Tooth Fairy game

February is National Children's Dental Health Month so I thought this felt set would be a great addition to my previous 'teeth' theme posted here.  I found some resources at the American Dental Association's website.  I found an old set already made in the files at my library and couldn't wait to make my own set. Here's the game and printable patterns at Making Learning Fun.  I enlarged and tweaked the pattern a little and added glitter and gems and ribbon and some slick fabric paint to make my set.  I plan on using this like the Little Mouse hiding in the color House game.  We'll identify the colors of the pillows and then help the Tooth Fairy look for the teeth. There was a cute rhyme in the library's set that someone must have added; "Children, children look and see. Can you find the tooth for me?"  I know this is going to be a LOT of Fun with Friends at Storytime!

I found this Tooth Fairy Flannel Friday post at Storytimes with Moxie. Here's another cute post with a tooth fairy too. The Flannel Friday Roundup is hosted by Lisa at Thrive after Three!  Have questions about Flannel Friday? Check out the Flannel Friday official blog.  Be sure to  join us on the Flannel Friday Facebook page and enjoy the great Flannel Friday Pinterest boards too!

Valentine's Day

I have so many Valentine felt sets that I usually do a couple or three weeks of storytimes about friendship, love and Valentine's Day. There are soooo many books that lend themselves to these themes. Many of the books I like to use aren't necessarily Valentine's Day books.  This year a new book came in that isn't a Valentine book but will be perfect for the theme!! You Know What I Love? by Lorena Siminovich.  The illustrations are clear, uncluttered, two-page spreads and there is minimal text. I know this one will work with 2's and up for storytime!  It's my newest favorite! Another book that works well is The Biggest Kiss by Joanna Walsh.  A couple of songs I like to use are, 'A, You're Adorable' and 'Teddy Bear Named Freddy Bear' by Ralph Covert.  

I have a few flannel sets and not-flannel sets to share with you.  Be sure to check out the Flannel Friday Pinterest boards for a treasure trove of Valentine ideas. You'll see that this first set was inspired by a post I saw last year at Busy Crafting Mommy;  Six Little Valentines by Elizabeth Stefanov and Miss Meghan. I used laminated Google images for the animals and laminated WordArt hearts that I programmed with the rhyme for the Valentine. I put a small piece of velcro on the backs of each piece. The felt envelopes were easy to cut, fold and glue. I used a small stick-on foam heart for my 'stamp'.

     

Five Little Hearts
Five Little hearts all in a row;
The first one said, "I love you so."
The second one said, "Will you be my Valentine?"
The third one said, "I will, if you'll be mine."
The fourth one said, "I'll always be your friend."

The fifth one said, "We'll all be friends until the
very end."

I flip the hearts over after I do the rhyme and we read the hearts. I always tell the kiddos that my favorite is the one that says KISS! (I'm such a grandmother! LOL!)

I have another counting to 5 rhyme that I've used for many years.

Five Pretty Valentines
Five pretty valentines waiting at the store.
(child's name) bought one and then there were four.
Four pretty valentines for everyone to see.
(child's name) bought one and then there were three.
Three pretty valentines said, "I love you"
(child's name) bought one and then there were two.
Two pretty valentines, this was so much fun.
(child's name) bought one and then there was one.
One pretty valentine sitting on the shelf.
I liked it a lot! So, I bought it for myself.

I glued/taped kiddy valentines to heart cutouts and laminated them for my pretty valentines. I added a dot of velcro to the back so they'll stick on my flannelboard. I've used these for about 15 years!!  When I taught preschool I would tell the children that we would do the rhyme again so that every child would have a chance to hear their name and come up and 'buy' a valentine from the board.  Simple things are always a big hit with small children! Thank goodness!
Valentine's day is so much Fun With Friends at Storytime! Be sure to check out the Flannel Friday Roundup at Mel's Desk.

Flannel Friday Roundup 1/17/14

Well, here we are in the middle of winter and I'm ready for some new ideas! This week's roundup does not disappoint!  I so appreciate this community of generous flannelboard enthusiasts.  The creative ideas are inspiring and down-right FUN. Just the thing in the middle of a cold and dreary winter.  So grab your cup of hot chocolate or tea or coffee, put on your fuzzy slippers and settle down to enjoy a cozy collection of great posts!  




Here you go:

• Mmmmm Yum! Who Ate the Cookie Dough?  from Lisa at Thrive After Three...deliciously adorable!
• Speaking of eating, here's a clever Goldilocks and the Three Bears from Jenna at Stories With Ms. Jenna.
• Another classic story, The Elves and the Shoemaker, is the first time post from Amy at The Show Me Librarian.  Welcome Amy!!
• Enjoy this wonderful post of the nursery rhyme, Old King Cole, with a twist from Katie at Story Time Secrets.
• For your wintertime themes, here are some cute snowmen ideas from Monica at Ram Sam Storytime.
• Of course in winter we need...(sort of) Mitten Madness from The Library Lady at Story Time with the Library Lady. 
• No snow? Make your own... Snow In a Can from Mollie at What Happens In Storytime...
• Check out several more adorable winter felt board ideas from Christine at Felt Board Ideas.
• Shel Silverstein's poem 'I Made Myself a Snowball' is flannelized by Bridget at What is Bridget Reading?. 
• Longing for summer? Head to the beach for a midwinter vacay with Brenda from Story Tree.
• For a baby storytime, here's a not-a-flannel magnetic set to use with a song about pets from Nikarella at Narrating Tales of Preschool Storytime.
• Pete the Cat and His Magic Sunglasses will surely help with those grumpy feeling trapped indoors-too cold-too many clothes-need more sun blues from Miss Sue at Library Village.
• This post fits so well with the ECRR model that many of us use in our storytimes. ABC Animals in their....what?! at Storytime ABC's
• Here's my post for the week;  Colorful Ice Skates with how-to's. 
• Check out another how-to post for Chicka Chicka Boom Boom puppets! from Lisa at Libraryland.
• Take a look at this fun animal guessing game including the how-to's from Linda at Notes From The Story Room.
• One more great how-to post for a fun interactive activity from Katie at Storytime Katie.
• Time for a fun guessing game. Kitty Cat, Kitty Cat, Are You In The Blue Hat? from Miss Mary at Miss Mary Liberry.
• Now for an abundance of cuteness; Wiggleworm Hiding in a Book game from Anne at itsybitsymom.
• Ready for a laugh? These 5 flowerpots and flowers are so much fun from Sethers at The Voices Inside My Headphones.
• Oh My! This little dancing frog is adorable! from Andrea at Librarian vs. Storytime.
• Try this ingenious storytime extender idea; an Infographic Story Stretcher from Cate at Storytiming.

