Boo Bash & Spooky Stories Halloween Programs

I'm finally getting around writing up my Halloween programs from last month! I have been super busy and super exhausted for the last two months, and feeling rather uninspired. But, here they are, finally.

The programming survey I conducted at the end of the summer indicated that people really wanted more holiday and seasonal special programs, so I planned a "Boo Bash" for the 5 & under crowd. My co-worker was also doing a Halloween program for the teens and tweens, so I decided to add a "Spooky Stories" program for the elementary kids, so there would be something for every age.

Good Scary Fun! - Halloween Storytime

Ok, I have a confession. I LOVE scaring the crap out of little kids 😈! But not the kind of scare that *really* scares them and can make them cry, but the kind of scare that just startles them and may make them jump, but is followed by lots of giggles. So, it should be no suprise that I love reading spooky, "scary", and suspenseful stories, and that Halloween is one of my favorite storytime themes. Knock on wood, I have never made a child cry, so I think I'm pretty good at adjusting the fright level for the age and sensitivity of any given group and knowing when to tone it down and when I can go all out.

I've been doing Halloween storytimes all week, and having a blast! I have a mixture of books that may specifically mention Halloween, some that do not, some that are really spooky, and some that are not, so I have something that works with all ages and sensitivities. I used an assortment of books, mostly the same as I used last year, shown below, and I'll just highlight my favorites:

Snappy Little Halloween by Dugald Steer & Derek Matthews is a good all-around book that works with a range of ages. First of all, it has pop-ups! Then it shows a good variety of Halloween icons: witch, black cat, ghosts, skeletons, bats, monsters, and a smiling jack o'lantern, but they are presented in a very non-scary way, with bright colors, cartoonish illustrations, and most are smiling. But, those who enjoy a fright will have fun pretending to be scared and squealing each time a new monster pops out at them.

I have to mention The Hallo-Wiener by Dav Pilkey because not only is it my boss's favorite, it was also my daughter's favorite. This is a really good one for a family storytime that has parents and older siblings who will get and appreciate all the puns and jokes, like "feeling frank", "hero sandwich", etc. Younger kids won't get all the jokes, but they still seem to like it, and it's a good opportunity to talk about how it's not nice to tease someone. 

Big Pumpkin by Erika Silverman & S. D. Schindler is another classic that is also a favorite of one of our volunteers. This can be made very interactive, with the kids identifiying each creature/monster that comes along, joining in with the many repeated lines, and predicting whether each one will be able to pick the pumpkin or not. And of course there is the added bonus lesson not only in working together and sharing both the work and reward, but a good segue into talking about how pumpkins grow from a seed. It is a bit text-heavy, so you may have to do a little editing and condensing for younger, more wiggly crowds.

And now, my ALL TIME favorite Halloween read-aloud:

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid Of Anything by Linda Williams & Megan Lloyd. I'm sure most of you are already familiar with this book, as it has become a classic and is loved by many. I fell in love with this book the first time I heard my co-worker read it several years ago, and it is one book that I can read over and over, and still not get tired of doing (which says a lot, because I do tend to get bored). 

I love this book for so many reasons: the rhythm and cadence, the repetition that encourages audience participation AND incorporates movement, the suspense, the chance to "scare" the audience when the pumpkin head first appears and says "Boo!", and the happy ending. It is just so much fun to do, and pretty easy to adapt to your audience's sensitivity. Of course I like to really be dramatic and spooky, and build up the suspense, and really startle the kids by yelling "BOO!", which makes them jump, then dissolve into giggles. But, if I have a younger crowd, or one that I'm unsure of, I can tone it down quite a bit and make it more light-hearted. I really wish I had a Big Book version of it, too.

I also like that while it shows a jack o'lantern, it never uses the word "Halloween" or mentions magic, witches, monsters, etc., so it could also be used when it is preferable or necessary to avoid these things and do a more generally spooky/scary storytime (I have a few other books that fill this niche I will talk about next week).

