Early Literacy Tip: Use the stories in picture books as a way to talk to your child about feelings. This not only helps your child connect the book to their own experiences, but also helps them learn to name their emotions, recognize visual clues for how people are feeling, and build empathy.

My new strategy for storytime planning is to build themes around everyday experiences. I know it’s not necessary to use themes at all, and often for toddler or infant storytimes, I focus more on books that work best for that age group. But for my Family Storytimes, I find that having even a basic theme helps me discover new books and organize my ideas.

With Halloween just around the corner, this week, I thought I’d focus on the idea of spooky things and being afraid. Halloween is meant to be fun, but I think the decorations at some houses can be frightening for kids, especially toddlers and preschoolers. I wanted to share the idea that everyone feels scared sometimes, and that reading or talking about scary things can make them seem less scary (and sometimes even fun).

For Family Storytime this week, I opened by asking the kids if they were afraid of anything. One boy said ghosts, another said zombies, another said the dark. I said we were going to be reading stories about things that some people find scary.

Here’s what I did for that storytime. I’m also including a related book and a parachute song that I did for Outdoor Musical Storytime.

Opening Song: Wheels on the Bus

As usual, I put out a variety of animal puppets, and the kids took turns suggesting which animals to put on the bus.

[C] The wheels on the bus go round and round,
[G7] Round and round,
[C] Round and round.
The wheels on the bus go round and round,
[G7] All through the [C] town.

The cat on the bus goes, “Meow! Meow! Meow!… etc.

The shark on the bus goes, “Chomp! Chomp! Chomp!…etc.

I always end by repeating the first verse, but we sing and make our “wheels” go really fast!

Book: The Doghouse by Jan Thomas

Although not scary in the Halloween sense, I’ve run across a lot of kids who are frightened of dogs. This is a funny, simple story about a group of farm animals whose ball rolls into the doghouse. Mouse volunteers them each to go in one at a time to retrieve the ball, but none of them comes back out. When Mouse asks Dog if Duck can come out, Dog says he is having Duck for dinner. The next page shows all of the animals enjoying a dinner together inside the doghouse. This book also gave me a chance to plug our monthly Paws for Tales program, where kids can read to a therapy dog provided by the local Humane Society (a lot of families have found the program helpful, not only for reluctant readers, but also for kids who are scared of dogs).

Song: Spooky Old MacDonald

We followed the book The Doghouse by singing Old MacDonald, but I asked the kids to suggest Halloween creatures that he could have on the farm instead of animals. The kids suggested ghosts, vampires, and zombies.

[C] Old MacDonald [F] had a [C] farm,
E-I- [G7] E-I- [C] O!
And on that farm he [F] had a [C] ghost,
E-I- [G7] E-I- [C] O!
With a boo-boo here, and a boo-boo there,
Here a boo, there a boo,
Everywhere a boo-boo.
[C] Old MacDonald [F] had a [C] farm,
E-I- [G7] E-I- [C] O!

Repeat with other Halloween creatures…

Book: Take a Breath, Big Red Monster by Ed Emberley

I was excited to see this new Ed Emberley book in the style of Go Away, Big Green Monster. This one features an angry monster, with smoking ears and firecracker hair (the kids liked the hair especially). Instead of disappearing part by part, like the Big Green Monster, this book guides the monster to calm down by taking deep breaths, until finally he becomes a calm monster instead. Although the text is bit clunkier than some of the other Ed Emberley books, the kids enjoyed joining in on the breathing, and were mesmerized by the cut-out illustrations. Go Away, Big Green Monster is probably a better fit for the concept of fear, but I think anger is such a big emotion that it can also be scary for kids, and certainly an angry monster would be scary!

Song: If You’re Happy and You Know It

I love to do this variation of the traditional If You’re Happy and You Know It song, where we include other emotions. The kids especially love when I cry “boo hoo!” and when they get to “peek-a-boo!” on the verse about being shy.

[C] If you’re happy and you know it, clap your [G7] hands (clap, clap)
If you’re happy and you know it, clap your [C] hands (clap, clap)
If you’re [F] happy and you know it, and you [C] really want to show it,
If you’re [G7] happy and you know it, clap your [C] hands! (clap, clap)

If you’re sad and you know it, cry, “boo hoo!” (boo hoo!)…

If you’re angry and you know it, say, “I’m mad!” (stomp feet and say, “I’m mad!”)…

If you’re shy and you know it, hide your face (cover your eyes with your hands, then pull them away and say, “Peek-a-boo!”)…

If you’re sleepy and you know it, yawn and stretch…

If you’re happy and you know it, shout, “Hooray!”…

Book: Ghosts in the House! by Kazuno Kohara

This is one of my all-time favorite Halloween books. All of Kazuno Kohara’s books are so charming and original. In this one, a little girl, who happens to be a witch, moves into a haunted house, catches all of the ghosts, and puts them in the washing machine. After they dry, she transforms them into smiling curtains, a tablecloth, and two blankets. I handed out the play scarves before reading this one, and we threw them in the air and caught them on the page where the witch catches the ghosts.

