Halloween Costume Story Time With Creative Printable
One of the most exciting parts of the fall season for kids (and adults!) is choosing a Halloween costume. There’s something so magical about the opportunity to dress up as anything! Dramatic play and dress up is a great learning activity for kids in general. As a result, it’s only natural that young readers would love a Halloween costume story time. Today I’m sharing our 6 favorite picture books that are all about choosing a Halloween costume. Stick around to the end where I share an idea for a creativity activity inspired by the books.
WHAT TO READ FOR HALLOWEEN COSTUME STORY TIME
Little Blue Truck’s Halloween
Alice Schertle’s Little Blue Truck’s Halloween is a sturdy board book perfect for young hands. The book has a lift the flap format, so little readers remain actively engaged throughout. Jill McElmurry’s illustrations are adorable. The vibrant depictions of all the farm friends dressed in Halloween costumes will keep kids guessing as they listen to the rhyming text.
Caillou Dresses Up!
This book is adapted from the animated series by Francine Allen, with illustrations from CINAR animation. (Remember when I mentioned our screen time choices? Here’s a great example of a screen character shared with my kids in book form!) I love Caillou books for introducing new ideas or activities via a social story. Readers can hear a reassuring tale about a child their own age dressing up and trick or treating. Nervous children will identify with little sister Rosie’s fears and feel less alone.
Curious George Goes To A Costume Party
A newer edition in the long running series from Margaret and H.A. Rey, Curious George Goes To A Costume Party shares one of George’s many fun adventures. Martha Weston’s bright, lively illustrations seamlessly match the original series’ artwork. Kids will love seeing George choose a fun costume, and cause a bit of mischief at a Halloween party.
Monster Needs A Costume
One of our favorite Halloween books, Monster Needs A Costume is written by Paul Czajak and illustrated by Wendy Grieb. The book is a fun look at a little boy and his monster preparing for Halloween by choosing the perfect costume for Monster! The illustrations are magical- Grieb packs so much detail in each of them, and personalities truly shine through. Kids will love the silly costume Monster ultimately settles on, as well as the subtle message that you can be anything you want to be.
Trick Or Treat Pout-Pout Fish
Deborah Diesen’s beloved series is one of #thelittleone’s favorites, so of course, we have the Halloween edition. The board book follows the undersea friends as they hunt for Pout-Pout in his Halloween costume. Children will love Dan Hanna’s fanciful images of the sea animals dressed up for the holiday.
Spooky Pookie
Our last choice comes from another well known children’s board book series. Sandra Boynton’s sweet little pig is featured in Spooky Pookie. Pookie must choose a Halloween costume with his mother, but it takes many tries to get it right. The illustrations are adorable, and there’s always something very lovable about the books in the Pookie series.
CREATIVE HALLOWEEN COSTUME ACTIVITY
Inspired by the many Halloween costume ideas in the books above, as well as my own children’s hunt for the perfect Halloween costume, I designed this fun and creative activity. It’s fairly simple, and requires very little prep. Depending on your child, there may be a bit of mess potential, but nothing too crazy I hope!
You Will Need:
- Halloween costume printable. (Get yours at the end of this post).
- Laminating pouches.
- Viable alternatives to laminating: contact paper, plastic sheet protector sleeves.
- Assorted colors of play dough.
- Optional: play dough tools like rollers, plastic knives, cookie cutters, etc.
- Optional: tray to contain the activity. (We always use a cookie sheet with raised edges).
How To Make It Happen:
- Grab your Halloween costume printable mat below.
- Make your mat more sturdy by laminating it.
- I always use a self seal, non-heat laminating pouch at home.
- You may be able to have it laminated at many office supply stores.
- Sandwiching the page between sheets of contact paper works well.
- Sliding the page into a plastic sheet protector is also a simple solution.
- Place the mat on your tray.
- Provide your children with play dough.
- Encourage your children to use the dough to sculpt and create a fun Halloween costume for the figure on the mat.
- Talk about colors, shapes, details, etc. with your child as they work.
- Are they creating a Halloween costume for themselves or someone else?
- What kind of Halloween costume would they pick for your or your spouse?
- When the Halloween costume is complete, the mat can be cleared and used again.
>>> Pair this mat with my Printable Halloween Play-Doh Tags for a special Halloween treat! <<<
One Quick Alternative:
If you’re not in the mood for play dough (no judgement here, I promise!), the laminated page also works well with dry erase markers. Your child may need to use mainly a black marker, because the colors of the printable mat are fairly deep. It’s still a fun, creative activity, with minimal clean up, and is much more portable than the play dough version.
Ashley Peavey
This looks like so much fun. My son would love all of these books!
Kate
Thanks so much Ashley! We had a lot of fun with it.
shfleming1984
Spookie Pookie looks like a really cute read! Anything that involves fall makes me smile!
