When I started my series of letter-themed storytimes, I didn’t really take the time to figure out which letter would fall on which week. So it was purely by accident that we ended up featuring the Letter H on Halloween!

For both my Outdoor Musical and Family Storytimes, I started by asking the kids to call out any words they could think of that started with the letter H, so that I could write them on my white board. They came up with hot, hat, hippo, and happy. I had also brought a harmonica, which the kids seemed fascinated by.

Here’s a combination of the books and songs I used for both storytimes:

Books:

Mr. Bat Wants a Hat by Kitty Black; illustrated by Laura Wood

Very cute story about a bat who wants a hat so badly that he takes one from a baby. Naturally, the baby cries, and eventually, Mr. Bat feels so guilty that he returns the hat, and is given some pink socks as a reward. For my family storytime group, I had given out play scarves before I read this, and I had the kids pretend the scarves were bats whenever Mr. Bat swooped down.

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

This is such a simple and hilariously-illustrated book about a common problem: Hiccups! I also read it to a special needs preschool class today, and one little guy laughed out loud every time I read the “Hic! Hic! Hic!” (Protip: I used to always space the “hic’s” out, but the kids seem to find it much funnier when I read them fast and all-together: hic-hic-hic!”)

The Hallo-wiener by Dav Pilkey

Adorable story about Oscar, a dachshund who is often called “Wiener Dog” by the other dogs in his class. Things get even worse when his mother buys him a hot dog costume for Halloween. But when the other dogs are frightened into a pond by a scary monster, Oscar saves the day by revealing that it is really just a couple of cats in a costume. He paddles out to help the other dogs to shore, and earns a new nickname: Hero Sandwich!

There is a Ghost in This House by Oliver Jeffers

This is my new favorite book! It features a little girl in a spooky old house saying that she has heard the house is haunted, but she has never seen a ghost. In between the regular pages, which show the girl in different parts of the house, are white filmy pages with pictures of adorable ghosts on them. When you flip these pages so that they cover the regular paper pages, it looks like the ghosts are in the room with the girl, lurking on the staircase, hiding under the table, bouncing on the bed, etc. I also read this to two second grade classes, who were completely enthralled by finding and counting all the ghosts.

Songs:

My Hat, It Has Three Corners

This is an old camp song, where you start by doing motions to accompany each word, and then gradually leave the words out and only do the motions. It’s a fun challenge that gets harder and harder each time, and usually leaves the kids laughing. I use the ASL sign for hat, instead of the motion shown in this YouTube video by Miss Nina:

The motions are:

My: point to yourself
Hat: pat your head
Three: hold up three fingers
Corners: point to your elbow

The first time through, sing the whole song with both the words and the motions:

My hat, it has three corners.
Three corners has my hat.
And had it not three corners,
It would not be my hat.

The second time through, leave out the word “My,” and only do the motion (pointing to yourself). The third time through, leave out the word “My” and “Hat,” and only do the motions. The third time through, leave out “My,” “Hat” and “Three,” and the fourth time through, leave out “My,” “hat,” “three,” and “corners.”

On Halloween

This is a fun, easy Halloween song set to the tune of The Wheels on the Bus. For each verse, I asked the kids for suggestions of Halloween things they might see in the house. We had pumpkins, mummies, cats, bats, and witches. I always end with “The kids at the door say, ‘Trick or Treat!’”

[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!”
On Hallo-[C]ween!

Oh, A-Haunting We Will Go

For our instrument play-along, we did a Halloween version of “A-Hunting We Will Go!” I asked the kids for things that we might catch, and then we came up with rhymes on the spot. They came up with “we’ll catch a dinosaur and put it in a store,” and “we’ll catch a ghost and put it on some toast.” Here’s a Lingokids video with the original song, which is also a favorite of mine.

Oh, [C] a-haunting we will go!
A-[F]haunting we will go!
We’ll [G7] catch a witch and put her in a ditch,
And then we’ll let her [C] go!

Stay & Play: Paper Shape Halloween Houses

Before the storytimes, I cut a bunch of colored paper squares (about 5″ x 5″) for the house base, and large triangles for the roof. I also cut some 4″ squares out of white paper, and folded them in half lengthwise, to make small doors, and some 3″ x 5″ rectangles out of white paper, which I folded in half widthwise to make windows.

For the Stay & Play, I put out white cardstock, glue sticks, the colored paper squares and triangles, the white paper windows and doors, and some markers, googly eyes, and Halloween stickers (with ghosts, cats, vampires, etc.). I showed the kids how to glue the triangles and colored squares on their cardstock to make a house, and then glue half of their white paper doors and windows on so that they would open like a “lift-the-flap.” Then they decorated their houses with markers, googly eyes, and the stickers.

What are your favorite books or songs for Halloween or other words that start with the letter H? Please share them in the comments below.