Sleeping Bag Chant

For some reason I think of camping this time of year?!! I don't even like to go camping. LOL! I like the idea of camping out but the reality of it...not so much! But, I don't have to tell my little kiddos that I don't like it...we can all enjoy camping fun at Storytime. I have posted before about some of my camping activities and books Here.  Here's my set for 'The Sleeping Bag Chant' that I originally saw @ Welcome to Storytime. I did tweak mine as she suggested (I took out the ghost and cricket). I made a little kiddo in a sleeping bag under a glittery star to begin the chant. I just chanted it and did not use the CD, H.U.M.:Highly Usable Music by Carole Peterson that she cited as the source of these lyrics:

Sleeping Bag Chant

I was lying in my sleeping bag—I couldn’t get to sleep

When the wind began to howl and the bugs began to creep.

So I rolled to the left and I rolled to the right

And I heard every sound that you hear at night—

Then I would make the sound of one of the animals/birds and the kiddos would identify it as I added it to the board. This is a cumulative rhyme so I would say the sounds and name of the previous creatures as I added another one.  This was a lot of fun and led to a lot of discussion!

Camping out is a lot of Fun with Friend at Storytime!! There are more great posts on the Flannel Friday Roundup. Check out the wonderful resources on the Flannel Friday Pinterest Boards. If you want more info about Flannel Friday here's the link for the official Flannel Friday blog.

2 by 2 Sea Creatures

Back during Shark Week, I saw the cutest variation of 2 Little Blackbirds @ sunflowerstorytime.com! Her 2 little sharks were adorable. I made me a set and then I saw a really cute octopus @ storytime ABC's and I wanted 2 of them! After I had them I decided I needed, at least, 5 different creatures so I'd have a total of 10 (the magic preschool number!). After some research and fiddling with several pictures to make patterns, here are my Jellyfish, Seahorse and Crab.  Now, I need to make up rhymes for all but the sharks and I'm set!! I decided that I can use these as finger puppets or on the flannel board. I used combinations of Google images to design my patterns and then I used ribbons, sequins and glitter glue or glitter fabric paint to embellish them. I especially love the little crowns on the seahorses. I cut up a fancy sequin to get the parts for those and the cheeks for the jellyfish. They all turned out better than I had hoped! It's funny how that works sometimes! *Update: Here's the link for the rhymes for each set of sea creatures Two Little Sharks.

Any and/or all of these would go well with some of the other sea creature posts I've already done; Seahorses, Fish or with this song, 'Old Man Skipper'.

Sea creatures are so much Fun with Friends at Storytime! There are more great posts on the Flannel Friday Roundup. Check out the wonderful resources on the Flannel Friday Pinterest Boards. If you want more info about Flannel Friday here's the link for the official Flannel Friday blog.

Little Dino...No Biting!

I ran across this adorable board book recently and thought, " I need to flannelize this one!!". The pictures are clear and the text is simple. It's too small to use in storytime so I made large flannel pieces to 'read' the story. I did take some liberties with my interpretation of a few of the pieces. But, since I don't intend to use the book other than to show the front cover, I didn't think it really mattered. I had some floral felt that I got on sale that I used for the mother dinosaur's dress. I didn't make my chair to scale with the other pieces but that's o.k.! I also used google eyes for my dinos. I intend to use this with another favorite book, Doodle Bites by Polly Dunbar. I can use this with several themes; Being Kind, Food, Dinosaurs, Teeth, ... I typed up the text and I'm ready for some great discussion when we have this story!

Dinosaurs and good manners are so much Fun with Friends at Storytime! There are more great posts on the Flannel Friday Roundup. Check out the wonderful resources on the Flannel Friday Pinterest Boards. If you want more info about Flannel Friday here's the link for the official Flannel Friday blog.

Lucky Ducks!

This picture book is great for several reasons! There are nice clear pictures, adorable ducklings, a big problem and then a wonderful resolution! We really enjoyed this picture book this week at all of our storytimes. The younger ones enjoyed quacking and the older ones enjoyed the suspense and rescue. Harvey had to pretend to be a duck and there was a lot of laughing and quacking going on! I wanted to use the cute ducks I saw at Mel's desk but I wanted 10 ducks, that were different colors to play a "Which One is Missing Game". I tweaked a previous rhyme ("Turtle Fun") and came up with a counting by 2's rhyme with 10 different colored ducks. I outlined my ducks with slick, black fabric paint and used google eyes. Here's the link for the rhyme:Ducks on the Pond. 

We also offered a cute paper plate duck Home Extension. Here's a link for the template and instructions. daniellsplace. You have to scroll down a little to see it and she calls it a goose. We used it as a duck. We chose this pattern because the prep is super easy and quick and the finished 'duck' is so cute!




























Ducks are a lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime! There are more great posts on the Flannel Friday Roundup. Check out the wonderful resources on the Flannel Friday Pinterest Boards. If you want more info about Flannel Friday here's the link for the official Flannel Friday blog.