Halloween II

We followed up last week's Halloween themed story time with even more Halloween fun. We had one of the biggest crowds ever, which was unexpected since there had been no additional publicity, and we were not giving anything away. Usually we only see this large an audience when we publicize a party or giveaway! With an emphasis on Monsters, we had great fun with "Five Little Monsters Jumping on The Bed" using one of my goofy handmade felt sets

We also acted out "The Goblin in the Dark" (tune: "the Farmer in the Dell") Where the goblin in the dark, picks a witch who picks a cat, who picks a bat, who picks a ghost who shouts, "Boo!" Great fun!

For a craft we made toilet paper roll mummies. The kids really enjoyed it and really worked hard on their mummies.

Here are the books we read today:
The Monsters' Monster by Patrick McDonnell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The first half of this books follows three young monsters who live high on Monster Hill in a dark and scary monster castle. The text sets a great dark scary stage for the creation of the biggest, baddest scariest monster. These three set out to create one, and they do with the help of a convenient lightning bolt. But although he is big, this new monster is not what our three small monsters, or the reader, expects.

Night of the Pumpkinheads by Michael J. Rosen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The photographs of the amazing carved pumpkins in this book are amazing and my storytime audience studied each and every picture with an intensity that they don't always possess! These pictures make up for the choppy, somewhat disjointed text. The pumpkin patch pumpkins decide that this year they want to dress up for Halloween and have fun. They form groups and compete to try and scare the trick-or-treaters. Which group proves the scariest: The small pumpkins as eyes and bees? The green pumpkins as monsters? The white pumpkins as zombie mimes?? In the end, it isn't the pumpkins that prove to be the scariest to the kids...

Monster Mash by David Catrow
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This was a big hit at storytime today. The audience of toddlers found the bright, bold illustrations totally mesmerizing and the parents laughed and smiled as they remembered the Boris Pickett hit that the text is based on. We even turned this into a call and response for all I had to say was, "they did the..." and the kids quickly learned to shout out "Monster Mash." Use your best Boris voice and this is sure to be a "graveyard smash" for you, too!

I also brought a special Halloween friend with me: my spider puppet that when squeezed makes a laughing sound. While "spidey" didn't seem to scare any of the kids, when I invited them all to pet my little spider, some were hesitant, although I'll give these toddlers credit, they all did give him a pat!