Halloween Storytime, Friday, October 31 @ 10:30

We'll be trick 'r treating throughout the library this Friday, so wear your superduds or tails & horns, and get ready! We'll supply the books, the songs, the treats & treat bags. 

Boo! @ your local library

A children's library is the place to be for Halloween lovers.  Halloween is that night of the year when we can be anything we can imagine. Halloween is that time when we can take our fears (of vampires, witches or bats) turn them inside out, wear them like a hat, and get rid of them for good.

Surreptitiously storytime seduces small children into learning to sit still, participate in a group, listen and enjoy a book BUT NOT ON HALLOWEEN!!! On Halloween I’m wearing my de rigeur witch outfit, the little ones are dressed according to their private fantasy world, and after storytime we bust loose and go Trick or Treating in the library! I give them each a goodie bag and they move from reference desk to circulation desk, etc. It opens them up to the rest of the library and the adult patrons love to see the little ones in their finery.

2014 Lineup

• In a Dark, Dark Wood - pop-up by David Carter
• The Sleepless Little Vampire by Egielski.  Great sound effects.
• Owl Babies by Waddell. Gripping tale.
• There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed! by Colandro(Note to self: wobblin' works better with goblin than "started to spin".
• Just Say Boo!  by Hood.  A very nice reminder about Halloween manners, and an excellent segue to Trick or Treating in the Library. 

Afterwards

• Trick or Treating in the library
• Dancing start & stop to Monster Mash
• Halloween Bingo

My Favorite Parts:

The books were solid. I wouldn't change them next year. 

Halloween Bingo was great. Monster Mash dancing was fun too.

Still looking for the perfect songs.  

Note to self:  Next year, create strips of spooky black Halloween garbage-bag fringe earlier in the month. Use it in the children's section, and then you'll be able to have to ready for the Halloween party too.

Monster Mash by David Catrow

Look what's in print now! A great copy of The Monster Mash! As you turn the pages, you'll start to tap your feet and the ghost of Bobby Pickett will begin to speak through you! Love this one.

There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat! by Lucille Colandro

These books, themed for every holiday, are fun to read if you go through them picking up speed, till reading them turns into a marathon performance.

Halloween Role Play!

Pumpkin fists: Make tight fists in air and wave around.
Ghost hands: Wave hands around, flutter fingers, and go Boo!
Spiders: Tap fingers along the floor, table & innocent bystanders.
Witches: Rub your hands together and cackle.
Monsters: Claws and roar.
Dracula: Good EVEning.
Black cat: Raised shoulders and hiss.
Werewolf: Elbows at side, left head, and howl.
Owl: Hoot and swoop.
Bat: Eeek and swoop.

Song:

This is the "Five little pumpkins sitting on the gate. The first one said, 'Oh my, it's getting late," poem we all know and love. I do this with five jack o'lanterns on my puppet theater, turning off the overhead and turning on a moonlight. When I get to the end and the pumpkins roll away, I dramatically roll them right off the puppet theater.

I jumbled the words, but luckily, I had four kindergarten teacher moms in the audience and they knew every word!

For Older Kids

Frankenstein by Rick Walton

Moms and older kids laugh themselves silly over this wild takeoff of Madeline. Miss Devel presides over Frankenstein's castle, and find himself one night, not in need of a sudden operation, but missing his entire head.

Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson

Perfect for slightly older kids -- not my two year olds.

The Hallo-Wiener by Dav Pilkey

I so love this classic written by the great Dav Pilkey, author of Dogzilla and Captain Underpants. Poor Hallowiener. You've got to feel for him. His mom made him wear a hot dog costume she made him for Halloween and everyone llaughs at the little wiener dog.

Trick-Or-Treat, Smell my Feet! by Lisa Desimini

My grandsons laughed themselves silly over the evil attempt of these two witches to enchant all the trick-or-treaters into saying "Smell my feet" instead of "Trick or Treat".

For Older Kids:

Coast To Coast Ghosts: True Stories of Hauntings Across America

by Leslie Rule

I haven't used this book for storytelling yet, but I do tell stories based on local legends I've collected. (I come from a very creepy family.)

The Man Who Tricked A Ghost

by Laurence Yep

This ancient story from China is the oldest ghost story to have been written down. I love telling this Puss 'n Boots meets The Alien version.
Wheels on the Bus

Whose riding on the bus today? A ghost (Boo! Boo!), a witch (heh heh heh), a vampire, (Good EVEning), a monster (Rawr!), an owl (Whoo whoo), and a cat (meow!).

Itsy Bitsy Spider! Nothing more Halloween-y than a spider!

Once I Had a Pumpkin
Once I had a pumpkin, a pumpkin, a pumpkin
Oh once I had a pumpkin with no face at all
With no eyes and no nose and no mouth and no teeth
Oh once I had a pumpkin with no face at all
So I carved a jack-o-lantern, a jack-o-lantern, a jack-o-lantern
And it looked just like this
With 2 eyes and one nose and mouth and big teeth
So I carved a jack-o-lantern and it looked just this

A few other favorites
Pumpkin, Pumpkin
(tune: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star)
Pumpkin, pumpkin on the ground
How?d you get so big and round?
You started as a seed so small
Now you are a great big ball
Pumpkin, pumpkin on the ground,
How?d you get so big and round?
                                             ?Diane Thom
The Roly-Poly Pumpkin
(tune: The Eensy Weensy Spider)

Oh, the roly-poly pumpkin
Went rolling down the hill
Once it started rolling
It could not keep still
It rolled and rolled and rolled
Until it bumped into a rock
Then the roly-poly pumpkin
Rolled to a stop!

Craft: Ghosties!

Styrofoam plates and white garbage bags — could it get any easier? Yeah, I know, these things are uggggly, but come on, it’s Halloween, and your kid’s only three years old! Here’s what I would do: have your child do one every year and SAVE it to compare how the faces change.

or toilet roll mummies.  Just a strip of TP torn in two.  I used jars with votive candles so the kids could light them up at home.

Learning to read with bad jokes! And torture your parents and friends by reading them again, and again and again.:

Boys Life Funny Halloween Jokes

These really are funny!

Some more good ones

Kids don't always get puns, and some joke references, but there are some goodies (or baddies?) on this page.