20 Halloween Books For Babies and Toddlers

Happy Halloween Eve 2020

We are gearing up for a weekend of non spooky celebrations

And lots of Halloween book inspired play

Have a wonderful Halloween at Home

Here are some fun books for the of littlest trick or treaters

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We are very excited for Halloween here at Edspire HQ. This afternoon we carve our pumpkins, tomorrow we decorate the house and have a Hogwarts style welcome feast. Saturday we spend the day at Witch and Wizard School writing spells, making messy potions, having wand duels and flying lessons. It is all going on. Then Sunday we are having a traditional Halloween party with dancing and games including apple bobbing and doughnuts on strings. It is going to be a busy weekend. Just us this year. We will miss our friends and family joining us very very much. I have been using this fabulous Halloween ABC from @nosycrow with Edie to explore all the sights and vocabulary linked with Halloween. We love looking at the gorgeous pictures by @chickengirldesign and thinking about where we see things like bats and cauldrons, what spooky things might make us jump, when we might quiver. This is a fun first alphabet book perfect for getting littlest readers talking about Halloween! #halloweenbooks #halloweenbookstagram #halloweenabc #nosycrow #nosycrowbooks #halloweenbooksforkids #halloweenathome #halloweenbooksforpreschool #halloweenbooksfortoddlers #babybooks #booksforbabies #boardbooks #readingtogether #babybookworm #booksforlittles #edspirereads @littlenosycrow

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An explosion of colour for Halloween as we read TEN LITTLE MONSTERS, make our own @bakerrossltd monsters and dance to The Monster Mash. Boom! That is how to start a week! Ten Little Monsters is an awesome book for little ones counting down to Halloween. It has all the spook with none of the scare. The illustrations are an absolute delight there is so much to spot and count and talk about. The little monsters encounter all kinds of fearsome creatures in a very light hearted spooky night in a haunted castle. As is the way with these books one by one the little monsters disappear in mysterious circumstances before being joyously reunited at what looks like an amazing Halloween party filled with all the festive fun one would expect from such an affair. I think the soundtrack to the final double page spread is definitely The Monster Match. This is the perfect Halloween book for preschoolers and is thoroughly enjoyed by all four of my children aged 3 to 10. A marvellous mix of monster mischief and mayhem. Happy Halloween!!

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Today we read this brilliant book of Halloween Haikus from @abramskids Written by Deanna Caswell and illustrated by @bobsheabooks this is great seasonal fun and the perfect launchpad to some spooky haiku writing. The book is a series of riddles with the words on one page and the answer as you turn over. The children loved solving the riddles. The illustrations are wonderful, brightly coloured and great fun. I adore the endpapers!! Haiku is a style of Japanese poetry that encourages a sense of fun and word play. Haiku are three lines long. The first line has five syllables, the second line has seven and the third has five. After reading the book the children had a go at writing their own Halloween haiku. We folded a sheet of a4 paper in half. The children wrote their haiku on the front and then drew their answer on the inside. This would make a lovely lesson for home learning and in any classroom. Please do have a read of the children’s haiku, they are really proud of them x #halloweenbooks #halloweenathome #halloweenlessonideas #halloweenhaiku #boohaiku #booksforhalloween #halloweenbookstagram #halloweenbooksforkids #halloweenbooksforchildren #poetryforkids #poetryforchildren #childrensbooksofinstagram #kidsbooksofinstagram #bookstagram #teachermummy #bookishwaytoplay #bookishlife #booksaremagic

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Have you met Oscar? He is a lovely little skeleton who is feeling down because he has lost a tooth and he is worried it will hinder his chances of finding a friend. One day he meets a little girl burying a tooth. The little girl agree to give Oscar her tooth if he helps her achieve her dream of finding a friend. Hand in hand the two go adventuring and exploring their two very different worlds. The language is beautiful and the collaged illustrations are stunning. I live the skeleton library spread! This is the story of finding friends at unlikely times in unlikely places. This is a story that shows we can be friends with people who are very different from us. This is a story to show that we can be friends with people from places very different to our own. This is a story of finding and cherishing friends and knowing that true friends will love us lost teeth and all. At the end of the story they promise to see each other again and Oscar gives the little girl back her tooth. Can you think why? A beautifully written book with lyrical prose describing the adventures of the new unexpected friends. The collages pictures are incredibly clever and add a whole other layer to the story. The perfect non scary skeleton story for young readers this Halloween. Where would you take a new friend? What would you want them to see, touch, taste and hear? What would you do together? What adventures would you have? @lantana_publishing @ten.pawel.pawlak #halloweenbooks #halloweenbooksforkids #halloweenbookstagram #booksforchildren #childrensbookstagram #childrensbooksofinstagram #kidsbooksofinstagram #picturebooksofinstagram #picturebookblogger #edspirereads

