay/Flannel: “Dog Dancing”

*For this, I printed out some dalmatian dogs with firefighter helmets on. I have them laminated and velcroed too. We danced around with our dogs, then placed them upon the flannel to end storytime.

Below is our craft for this week. The kids got to glue the firetruck, the flames and smoke onto the picture. This craft was a lot of fun to create, and I think the kids really enjoyed it too.

Extra Read-Alouds:

Firebears: The Rescue Team

Fire! Fire! Hurry! Hurry!

Firefighters A to Z

3 Little Firefighters

P is for Pizza (Two's)

“P is for Pizza”

Time for Two’s

Opening: Big Books

Fingerplay: “If You Want to Hear a Story”

Board Book: “Grandpa and Me”

*The kids liked this book, but not as much as I thought they would. It's a really cute lift-the-flap book. As you go along, you find everything you need to bake a pizza. At the end of the book, you lift a flap to pull your pizza out of the oven. I had a pizza pillow hidden behind my flannelboard. I told the kids my pizza was ready, put on my potholder, and pulled out my pizza. The expressions on their faces were adorable!

Fingerplay: “If You Love Spaghetti”

       If you love spaghetti, smack your lips.

       If you love hamburgers, shake your hips.

       If you love ice cream, touch your toes.

       If you love applesauce, touch your nose.

       If you love zucchini, wiggle around.

      If you love bananas, touch the ground.

       If you love spinach, jump up high.

       If you love pizza, touch the sky.

       If you love apples, stand up tall.

       Now shout the food that you love best of all. (PIZZA!)
*This website has such great food fingerplays, many more beside the one above.

Fingerplay/Flannel: “Hand-Me-Down Food”

Five leftover pizza pieces from the night before.

{Puppet} came and ate one, GULP! Then there were four.

Four leftover pizza pieces, one with anchovies.

{Puppet} came and ate one, GULP! Then there were three.

Three leftover pizza pieces, cheese like sticky glue.

{Puppet} came and ate one, GULP! Then there were two.

Two leftover pizza pieces, waiting for someone.

{Puppet} came and ate one, GULP! Then there was one.

One leftover pizza piece But I don’t want to be a hog.

So I went and got it, And split it with the dog. Arf!
*The kids went crazy over this fingerplay! Anytime I get the chance to feed our puppets food, I always do it.

Book: “The Lady with the Alligator Purse”

*This is a really cute book, but I ran out of time and didn't get to read it.

Fingerplay: “Pizza Man, Pizza Man”

      Pizza man, pizza man, turn around.

      Pizza man, pizza man, touch the ground.

      Pizza man, pizza man, find your nose.

      Pizza man, pizza man, touch your toes.

      Pizza man, pizza man, touch the sky.  

      Pizza man, pizza man, wave goodbye.

      Pizza man, pizza man, slap your knees.     

      Pizza man, pizza man, sit down please.     

      Pizza man, pizza man, shake your head.

      Pizza man, pizza man, go to bed.

Book: “Hi, Pizza Man!”

*My all time favorite pizza book ever! We used puppets to go along with the book, and the kids really enjoyed it.

Flannel: “Make Pizza”
*We didn't have time for this, but I printed out some great pizza flannels online, along with the toppings. Then I will hand out the toppings and tell the kids it's time to make a pizza!

*I ended the storytime by turning everyone into a pizza! I love doing this, and anytime I can sneak it into a storytime, I do. This is based off the book "Pete's a Pizza". I have paper toppings already prepared ahead of time, and tell the kids to lie down if the prefer and they are the dough. Then I take flour or baby powder and place it in my hand and blow on it to sprinkle them. Sometimes I will spray water into the air and spray oil on them. Next, the toppings! Red paper circles for pepperoni, brown mushrooms, etc. For the two's, I told them to shake really hard and viola! They were pizzas! They loved it and I highly recommend doing this whenever you have the chance!

New books for October (Part 1)

Here is the first batch of new books for this month!


Want to learn counting with the animals on the farm?  This is perfect!  The little cow plods along, counting all the way.  Adorable rhymes will help you, and the illustrations are so precious.


What a fun book!  This follows just like the book "Dear Zoo" but Christmas themed.  I plan on making a big version of this so that the kids can see it better.  What a great addition for Christmas!


This book is a great learning book about shapes.  The kids inside this book find a box of shapes and put together items that everyone will have fun telling you what they are.  When I use this, I plan on making a flannel to go along with it.


This is a wonderful interactive color book.  As you turn each page, an action is required to make something happen to each color.  For instance, when you tap the color yellow, it rains lemons and bananas on the next page!  I can't wait to use this during my next color storytime.


The adorable little black cat is back at it again!  All max wants to do is go to bed, but he can't find the moon and say goodnight.  Follow along as he tries his best to find the moon, looking high and low.  If you're not familiar with this adorable cat, check him out in his first book "Max the Brave".


What a wonderful, new book on manners.  The little girl in this book doesn't start by asking kindly for things.  When she does say please, the results are anything but what you expect!  The ending is wonderful, with a giant, yes a GIANT, appearing at the end.  A great book to use around Thanksgiving.


Another great color book, and the title says it all.  Beautiful black and white drawn animals have splashes of color added to them, along with a great rhyme accompanying them on each page.  Another winner to use during color storytime.


Ever wonder what a letter would read like from a dragon? This book is just the pick for you!  A little boy and a dragon become pen pals, but neither one realizes whom they are writing to.  The illustrations are utterly amazing, and the end reveals everyone meeting at the picnic, with a cute surprise between the two teachers. 


The author of "How to Train a Train" has done it again with this adorable truck book.  The little boy perched on the cover, hanging on to his shovel will steal your heart.  He leads you on a truck hunt, and you too can learn how to track and catch your own pet truck.  A great one for our 2017 SRP theme!


I am always looking for a new monster book, and this is perfect!  Each page opens up with a question and pictures to choose your answer from.  When you turn the page, the answer is revealed.  This is a good interactive book to use with the kids and have them tell you what monster would use. It would be fun to make a flannel to go with it too.

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This book had me hooked by the cover of the big cat lurking behind the easel!  The mouse is teaching all of the little mice what is and isn't a cat.  But beware, here comes the cat!  I won't spoil the book, but you must check it out to see how it ends!


A really cute counting book, but may disturb some smaller readers.  All the little fish are swimming along, and you are counting along with them and the cute rhymes on each page.  Until you get to 10...and then you swallow the leader!  All the fish get eaten by the shark, but don't despair.  In a great and funny ending, the shark does burp up all of the cute little fish.  When I read this, I plan on having little fish cut out.  When the shark burps up fish, I will throw little paper fish on the kids, to make it more interactive.


The mischievous crayons are back at it again!  This time you have to help put all the missing crayons back inside the empty crayon box.  I am very excited to use our big flannelboard crayon box and crayons to go along with this cute story.

Flannel Game "Lion, Lion"

Flannel: "Lion, Lion"

I needed a flannelboard that had to do with a lion hiding behind something, so I decided to use a door, since it rhymed with roar!   I couldn't decide which verse I wanted to use, so I included all three.  That way you have plenty to pick from.  I hope you enjoy!

Lion, lion, give a roar!

Let’s try to find you behind a colored door!

Lion, lion, give a roar!

Let’s find you on the count of four!

Lion, lion, where can you be?

Shout out a color on the count of three!