Halloween storytime – Thrive After Three

Tag: Halloween storytime

Flannel Friday Halloween Extravaganza

Posted on October 7, 2016January 11, 2018 by mrsshaia

Welcome to Flannel Friday’s Halloween Extravaganza! There are enough ideas in here to do a whole season of Halloween-themed storytimes! Click away my friends…

Halloween Ideas:

Carol shares a Halloween Hootenany with so many ideas, you’ll be using them for years!
Wendy shares an array of ideas including Jack-O-Lantern shapes, Halloween finger puppets (Bride of Frankenstein is my personal fav), an animal costume rhyme, and finger puppets to accompany the famous Five Little Pumpkins song. You MUST click on them all! Mhooo Whaaaa! (Scary monster noise)
For those of you talented enough to play ukulele and manage to somehow simultaneously do a storytime, Storytime Ukulele shares an arrangement of songs. These can be used with (or without thank goodness!) the instrument. I plan on immediately stealing Five Grey and Spooky Ghosts!
I am sharing a storyboard to accompany the 13 Nights of Halloween–a nice, singable story!
I also made a Tickle Monster flannel and board game.
Felt-tastic Flannelboard Funtime has lots of cute flannels and songs, including an original “Black Cat, Black Cat” to the tune of “Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear.”
Leading Up to Halloween Ideas:
Kathryn shares her astronaut rhyme and craft for those non-Halloween storytimes (I mean, we still have three weeks to get through.)

Next week Amy at Catch the Possibilities is hosting Flannel Friday. To find out more about Flannel Friday, check out the website, thePinterest board, and the Facebook Group.

13 Nights of Halloween

Posted on October 7, 2016January 11, 2018 by mrsshaia

A few years ago I made a storytelling board for Ten Timid Ghosts and the kids loved the suspense of it. I wanted to do something new, so I found the perfect story: The 13 Nights of Halloween. I bought a black canvas board from the craft store and drew a haunted mansion with 13 windows. I can now either read/sing his book, or sing the lyrics as I draw each curtain. Lots of laughs ensue!

13-nights-of-halloween-board.jpg.jpeg — Using Guy Vasilovich’s lyrics, I drew all the ghosts and goblins from the story using metallic Sharpie markers. It really pops!

13-nights-of-halloween-closeup.jpg.jpeg — Here’s a detail of one of the windows. After the drawings were completed I added clear Velcro tabs to hold the “windows” on.

13-nights-of-halloween-with-windows.jpg.jpeg — Here is the haunted mansion with all the curtains drawn.

To get more Halloween ideas, check out the Halloween Extravaganza Roundup here. To find out more about Flannel Friday, check out the website, the Pinterest board, and the Facebook Group.

Tickle Monster

Posted on October 7, 2016January 11, 2018 by mrsshaia

I made a flannel story to accompany Tickle Monster after seeing Jbrary use it a while back. (This is part of Flannel Friday’s Halloween Extravaganza!)

I made two monsters: one completely assembled and the other with all the pieces loose to put together. If I storytell, I can use the whole monster to keep on the board and reinforce shapes and matching:

I also made a puzzle game/activity to play during storytime:

I had my teen volunteers cut out the pieces and place in snack-sized baggies to staple to the board, creating a board game as part of a take-home craft:

Here are pdf files you can download to make your own:

To get more Halloween ideas, check out the Halloween Extravaganza Roundup here. To find out more about Flannel Friday, check out the website, thePinterest board, and the Facebook Group.

Little Goblins Ten

Posted on October 1, 2014October 13, 2014 by mrsshaia

Pamela Jane’s Little Goblins Ten is a perfect addition to any October storytime. The lyrical language reminds me of Ten Timid Ghosts. The Halloween version of “Over in the Meadow” features all the holiday fixings: monster, zombie, wolf, mummy, goblin, skeleton, witch, ghost, bat, dragon. This un-scary counting book will be a crowd pleaser for each child who wants a turn with their own little goblin:

Can you tell Halloween is my favorite holiday?!

