Grab a free printable Halloween emergent reader for your kids today (you can find it at the bottom of this post). They’ll make a great addition to your Halloween activities for preschoolers.
Are you following Fun-A-Day’s Halloween Pinterest board?
Related: Monster Counting Activity with Printable Number Cards
Preschoolers and kindergartners get a big kick out of Halloween! And I don’t blame them. It’s a fun reason to dress up and hang out with family and friends. All of this with a bonus side of candy.
That being said, the little ones aren’t much for the scary side of Halloween. Again, I don’t blame them. I made the mistake of watching the movie “It” with my best friend when I was in middle school. So I don’t even like to see clowns on Halloween. Let alone anything seriously scary.
That’s why this little Halloween book is focused on simple costumes for the kids. Not scary at all. In fact, its bears dressed up for Halloween, which adds a layer of levity to the whole concept.
Printable Halloween Book for Kids
I love making books with, and for, my preschool students. So many early learning concepts can be taught using simple homemade books!
With Halloween coming up, I thought it would be fun to create a new printable emergent reader for the kids. Check the bottom of this post to grab your own copy.
Learning goals
As I already mentioned, simple emergent readers can help teach many early literacy concepts. Here are just some of them:
- Left-to-right progression
- Sight words
- Letter identification
- Letter sounds
- Book knowledge
- The difference between a letter and a word
Materials Needed
Since this is such a basic printable reader, there aren’t too many materials to worry about.
I may get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.
Here’s what we used:
Like I said, not too many prep items to get. You likely have all of these materials in your classroom already.
In my opinion, the small supply list is another reason to like the I See Halloween emergent reader.
How to prep the printable Halloween book
I love sharing free printables, so go ahead and grab your own copy of this early reader. The clip art I used is from D.J. Inker’s Spook-Tacular Smiles clipart collection, and I used her D.J. Simple font for the words.
Once you’ve printed out the book, it’s time to assemble it. Fold each page in half, with the pictures and words facing out. Put the pages in order, then staple them along the left-hand side. “I See Halloween Costumes” should be on the front, with “The End” on the back.
Related: Free Printable Dinosaur Emergent Reader
Here’s a video about assembling these easy readers:
Using the printable Halloween emergent reader
This Halloween reader is definitely fun for the kiddos! If the children like to color, print out the black-and-white version and let them be illustrators. If not, the color version works well too!
Start a conversation with the children about Halloween costumes. If they’re anything like my students, the kids will love to share what they’re going to dress up as!
Then introduce the book, explaining that it’s about different costumes. Look through the book with the children, talking about each picture.
Then go through and read the book to the kids, pointing to each word. Encourage the children to follow along with the reading. Let the children read and reread the book.
Related: Butterfly Life Cycle Printable Book
Here are a few more ideas:
- Write the book’s sentences on a separate paper strip. Cut it up, then have the kids reassemble it. They can use the book to help them do so.
- Write the words on sentence strips, then add them to a pocket chart. Cut the pictures out separately, then place them in the pocket chart too. Have the children match up the the pictures to the appropriate sentences. Provide as much help as needed, of course.
- Make a class book based on what the children are planning to be for Halloween, using the same basic sentence structure of “I see a . . .”
Do you use early readers with your children/students? Would they enjoy this printable Halloween emergent reader? Don’t forget to grab your own copy at the end of this post. Let me know what you think!
More Halloween Resources
Preschool Teacher 101 has some done-for-you resources that would be perfect for Halloween! While you’re there, consider becoming a member for even more ways to simplify your planning time. Click on the photos below for more information:
Get Your Free Printable Halloween Reader
This printable Halloween emergent reader is available to members of Fun-A-Day’s free email community. If you’re already a member, enter your email in the form below to get the book sent to your inbox.
Not a member? Enter your information in the form below to join us (and get the book as a thank you from me)!
You can also access the form in a new tab if you’d prefer.
I like clip art for making printables too. This week I made a printable board game to play with kids – they loved it! The clip art you used for this book is so cute
Thanks so much, Anna. That board game sounds like fun!!!
So sorry , Sandi! I didn’t add the links correctly. They are good to go now! Let me know what your kids think of the book!!! 🙂
Thanks Mary Catherine. Just finished printing it for my k-kids.
What cute clip art! I can’t wait to print the Halloween emergent reader book for my kids. Thank you! I use clip art with my four 4 year-old kids and on my blog.
I like using clipart to make fun activities/printables for my kids!
Thanks so much…this is great! I’m using it as part of my Halloween countdown and adding a costume every day 🙂
I’m printing this out today for my daughter who is home sick. Thank you for sharing! I use clip art to make fun activities for my kids.
Love this clipart! MY kids would love these. Thanks for sharing:)
I love it too, thanks so much!
Thank you for sharing! I’m sure I must be missing something here, but when I print this out, the title is on the left, which means when you fold the page in half the book opens backward. Please advise:)
Hi Marianne! Yes, the title is on the left hand side. Fold the paper in half, then staple on the side where the edges meet. I hope that helps – I think I need to add more pictures to make that clear! So sorry!
Great holiday reader. We need those sight words I and see in my spooky kinder class!
Thank you! 🙂
Thank you this book is adorable!
Thanks, so glad you like it! 🙂
Thank you!
You’re welcome! Thanks for popping by. 🙂
I love this book! Cute and simple. I teach children with multiple handicaps and clipart – especially in color is a big part of my teaching, as often the children can’t independently visual things we are talking about. Since Halloween is one of my two favorite holidays (the other being Thanksgiving) this will be great! Thank you.
Sarah, I am so happy to hear that this reader will be helpful in your classroom!!! 🙂
Sarah – you could easily make the book and have your students match their piece to the corresponding character in their book to make it individually interactive for them. (If you haven’t already thought of that :-).
Love this idea, Denise! 🙂
I love using clip art to create books for preschoolers as well as visual schedules, transitions, and speech related cards. In the past, I used clip art to create calendars. One of my most favorite uses for clip art is to create interactive story telling pieces for books. As a matter of fact, I used Carson-Delosa and DJ Inkers clip art to create pieces for The Big Pumpkin! Love their clip art.
Yes, yes, yes! All of those things! And I LOVE the book “Big Pumpkin”. 🙂
I look forward to your emergent readers because my class really enjoys having their own books.
We just did the My Pider book and used toy spiders as counters.
Thank you
You are so sweet, Karen! I love hearing how other teachers and kids are using the books. 🙂
Love these projects!!
Thank you so much, Eddi!
I’m sorry to hear you’re having trouble locating the free printables I make. The majority of them have a large teal button to click on in order to enter your information. They’re also generally under a heading that says something along the lines of “Get Your Free Printable”, and they’re almost always located near the bottom of the post (and most posts explicitly state where to find the free printable – this post says so in the first paragraph). Here’s what the button looks like for this freebie that I have made and am sharing. . .