Wow! Thanks everyone for sharing this week. Dont' forget that next week is the Valentine's Roundup hosted by Melissa at Mel's Desk.

 Have questions about Flannel Friday? Check out the Flannel Friday official blog.  Be sure to  join us on the Flannel Friday Facebook page and enjoy the great Flannel Friday Pinterest boards too!

Let's Skate on the Ice (with how-to's)

It occurred to me there might be some of you just starting your flannelboard collections and I thought I would share a few of the tricks I've learned over the years in making a LOT of flannelboard sets.  I made a new set of  colorful ice skates to use this week at storytime with a Mitten/Ice Skate theme. I couldn't find any ice skate rhymes in a quick search and for me it's easier to make one up than to spend very long researching. So here's the link to my new rhyme Colorful Ice Skates. And here's how I made them:

I found a Google image that looked fairly simple and I traced it and cut it apart into my pattern. I marked on the pattern pieces the color and which is the top and where to apply glue.  Be sure to add a little extra space as you are cutting at the point that you will be gluing the pieces together.

Since I was making pairs of ice skates, I stacked two pieces of felt and cut two at a time of each shape. I hold the two pieces together with clothespins or pins or staples (they come out and don't leave holes).  For single small pieces I tape the pattern to the felt. I do it this way because I don't like to trace onto the felt. As you can see, I save and use scraps for small pieces for my sets.  I try to keep my scraps sorted by color in ziplock bags. (I hate to cut a small piece from a whole sheet of felt.)

I like to cut all my pieces and do all of my gluing at one go so that the pieces can dry overnight or for about 8 hours before I move onto the next stage of construction.

Time for fabric paint and glitter glue! Ha! You know I couldn't make these without glitter somewhere!  I made my own glitter glue by adding silver and iridescent glitter to white glue in two small bottles of glue. Some of the skates got the silver and some got the iridescent glue.  I usually let the fabric paint and glitter glue dry about 8 hours or overnight. After they were dry I cut small slits for the laces at the dots that I marked on my pattern.

I used a large needle and twine for my laces and starting at the bottom laced up to the top of the skate.

Back of the skate

 I glued the ends to the back and glued a pretied bow at the top of the ice skates.

Voila !!     An extreme amount of cuteness! LOL!!

After using these this week, I think I'll add one more step and cut out a second boot shape to glue to the back. I want to cover the ends of the lacing and make the skates sturdy enough for the children to handle for a matching game. Hope some of these tips help you make your next felt set!   Ice skates are a lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime!!  Enjoy other great posts for the week at the Flannel Friday Roundup here.

Penguin Fun!

Penguins lend themselves to preschool storytime so well because they are incredibly cute and funny!! I have several penguin flannel sets including my set to match the story, 'Pippa's Penguins' by Susan M. Dailey featured at Rain Makes Applesauce by Sharon, The Reading Chick and at the blog, A Bad Case of Books. I have used nonfiction books with big pictures and talked about penguins on selected pages. There are several penguin rhymes and stories at the Flannel Friday Polar Animal board.  Here's my set of felt penguins that I use with the rhyme Six Little Penguins by Nancy J. Smith, I found here and here.  I also have 5 penguin Beanie Babies that I use with another count to 5 penguin rhyme.

My penguins are made of felt and fabric paint and miniature pom poms.  I deconstructed a Google image for my pattern.  Check out this fabulous link I found for penguin rhymes HERE. Penguins are so much Fun with Friends at Storytime!!

Dressed for Winter!

Time for winter themes!  I have so many flannel sets for winter, snow, snowflakes, snowmen, penguins... but still I make new ones LOL!  I was inspired by this terrific post by  Lisa @ Thrive after Three of her flannel set for the book, The Jacket I Wear in the Snow by Shirley Nietzel; illus. by Nancy Winslow Parker.  Of course, my set doesn't exactly match hers or the illustrations in the book. I used, felt, fabric paint, some yarn and a pom pom. I'm really looking forward to using this set with my storytime children this January.  I plan on handing out the pieces and as we read the book they can bring up their piece and add it to the board.

I'm planning to read, Keats' The Snowy Day and  Under My Hood I Have a Hat by Karla Kuskin. Lisa also has this recent post with her flannel set for Under My Hood... Maybe I can make me a set before next year?!  

I also play my 'Which One is Missing?' game with this theme. I made 5 adorable felt toboggans to count, discuss colors and play with. I used the variegated color yarn from Walmart to make my pom poms. I used a Google image as a pattern.  I cut 5 extra brims; one of each color, and cut them apart and glued them back together for each toboggan.  I LOVE these little hats!!  I made up a rhyme to use with these before we play the game; here's the link to 'Five Toboggans'.   Winter time is Fun with Friends at Storytime.