Storytime: Around Town/Halloween!

I'm currently doing a 2s Storytime at one library, and a 3-5 Storytime at another. So in order to maintain some sanity, I'm trying to pick one theme for both each week and adapt it for the different ages. Some of my 2s are REALLY little and some of my 5s are already in school.

Halloween storytime can  be a little tricky with 2s because you never know what you're going to get. For some kids, they've never gone out for Halloween, and for others, they are all about dressing up and what they're going to wear. Some kids may have never heard of a vampire before, or can be extremely afraid from what they've seen on television and in stores. For this reason, I decided to focus on what you see 'around town' on a normal day, and also on Halloween.

Books:
We started with Bear About Town by Stella Blackstone, and talked about what we see around town.
From there, you can use some of these 'around town' options, or head into the Halloween stories. The Five Little Pumpkins choices are endless!

 Silly Sally by Audrey Wood
Maggie's Ball by Lindsay Barrett George
Twinkle, Twinkle Little Car by Kate Dopirak
Pete the Cat and the Five Little Pumpkins by James Dean
Five Little Pumpkins by Dan Yaccarino
If You're A Monster and You Know It by Ed & Rebecca Emberley
 
Songs/Fingerplays:

'If You're A Monster and You Know It'
'Itsy Bitsy Spider'
'Five Little Pumpkins'
'I'm A Little Pumpkin'
'Where Is Thumbkin/Pumpkin/Ghostie'

Flannelboard:
I had two flannel board games that really worked perfectly for this topic. One just involved using a set we've had for years and love. It works for so many themes and the 2s can relate to all the objects and learn colors at the same time. I handed out a variety of different colored objects and they brought up the ones that matched the particular colored house I put on the board.

The second one was a pleasant discovery in the desk from a previous librarian. She got it from Miss Sue at Library Village and it is PERFECT for kids who might be afraid of the creatures they see on Halloween. Very creative Miss Sue!

Library Village - Halloween Surprise Flannelboard

2s Activity:

Tossing bean bags into a plastic jack-o-lantern turned out to be way more fun when I had the little ones see if they could pick up the whole thing when filled with heavy beanbags! Who knew they'd love showing off their muscles!

3-5s Craft:
For the older kids, we used scratch art paper to make jack-o-lantern necklaces! Then we played with some totally fun alien slime that I found at Walgreens!