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I love Gustavo the shy ghost. I totally and utterly understand him, desperate to make friends but no idea how to start. Wanting to be part of the crowd but not sure how to find his place. Feeling completely unseen even when he is in plain sight. I think many adults and children can empathise with Gustavo and that is what makes this such a rich, special and endearing book. Gustavo is a very very shy ghost. More than anything he wants to make a friend. He enjoys doing all the normal paranormal things and he loves playing his violin. Gustavo longs to be with the other monsters. He knows that he has to be brave and be seen. He invites all the other monsters to a violin concert at the Day of the Dead party next full moon at the cemetery. My heart hurt for Gustavo when it seemed no one had come to hear him play. My heart soared when he plays for himself and the music makes him so so happy. A reminder that no matter what we should always be true to ourselves. As he plays the other monsters arrive and they are in awe of their new friend. Together they all enjoy a wonderful Day of the Dead party and for us as readers, we are left with a happy heart and perhaps a little tear in our eye. A beautiful book about friendship and kindness and courage and being accepted and accepting others just as they are. So many positive messages from this stunningly illustrated book and a fabulous way to introduce the Mexican Day of the Dead to younger readers. I think perhaps Gustavo wins Halloween this year x @walkerbooksuk @bigpicturebooks #gustavotheshyghost #halloweenbookstagram

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Frog in a bog Bat in a hat Snap crackle pop And fancy that Abracadabra! Meg and Mog!!! There are SO many Meg and Mog stories but the original is my favourite. Meg the witch and Mog her cat go off to a Halloween party and accidentally turn their friends into mice!! A story with magic that goes wrong and all the perfect ingredients for a Halloween party potion. We love Meg and Mog for reading aloud, reading alone and for reading together. Edie enjoys these shirt stories and likes to ‘read’ them on her own. The illustrations are striking and bright. We love the use of bold colours. The children are also enjoying the Meg and Mog cartoon on You Tube which is very true to the characters of these classic books. Are you a Meg and Mog fan?

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I think this might be my new favourite Halloween book. The pencil drawings with splashes of glorious autumn orange give this book the perfect seasonal feel. The subtle shimmer to the colour in just the right places feels like a real dusting of book magic. One crisp autumn morning Ollie and her cat Pumpkin are heading outside to play. They have the best fun in piles of shiny autumn leaves. They discover a little shivering black kitten covered in one of the piles. Ollie, the kitten and Pumpkin play a while. All the autumn outdoor games that little readers will recognise and delight in. As they explore further into the woods they notice posters of the lost kitten all around them. Ollie knows she needs to take the little kitten home. My favourite page in the book shows the autumn leaves revealing a secret path through the forest, through a tunnel of trees. The orange accents show the seasonal magic in these pages and clever little cut outs add extra depth to the pages. They are really stunning!! Ollie follows the path and takes the kitten safely home. Ollie then realised she has lost Pumpkin as she runs through the woods trying to find her cat she realises that she is lost and alone and the forest is growing dark. Soon clever Pumpkin finds her and the pair head out of the woods for home. There is a Halloween treat for Ollie and Pumpkin as the story ends, and for little readers too! Such a lovely Halloween story with lots of heart, bundles of fun and glorious golden leaves of magic @nicolakillendraws @simonkidsuk #halloweenbooks #halloweenbooksforkids #halloweenbooksfortoddlers #halloweenbooksforchildren #halloweenreadalouds #halloweenbooksforpreschool #halloweenstories #ollieslostkitten #bookmagic #booksaremagic #readingismagic #littlereaders #littlebookworm #raisingreaders #booksforkids #booksforchildren #booksforhalloween #edspirereads #bookblogger #bookstagrammer #kidsbookswelove #kidsbooksofinstagram #childrensbooksofinstagram

