I Love Food!

It's getting close to Thanksgiving so my mouth is already starting to water, thinking of FOOD!  I shared on another post about a rhyme I have about healthy food called 'Brown Bread, Brown Bread'. We have used it this week in storytime to talk about Thanksgiving food. It's been a lot of fun. I laminated Google images of the different colored foods and handed them out. As I put a pic of the food on the flannelboard, the kiddos bring up their matching picture and put on my big platter on my lap. It's so cute that many of the little ones are so used to putting their piece on the board that they'd stand there and try and try to stick their laminated piece on the board! Since they had 2 different pictures (I made 5 of each food) the second time they would get it right!

We used one of my favorite food/family books, Feast for 10. I really like Cathryn Falwell's book for toddler/preschool storytime. It has nice big uncluttered pictures and minimal text. The kiddos think that the 5 kinds of beans page is funny! (hint: one of the kids is holding a bag of jelly beans!).  One of my kiddos today noticed that on the last page of the book, one child is eating jellybeans while the other is reading a book! It's not explicitly a Thanksgiving book but it ends with the family seated around a table that looks a lot like Thanksgiving!  
We  also gave out a fun Home Extension of pieces to make a bunch of grapes. The pieces are different shapes and the circles are different sizes and colors so there is a lot of scope for conversation about that! I have a sizzix diecut for the circles so prep was quick! 

Food at Thanksgiving is delicious and a lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime! There are more great ideas on the Flannel Friday Roundup! Check out the wonderful resources on the Flannel Friday Pinterest Boards. Here's the link for the official Flannel Friday blog for more info!

Giraffe wants a Snack!

 You know there aren't a lot of flannel rhymes about just giraffes and I wanted one so, I wrote one! LOL! I really didn't want to make 5 or 10 giraffes so my rhyme is about one giraffe that eats 10 leaves! How easy is that?! Here's the link for my rhyme: 'Giraffe Has a Snack'. As I count the leaves for the giraffe to eat them, I can take them off; or the kiddos can help if the group is small.

I used Google images for ideas for my tree and giraffe. For some reason the giraffe looks yellow but it is really a tan color. I used a googly eye and some black fabric paint for the mouth, nose and tops of the little horns. I couldn't resist a little glitter glue for the vein on my leaves. Giraffes are so much Fun with Friends at Storytime! 

There are more great ideas on the Flannel Friday Roundup! Check out the wonderful resources on the Flannel Friday Pinterest Boards. Here's the link for the official Flannel Friday blog for more info!

Noisy Robots

We  wanted to do a robot storytime and I had NO flannel sets!! What to do? Flannel Friday Pinterest boards to the rescue! I found this cute rhyme @anneslibrarylife and got right to work! I used shape jewels on my set with metallic pipe cleaner antennae. I also added a final verse to the rhyme.
5 Noisy Robots
5 noisy robots in the toy shop,
Shiny and tall with antennae on the top
Along came a girl/boy with some money one day.
Bought a noisy robot and took it away.
(continue with 4, 3, 2, 1)
*No noisy robots in the toy shop,
No loud, 'beep beep or bop or bip-bop'
Each robot has a home now with a little girl or boy.
5 noisy, shiny, funny, robot toys!

Robots are a lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime! There are more great ideas on the Flannel Friday Roundup! Check out the wonderful resources on the Flannel Friday Pinterest Boards. Here's the link for the official Flannel Friday blog for more info!

Pirate Treasure!

While we were preparing to do a Pirate storytime Miss Margaret expressed a wish for an interactive rhyme with a treasure chest and 'treasure'. We collaborated and she made up the rhyme and I made the flannel set and it was a big hit! Those little scallywags at storytime loved adding their treasure to the treasure chest...yo, ho, ho!! We did a lot of 'Shiver me timbers!' and 'Arghhh, matey' and other piratey talk and we had a blast! I looked at several Google images and took parts from several to make my chest and I made my own glitter felt using glitter glue. If I make any other sets that need glitter felt I will spend the extra pennies for it!! Anyway, here they be, matey!!
Here's a link for the rhyme 'Pirate's Treasure Chest'.

Arghhh!  Pirate treasure is a lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime! There are more great ideas on the Flannel Friday Roundup! Check out the wonderful resources on the Flannel Friday Pinterest Boards. Here's the link for the official Flannel Friday blog for more info!

I See the Moon!

