Storytime: Pumpkins

I don't do holiday storytimes at my library, but I do use themes that are very similar to those found in holiday storytimes.  This week we had a pumpkin-themed storytime, and we learned about real pumpkins and read about pretend pumpkins, all without talking about Halloween or trick-or-treating or jack o'lanterns.

Opening Rhyme

Book: The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin by Troiano

Song: "If You're Happy and You Know It"

Book: From Seed to Pumpkin by Wendy Pfeffer

Five Little Pumpkins:
Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate.
The first one said, "Oh, my, it's getting late"
The second one said, "There's a chill in the air."
The third one said, "But we don't care."
The fourth one said, "We're ready for some fun!"
The fifth one said, "Let's run, run, run!"
So "woo" went the wind and out went the lights,
And five little pumpkins rolled out of sight!

Book: Pumpkin Town! by Katie McKay

Pumpkin, Pumpkin
Pumpkin, pumpkin
Sitting on a wall
Pumpkin, pumpkin
Tip and fall
Pumpkin, pumpkin
Rolling down the street
Pumpkin, pumpkin
Good enough to eat!

Book: The Very Best Pumpkin by Mark Kimball Moulton

Song: "Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes"

Book: Splat the Cat and the Pumpkin-Picking Plan by Rob Scotton

Goodbye Rhyme

For our craft, we made paper pumpkins. Take any sheet of paper and cut it into 1-inch strips. Punch holes in both ends of the strips, then attach them with brads. Fan out the strips into a round ball to make the pumpkin. Add a green pipe cleaner, curled around a pencil, for the vine.  When I did this craft, I showed the children some different colored and striped gourds as well and provided a variety of paper colors so they could be creative with their pumpkins. We ended up with orange pumpkins, green striped pumpkins, blue pumpkins, and rainbow pumpkins.