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Angelina Ballerina stories portray the community spirit of village life so beautifully. Everyone knows everyone and looks out for one another. Villagers come together to celebrate special occasions. Every story is filled with heart and charm and a sense of belonging. Angelina’s Halloween shows the kinds of All Hallows’ my childhood was filled with. Fancy dress, sweet treats, spooky games and parties with family and friends. Costume parades and pumpkin carving. Angelina also has the kind of Halloween we try to create for our children with stories and crafting and delicious food. In this story Angelina and her little sister go out together to enjoy Halloween with their friends. They have a party with special foods, go trick or treating, explore a haunted house and take part in the village fancy dress parade. Gently interwoven with the celebration story is the story of two siblings who love one another dearly but do not always get along. It does remind me of Edie and how she so wants to be one of the big kids. Halloween will be a different affair this year but I am so glad we have stories like this to remind us of Halloween’s past and all the wonderful Halloween’s we have still to come. A lovely non scary story that is perfect for exploring fancy dress ideas and to spark conversations about Halloween traditions. The excitement of Halloween leaps off every colourful and detailed illustration. Think we might add a bubbling witches’ brew and goblin biscuits to our feast table this year x @puffinbooksuk #angelinashalloween #angelinaballerina #halloweenbooks #halloweentreats #halloweentraditions #halloweenbooksforkids #halloweenbookstagram #halloweenbooksfortoddlers #halloweenbooksforchildren #booksforhalloween #halloween2020 #bookstagrammer #bookstagram #kidslit #kidlit #picturebooksofinstagram #picturebookblogger #edspirereads

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Edie loves this story of Lydia Lou. Little Lydia Lou is sleeping and a friendly ghost is trying to wake her up but Lydia Lou will no wake up. The ghost asks a cat to help him, a cow and an owl but still Lydia Lou will not wake up. A crying baby and a cockerel join the cacophony but still Lydia Lou sleeps on through all that noise. At the end of the story she wakes up happy, smiling and laughing. Do you know what it is that finally wakes our sleeping beauty from her slumber? It all begins with a feather! A fun non spooky Halloween story that is great for introducing the oo sound to young children. This would also be a great book for children to rewrite changing the rhyme and the night time visitors. It is a fun small world play to set up and easy to make an accompanying story basket for #somanywaystoplay #wakeupdolydialou #juliadonaldson #halloweenbooks #halloweenbookstagram #halloweenbooksforkids #halloweenbooksforchildren #halloweenbooksforpreschool #halloweenbooksfortoddlers #bookishplayideas #edspirereads #picturebookblogger #childrensbookblogger #readaloudfamily

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We love Room on the Broom. All my children have loved it. We have lots of different versions of the book as well as sticker and activity books and the cuddly toys. We all know all the words and love voicing the characters. We have seen the stage show twice and it was brilliant both times. So imagine our delight to find a new interactive board book version of this perfect Halloween story. Edie has loved playing with the book. It is not the full story which she found a bit confusing to begin with but now she knows all the words of this new condensed version and reads it with all the voices. This would make a lovely Halloween gift for a baby or young toddler or for preschool age children like Edie who want a book they can ‘read’ independently. There is definitely room on the broom for this little sprinkle of push, pull and slide Halloween book magic x @macmillankidsuk #juliadonaldson #roomonthebroom #halloween2020

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Room on the Broom Treasure Hunt Tray. I have created a treasure hunt in a tray for Bea and Edie tomorrow. They have a list of items to find that I have hidden in a tray of @lidlgb Halloween pasta. There is a cat and a dog, a bird and a frog, a broom, a wand, two stars, a toadstool, an owl and more. After reading the story they will search the tray to see how many of the items they can find. They can then take turns hiding and seeking. You can also use this tray to play a memory game where the children have to remember all the things on the tray and then recognise which item I remove. Kim’s game I think that is called? There are lots of ways to play with this book inspired #trayfortheday #somanywaystoplay #roomonthebroom #bookish #bookishplay #bookbasedplay #bookinspiredplay #readchatplay #sensorystorytime #sensorystorytelling #eyfsideas #invitationtoreadandplay #welovehalloweenplay #halloweenplay #weloveautumnplay2019 #weloveautumnplay #welovehalloweenplay2019 #childrensbooks #kidsbooks #kidsbookstagram #picturebooks