How It Went

I'm sure it's no suprise that this is a favorite theme among children as well. They love talking about trick-or-treating and sharing what costumes they will be wearing, and they love pretending to be scared, and it's my belief that most kids don't get scared that easily, unless they've inadvertently been conditioned to be fearful by being too sheltered and having their fears reinforced rather than being reassured that they don't need to be scared (when there really isn't anything to be scared of). "Scary" books and pretend play are great ways for children to learn how to work through their fears, and learn to distinguish what really is something to be afraid of and what is not.

As much as I love these books, they've all been around a while, and it's getting more and more frequent that the children have already heard them at school, daycare, or home, and may even own some of them. So I really need some newer titles to incorporate, and while I've kept an eye out, I just haven't seen anything that really "wow-ed" me.

So, any suggestions for other really great Halloween or generally spooky read-alouds that I've overlooked? Or some songs/activities the kids really love? I find I keep doing "Five Little Pumpkins" and "Little Ghost" because the kids really seem to enjoy them, but I'd like to have a little more variety.

Happy Halloween!

Zombies!!

I've already done two weeks worth of Halloween storytimes and am in the middle of two weeks of Monster storytimes with the Storytime-To-Go program, so I wanted to either find different books, or tweak the theme a little, for my regular outreach storytime today. 

I decided on "Zombies" for two reasons, (1) I found a great book, and (2) the season premiere of "The Walking Dead" was this week, and while it is most definitely NOT a show for kids, many adults watch it [I don't] so zombies have been a hot topic as a result. So for my friends and family who were traumatized by this week's premiere, hopefully this storytime will cheer you up!

We started with our usual welcome song, then during our introduction we talked about Halloween and shared what we were dressing up as, discussed various monsters and how it was fun to pretend to be scared, then sang our story song. I used the first book, Peanut Butter & Jelly Brains by Joe McGee and Charles Santoso, to introduce the topic of zombies and their normal diet being brains.

Reginald is an unusual zombie. Instead of brains, he craves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches! He finally gets one, and then shares it with the other zombies, who subsequently give up their diet of brains and become integrated into Quirkville society. Reginald then moves on to....pizza!

I went straight to our second book, I Want To Eat Your Books by Karin LeFrank and Tyler Parker, because they were listening pretty well, and it continued the theme of atypical zombies who eat something other than brains. 

This little book-eating zombie finds his way to the school library, threatening to eat all the books. One inspired little boy shows him a book about the brain, and the zombie learns to appreciate books and wants to read them, not eat them. At the end, they find the zombie sharing his new-found love of reading with a mummy.

Then we were ready to have fun with some monster dancing, "Zombie Style"! I came across this cute parody of Psy's "Gangnam Style" and knew I had to use it. While the original song is before these kids' time, it still has a great beat. The "video" below is the original recording that I used for us to dance to, but check the end of this post for some really cute videos a couple of different schools made.

Next, we danced to the classic "Monster Mash" by Bobby "Boris" Pickett and the Cript Keepers, using movement scarves.

After they were tired out from dancing, I had them all sit down for one last story, Zombelina by Kristyn Crow and Molly Idle. This is the story of a little zombie girl who loves to dance, so her mother signs her up for a proper ballet class. 

Zombelina excels in the class, but on the night of the big recital, she has a terrible case of stage fright and freezes. Her stiff movements and anxious groans frighten her classmates and audience, but when she sees her family supporting her, she puts on such an incredible performance, her teacher declares her the best in the class.

We ended with our closing song and passed out stickers.

How It Went 

Today was a clear case of "I should have quit while I was ahead!"

They really liked the first two books, though I was a little surprised (though pleased) that the kids had a much stronger reaction the the idea of a zombie eating all the books in the second story than they did to the idea of the zombie horde being after people's brains in the first book! Maybe because the zombies never actually ate any brains, just wanted to, but I was still glad to see the kids had such strong feelings about using books appropriately and protecting their books.

