Halloween at the Liberry

I love Halloween. So much so that I asked for the week of Halloween off so I could spend it with my family and avoid work all together!

Sorry for my bitterness but this will be the second year in a row where I have to work the Sunday before and the Friday after Christmas and Thanksgiving (and yes all my co workers have ditched me take week long vacations so I'm holding up the fort) Do you know how depressing a library is at 8:00 pm on December the 26th? Two years ago I had to come in the day after Christmas during a major snow storm! My consolation prize is a mini vacation for myself so I can take my kid trick or treating, order in pizza and stay up late watching old horror movies. Let me have my holiday!

But that being said, there are children to entertain at the library. So here is a round up of some books and activities we are doing for our All Hallow's Eve festivities.

I doing two story times during the holiday season. One for my toddlers as per usual and another all ages storytime on the weekend for kids and families

Books:
Over in the Hollow by Rebecca Dickinson
On a Windy Night by Nancy Raines Day
And of course the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and In a Dark Dark Room by the incomparable Alvin Schwartz

For my family storytime, I'm mixing the playful with the scary (with fair warning that some of the stories my be too spooky for some) But it's always nice to have some finger plays and songs for the little ones.

The Ghost Fingerplay
I saw a ghost (circle fingers around eyes)
He saw me too (point to yourself)
I waved at him (Wave)
But he said BOO! (scare the person next to you)

If you are a Monster and You Know It
Piggyback off of "If you are Happy and You Know It" Monsters can stomp their feet, give a Roar, lurch about. Vampires can show their fangs, and ghosts say Boo!

There is also this super cute design for a Ghost Fingerplay complete with finger puppets

And if you are tired of reading "Go Away Big Green Monster" (and I am since my co worker reads it every single year) Try the flannel story "Go Away Big Orange Monster" and substitute a pumpkin instead!

File this under things "you never thought you've have to do as a library staff member"- Screen old cartoons for racist references! We are showing spooky cartoons on trick or treat night for kids passing by the library on their way to the big Halloween event in the town square. I'm in charge setting the playlist and discovering while Mickey Mouse's Haunted House cartoon is delightful spooky, it has a "Mammy" joke in it. I'm the youngest one in my department and I had to explain to them why this isn't a "good thing".  I know that it's apart of our cultural history but it never hurts to cover your butt and be PC for that sake of saving your job. Here's a list of vintage cartoons you can screen for your program or just for your pleasure.

Happy Halloween!

It's the day before storytime and the books I ordered to read out loud tomorrow haven't come in.
And I have no clue what to read instead. Indecision; a real horror story.

Storytime from the Liberry: The Letter D

Today's storytime is brought to you by the letter D.

I'm planning to use the same concept I've used for colors and apply it to the alphabet. Instead of one storytime about all the colors or the entire alphabet, I can focus on one letter, which leads to 26 different possibilities! That's almost my entire year!

The focus during this storytime was dinosaurs and dragons. I introduced them to the group by saying they were both big, sometimes scary and you don't see them around.

My flannel pieces for the week

Books:
One Drowsy Dragon by Ethan Long- It's also a good chance to talk about the meaning of the word "drowsy" especially with an early AM storytime.

Who Wants a Dragon? by James Mayhew-
With illustrations as cute as this, who wouldn't want a dragon?

I'm a Tyrannosaurs by Anna Grossnickle Hines-
This is an excellent book for toddlers and kids who love to get off their bottoms and pretend along with the story. Don't try to read this one sitting still!


Dino Bites by Algy Craig Hall-
Okay this book is a bit weird and some people might wonder why in the world I would think this is okay to read to toddlers. It thought it was odd too during the first reading, but I grew to love it's quirkiness each time I read it. TL;DR- Its a short story involving the food chain with a twist at the end. 

Activities:

Open Shut Them

All Around the Castle
to the Tune Pop Goes the Weasel.

All around the Castle
The knight chased the dragon
The dragon thought it was all in fun
ROAR! went the dragon!

We got out our dragon puppets and dinosaurs at the end for a super simple playtime activities.

Using the letter D was an easy way to incorporate a hot topic story time. ( I love dragons but dinosaurs...I could take them or leave them) I'm sure you could find no shortage of topics dealing with the letter D.  But here's a few- Dogs, Dancing, Digging (Construction) Drums, Dolphins, Dads, Donkeys, Donuts...

Mmmm....donuts...

Storytime From the Liberry: Storytime Express

All aboard for storytime kiddos! It never ceases to amaze me how much kids love trains. Boys and girls are gaga for them.
 I have lived by a train track for 99.9% of my life. Trains are at best background noise and at worst a common nuisances. But it's hard to be bitter when you can encourage a room full of 30 plus toddlers to make their best impression of a train whistle. This is a loud storytime!

Books: 

And the Train Goes... By William Bee

I highly recommend this book if you are an actor/storyteller who loves to use different voices. There are a lot of opportunities in this story to do so. There is also a good balance of repetitive words as well as new phrases so your audience isn't bored.


Trains Go by Steve Light
A colorful board book full of great illustrations of trains and onomatopoeia(s)!


Peek a Choo Choo by Marie Torres-Cimarusti - If I ever need a good back up book, I usually turn to this author because she has several peek a boo books with many different themes.

Huff and Puff by Tish Rabbe

I tend to not use "reader" format books in my storytimes because the pictures are often too small or the text very uninteresting. This is an exception. The story is short and the words are simple to understand. I recommend this book to my parents because it is well suited to those kids who are becoming advance in their learning and ready to start reading on their own (even if they are very young.)

(But for the love of God, don't try to force your kids to read before they are ready. It annoys me to no end when I see parents hand their two year old a book and say "Read this! Mommy has to go on the computer!" yes this happens frequently.)



Activities and Songs:

I'm a Choo-Choo Train


I'm a Choo-Choo Train,
chugging down the track
First I move forward
Then I move back

Now my bell is ringing,
Here my whistle blow
What alot of noise I make
Everywhere I go!

Little Red Caboose

For some fun, we did shaker songs. I love this version of Shaking on our Shakers 

I also want to desperately incorporate Hippopatamus Got on A City Bus with my toddlers. Even though is a lap sit song for babies. I sing this to my little one and it puts a smile on her face every time! We substituted bouncing a baby to shaking in rhythm.I might have loved singing this song more than the toddlers!

Let the gals over at Jbray.com show you how it's done!

CD Recommendation: My Mama was a Train by James Coffey

Till next week storytime friends!

It's October 2nd...and our library is almost out of Halloween books.....