18 Fall and Halloween Books to Increase Language
It’s that magical time of year again! Fall is my favorite season for many reasons, but one of the biggest is all of the fun themed activities and books. There are so many great books for fall and Halloween available, but I’ve developed some favorites for therapy over the past several years. I’ve also been growing our library at home as my oldest (17 months) is much more interested in books this fall and starting to choose his own favorites. (For more info on how early to start shared reading with your little one, go here!)
Read on for my favorite fall/Halloween books for therapy and my own little ones, and ways I target language with each! This list will always be changing and growing, and Amazon has a knack for making you want to buy 12 more books for every 2 that you do buy. Many of these books I use repeatedly in therapy every year, and some of them are new to our collection at home with my little ones. Enjoy!
Favorite Fall and Halloween Books for Language Skills
Why: This one is filled with lots of great fall vocabulary (leaves, different types of trees,) and good opportunities to talk about spatial concepts (around, through, over, across), emotions, and verbs (climb, pick up, step, splash, row, jump, etc.) My little guy loves when we put it to a beat and do the motions!
Why: I love Karen Katz books, and so does H. This one is good for simple vocabulary to help introduce the season to your toddler (pie, acorns, pumpkins, leaves), and has bright pictures that are easy for little ones to engage with. Good for simple spatial concepts (behind), and early sounds (e.g., baby, pie) Also a lift the flap!
Why: Crowd favorite for sure. We have this one by Rookie Toddler at home, but I also like Pete the Cat: Five Little Pumpkins (who doesn’t love Pete the Cat?) Great for basic concepts, (colors, describing sizes of pumpkins) Halloween vocabulary (witches, jack-o-lanterns), counting, and rhyming. You can also talk about different emotions with the jack-o-lantern faces.
Why: Bonus points for touch and feel books! It’s easy to keep my oldest little one engaged with this one. There’s a touch and feel aspect on every page, and fun descriptive verbs that can make for silly sounds (scratch, plonk, crinkle). Lots of fall vocabulary in this one too, and every page has a different fall aspect/activity to talk about (jumping in leaves, baking, pumpkin patch, etc.)
Why: One of my favorites this year! The lift the flap aspect is an easy way to model asking and answering “wh” questions (“who’s under the mask? It’s duck!”) The straightforward and repetitive text makes it easy to target labeling, animal sounds, and making simple predictions. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, but this is one of H’s favorites this year. This mom is a big fan of Little Blue Truck books.
Why: A great one to help prep your little one for a trip to the pumpkin patch. You can use to introduce the concept of what going to the pumpkin patch looks like, and activities to do there. Another good one for clear fall vocabulary: (Nouns – farm, pumpkin, apples, bushel, farm animals; Verbs – picking, carry, carve, climb, trick-or-treating ; Adjectives: shiny, big, red, orange, scary, funny)
Why: I love the Duck & Goose books! Simple text and fun pictures. This is a good book for spatial concepts (in, under, on), and fall nouns (log, leaf pile, apple tree, pumpkin patch, etc.)
Why: If you thought Duck & Goose was great for spatial concepts and vocabulary, then you’ll really think this one is a winner. Baby looks for her pumpkin (using words like in, under, and behind) on Halloween and runs into lots of fun Halloween themed vocabulary (cat, ghost, witch hat, bats, etc.) This one is extra fun because of the lift-the-flaps and glitter!
Why: This board book is a cute fall find and a sweet one for mommy + littles. Full of good adjectives (little, sweet, warm, cold, nice, magical, etc.) and sweet snuggles.
Why: One of my favorites in therapy every year! This one has more text, but can easily be paraphrased if your little one won’t sit through it. A good one to keep them engaged through rhyming with lots of opportunities to work on describing with older kids. So many great fall themed nouns, verbs, and adjectives. I’ve also used to address making predictions and problem solving.
Why: I use the “Old Lady” series a whole lot in my therapy sessions. It’s a great one for story retell, sequencing and (you guessed it) seasonal vocabulary. I’ve also used it to identify rhyming words, practice asking/answering “yes and no” questions (e.g., ‘should you eat a bat?’) and present/past tense verbs. The “Old Lady” books are always full of great verbs! Old Lady – Bat verbs: swallowed, howl, shush, chase, catch, spin, scare, rattle, cast, yell.
Why: One of my very favorites for older kiddos and I have a lot to say about it! There are so many great opportunities for making predictions here. I also use it to target answering more complex “wh” questions (e.g., “why were the carrots happy at the end of the book?”) This is another great one for sequencing. I use pictures of different parts of this story and have kids put them in order after reading. Then we retell the story with and without the pictures. For articulation, there are a lot of words with /r/ and /l/ sounds in this book. In my experience, kids also get really into the story (win!)
Why: A fun one for comparing/contrasting, and talking about friendship. For something fun, I love that all of the text in this book is in speech/thought bubbles.
Why: A good opportunity to practice labeling with farm animals and Halloween costumes, fall verbs (flicker, crunch, creak, tap, peek), making predictions and inferences, and emotions.
Why: I’m always a fan of simple text that rhymes. This is a good one for counting (down from 10, counting ghosts left in the house, etc.), and making inferences about the witch and all of her costumes (identifying the box labeled “wig,” the box labeled “ghoul costume,” etc.) Also a good one for talking about emotions.
Why: This is another one that has more text but can be easily paraphrased. I don’t use this one a whole lot in therapy, but it is a good one for social skills and identifying safe vs. unsafe choices. I have several kiddos who go for this one every year!
Why: A fun one for making predictions! (“What will happen when the monkeys trade costumes? Will their babysitter find out they switched? etc.) In my experience, also a good opportunity to talk about making good choices while trick-or-treating, and a good opportunity to brainstorm and categorize Halloween costume ideas!
Why: Also great for fall themed vocabulary (pumpkin patch, jack-o-lantern, Halloween costume, trick-or-treating), and good opportunities for explaining traditions in the fall (e.g., “in the fall we go to the pumpkin patch,” or “On Halloween we dress up in costumes and knock on people’s doors for candy” etc. Bonus points for lift the flap books! Always a great way to keep kids engaged.
General Language Goals for All Books
I write a lot about books and how much I use them in therapy (because they are the best). One of the reasons they are the best is because you can target a variety of language goals with one book (read here!) Then, you can target all the same goals with a different book, and have it feel like a whole new experience. Or, you can repeat the same book while targeting different goals (or even the same goals – repetition is key!) The point: there’s a lot you can do.
If you’re a parent, here are some general language skills that are typically easy to target using books:
- Asking/answering “wh” questions (who, what, where, why)
- Asking/answering yes/no questions
- Labeling
- Identifying
- Articulation
- Social Skills
- Making inferences
- Making predictions
A note about inferences and predictions. I target these a lot with books, and want to point out how they are different (just real quick). A prediction is using context to make a guess about something that could happen in the future. An inference is making a guess about something that has happened using context clues.
Want an easier reminder for all the language skills you can target using books? You can get this Shared Reading Bookmark for Speech and Language Goals by accessing my freebies library here.
There’s an endless amount of fall and Halloween themed books you can use with your little one. Something fun we are experiencing this season is introducing new books to our little guy, and finding out which ones are his favorites! Find your favorites, find your kids’ favorites and have fun from there. Happy reading!
