Storytime: Autumn

This week we dove into the new fall season with an autumn theme, even if the temperatures were still in the 80s! I highlighted a little nonfiction as well as our picture books, and we had lots of fun with our parachute and some fabric fall leaves. Leaves were a throughline, but we also touched on apples, pumpkins, and rainy autumn weather.

I’m starting to lean toward having the same plan for all three of my age groups, rather than planning several songs and rhymes that are different. I might drop one or more activities for the younger or a more wiggly group or perhaps include one counting song for the older group, but in general I’ve been keeping to the same plan and that’s been working well for now. I can always adjust as needed!

See other versions of this theme from 2020 and 2025.

Early Literacy Tip: Factual books are a great way to expand children’s knowledge about the world, especially when you can see and experience something in their world, like the changing of the seasons. You can read the whole book or choose certain pages your child might be interested in. In fact, it’s perfectly okay to read only parts of any book, or to just focus on the pictures. You can adapt the experience to your child’s interest and attention span. The important thing is to make reading together a positive experience.

Welcome Song: Hello, Friends* (TT) (TB) (FT)**

Warm Up Song: Wake Up, Feet* (TT) (TB) (FT)
This is a repeated song that everyone seems to enjoy. I always begin and end with feet and tummies, but find two other body parts to wiggle in the middle. This week it was knees & fingers.

Lifting Rhyme: Toast in the Toaster* (TT) (FT)

Rhyme: This is Big, Big, Big* (TB) (FT)

Intro: Oh, the air is turning crisp (kind of), the days are getting shorter, and the leaves are starting to change colors. We’ve just changed to a new season – autumn, or fall! Have you ever wondered why the leaves turn colors? Here’s an explanation I found in an informational book called Why Is it Fall? by Sara L. Latta. I read the two-page spread about why leaves turn colors, then mention our early literacy tip for the day.

I have used this rhyme from Mel’s Desk for many programs, and have even adapted it for a winter theme. It’s very simple but cozy and comforting. My flannel was made using Mel’s photo as a template.
Flannel Rhyme: Blue is the Sky (TT) (TB) (FT)
Blue is the sky, Yellow is the sun
Silver are the stars, When the day is done
Orange is the leaf, Brown is the tree
Red is the apple, For you and me
Source: Mel’s Desk

Transition: If You’re Ready for a Story* (TT) (TB) (FT)

Mouse’s First books seem to to be tailor made for the toddler set.
Read: Mouse’s First Fall by Lauren Thompson & Buket Erdogan (TT)

This one touches on several different aspects of fall, and I love that the frisky squirrels were a callback to our theme from two weeks ago. The page where all of a sudden everything is orange and yellow and red has a lot of great dramatic potential!
Read: In the Middle of Fall by Kevin Henkes & Laura Dronzek (TB) (FT)

I think my kiddos like any iteration of Wheels on the Bus, ever.
Action Song: The Leaves on the Trees (TT) (TB) (FT)
(tune of Wheels on the Bus)
The leaves on the trees turn orange and red, (flip hands)
Orange and red, orange and red
The leaves on the trees turn orange and red,
All around the trees

The leaves on the trees come twirling down… (twirl fingers downward)
The leaves on the ground go swish, swish, swish… (flick hands back and forth)
People in the yard go rake, rake, rake… (scoop hands inward)
The kids in the yard go jump, jump, jump… (jump!)
Source: Jbrary

This one got cut for time, but I included it on our handout and have had good luck with it for other sessions.
Action Song: Pumpkin, Pumpkin
(tune of Twinkle Twinkle)
Pumpkin, pumpkin on the ground (touch the ground)
How’d you get so big and round? (make a big circle)
Once you were a seed so small (pinch fingers together)
Now you are a great big ball (make a big circle overhead)
Pumpkin, pumpkin on the ground (touch the ground)
How’d you get so big and round? (make a big circle)
Source: Storytime Katie

Tired of “Way Up High in the Apple Tree?” Here’s another apple tree rhyme to try, courtesy of Storytime in the Stacks. She has a really great “Math Talk” video on her page, talking through how to share four apples fairly. I highly recommend watching. I did a simplified version with my groups. I also changed “Four Red Apples” to “Four Juicy Apples” since my flannel apples were different colors.
Flannel Rhyme: Four Juicy Apples (TT) (TB) (FT)
Four juicy apples growing in a tree
Two for you and two for me! (hold up two fingers on each hand)
Help me shake the tree just so, (make a shaking motion)
And all the apples will fall below!
Source: Storytime in the Stacks

At this point we got out the parachute! We did this rhyme twice, getting low and high with the ‘chute, and waving it gently in the breeze. The second time, I dropped a bunch of fabric leaves on the parachute at the last line, and launched into Autumn Leaves Are Falling Down right away.
Scarf Rhyme: Once I Was a Seed (TT) (TB) (FT)
Once I was a seed and I was small, small, small (crouch low)
I grew into a tree and now I’m tall, tall, tall! (stand up and stretch out arms like branches)
My branches sway in the breeze so soft (sway and wave hands/’chute like a leaf)
And when it’s autumn, all my leaves fall off! (lower ‘chute)
Source: Storytime in the Stacks

