Holidays are tricky. My first consideration in planning storytime is serving anyone in my community who cares to attend, and to make EVERYONE feel welcome and included. I tend to avoid a specific holiday program, but try to find a way to tap into the feeling of the season while being inclusive. There are tons of great books featuring and about monsters in children’s literature, plus we get to talk a bit about how to gently face fears and empower kids to confront them. All that and a lot of roaring and stomping? Yes, please! I invited everyone to dress up in whatever kind of costume they would like, and I wore my green dragon onesie. (I now don’t recommend fleece onesie costumes for storytime – I was sweating buckets by the end!)
Early Literacy Tip: It’s natural for kids to have fears. One way to help your child conquer a fear is to gently expose them to it. Books can take a common fear like monsters and make them fun and comfortable to talk about. They also model how to be brave and address a fear, which is empowering. Two great books for this purpose are Go Away, Big Green Monster and Tickle Monster.
Welcome Song: Hello, Friends* (BB) (TB) (FT)**
Warm Up Song: Wake Up, Feet* (BB) (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 was knees and arms.
Lifting Rhyme: Toast in the Toaster* (BB)
Intro: Today we’re having some fun with friendly monsters! I love getting to play pretend, especially something that goes roar! Can we pretend to be monsters together?
Action Rhyme: Wild Things
Wild things, wild things, look at you!
Wild things, wild things, what can you do?
We can roar our roars! (roar)
We can gnash our teeth at you! (show teeth and growl)
We can wiggle our eyebrows! (wiggle)
We can show our claws, too! (extend fingers)
Wild things, wild things, look at you!
Wild things, wild things, what can you do? ROAR!
Source: Small Town Story Time Lady
Transition: If You’re Ready for a Story* (BB) (TB) (FT)
I think this book would work really well one-on-one, and I had high hopes for it for my group, but it just didn’t go over great in Book Babies. Maybe it was just the day (it was Halloween and the energy was super wiggly).
Read: Let’s Play Monsters by Lucy Cousins (BB)
My other groups *loved* this book. Total hit.
Read: Monsters Go Night-Night by Aaron Zenz (TB) (FT)
These cute monsters came from the Picklebums.com blog, as well as the rhyme. But none of them have a nose! I went into Canva and did a little editing to the red one. I encouraged kids and grownups to play this one like “This Little Piggy” on their fingers.
Fingerplay: Five Little Monsters (BB) (TB) (FT)
This little monster has a big red nose
This little monster has purple toes
This little monster plays all night
This little monster is such a fright
And this little monster goes:
“Tee-hee-hee – I’m not scary, I’m just silly me.”
Source: picklebums.com
Puppet/Retelling: Go Away, Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley (TB) (FT)
We had this puppet in our library inventory, so we retold the book. I admittedly felt a little awkward with this one – the pieces were kind of behind me and I kept stumbling over the words. I need more practice!
Action Song: Monsters Stomp (TB)
(tune of The Ants Go Marching)
The monsters stomp around the house hurrah, hurrah!
The monsters stomp around the house hurrah, hurrah!
The monsters stomp around the house
Their brothers and sisters send them out
So they stomp some more outside, Oh yeah,
Around the house, Boom, boom, boom!
The monsters roar around the house, rahrrr, rahrrr…
Source: Jbrary
It felt like I didn’t have much for the babies in this session, so I added a couple of bounces and tickles for them. I adapted this traditional one to have a couple of monster/Halloween references.
Bounce Rhyme: Jelly on a Plate (BB)
Jelly on the plate, Jelly on the plate
Wibble wobble, wibble wobble (wobble & bounce baby)
Jelly on the plate!
Additional verses:
Sausage in the pan… turn them over… (lift and turn baby)
Biscuits in the tin… shake them up… (gently wiggle and lift)
Sweeties in my sack… pick them out… (gently pinch tummy)
Monster in the house… turn him out… (supported fall back or side)
Candles on the sill… blow them out… whoosh! (blow on neck)
Source: adapted from Jbrary
This was on my plan, but I didn’t actually end up using it at any of the sessions.
Tickle Rhyme: Do I Hear a Monster?
