Books

“Apple Farmer Annie” by Monica Wellington
“Sneeze, Big Bear, Sneeze” by Maureen Wright

All the Leaves are Falling Down (Tune: London Bridge)

All the leaves are falling down, falling down, falling down (flutter hands down)
All the leaves are falling down, it is Fall

Take a rake and rake them up, rake them up (raking motion)
Take a rake and rake them up, it is Fall

Make a pile and jump right in, jump right in, jump right (jump up and down)
Make a pile and jump right in, it is Fall

Leaves on the Ground

Leaves on the ground
(touch floor)
Instead of the trees
(hold hands overhead)
I like to make a pile of them
Way up to my knees
(grab knees)
I like to run and jump in them
(running motion and jump)
And kick them all around
(kick feet)
I like the prickly feel of them
And the crickly crackly sound

Way Up High in the Apple Tree
or play The Apple Tree by Carole Peterson

Way up high in the apple tree
(stretch arms up)
Two red apples smiled at me
(hold up 2 fingers)
I shook that tree as hard as I could
(pretend to shake a tree)
Down came the apples
(flutter hands down)
And mmm, they were good!
(rub belly)

Ten Red Apples

Ten red apples growing on a tree
(hold up 10 fingers)
Five for you and five for me
(wave one hand, then the other)
Help me shake the tree just so
(pretend to shake a tree)
And ten red apples will fall below
(lower hands and wiggle fingers)
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10!

Fall is Not Easy by Marty Kelley

 I turned “Fall is Not Easy” by Marty Kelley into a flannel board. I’ve been wanting to do it for a while after seeing other posts (Storytime Katie and Mel’s Desk)  but have been putting it off. It took quite a while to make the flannel board but it was worth it! I plan on using it every Fall! At first children were slightly confused by the trees strange leaves but after the 2nd switch they were enthralled. They love yelling “no” and “that’s not right.”

Five Little Leaves

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!

After this I left extra leaves on the board so the children could come up and play with them.

How it Went: It’s officially Fall!! I love Summer but you can’t beat Fall in New England. I always do a Fall storytime right at the start of the season because it’s a personal favorite of mine. This storytime was tons of fun.