Parachute Song: Autumn Leaves Are Falling Down (TT) (TB) (FT)
(tune of London Bridge)
Autumn leaves are falling down, falling down, falling down
Autumn leaves are falling down
All around the town
Source: King County (WA) Library System

Almost the same title as the previous song, but a different tune and feel. We slowed it down for this one and did “slowly” and “quietly” before doing “loudly” and changing our “shh” to a “whoosh!”
Parachute Song: Leaves are Falling Down (TT) (TB) (FT)
Leaves are falling down – shh! (slowly lower the parachute)
Leaves are falling down – shh!
Slowly, slowly, very slowly
Leaves are falling down
(try other ways of falling – quickly, quietly, loudly!)
Source: Library Village

At this point in the program they were just enjoying waving the parachute up and down with the leaves on top, so I just said this rhyme, not expecting us to change motions or anything during it.
Rhyme: Autumn Winds
Autumn winds begin to blow
Colored leaves fall fast and slow
Whirling, twirling, all around
Until at last they touch the ground
Source: Library Village

I next invited adults to hold the parachute while the kids got underneath. Another thing that can come with autumn is rain and storms. Let’s get under the umbrella!
Action/Parachute Song: Come Under My Umbrella (TT) (TB) (FT)
(tune of Did You Ever See a Lassie?)
Come under my umbrella, umbrella, umbrella (move parachute up and down)
Come under my umbrella, it’s starting to rain
With thunder and lightning, and lightning and thunder (wiggle ‘chute more strongly)
Come under my umbrella, it’s starting to rain
Source: traditional

This is a great way to put the parachute away. I ask for only grownups to hold on, and then let them know they are letting go at the end. Once the parachute was whisked away, I asked the kids to help me pick up all the fabric leaves that were scattered about.
Parachute Song: Parachute Fly (TT) (TB) (FT)
(tune of Skip to my Lou)
(kids go under the parachute and adults raise and lower)
Up, up, up it goes,
Down, down, down so low
Raise our parachute to the sky
Count to 3 and watch it fly
Spoken:
Up on one…
Down on two…
Up on three…
and FLY! (adults let go and leader pulls ‘chute in to themselves)
Source: Gymboree

Action Song: Zoom, Zoom, Zoom!* (TT) (TB) (FT)

Craft: Leaf Rubbing (TB) (FT)
Back to basics! I went on a nature walk and found leaves of different species, with different shapes and even tried varying the colors that they were, including a few green leaves. I hadn’t done this craft since I was a child, so a few tips: make sure you pick leaves that are not completely dried out – they need to still be supple. That might mean plucking them from low branches instead of finding them on the ground. They also dry out really fast! We did great on the first day, but there were some crunchy ones the second day. I unwrapped the labels from leaf-colored crayons: red, orange, yellow, brown, and green, and demonstrated for everyone. Not all the adults knew what to do. The leaf goes UNDER the paper, and you need to use the FLAT side of the crayon. But the rubbings themselves are like magic – you see the delicate veins and outline come through the paper and it’s amazing.

Play Time
The toddlers have two laundry baskets of baby toys – rattles and cars, sorters and stackers, toy phones and spinners. For the older kids, I have foam blocks, soft food toys, puzzles, and a few other items that are a little more sophisticated than the baby toys. For Family Time, I gauge the overall age of the group and put out what seems right for them. We play for 5-10 minutes at the most, then I ring the bell and ask the kids to help me clean up. I think the clean up bit is good practice for them!

Goodbye Song: See You Later Alligator* (TT) (TB) (FT)

Goodbye Rhyme: Tickle the Stars* (TT) (TB) (FT)

Other books I had available for families to browse (and may work for you on this theme)
On a Gold-Blooming Day – Buffy Silverman
Leaf Man – Lois Ehlert
Leaves – David Ezra Stein
Goodbye Summer, Hello Autumn – Kenard Pak
Autumn Babies – Kathryn O. Galbraith & Adela Pons
We’re Going on a Leaf Hunt – Steve Metzger & Miki Sakamoto
The Very Last Leaf – Stef Wade & Jennifer Davison
Fletcher and the Falling Leaves – Julia Rawlinson & Tiphanie Beeke
Wonderfall – Michael Hall

This storytime was presented in-person on 9/25, 9/26, & 9/27/23.

Storytime Handout:

*Lyrics to these songs can be found on the Repeated Songs & Rhymes page.

**These symbols indicate the program sessions I used the activities for:
(TT) Toddler Time, ages 1-2
(TB) Teddy Bears, ages 2-3.5
(FT) Family Time, ages 0-3.5