Kate
It’s an adorable book- my two year old demands we read ‘Halloween Pookie’ at bedtime every night, haha.
simplymotherhoodsite
What a cute and fun idea!! Play doh wouldn’t work well for my kids right now, but they do love reading books. I’ll have to pick some of those Halloween books up for sure 🙂
Kate
Hope they enjoy the books!
Ash @ Spit Up and Sit Ups
Love love love this idea! You’re so creative! My son has officially decided to be Lightning McQueen from Cars! It was a tough choice between Thomas the Train and McQueen!
Kate
Thanks Ash! I can’t wait to see the Lightning McQueen costume- your little one is going to look adorable!
sunshineandkiddos
I would love to have all these books! Going to have to check the library for some good seasonal reads for the kiddos. Must find a way to make these play doh mats while being broke lol
Kate
You can slide the paper into a plastic sheet protector, or sandwich it between two sheets of contact paper instead of laminating it. Hope you find a way to make it work!
Christina | From Under a Palm Tree
This is sooo cute! I love all of these books! They’re adorable and full of good ideas!
Kate
Thanks very much, Christina!
Stephanie
This idea is adorable! And my son loves ALL of those books!
Kate
There are some really great Halloween books on the list! Thanks Stephanie.
Oh to Be a Muse
I haven’t even thought about Halloween at all. I wonder what costumes will be popular this year!
Kate
I’m guessing a lot of Moana for the little girls… Maybe Minecraft for older boys? It’s going to be fun to see!
esperanzascottogmailcom
What a fun activity for kids!
Kate
Thank you very much!
Melissa
We are going to have so much fun with this! Thank you!
Kate
Hope you enjoy, Melissa!
Rose
Monster needs a costume looks like a fun book and we have read the pout pout fish before but not this one. I think my kids would have fun playing with that printable too!
Kate
Monster Needs A Costume is one of my personal favorites!
Marissa ~ Diytifed
We will be going to the library this week and will definitely be looking out for these books! I love your creativity with the play-doh.
Kate
Thank you so much, Marissa!
Angela Amores
I love the Halloween book idea to introduce Halloween to the kiddos. We have the spooky pooky book. It’s so cute!!
Angela
Kate
Anything Pookie is pretty much my 2 year old’s favorite right now! So cute.
iambradthompson
Great post! I love children’s books, they bring back some great memories from my childhood like Caillou!
Kate
Thanks Brad! Anything Curious George always stirs up some childhood nostalgia for me!
Katie
Some of these are new to me!! I’ll have to check them out!!
Kate
Hope you and the kiddos enjoy them Katie!
Lauren (@pinkonthecheek)
This is just adorable. When I was a nanny, I loved spending Halloween with the kids and getting them ready. Seeing holidays through a child’s eyes is magical!
Kate
Halloween, especially, is one of those holidays that really brings out kid’s excitement! Thanks Lauren!
Britt Mont
I love reading books and I think that this is a fun way of getting kids to fall in love with stories while also experiencing the fun of halloween.
Kate
We love pairing books with our boys’ life experiences- makes reading time extra fun!
mogulmomartisan
Love the selection of books! I wish I didn’t despise Play-Doh because the mat is so cute!
Kate
Hahaha, we use it in controlled environments only! You guys could always try the dry erase markers instead!
mogulmomartisan
We love the dry erase markers and the crayola markers that only color on special pages lol
Kate
Color Wonder markers are definitely a life saver at our house too!
Priyadarshini Rajendran
Cute idea and perfect timing…gonna get it for my kiddo.
Kate
Thanks so much! Have fun!
The Crumby Vegan
What a fantastic selection of books. This makes reading so much more fun for youngsters when there is a theme ?
Kate
I completely agree!
Expedition Motherhood
Those books are so cute! My kids would still love to read them and do the activity even though they are a little older. They haven’t outgrown play doh yet…who am I kidding, I haven’t outgrown play doh yet either! Is it even possible? 🙂
Kate
Hahaha, that would be like outgrowing Legos- it’s never gonna happen! Always fun!
La Shell
OMG I love these. I remember Calliou was a staple in our house when my nieces and nephews were younger. So sweet.
Kate
Oh yes, Caillou and I go WAYYYY back as well, hahaha!
Emily @ The Southern Belle Blogs
Aw – great post! I love these ideas. Halloween is my favorite holiday and I can’t wait until next year when my little one will be here!
Kate
Every holiday is extra fun when a new little one is around! Enjoy it, mama!
Jasmine - LoveLifeLaughMotherhood
i think my son would love some of these books!
Kate
Thank you Jasmine! Hope you guys read a few of them together!
Colleen Bijl
This looks like a great activity for kids and loads of fun for them.
Kate
Thank you so much Colleen!
amberiam
What a cool idea! My daughter may still be a little young for this, but I’m pinning it for next year!
Kate
Thanks so much- I hope you have fun with it together next year!
itsahero
This activity is SO awesome!! What a clever idea!
Kate
Thank you so much Rachel!
lucicoo
This is so cute. I will have to do this with my niece and nephews they would love to do this.
Kate
I hope they have a ton of fun with it- and you too!