Five Sweet Babies!

When my children's librarian mentioned doing a baby theme, of course I was happy to help plan that!! Everyone loves babies!  I had a previous post about emotions that involved a set of babies that we're using with our baby theme. Then, I found an adorable clipart baby to use to make a set of 5 babies. I made up a counting rhyme, 'Sweet Babies' to use with the felt babies. I cut out the whole body (including the head minus the ears) I cut out a second head that I glued on with the features and a separate diaper. The bottles are from a baby shower confetti set that I had. There is a black slick fabric paint bellybutton too!  These little guys are so cute!  

We are offering a Home Extension craft too. This is super easy to prep and prepare.  I used the 2 inch circle of the Sizzix circle diecut that I have to make the little pink baby faces. I made a blob shape that resembles a swaddled baby body. The children glue the baby face on the blanket and then glue the swaddled baby on the folded paper plate 'cradle'. Now the baby can rock while we sing, "Rock-a-bye baby".  Another cute baby song is Laurie Berkner's song, "Five Days Old".  Babies are so much Fun with Friends at Storytime!

 Check out the other posts at this week's roundup by Brooke @ Reading With Red. 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!

Poor Little Baby!

We recently decided to do an 'Emotions' theme for storytime. We used several cute books.  Of course we sang, If You're Happy and You Know It! I made a couple of felt sets to go with this theme inspired by posts on Flannel Friday.  Miss Angela's post about expressions/emotions at Spectacular Story Time was the first set I made. And then I made a cute set of babies that I plan to use again later when we do a 'Babies' theme. I was inspired by the Babies post by Lisa at Libraryland!! I loved the peek-a-boo rhyme/activity she shared; 'Poor Little Baby'.  Here's my set of babies...I made each one have a different emotion, under a different colored blanky, until...hooray!...the last little baby is happy! Sighs of relief and cheers all around!

Feelings and Babies are so much Fun with Friends at Storytime. The Flannel Friday Roundup is hosted by Katie @ Story Time Secrets!  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!

Happy 3rd Anniversary to Flannel Friday!

Flannel Friday has been a tremendous inspiration for me this last year and a half!! I'm so glad to say, Happy 3rd Anniversary to Flannel Friday!  Finding a community of storytellers with the same passion for young children and literacy and flannelboard has been life changing for me.  I have been inspired and encouraged to try things I never thought I could...like blogging. The generous sharing of creative ideas and the affirmation of ideas I had already been doing is wonderful for me!





Here are a few of the blogposts that have been very influential for me:
Abby the Librarian : What I do at Baby Storytime
Storytime ABC's : Where Can They Be?
Money Saving Mom: Cupcakes
Melissa @ Mel's Desk: (Not a) Flannel Friday: Cake Circles and Clothespins   (I've used this technique several different ways! Thanks Melissa!)
Flannel Friday posts every week help me think new thoughts, and often are springboards for other ideas for me to try or tweak or adapt!!

Here are several of my posts that got the most traffic and this week's post and current favorite:
Here Comes the Sun...Flower
Yummy For My Tummy
Thanksgiving!
Shoes!!
Ladybug, Ladybug!
Eeek! A Spider!
More Kite Flying this is my newest and current favorite :)


Check out the other Flannel Friday posts at the roundup hosted by Anne @ So Tomorrow.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!

More Kite Flying

This is a repost for the Roundup at Flannel Board Fun for June 24th, 2016

By the end of the week of our kite theme, a book that we had requested finally came in to the library. Kite Flying by Grace Lin is perfect for older toddlers, 2 and young 3 year olds. There is minimal text and clear, uncluttered illustrations! I loved it so much that I have bought my own copy and made a felt set to match it that is an activity.  My plan is that after we read the book I 'make' the kite on the flannel board, except for the colorful streamers around the edge. I hand out the streamers and call for a color streamer and they bring it up and add it to the kite on the board. I had thought of calling for kids whose name begins with ..."name a letter". This would only work with older 2's or 3's. You could call for kids wearing socks or kids wearing a skirt or kids wearing a belt, kids that have a dog...you get the idea. If the group is small you could call for the boys to come up and then the girls to come up and add their color streamer to the kite.  It always takes longer than you would think to do these activities with the young kiddos, but it's worth the effort for all the learning happening!
Here's my felt set:

I cut out the center of the big yellow circle and filled it with purple glitter. I added orange glitter (non-metallic) to the edge of the yellow circle.

I edged several pieces with blue/green glitter glue and used purple shiny glitter for the 'eyebrow' and eyeballs of the dragon kite.  Walmart sells some colored glitter that is not metallic that is really pretty that I used for the yellow whiskers and the edging of the big octagon kite shape. I made up my own patterns by looking at the book's illustrations.  To get the nose even on both sides I drew and cut out my pattern folded in half and then opened it and placed it on the felt. The red kite is a 9x12 sheet of felt with the edges trimmed. I'm so pleased with how it turned out and the kiddos that played this activity at storytime seemed to really enjoy it!

Kites are so much Fun with Friends at Storytime!

Check out the other Flannel Friday posts at the roundup hosted by Bridget @ What's Bridget Reading?. .  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 Go Fly a Kite!

Hooray, it's March and almost spring! It still doesn't feel like spring here but we know it's coming. We are doing some typical March themes at storytime including Kites.  I know there are several great Kite links on the Flannel Friday Pinterest boards like the one here. Two great kite theme books are, Someone Bigger by Jonathan Emmett and Kite Day; a Bear and Mole Story by Will Hillenbrand.  We have several kite flannels but I really wanted something interactive for the toddlers.  So, here's a rhyme and set of small felt kites that the kiddos can add to the board as we talk about colors and kites.

Color Kites

by Kathryn Roach

On a breezy spring day

Way up in the sky,

See the many *red kites

Flying high!

orange, yellow, green, blue, purple,

  

On a breezy spring day

Way up in the sky

   See the lovely rainbow color kites flying high!!

It's hard to see the red kite against the red felt of our board.  Anyway, I cut out 5 of each color and used the primary color variegated yarn (Walmart) cut into small lengths the same color as the kite for the tails. (It's the small things HA!) I usually stack the kites in the color sequence to be sure that every color is handed out. Then as I say the rhyme the kiddos bring their color kite up to the board.  They really enjoy this type of active rhyme. There are a lot of cognitive and social skills involved in this type of storytime activity; active listening, waiting for a turn, and a sense of collaborative pride when the board is full of the different color kites to make a 'rainbow'. Wow! I'm tired just thinking about it LOL!   

Kites are so much Fun with Friends at Storytime! 

Check out the other Flannel Friday posts at the roundup hosted by Amy at Catch the Possiblities. 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!