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Here is my littlest bookworm, my little pumpkin pie. She is being quite challenging at the moment. I think she is struggling to find her place among her big siblings. And we are all feeling the affects of being stuck at home more than usual and missing visits with friends and family. Often Edie will climb on to my lap for a cuddle and we will watch some telly or read some books. You’re My Little Pumpkin Pie from @silverdolphinbooks is one of her favourites. Perhaps because of the peep through pages, perhaps because of the cute characters, perhaps because of the easy to remember rhyming text or maybe, just maybe, because it is a love letter penned from a parent to a little one. This book tells little readers they are sweet and special, they are magical, they are safe. Through the cute seasonal characters including bats and cats, spiders and ghosts children are reassured that they are loved, that they are special. This is a lovely little board book for your pumpkin pie, your bedtime bat to let them know that they are safe from harm and loved unconditionally. A cuddle and a book fixes all things even if it’s for a moment x x x x #youremylittlepumpkinpie #halloweenbooks #autumnbooks #booksfortoddlers #booksforpreschoolers #booksforlittles #booksforlittleones #booksforchildren #childrensbooks #childrensbooksofinstagram #kidsbookswelove #bookface #booksaremagic #readingtogether #readaloudfamily #edspirereads

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Good morning! We are embracing all the Halloween fun today. We have all our books out, we have made a start on the Halloween offerings from @twinklresources and @bakerrossltd We are savouring the season. B is for Boo is a brilliant Halloween alphabet by @greg_paprocki It is full of amazing illustrations. Every page is a vintage work of art. Reminds me of 1950s marketing and adverts in their style. Each page would make a brilliant billboard. A fun abc book published by @babylitbooks Perfect for inspiring some spooky letter recognition play or spelling out cvc words in Halloween characters. BAT = Boo, Apple, Trick or Treat HEN = Haunted House, Enchantment, Ninja Lots of ways to enjoy this book and use it for #bookishplay #playfullyraisingreaders #halloweenabc #halloweenbooks #halloweenbooksforkids #halloweenbooksfortoddlers #childrensbooksofinstagram #kidsbookstagram #bisforboo #kidsbooksofinstagram #raisingreaders #littlereaders #edspirereads #bookstagrammer #bookblogger #booksforkids #booksaremagic

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One of edie’s favourite books at the moment is @lydiamonks Aaaargghh Spider! It is a great story to read aloud and had some lovely sparkly webs in it. We decided to create some sparkly webs of our own using black paper, glue sticks and glitter. We drew the shapes in glue and sprinkled glitter all over them. Such a simple activity and one that kept all the girls busy for ages as they made lots of webs and then experimented with other pictures and patterns and writing their names. This activity could be adapted for any book but is especially effective for glistening webs. #booktivity #bookishplay #bookinspiredplay #bookinspiredcraft #bookbasedart #childrensbooks #picturebooks #readchatplay #readalongplayalong #readaloud #readaloudfamily #invitationtocreate #artplay #bookplay #kidsbookstagram #kidsbookswelove #weloveautumnplay2019 #novemberplay

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Yesterday we went to @pumpkinmoonuk where Farmer Charlie told us that he planted 65000 pumpkin seeds in the spring. Farmer Charlie ended up with a few thousand pumpkins but not as many as he planted. The weather was against him this year and there were other contributing factors too. Do you know what a pumpkin seed needs to grow into a pumpkin? This lovely book from @robramsden_illustrator will tell you and your little ones everything you need to know so that you can plant and grow a pumpkin of your own in time for next Halloween. Seeds need sunshine to help them grow. With water and sunshine the seed begins to grow. The roots push down into the Earth and the stem and leaves shoot up. You have to be very patient and tend to your plants in all weathers. The bees and butterflies will visit your pumpkin plant flowers and pollinate them to make the blooms become pumpkins. First a small green bump with sunshine and water your green bumpkin will grow and grow into a large orange plumpkin! Edie loves joining in with the children as they talk to their pumpkin and urge it to grow. Edie shouts at the book “go go pumpkin, grow grow pumpkin!” With rain and sunshine and lots of encouragement the pumpkin is ready just in time to be carved for Halloween. We have successfully grown our own pumpkins for the last few years with seeds from our Pumpkin Moon pumpkins. Do you grow your own? This lovely book from @scallywagpress might encourage you and your little ones to have a go. This book is such fun to read out loud and is a lovely addition to Rob’s series including I Saw A Bee and We Found A Seed. #weplantedapumpkin #pumpkinmoon #pumpkinseason #pumpkinpatch #pumpkinseeds #pumpkinbooks #halloweenbooks #enwcpumpkinweek #exploringnaturewithchildren #autumnbooks #childrensbooksofinstagram #kidsbooksofinstagram #picturebooksofinstagram #edspirereads

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