If you think you hear a monster (cup hand to ear)
Growling somewhere outside (point outward)
It’s probably just your belly (rub tummy)
Needing some food inside! Nom, nom! (nibble or tickle tummy)
Source: Small Town Story Time Lady
Another one that’s only tangentially related to monsters, but was still fun.
Tickle: Treasure Hunt (BB)
Going on a treasure hunt, X marks the spot (draw an X on back)
Big circle (draw), Little circle (draw) Dot, dot, dot (poke 3x)
Spiders crawling up your back (walk fingers up back)
Bite, bite, bite! (gently pinch shoulders)
Snakes slither up your back (drag fingers up back)
Bite, bite, bite!
Tight squeeze (hug) Cool breeze (blow on neck)
Now you’ve got the… shivers! (tickle)
Source: Jbrary
Time for shaker eggs!
It is time to do the Monster Boogie! Do you know what a boogie is? It’s a dance! So think about what your monster dance is going to look like, but we’re going to start by stomping like a monster!
Recorded Shaker Egg Song: The Monster Boogie (BB) (TB) (FT)
Source: The Laurie Berkner Band, album: Buzz, Buzz
Oh, all that dancing has me worn out. I think I need a snack. Let’s make some popcorn!
Shaker Egg Rhyme: Pop, Pop, Pop (BB) (TB) (FT)
Pop, pop, pop, put the corn in the pot
Pop, pop, pop, shake it ’til it’s hot
Pop, pop, pop, lift the lid and what have you got? Popcorn!
Source: Jbrary
And now all that salty popcorn has made me thirsty! Let’s make ourselves a milkshake!
Recorded Shaker Egg Song: The Milkshake Song (BB) (TB) (FT)
Source: Old Town School of Folk Music, album: Wiggleworms
Action Song: Horns, Fangs, Knees, and Claws (BB) (FT)
(tune of Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes)
Horns, fangs, knees, and claws, knees and claws
Horns, fangs, knees, and claws, knees and claws
Eyes, ears, tail, and paws
Horns, fangs, knees, and claws, knees and claws
Source: Madelyn’s Library Programming
Action Song: Zoom, Zoom, Zoom!* (BB) (TB) (FT)
Craft: Monster Mask
So I originally did a monster program in 2019, and reused the craft for this year. Then, I saw the craft first on Storytime Katie, who got it from Awesome Storytime. I had a PDF template saved in my files, but neither one of those sites has it – I’m not sure if they took it down or another library blog made the template – there’s no marking indicating. Since I couldn’t find the origin, I’ll upload my copy here, but if anyone knows the original source, let me know and I’ll defer to them!
In any case, this is a super cute craft that’s pretty easy. I used four colors of neon cardstock and asked volunteers to cut out the eyes and face and mouth. I mixed up the eyes with a different color monster, and used different sized hole punchers on all the scrap to provide polka dots for decorating. All the kids really enjoyed this, and were eager to show me their masks when they were done. One last tip – the part of the face between the edges of the mouth and the sides of the face are pretty skinny, making it flip-floppy (technical term). I provided mini craft sticks to reinforce that area, as shown in the picture.
Download a template for the monster mask here!
Play Time
The babies 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* (BB) (TB) (FT)
Goodbye Rhyme: Tickle the Stars* (BB) (TB) (FT)
Other books I had available for families to browse (and may work for you on this theme)
Monster Boogie – Laurie Berkner & Ben Clanton
Eat Pete! – Michael Rex
Can You Make a Scary Face? – Jan Thomas
Tickle Monster – Édouard Manceau
Leonardo the Terrible Monster – Mo Willems
There’s a Monster in Your Book – Tom Fletcher & Greg Abbott
Monster Trucks – Anika Denise & Nate Wragg
The Monster at the End of this Book – Jon Stone & Michael Smollin
If You’re a Monster & You Know It – Rebecca Emberley & Ed Emberley
This storytime was presented in-person on 10/31, 11/1, & 11/2/22.
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:
(BB) Book Babies, ages 0-2
(TB) Teddy Bears, ages 2-3.5
(FT) Family Time, ages 0-3.5
Storytime with Ms. Emily Library 