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With Halloween just around the corner, it’s time to share five Halloween Children’s Books you can use in your elementary music classroom! I love to use picture books in my music lessons to encourage reading & literacy, but also tie in fun themes and ideas depending on the time of year- and Halloween picture books are my absolute favorite!
Today, I am going to be sharing five of my favorite Halloween children’s books I use inside my music room (Although I have way more to share at another time), with a brief explanation of each, and what grades I utilize them for. If you are interested in any of the lessons, you can purchase one or all of them in my Halloween Activities Book Bundle, with pre-made slides, directions, music, & more!
You can purchase the Halloween Music Activities Book Bundle Here
Halloween Picture Book #1: Five Little Pumpkins
Five Little Pumpkins is a fun and classic Halloween finger play that is perfect to include in your music lessons.
I always use the Pete The Cat book version and read it to my students first. Then, on that same day, I teach the finger play to my students, echoing the words and motions phrase by phrase until they can say it without me.
On the second day, we start by reviewing the finger play, and then add instruments to the different characters (each pumpkin, the wind, the lights, and them rolling away). Each student gets to play one-two of the characters, depending on how much time you have in class.
I use this digital lesson pack to display the entire story to the students and have the instruments on the screen in case they forget their part. Check out the book here!
You can purchase the lesson pack/story slides here
Halloween Children’s Book #2: The Very Busy Spider
The Very Busy Spider is a classic book by Eric Carle about a spider that keeps getting invited to hang out with other animals on the farm, but never answers since they’re too busy spinning their web. I use this with my first grade students to practice an alternating bordun.
Every time a new animal asks the spider to hang out, and the spider doesn’t answer- we insert the following song:
Once the students know the song, we add a simple alternating bordun accompaniment on the bars E & B, while half of the class moves a spider through the webbing decor you can typically purchase from stores like Hobby Lobby. It always keeps the students engaged, and they love it!
You could also finish by singing the song There’s A Spider On The Floor- always a hit!
You can purchase the digital lesson pack here
Halloween Picture Book #3: Bonaparte Falls Apart
Bonaparte Falls Apart is a fun little book about a skeleton that keeps falling apart on his way to school- all of his friends try to help him, but finally, a dog comes and collects his bones for him.
I love to pair this book with the song “Dry Bones”, and insert it into the story every time a character helps Bonaparte with his bones (I have attached the song down below- *** I change Ezekiel to Bonaparte to match the story) I usually use this lesson with grades 3-5, as we introduce low sol with the song.
Once we know the song, we add the passing game that goes with Dry Bones (It’s a simple “Pass-Grab” motion), and add the passing game to our song. We then finish by either reviewing or using this song to introduce low Sol, and use melodic slides to review the solfege for the song. I also created a folk dance to go with it, which we do as our last activity for this book- It is always a hit every year! Check out the book here!
You can purchase the digital lesson pack here
Halloween Children’s Book #4: Halloween Hustle
Halloween Hustle is about a skeleton that is invited to the Halloween Ball, and on his way there keeps falling apart while doing the Halloween Hustle. Finally, another skeleton glues him together, and they dance the night away.
I start by reading the story to the students. Every time it says Halloween Hustle, I recite the following chant:
Then, I start teaching body percussion to add to certain words within the chant- once they know the body percussion and can say the entire chant without me, I take the words away and replace it with just the body percussion for those certain words. Finally, we end with replacing the body percussion with instruments instead. It’s the perfect little speech piece to do with your students. But don’t forget to do the Hustle dance with your students afterwards! Check out the book here!
You can purchase this digital lesson pack here
Halloween Picture Book #5: Frank Was A Monster Who Wanted To Dance
Frank Was A Monster is a fun little book about Frankenstein, who loves to dance, but he always falls apart when he’s dancing, scaring everyone away- but he doesn’t care- because man- he can dance!
After I read this story to my younger students, I then play the song Spooky Scary Skeleton, and have my students act out different Halloween Movement Flashcards- “Howl at the moon”, “Scare like a vampire”, “Float like a ghost”, etc.
We then finish by practicing keeping the steady beat with stuffed animals on different parts of our body using the popular Halloween tune Monster Mash! My students absolutely love this activity, as it gets them moving and grooving! Check out the book here.
You can purchase this digital lesson pack here
And just like that, there’s five Halloween children’s books and music lesson ideas you can use with your elementary music students!
Looking for ways to use children’s literature for other Holidays? Check out books you can use for Black History Month, or year round!
I’d love to know your favorite Halloween children’s book you use in your music room in the comments down below! Happy Halloween!