The kids enjoyed dancing to both songs, but I would have to say they LOVED "Zombie Style", even though they are too young to know the original song. They liked pretending to be zombies, and the song has a really upbeat tempo and techno sound, that helps off-set the rather dark lyrics (I don't think the kids were even really aware of what any of the lyrics really were, other than hearing the words "zombie" and "brains"). Most of the kids got into dancing, though a few didn't, or tired out early.

Up until this point, things went great. But I pushed and made the mistake of trying to do a third book. They had absolutely no interest in Zombelina whatsoever. I think there were a few reasons,(1) even though they were tired from dancing, they weren't ready to focus on anything, (2) Zombelina was a little too tame compared to the first two, (3) None of the books I had selected were very interactive, and (4) they were just done.  So, I quickly flipped through the pages, greatly shortening and paraphrasing to mercifully get to the end. They didn't get too out of control, so it wasn't a disaster or anything, just would've been better if I had stuck to the two books.

Check out these two "Zombie Style" videos made by different elementary schools as part of a competition!  Didn't they do a great job??

Halloween Storytime

Luckily all the daycares/preschools that I go to request Halloween storytimes, because I think it is my favorite theme to do. The kids have so much fun pretending to be scared, cuddling up together and fake-shivering in fear and suspense. And I get to do one of my favorite storytime books!

With the Storytime-To-Go program I see about 4-6 classes most days, for a 20-30 minute storytime each (depending on whether they arrive on time). I have about 12 books to choose from covering a range of ages, and use 2-3 with each group, along with a couple of songs or activities. We started with an introduction, letting each child quickly say what they might dress up as for Halloween, the letter of the day (Hh), and our story song.

The Books

(Click to enlarge)

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid Of Anything by Linda Williams & Megan Lloyd, a classic, a little long, but lots of participation, my favorite for Halloween storytimes
The Hallo-Wiener by Dav Pilkey, kids won't get all the puns, but very cute & funny
Mouse's First Halloween by Lauren Thompson & Buket Erdogan, great for younger kids
Snappy Little Halloween by Derek Matthews & Dugald Steer, fun pop-ups!
Big Pumpkin by Erica Silverman & S. D. Schindler, repetition & identifying monsters, longer
What's In The Witch's Kitchen? by Nick Sharratt, very funny, mentions pee & poop
Just Say Boo! by Susan Hood & Jed Henry, good for younger audience, interactive
What Am I? Halloween by Anne Margaret Lewis & Tom Mills, good for 2-3 year olds, easy
Boo Who? by Lola Schaeifer & Michael Frost, foldout guessing, good for 2-3 year olds
Scary, Scary Halloween by Eve Bunting & Jan Brett, another classic, little dark
At The Old Haunted House by Helen Ketteman & Nate Wragg, counting in the style of "Over In The Meadow", cute illustrations

The Activities

Since we spent a little more time with our introduction talking about Halloween and the costumes they were going to wear, and some of our stories were longer, we ended up not doing quite as many activities during this rotation, usually just one per session. I stuck with the two that they always seem to enjoy the most and have motions or movements to do with them, though occasionally a volunteer might have something different to add.

"Five Little Pumpkins"

Five little pumpkins, sitting on a gate.

The first one said, "Oh my, it's getting late."

The second one said, "There are witches in the air!"

The third one said, "But we don't care!"

The fourth one said, "Let's run and run and run!"

The fifth one said, "It's Halloween fun."

Then, "Whoooosh" went the wind,

And OUT [clap] went the light!

And five little pumpkins rolled out of sight!

_________________________

"Little Ghost"

Little ghost, little ghost, flying through the air.

Little ghost, little ghost, tickling my hair!

Little ghost, little ghost, flying way down low.

Little ghost, little ghost, tickling my toes!

Little ghost, little ghost, circling all around.

Little ghost, little ghost, please sit down!

For this I gave them each one of our movement scarves to be their ghost since they were nice and "floaty", even though they weren't white. Not one kid commented that ghosts weren't red, orange, yellow, blue, or green; much to my surprise! You can also use tissues, white handkerchiefs, etc. I like how this one ends with them sitting down so that they are ready for the next story.

