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 PUMPKINS!
It’s spooky season! While there are so many fun and spooky things to explore during October, we want to focus on a tried-and-true classic: pumpkins. Universally beloved by children, these bumpy gourds are a quintessential part of fall. They also make a great storytime topic. You can learn about gardening and farming, talk about processes and order of events (first we scoop the seeds out, then we carve!), practice early math skills like counting and size comparisons, and go on fun adventures! The library has some wonderful books about pumpkins 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 pumpkin-themed storytime.
Preschool
- Amara’s Farm by JaNay Brown-Wood
- Ready for Pumpkins by Kate Duke
- Pumpkin Jack by Will Hubbel
- Pumpkin Day at the Zoo by Susan Meissner
- How Big Could Your Pumpkin Grow? by Wendell Minor
- Seven Orange Pumpkins by Stephen Savage
- Pick a Pumpkin by Patricia Toht
- We’re Going on a Pumpkin Hunt by Mary Hogan Wilcox
- A Unicorn Named Sparkle and the Pumpkin Monster by Amy Young
Toddler/Baby
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar’s Peekaboo Halloween by Eric Carle
- Pete the Cat: Five Little Pumpkins by James Dean
- Duck and Goose Find a Pumpkin by Tad Hills
- Not a Pumpkin! by Susie Lee Jin
- Pumpkin Patch Party by Joel Schick
- That’s Not My Pumpkin by Fiona Watt
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: Pumpkin Chant
Movement Rhyme: 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 are witches in the air!”
The third one said, “But we don’t care!”
The fourth one said, “Let’s run and run and run!”
The fifth one said, “Isn’t Halloween fun?”
Then “Oooooh!” went the wind,
And OUT went the lights
And the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight!
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 pumpkin theme.Â
Egg Carton Pumpkins Craft
Materials Needed
- Cardboard egg carton
- Orange and black paint
- Paintbrushes
- Small pieces of green tissue paper or crepe paper
- Liquid glue
- Scissors
Source: Craftaholics Anonymous
Directions
- Cut one egg carton section off the carton. Trim down the edges so they are flat all over.
- Apply glue along the edges. Press the two pieces together and hold tightly to secure. Let dry fully.
- Paint your egg carton pumpkin orange.
- If desired, add faces to make jack-o-lanterns.
- If desired, add small tissue paper strips to the top for stems, etc.
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:
- Visit a pumpkin patch! There are several free pumpkin patches in the greater Richmond area.
- Paint pumpkins together. You can keep the fun going by having your kids wash the paint off afterwards (pumpkin car wash, anyone?) and painting them all over again.
- You can also join us in the library for free pumpkin painting. Our West End, Broad Rock, and Ginter Park branches are hosting events this month.
- Bake a yummy pumpkin treat together. Baking is such a great activity for young ones. You can help them practice early math skills like counting and measuring, work on motor development when you scoop and stir, and more.
- Join us in the library for more pumpkin fun including apple-stamped pumpkin prints and pumpkin volcanoes.
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!
