The week before Halloween, I did a monster themed storytime and it was tons of fun! They were all excited for Halloween coming up and they all loved monsters.
Books we read
If You’re a Monster and You Know it by Ed Emberley and Rebecca Emberley (preschool and toddler)
Leonardo the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems (preschool and toddler)
The Colour Monster Goes to School by Anna Llenas (preschool only)
Monster Knows Excuse Me by Connie Rose Miller (toddler and baby)
Songs we sang
If You’re a Monster and You Know it by Ed Emberley and Rebecca Emberley is really just the lyrics to a song with pictures so we did that one as a song and dance.
Autumn Leaves
Autumn leaves are falling down, falling down, falling down
Autumn leaves are falling down, all over town.
(repeat with crunching crunch, twirling ’round, and jumping jump)
Credit: I got the idea from Abby the Librarian and just added a few verses
Wave Your Scarf
Wave your scarf up and down, up and down, up and down
Wave your scarf up and down, up and down
(repeat with left and right, round and round, high and low, fast and slow. Can also say shake your shaker instead of wave your scarf)
Credit: Jbrary
Flannel Activity
I wanted to do something unique and interactive during this storytime. They have enjoyed coming up and playing librarian and using the flannel board themselves, so I wanted something they could all help me with. I also wanted something educational and went with practicing their colors.
I made a big monster and a bunch of eyeballs (a few toddlers stole some, but they’re easy to make) and created my own rhyme to go with it.
I’m a friendly monster that’s big and blue
I need some help and I’m asking you!
Who has an eye that can help me see?
If it’s ________, please come put it on me. (say the different colors one at a time then repeat)
Early Literacy Tip
Ask your child questions when you read. Ask them to point out what they see or if they think the monster is scary, etc. This will help them interact with the book more.
Spanish Words and Baby Signs
Monster is monstruo in Spanish and the sign can be found here.
Craft
Occasionally I will have an idea for a craft that goes really well with one of my storytime themes. For this one, I found googly eyes in my office and the idea was born. I cut some random shapes from construction paper and put out other scrap paper I had with the googly eyes, scissors, glue sticks, and crayons and let them go crazy making their own monsters. It’s really fun watching their imaginations and the way that different kids work.
This was a super easy craft to prep and they had so much fun with it.
How it went
This storytime was a lot of fun! I chose shorter simpler books for all of the storytimes because I knew I had a fun flannel activity and a craft and I wanted to keep my storytimes a reasonable length. Monsters was a great theme for storytime because even the toddlers who don’t normally pay attention to the books were pointing out the monsters on every page.
For songs, I am still trying to do one or two songs with the theme, but I have found that using some of the same songs every time leads to more interaction with me. If I do all new songs every time, the parents and kids don’t know the words and it’s still fun, but when I do a song they know, they get much more excited. I also am planning on using egg shakers and scarves with the toddlers every week because if they get bored of the book, they have something in their hands to entertain them. They worked like a charm!
They loved getting to interact with the flannel board and they always love doing crafts. I don’t have a craft every week, but every few weeks I like to prep one because I know they enjoy it so much. My mom also told me she loved the storytime crafts we did as children so I always have that in my mind too.
Do you have any other successful books or songs you did for monster storytime?