Halloween is this weekend! I don’t like to get too spooky for the babies, plus I don’t want to assume everyone celebrates this holiday, so I try to stay focused mostly on pumpkins and animals rather than on the supernatural or on dressing up. Though I’m such a big Rosemary Wells fan it made my day to have my friend Max came to storytime dressed as a bunny!
OPENING SONG: Hello Song*
OPENING FINGERPLAY: Open Them Shut Them*
BOOK: Pumpkin Pumpkin by JEAN TITHERINGTON
We have the big book and it works well for baby storytime.
ACTION SONG: Pumpkin, Pumpkin
From our files, I wish I knew who to credit! Sing to Twinkle, Twinkle.
Pumpkin, pumpkin on the ground,
How’d you get so big and round?
Once you were a seed so small,
Now you are a great big ball!
Pumpkin, pumpkin on the ground,
How’d you get so big and round?
LITERACY TIP: Narrative Skills Narrative skills have to do with learning how to describe things and being able to tell stories. Little stories, like the one in this song, are great for babies to start learning how stories work. “First the pumpkin is a seed, then it is a plant, then it is a pumpkin!”
FLANNEL RHYME: 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, “I’m ready for some fun.”
Then OOOOOO went the wind and OUT went the light,
And five little pumpkins rolled out of sight.
FLANNEL RHYME: Brown Bat, Brown Bat, What Do You See?
My girls brought home a rhyme like this as homemade books in first grade, and when I Googled it, I found versions all over the web. They are lots of fun and include blue monsters, purple goblins, red vampires, green witches…all sorts of great Halloweeny things. I went and stood in front of all our Ellison dies and came up with this set for my little ones. All the grownups chanted it along with me! We’ve read Brown Bear Brown Bear a couple of times already this fall, so this was a great extension.
FLANNEL SONG: A Hunting We Will Go*
I did cat/hat, bat/mat, owl/towel…and spider/glider!
SONG WITH PUPPET: There’s a Spider on the Floor
We have a spider glove puppet that I use for this song.
There’s a spider on my leg, and he’s really really big…
There’s a spider on my tummy, and he feels kind of funny…
There’s a spider on my head, oh, my face is really red…
But he jumps off!
There’s a spider on the floor…
RHYME WITH PUPPET: Little Miss Muffet
Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet
Eating her curds and whey
Along came a spider and sat down beside her
And frightened Miss Muffet away.
Many Mother Goose rhymes are little stories, with a beginning, middle and end! Learning these rhymes is another great way to build Narrative Skills.
ACTION RHYME: This is Big Big Big*
CLOSING SONG: Sneeze Game*
*Check out the My Baby Storytime page for the words and/or citations for these weekly activities!
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