      

I love variations of the Little Mouse, Little Mouse hiding game. When I saw this one @sotomorrow I wanted to add it to my collection! I tweaked my pattern a little and since I have a circle diecut I just used it for my moon. I added some shiny glitter glue and we are all set for some fun! This will be a great time to use Laurie Berkner's wonderful song, 'Moon, Moon, Moon'. I sing this song as a lullaby when my grandsons sleepover!
Singing and playing are so much Fun with Friends at Storytime! There are more great ideas on the Flannel Friday Roundup! Check out the wonderful resources on the Flannel Friday Pinterest Boards. Here's the link for the official Flannel Friday blog for more info!

Space; the Final Frontier!

Going boldly into outer space is super fun! Here's the five little astronauts that we used with this fun rhyme. (Don't remember where I found it) It's a take on 'Five elephants went out to play'.
One Little Astronaut 
One little astronaut floating out from base,
Hooked to a hose, exploring space.
She thought it was such an amazing trick,
She called for another astronaut to join her quick!
Two....
Three...
Four...
Five little astronauts floating out from base.
Hooked to a hose, exploring space.
They thought it was such an amazing trick,
But, then their work was done and they went back quick!

 My astronauts and rockets are diecuts. I hot glued a silver holograph sequin behind the opening for the helmet. LOL, One little girl with an eye for detail noticed that the yarn hose for the orange astronaut wasn't orange! Little things like that make storytime fun for me!! I do have several other posts about space and astronauts. Check them out!  Counting astronauts is a lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime! There are more great ideas on the Flannel Friday Roundup! Check out the wonderful resources on the Flannel Friday Pinterest Boards. Here's the link for the official Flannel Friday blog for more info!

Flannel Friday Roundup for 10/ 21

Hey Flannel Friday Friends,  here is your placeholder/roundup spot for a harvest of great ideas! I'm looking forward to some great inspiration for future storytimes.


Here we go!...

Lindsey from Jbray has this adorable set of 5 Little Pumpkins!

Mariah from Read them Stories, Sing them Songs has an amazing rhyme and cute little escargot!

Wendy from Flannelboard Fun has some sweet little ghosts to use with two cute rhymes.

Welcome back to Jessica from Storytime in the Stacks as she shares her great, Here is the Firefighter rhyme.

Thanks Mr. Keith from Felt-tastic Flannelboard Fun for the great taming tigers rhyme!!

I'm sharing another space rhyme, Five Little Astronauts!









O.K. friends and neighbors, hope you enjoy all of these wonderful ideas!! Have lots of Fun with Friends at Storytime!! Check out the wonderful resources on the Flannel Friday Pinterest Boards. Here's the link for the official Flannel Friday blog for more info!

Sly Foxes!

I've been wanting to make a set of foxes since I saw these at Sunflower Storytime.  The idea of a fox storytime is really appealing.There are so many great ideas from Flannel Friday boards! I remembered the fox in Rosie's Walk by Hutchins and knew that would be a perfect book for storytime. I also found Dinnertime! by Sue Williams so now I'm set! Leah @ Sunflower Storytime also has patterns and ideas for crafts on her site! What a treasure! I did tweak my foxes little! ;)

Wow, who knew storytime could be so much Fun with Friends and foxes!

There are more great ideas on the Flannel Friday Roundup! Check out the wonderful resources on the Flannel Friday Pinterest Boards. Here's the link for the official Flannel Friday blog for more info!

Astronaut Amy goes to the Moon

  Zoom, Zoom, Zoom

We're going to the moon.

  Zoom, Zoom, Zoom,

We'll be there very soon.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...

   BLAST OFF!

We enjoyed a fun, astronaut storytime last week. We had a cute Home Extension also! Going to the moon is super Fun with Friends at Storytime!  There are more great ideas on the Flannel Friday Roundup! Check out the wonderful resources on the Flannel Friday Pinterest Boards. Here's the link for the official Flannel Friday blog for more info! 

Pretty Balloons!

You can't go wrong with a storytime about balloons! We needed an interactive rhyme so I just threw together this one and cut out a bunch of 4" balloon shapes with a string tied to the bottom. easy peasy - lemon squeezy! Just hand out the felt balloons and then say the rhyme and count as the kiddos bring up their matching balloons. They never get tired of these interactive rhymes. We'll have some one-to-one correspondence and comparing more than or less than math happening!! Here's my post about birthday balloons.    

Balloons are a lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime!

Counting Balloons

(by Kathryn Roach Sept. 2016)

*Red Balloons, red balloons, how many do we see?