How It Went

As I said earlier, Halloween is one of my favorite themes to do and we have a lot of fun with it! I love, love, love The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid Of Anything and it's one of the few books I can read multiple times without getting too tired of it, especially when I get good audience response, which I usually do. The only downside is that some of the kids already know it, and give away the ending, even when I ask them not to, or they may have already read it in the classroom, and it's a little long. The Hallo-Weiner is one of my daughter's childhood favorites, and most of the older kids really like it, even if they don't get all of the puns.

The Snappy Little Halloween is also a lot of fun to do, and some classes really get into pretending to be scared when the monsters pop out at them. I had a couple of classes where the kids paired off, huddling together and fake-shivering in fear, then screaming as I turned each page. I love it when they are that engaged and I can get that kind of a response! The kids always LOVE the hilariously gross What's In The Witch's Kitchen, though I'm always a bit concerned about whether the adults will appreciate the mention of goblin pee and rabbit poop; so far no one has objected. One class really got into that one, too, and screamed at the end when the witch popped out, catching us snooping around in her kitchen.

Big Pumpkin is a little long for some, but those that can handle it seem to like it, and it can be very interactive, with the repeated lines and the witch kicking the pumpkin in frustration, which they can relate to. The also like identifying each creature. I usually pause to let them say the pumpkin just "sat" and the character saying "Drat!". One little boy said "On, snap!" instead, which made all the adults laugh. I could tell the kids generally weren't familiar with "Drat!" Mouse's First Halloween and the two lift-a-flap books were great for the younger kids, or when we just had 2-3 minutes left to fill.

I tried to find some new Halloween books to add to my repertoire, but didn't find any I really liked as much as my favorites. Got any suggestions?

And just for fun, here is my cat Toby in his own Hallo-weiner costume! He actually doesn't mind costumes that much, and tolerates them pretty well. Plus they slow him down so he can't pester my other poor cat as much!

Happy Halloween!

We had some spooky good fun in storytime the last two weeks with our Halloween theme.  For this theme, I found I tended to use the same few books over and over because they worked so well.  I generally used 2 or 3 of the following books with any given group, depending on their ages and attention span.

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid Of Anything by Linda Williams has become a Halloween classic; a favorite of children's librarians, teachers, and children alike.  It is a perfect Halloween read-aloud because it is just spooky enough without being too scary for little ones, and is very interactive.  I absolutely loved reading this book, so much so that I bought my own personal copy to be sure I always had it available for storytime.  Even the classes who had already read it before I came to see them wanted me to go ahead and read it again most of the time.  I highly recommend it.

Another book I used frequently, especially for the younger classes, was Mouse's First Halloween by Lauren Thompson.  I like all the books in this series, and this one was good for letting the kids guess what the things mouse encountered were, without being so easy that the kids would yell it out the second I turned the page.  I also like that it showed how things may seem scary at first, but then they really aren't.

Snappy Little..... pop-up books are always a hit of course, and the Halloween one was no exception.  What's In The Witch's Kitchen? by Nick Sharratt is a neat lift a flap book with each flap being able to be opened from two different sides, with one revealing something yummy like toffee popcorn, and the other something yucky like slimy frog spawn, using rhyming (or almost rhyming) words.  One caveat, two of the pages show goblin's pee and rabbit poop, which of course the kids think is hilarious, but some adults might object to.

Another classic is The Hallo-Wiener by Dav Pilkey.  This book is very funny and employs several obvious (to adults) hot-dog related puns as it tells the story of poor Oscar the Daschund who was teased by the other dogs, but becomes their hero in the end.  This is a great book, but best used with older kids as it is slightly longer, and younger kids will miss a lot of the humor.

Pumpkin Trouble is another humorous book from Jan Thomas, this one telling the story of how poor Duck got stuck inside the pumpkin he had hollowed out and is mistaken for a pumpkin monster by his friends.  I like this book, but sometimes felt I had to do too much explaining for the kids to get what was going on and why it was funny, so it might be better for slightly older kids.