Scarf Song: We Are Spooky Ghosts

I usually end up doing this song every week during the Halloween season, and the kids love it every time. I originally learned it as We Are Scary Skeletons from an Orff music curriculum long ago (and I still sing it that way for a my preschool visits), but it works really well as a play scarf song if you make it about ghosts instead. You can also adapt it to any other Halloween creatures, if you want to tie it to a particular book, and it’s fun to ask the kids to suggest other things to pretend to be.

We are spooky ghosts (put scarf on your head)
Floating down the street,
Floating down the street,
Floating down the street.
We are spooky ghosts
Floating down the street.
We’ll scare you!
BOO! (pull scarf off quickly)

Scarf Song: Popcorn Kernels

For Family Storytime, I sing this as my second scarf song every week, just before we read the last book. The familiar song helps bring any wandering toddlers back to the group, and the kids all enjoy throwing the scarves in the air at the end.

Popcorn kernels, Popcorn kernels, (Wave scarves)
In the pot, In the pot. (bundle the scarf into your hand)
Shake ’em, shake ’em, shake ’em. (shake your hands)
Shake ’em, shake ’em, shake ’em.
‘Till they pop! ‘Till they pop! (throw the scarf in the air)

Parachute Song: For Outdoor Musical Storytime, I always do two songs (including Zoom, Zoom, Zoom) with the parachute, rather than scarves. This week I drew little ghosts faces on three cotton balls, and adapted the song The Ants Go Marching to a Halloween theme, similar to the version in this video. I threw one ghost on the parachute for the first verse, and two for the second. The kids loved shaking the parachute in time to the song and watching the ghosts bounce up and down.

The ghosts go haunting one by one.
Hurrah! Hurrah!
The ghosts go haunting one by one.
Hurrah! Hurrah!
The ghosts go haunting one by one.
The little one stops to have some fun.
And they all go marching down to the town
On Halloween night!
Boo! Boo! Boo! Boo!

The ghosts go haunting two by two… The little one stops to shout out, “Boo!”

Book: Skeleton Hiccups by Margery Cuyler; illustrated by S. D. Schindler

This is such a perfect book for storytime. The illustrations are large and hilarious, and the story is about such a simple, relatable problem: having the hiccups. It also fit the theme of being afraid because Ghost tries unsuccessfully to scare Skeleton’s hiccups away by shouting, “Boo!” but in the end is only able to scare him by holding up a mirror. The kids loved joining in on the “hic hic hic” and the scream.

Book: I Am Bat by Morag Hood

I read this one for Outdoor Musical Storytime. One of the things I love about reading books aloud is finding different voices for the characters, and this bat is one of my favorites. I also love that, without explicitly stating any facts, the book teaches that, although many people are afraid of bats, a lot of them only eat fruit. The fruit bat in this story talks about his love for cherries, and is very upset when they start disappearing, until they are replaced by a delicious pear.

Instrument Play-Along (with egg shakers): On Halloween

I asked the kids for suggestions of Halloween things they might see in the house for each verse. We had monsters, bats, and witches. I ended with “The kids at the door say, ‘Trick or Treat!’”

To the tune of The Wheels on the Bus:

[C]The ghosts in the house say, “Boo! Boo! Boo!”
[G7] “Boo! Boo! Boo! [C] Boo! Boo! Boo!”
The ghosts in the house say “Boo! Boo! Boo!”
[G7] On Hallo- [C]ween!

Closing Song: The More We Get Together

I always end Family Storytime with this song, featuring basic ASL signs. The kids love doing the signs, which is always adorable to watch.

Stay & Play: Playdough Monsters

We had two tubs (orange and yellow) of Crayola Dough left over from a past program, so for the Stay & Play, I put out paper plates, small balls of each color dough, markers, googly eyes, and small pieces of pipe cleaner. The kids had a wonderful time making monsters with the dough (the creations on the left are a volcano and a pizza slice).

One caveat that I hadn’t thought of: a grandparent asked if there was wheat in the dough because their granddaughter had a gluten allergy. After some research, I discovered that the Crayola Dough is made with wheat (as is Play-doh), so if that’s a concern, it might be better to use something like Model Magic.

What types of books and songs do you enjoy doing for storytimes in October? Do you have a Halloween costume you’re looking forward to wearing (I’m always looking for new ideas)? Please share in the comments below.