Welcome to the Storytime at Home series! Every other week, we share a list of book options tied to a kid-approved theme, a craft you can set up to go along with the theme, songs/rhymes you can do during storytime, and additional enrichment activities. All books are available at Richmond Public Library, and crafts will involve items you likely have at home already! Our hope is that we can make it easy for you to share stories with your little ones and create a little bit of library magic at home.
P.S. Love library storytimes? Take a look at all in-library storytime options here. There is a storytime for your child every morning at our various branches!
Okay, now to the fun stuff…
Today’s storytime theme is LEAVES!
This new month will bring a new season. The air is cooler, the leaves are changing colors… Autumn is coming! Leaves can be such fun topics for kids. You can talk about seasons, learn about tree life cycles, enjoy all the colors, explore concepts like tall/short, up/down, bare/full, and more. This theme also lends itself well to motor skills practice as well as early math skills. You can stomp your feet to crunch leaves, stretch your arms up tall like a tree, count leaves, sort leaves by shape and type of tree, and compare heights and sizes of trees and leaves. The library has some wonderful books about the leaves and trees, and we’ve included some of our favorites below. When you visit, you can also search in our catalog or ask a librarian to help you find the perfect book for you and your child.
Books
Reading to your kiddos turns them into confident thinkers. Making books a regular part of your daily routine is a great way to build children’s love of reading and learning. Storytimes also help build excitement around reading to support their literacy development.
Here are a few book options you can choose from for your leaf-themed storytime.
Preschool
- Trillions of Trees by Kurt Cyrus
- A Grand Old Tree by Mary Newell DePalma
- Wonderfall by Michael Hall
- The Leaf Thief by Alice Hemming
- Little Tree by Loren Long
- Fletcher and the Falling Leaves by Julia Rawlinson
- Yellow Time by Lauren Stringer
Toddler/Baby
- Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf by Lois Ehlert
- Count Down to Fall by Fran Hawk
- Tap the Magic Tree by Christie Matheson
- One Leaf, Two Leaves, Count With Me! by John Micklos
- Leaves by David Ezra Stein
- My Leaf Book by Monica Wellington
There are many ways to make reading fun and engaging for your little one!
Click here to see some of our favorite tips for bringing stories to life at home.
- Point at the pictures and ask your child what they see. Help build their vocabulary by pointing to pictures and saying the word aloud.
- Ask your child questions about the story: What do you think will happen next? How do you think this character is feeling?
- Read with expression and enthusiasm, and use different voices for different characters.
- Act out what’s happening in the story.
- As your child gets older, count objects in a book, discuss the different colors they see, point out shapes in the story, etc.
- Snuggle up and be patient. Reading is great bonding time for you and your child. Take your time walking them through the story. If your child wants to turn the page or be finished with reading, that’s OK too. You don’t have to read every word or even every page for reading with your little one to be beneficial for their development.
Songs and Rhymes
We love adding songs and rhymes to our storytimes. This is a great way to practice language with your child and support their physical (motor) development through movement.
Here are two songs and rhymes you can use for this themed storytime.
Song: The Leaves On The Trees
Tune: Wheels on the Bus
The leaves on the trees turn orange and red,
orange and red, orange and red
The leaves on the trees turn orange and red,
All around the town.
Repeat with: The leaves on the trees come twirling down and the leaves on the ground go swish, swish, swish
Counting Song: Five Little Leaves
Hold five fingers up and count down as you say the rhyme together
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!
Arts and Crafts
Adding a craft along with a book is a great way to continue allowing your child to learn, explore, and grow. Crafts are a nice supplement as they encourage motor development, creativity, self-confidence, and more.
In fact, art and craft activities:
- Build fine motor skills. Actions such as painting, coloring, gluing, and cutting develop small muscles in small hands and improve coordination skills as children learn to use both hands at the same time.
- Support early literacy. When children make art, they learn vocabulary and how to follow directions when getting verbal instructions from parents and caregivers. They also boost their communication skills via talking about their work!
- Teach early math concepts. Math skills are used frequently in arts and crafts. Kids learn about and recognize different shapes, count and sort art supplies, and even measure out materials.
- Encourage creativity. Art helps develop creativity, self-expression, problem-solving, and curiosity.
- Boost self-esteem. Doing arts and crafts can give children a sense of achievement and allow them to take pride in their work, which builds confidence.
- Offer bonding time. Kids love spending quality time with parents and caregivers, and arts and crafts are a great opportunity for this.
Here is a craft activity you can do along with the leaf theme.Â
Leaf Collage Craft
Materials Needed*
- White construction paper
- Crayons
- Glue stick
- Leaves
The fun thing about this craft is that you get to go on a leaf hunt to collect leaves for your collage!
Inspired by Busy Toddler
Directions
- Draw a tree with bare branches onto the paper.
- Have your child color the tree as desired.
- Help your child glue leaves onto the branches of the tree!
Additional Enrichment Ideas
The fun doesn’t have to end at books, songs, and a craft. There are many ways to enrich a storytime with additional activities and lessons. Here are a few ideas for you and your child:
- Go tree spotting! There are so many great places to see amazing trees. Some of our favorites are Maymont, Pony Pasture Trail, Bryan Park, and Bellemeade Park.
- Take a day trip to Shenandoah National Park to go hiking among the trees.
- Visit Three Lakes Nature Center to walk on their many trails through the woods and around the lakes. Their new nature center is opening mid-September, so stop by there for a full outing!
- Collect leaves together! Finding leaves is a great opportunity to practice early math skills like sorting (by color, e.g.), comparing (by size, e.g.), counting, and more.
- Make leaf rubbings with your collected leaves to add some art to your home!
- Gather sticks, tie them together, and make a tree to decorate. This is such a fun activity because you can decorate with anything you have on hand – bottlecaps, stickers, paint, paper… the list goes on and on!
We share these Storytime at Home posts each month, so be sure to check back soon for more. You can also search “#storytimeathome” to see all past posts.
Have a suggestion for the next theme we cover? Email Sarah at sarah.fenninger@rva.gov and let us know!