Big Pumpkin by Erica Silverman has a witch trying to pick her big pumpkin to make pumpkin pie, but she is not strong enough.  One by one other creatures try and fail, until the little bat suggests they all work together.  This story is cute and and has a great message about working together, but there is a lot of text so it is best paraphrased for younger listeners.  This would be great for telling as a flannel board story as well.

For activities, I stuck with the same two all week, doing one or the other, or sometimes both, depending on the group, which books we read, and how much time we had.  The first was the classic "Five Little Pumpkins" action rhyme:

          Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate             (hold up 5 fingers)
          The first one said, "My, it's getting late."       (hold up 1 finger, then point to wristwatch)
          The second one said, "There are witches in the air!"    (2 fingers, then point to sky)
          The third one said, "But we don't care!"        (3 fingers, then shrug & shake head)
          The fourth one said, "Let's run & run & run!" (4 fingers, run in place)
          The fifth one said, "It's Halloween fun!"         (Hold up 5 fingers)
          Then "Whoooooooosh" went the wind,         (make "whooshing" sounds)
          And out went the light!                                   (clap loudly when saying "out")
          And five little pumpkins rolled out of sight!    (5 fingers, then rolls hands)

The second another action rhyme, "Little Ghost":

          Little ghost, little ghost flying through the air,          (fly ghost around)
          Little ghost, little ghost tickling my hair!                   (hold ghost over head to tickle hair)
          Little ghost, little ghost flying way down low,           (fly ghost close to floor)
          Little ghost, little ghost tickling my toes!                  (hold ghost over toes)
          Little ghost, little ghost please sit down.                  (sit down)

          *For ghosts use tissues, napkins, scarves, etc.

How It Went
As expected this theme was a lot of fun, and for the most part, went really well.  Everyone loved The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid Of Anything, even if they had heard it already, perhaps even more when they had heard it before.  What's In The Witch's Kitchen? was also a big hit, and though I was hesitant to use it at first for fear some adults might not appreciate the goblin pee or rabbit poop, no one objected when asked. 

The "Little Ghost" rhyme was a lot fun and enjoyed by all.  I used our movement scarves for the ghosts as I thought using 700 napkins or tissues over the course of the 2 weeks was a bit wasteful.  The scarves were nice and airy and "float-y", and no one complained that they weren't white, though I did have to remind them we were not going to be choosy about colors and "You get what you get, and you don't have a fit".  (I did wash the scarves after getting that much use).

I have also started doing a "Letter of the Day" after realizing how poor a lot of these kids' letter recognition was, just using the first letter of the theme, so this time it was "Hh" for "Halloween".  I just worked it into the introduction, asking them if they knew what the first letter was, showing them the letter, talking about what sound it makes, and a few other words with the "h" sound.

One day I ended up with a small group of non-English speaking kids, which was a challenge.  I did a simple lift-a-flap and the Snappy book, where they would say what it was in their language (not sure what it was; they were from Africa, but teacher didn't know which country), then I would say it in English and have them repeat (i didn't try to read all the text).  They seemed to enjoy it and giggled at every picture.  I did read "Mouse's First Halloween" so they would get some exposure to the sound, rhythm, and language of a story, even if they didn't understand it.  Then we ended with "Little Ghost".  Though they probably didn't have any concept of Halloween and didn't recognize some of our "classic" monsters, like the vampire, mummy, and Frankenstein's monster; ghosts, witches, skeletons, and pumpkins are apparently pretty universal.

Unfortunately for me, the theme ended on a bad note when I visited my usual group that I do on my own (not with the Storytime Bus) today.  They. Would. Not. Settle. Down.   They were way too wound up, which I had feared would be the case with today being Friday, the day before Halloween, and the day of their class party.  They kept asking for stories, but then would not be quiet and listen, and just kept talking and talking and talking.  I did a longer than usual intro routine with lots of movement, gradually working down to sitting quietly, but it didn't help.  Lesson learned:   don't try to do storytime they same day they are having any kind of special event!  It's just too frustrating and not productive. 

But the other 25 storytimes I did over the course of the two weeks went well, so I can't complain :)