For more Halloween storytime ideas, check out Library Village, they’re hosting this week’s Flannel Friday Extravaganza! To find out more about Flannel Friday, check out the website, the Pinterest board, and the Facebook Group.

Pre-K Halloween Party

Posted on September 25, 2014November 5, 2014 by mrsshaia

Over the past few years I’ve slowly introduced preschool holiday celebrations. I’ve done this for a couple of reasons: 1) Some preschoolers do not go to preschool. They have friends from storytime and would like to celebrate with them. This is a great way to celebrate in the community. 2) Some schools in my district do not celebrate holidays in any way. Families miss celebrating like they did when they were a child. These programs have been extremely successful and grow in attendance each year! The press also loves to cover these events (as you can see from the awesome photos!).

Here are some tips for running your own program:

1) Have a literary theme. You can tailor your reading and costume, and watch your circ go up!

My favorite readalouds:

Where’s My Mummy?

Gruffalo

Room on the Broom

Click, Clack, Boo

10 Timid Ghosts

There Was an Old Monster

If You’re a Monster and You Know It

My favorite songs:

Monster Boogie by Laurie Berkner

5 Little Monsters by Kiddle Karoo

Bats are Sleeping by Carole Peterson

Halloween is Here by Wee Sing

Guess Who? by Wee Sing

2) Have a snack. I am 99% anti-food for allergy and nutrition reasons and I don’t normally offer food at programs, though the holiday ones fall into the special category. I always do peanut-free and gluten-free options and have copies of a list of ingredients for parents. Cheerios, cheese sticks and fruit options are always popular. Plus, you can put cereal into a baggie and decorate with pretty much any theme!

3) Have stations setup. Include a list of instructions and a completed example. This way families can move around the room and work at their own pace.

4) Don’t forget to wear your costume! I always make a handmade, literary character costume.

If you’re looking for another idea, check out Libraryland’s Trick or Treat in the Library!

10 Timid Ghosts

Posted on October 3, 2013May 4, 2014 by mrsshaia

My post this week is inspired by last year’s Flannel Friday Halloween Extravaganza by Read, Sarah, Read. Jennifer O’Connell’s Ten Timid Ghosts is a perfect story leading up to Halloween. For some of my storytime and outreach groups the paperback is too small, so I painted this story on a canvas board.

I added Velcro tabs to cover each ghost with curtains.

As I tell the story I add a curtain to cover the ghost who flew away.

I made flannel pieces for each creature who makes an appearance in the story so I can use this story in different ways over the course of the month in my in-house and outreach programs.

If you don’t know the story, here’s a nicely narrated YouTube clip:

For more Halloween ideas, check out Storytime ABCs, she’s hosting the Halloween Extravaganza Flannel Friday Special this week.

There was an Old Monster

Posted on August 29, 2013May 4, 2014 by mrsshaia

I’m preparing early for Halloween this year and am making a series of monster stories. Emberley’s There Was an Old Monster is a perfect story to convert to flannel! And, you can download the free song here.

First I made the monster (seen above). Then I made each animal:

Tick (with stomach)

The rest of the animals: Ants, Lizard, Bat, Jackal, and Bear.

Lion (I love the over-sized piece!) The finished product is about 2 feet by 4 feet!

I can’t wait to use this throughout the month of October with my in-house storytimes, and outreach!

For more flannel ideas check out Storytime with the Library Lady. she’s hosting Flannel Friday this week.

If You’re a Monster and You Know It

Posted on August 22, 2013May 4, 2014 by mrsshaia

I’m getting ready for my month of monster mayhem. Instead of making flannel pieces to go with Ed Emberley’s story / song, I found pre-made “Furry Friends” from Trend Enterprises here. I just taped them to craft sticks and they’re ready to use! You can download the free song to go with Emberley’s story here. I matched up each monster with a color. (Of course you can make your own felt monsters like Falling Flannelboards or Notes from the Story Room.) You can pass one out to each child before you begin the story. When it’s their turn they can stand up and act their monster out:

Snort and growl = pink