*Red balloons, red balloons, count them now with me!

Yellow, Green, Blue, Orange, Pink, Brown





















There are more great ideas on the Flannel Friday Roundup! Check out the wonderful resources on the Flannel Friday Pinterest Boards. Here's the link for the official Flannel Friday blog for more info!

Happy Gorillas!

During the month of November we are featuring storytime themes that start with the letter G. Our first week is a week of gorillas! After checking the Flannel Friday Pinterest boards, I decided to make my own rhyme and set of gorillas. Here's the link for 'Happy Gorillas' and pics of my counting to five set of gorillas and colorful gorilla food.  To make my pattern for my gorillas I used the best features from 2 or 3 different Google images that I traced and deconstructed for the parts.I made my own patterns for the banana, leaves, tree, bush and bugs. The five bugs have pipe cleaner legs hot glued to the back. I have a diecut that I used for the flowers and the berries. We are giving a Gorilla paper bag puppet as our Home Extension.  Yep, Gorillas are a lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime!







There are more great ideas on the Flannel Friday Roundup. Check out the wonderful resources on the Flannel Friday Pinterest Boards. Here's the link for the official Flannel Friday blog for more info!

Five Friends Play Dress Up!

Miss Margaret and I and our newest staff member, Camille, are busy planning the fall programming session. When you get three storytime-picture book lovers together the ideas are abundant!! We are planning several themes in a row with a unifying device of a story that our mascot, Harvey is 'writing'. This will tie into our ECRR component of Writing! So the first week we are doing Astronauts and space, then Pirates, then Cowboys, then Ninjas and finally, Monsters! That will get us to our Halloween Hoot and dress up fun! I made a set of 5 friends that we will use each week as we talk about our story.  I can tell from the pictures that I need to do a little trimming but I was too excited to wait to share them with everyone. Here's the link for my dress up friends from last year. Here is a second version of the Friends dressing up rhyme from that post...Five Jack-o-lanterns shining Bright (opt. version). Friends that dress up are going to be a lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime!! There are more great ideas on the Flannel Friday Roundup. Check out the wonderful resources on the Flannel Friday Pinterest Boards. Here's the link for the official Flannel Friday blog for more info!

I'm Feeling Boxed In!

Here's a fun rhyme/game that a coworker shared with me. (Thanks Angie!)  I made my boxes have tops that come off. I used 3 shades of each color to get a 3D effect. We hide a laminated picture of something fun inside and put the top on the box and say this little rhyme. There's that wonderful element of peek-a-boo that little children love!
Little *pink box let me look inside and see
Do you have a treat hiding there for me?

We are having so much Fun with Friends at Storytime!  There are more great ideas on the Flannel Friday Roundup. Check out the wonderful resources on the Flannel Friday Pinterest Boards. Here's the link for the official Flannel Friday blog for more info! 

Ahoy Matey!

 I've been using my summertime tub for storytime and came across this theme that we haven't used in a while. Pirates are so much fun! I remember that I was inspired by a couple of posts from Flannel Friday for these sets. Andrea @Roving Fiddlehead has a template and rhymes for the pirate ships. I found the cute pirate crab in the sale bin at Michael's and bought him as a pattern to make some more. I love his mustache! Then I saw this adorable pirate (Ha!) @ Loons and Quines which included a link for the pattern from Making Learning Fun. Also, check out Mrs. Andre's Library post about pirates! It's a treasure of ideas!  Arghhhh!  Pirates are a lot of Fun with Friends er...Buccaneers...at Storytime! There are more great ideas on the Flannel Friday Roundup. Check out the wonderful resources on the Flannel Friday Pinterest Boards. Here's the link for the official Flannel Friday blog for more info! 

Everyone Loves a Marching Band!

Miss Margaret has struck again! She had an idea for a Marching Band theme but we couldn't find any flannelboard rhymes to go with it. So...we collaborated and made up our own. Well, she did most of the rhyme and I made the felt pieces to go with it. I may end up making a couple more band members for a clarinet and saxophone. Just not yet. This was kinda labor intensive since I made my patterns as I went and *gasp* I threw them away!! You can see that I started with a Google image and I tweaked it some and I made my own pattern for the instruments. Anyway, here is a link for the rhyme  'The Marching Band'.  Music and marching bands are so much Fun with Friends at Storytime!

There are more great ideas on the Flannel Friday Roundup. Check out the wonderful resources on the Flannel Friday Pinterest Boards. Here's the link for the official Flannel Friday blog for more info!