Fall Preschool Storytime!

1. Opening song: Jim Gill – Celebrate 
This is such a great song! Perfect for any holiday celebration or just any regular story time. Kids love it and it's not terribly long either which makes it a great opening song. 

2. Book: Sneeze, Big Bear, Sneeze! by Maureen Wright

This is definitely a longer book so if you have a really young audience, I'd probably avoid reading this. However, the preschoolers I visited at the daycare center really enjoyed the book! The book is about a bear who believes that his sneezes are what is causing the leaves to fall. He even thinks that his sneeze is the reason apples fall from trees and the reason geese migrate. The talking wind tries to convince the bear otherwise as she knows the real cause of events.This is a great book because it discusses many different elements of fall (wind, leaves, colds during fall, apples, etc), making it an excellent book for any autumn themed storytime. 

3. Flannel Board Story: 5 Little Leaves

Five little leaves on the tree next door

One fell off and then there were four

Four little leaves all over the tree

One fell off and then there were three

Three little leaves where the wind blew

One fell off and then there were two

Two little leaves sitting in the sun

One fell off and then there was one

One little leaf in the tree all alone

The wind blew and blew now there are none!

Source: Storytime Katie

4. Action Song: Leaves are Falling Down
For this song I handed out leaves that I cut out using an Ellison shape. I cut the leaves in different colors and told the children that we are going to be putting the leaf on different parts of our body. 

The leaves are falling down, falling down (wave leaf up and down) 

The leaves are falling down, falling down

The leaves are falling down their falling all around  (wave leaf all around) 

The leaves are falling down, falling down (wave leaf up and down) 

There’s a leaf on my shoe, on my shoe (put leaf on shoe)

There’s a leaf on my shoe, on my shoe 

There’s a leaf on my shoe, I don’t know what to do 

There’s a leaf on my shoe, on my shoe 

There’s a leaf on my hip, on my hip (put leaf on hip)

There’s a leaf on my hip, on my hip 

There’s a leaf on my hip, I’m glad it’s not my lip 

There’s a leaf on my hip, on my hip 

There’s a leaf on my belly, on my belly  (put leaf on belly)

There’s a leaf on my belly, on my belly 

There’s a leaf on my belly, I can make it shake like jelly (shake belly with leaf on it)

There’s a leaf on my belly, on my belly 

There’s a leaf on my shoulder, on my shoulder (put leaf on shoulder)

There’s a leaf on my shoulder, on my shoulder 

There’s a leaf on my shoulder, I’m glad it’s not a boulder 

There’s a leaf on my shoulder, on my shoulder 

There’s a leaf on my nose, on my nose (put leaf on nose)

There’s a leaf on my nose, on my nose 

There’s a leaf on my nose, boy it really goes 

There’s a leaf on my nose, on my nose (blow the leaf off the nose and watch the leaf fall to the ground)

5. Book: Aaaargghh Spider! by Lydia Monks

If you live in Illinois you'll know that spiders are rampant around the fall season, especially around Halloween time! This is one of my absolute favorite books and it is a great read aloud. The first page apears that humans are living upside down but the page is viewed from the spider's perspective. A preschooler even yelled out "The  book is upside down!" so I explained that the scene is viewed from the spider's perspective, as she clings to the ceiling. Not sure if the child really got it but its a funny opening page. The entire book is about a spider who wants to be a family's pet but each time the spider tries to entertain them, they toss her outside, screaming, "Aaaarrgghh! Spider!" Disappointed, she stalks off to live in the backyard. I love to read this ouloud because I can be very animated as I say "Aaaarrgghh! Spider! Out. You. Go!"

6. Song: Spider on the Floor by Raffi

For this song I told the children to pretend their hand was a spider and follow along. If I had a spider puppet, I'd use that too :) 

8. Book: Odd Dog by Claudia Boldt

This is one of my favorite books to read around fall time! I have read this book several times and even blogged about it 2 years ago, here. 

9. Flannel Board: 5 Apples in a Basket

This flannel is super cute! I actually blogged about it 2 years ago but wanted to share it again since it's so cute. It's also great to use during the week of thanksgiving. I got the idea from this Falling Flannelboard blog!

Here are the words:

The first apple in the basket was a bright and shiny red.
The second apple in the basket said, “My what a cozy bed.”
The third apple in the basket said, “Now we two are a pair.”
The fourth apple int he basket said, “Please move over there.”

The fifth apple in the basket said, “Oh dear, oh me, oh my!  This basket looks like a pastry–I think we’re in a pie!”

10. Song: Shake Break by Pancake Manor

If you've read my blog at all you've probably noticed that this is one of my all time favorite storytime songs. It's perfect to play whenever you notice children getting really squirmy!

11. Book: Penguin & Pumpkin by Salina Yoon

This is such an adorable book! I love the entire penguin series by Salina Yoon. This book is specifically about when Penguin and Bootsy plan a field trip in search of fall and Penguin's little brother, Pumpkin, wants to come but is too little. At the farm, all the pumpkins Penguin sees remind him of this special brother and when he returns home they bring a special surprise of leaves to show Pumpkin what autumn is all about. At the end they show the leaves being thrown from a cliff and it says that fall is like snowing leaves! 

12. Flannel Board Story: Chocolate Chip Pumpkin

This is actually adopted by the story "Chocolate Chip Ghost" that I learned from a coworker at my last job. Instead of ghosts, I figured it would be cute to make the story about pumpkins instead!

Once upon a time there was a Mama Pumpkin and five little pumpkins who lived in a dusty old haystack. They were all a bright and shiny orange. Mama pumpkin made sure they stayed so orange by letting them eat orange juice.

Once day, just before suppertime, when Mama Pumpkin looked into the refrigerator, there were no oranges for their supper! She quickly got ready to go to the grocery store. Just before she left she told her five little pumpkins to be sure not to eat anything, since she would be back with their suppers very soon. With that, she gave them all a kiss and went off to the grocery store.

All went well for a time, but soon the first little pumpkin said “I’m hungry. I really want something to eat.” And with that, he opened the refrigerator door and found a red ripe strawberry and ate it all up. And he turned bright red.

The second little pumpkin said “No fair! I’m hungry too.” And opened the refrigerator and found a lemon meringue pie and ate it all up. She turned a bright yellow.

The third little pumpkin started crying that he was hungry too and ran to the refrigerator and drank a glass of grape juice and turned purple.

The fourth little pumpkin was mad because she was hungry and the only thing left in the refrigerator was a piece of lettuce which she ate, and it turned her green!

The last little pumpkin was hungry, hungry, hungry. But when he looked in the refrigerator there was nothing to eat! But he was hungry, hungry, hungry! So he looked in all the drawers, and in all the cabinets, and finally on the very top shelf of a cupboard, there was a cookie jar. And in that cookie jar was one chocolate chip cookie. The little pumpkin was so hungry that he ate in all up in one snap! And He turned chocolate chip colored!

Just then Mama Pumpkin returned from the grocery store with orange juice  for the little pumpkin’s suppers. My, oh, my! Was she surprised to see all her little pumpkins all the colors of the rainbow! 

You naughty little pumpkins! Come and get your supper right now! So she gave each of them a glass of orange juice and each little pumpkin turned a bright and shiny orange again. 

Closing: 

I usually close with Silly Dance Contest by Jim Gill if there is time or I'll just end it and give a stamp on all the children's hands!

Hope you enjoyed this fun and colorful fall storytime :)