The Stubborn Pumpkin (Pre-K)

I modified The Stubborn Pumpkin by Laura Geringer to suit a Halloween/Pumpking storytime. I wanted a little more drama than the original story. In my story, the farmer, Bell, Nell, Fifi, Pup, and Mop are seen by a little mouse wandering through the garden. Little mouse offers help and they all laugh at her. I told the children, "mouse is small, that's true, but mouse is smart," and mouse climbs up on the pumpkin, chews through the thick stem and tells everyone to try pulling now. The pumpkin rolls off, and farmer bakes his famous pumpkin pie, giving mouse the biggest slice.

I used a combination flannel board and puppet to tell this story. All of the pieces are felt, except the mouse. For the mouse, I used my small Folkmanis glove puppet.

Hooray! An easy addition to your puppet-story repetoire.

The Very Busy Spider (Pre-K)

One of my annual favorites is telling Eric Carle's The Very Busy Spider with a spider puppet glove. The story moves so quickly and fluidly, it lends itself to easy narration. I have a large piece of square cardboard that I have cut into an octagon shape. With the puppet, I hold a skein of yarn in my hand, under the puppet, and wrap it around the cardboard as I tell the story.

The trick is to take your time and wrap the yarn slowly around the cardboard web. It builds excitement as the children watch a web forming right in front them.

At the end, I have a little pipe cleaner fly I stick under the yarn.

Simple and effective.

Props:
a large octagon-shaped piece of cardboard
a skein of yarn

Puppet:
a spider glove puppet