Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Winter Fun!
















We're in the middle of winter so I thought I'd post some of my wintertime sets. I made these many years ago and have used them a lot! Both of these sets are made from pellon that I colored with crayons or colored pencils. This first set is a getting dressed set and in order to make the pieces stick to each other, I stapled velcro dots to them. There is a song/chant to the tune of 'Mulberry Bush'. Here's a link to a printable Google doc. for 'We Put on Snow Pants'. This would be great to use when you use the set for the book,  The Jacket I Wear in the Snow. I also have an active rhyme that I made a little pellon figure for. I think I got both of these from Felt Board Fingerplays by Dick and Liz Wilmes.  Anyway, here's the link for the active rhyme, 'Snow Everywhere'. I also sing 'Sing a Song of Winter' and use the little rhyme, 'Winter Signs'. Here's one more winter active rhyme from Everything Preschool, 'Cloudy Day'. Brrrrr, winter is a lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime! There are other ideas this week @ 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!

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Not-a-Flannel Valentine Post!

Hey Friends, over the past 3 years I've posted a couple of Valentine's theme posts...Here and Here. I've also posted a  Friendship theme,   Here. So, this time I'd like to share a few not-flannel ideas that I've used over the years in a preschool classroom setting that would work in storytime too.  I have two different types of Bingo/Matching games. I made half sheet LOVE Bingo cards that I laminated and handed out to the kiddos. I used candy heart markers...yes, you know how that went! LOL! but you could use clothespins to clip on the pictures (fine motor practice) or small heart diecuts or even valentine erasers. There so many learning concepts covered in this activity! Talking and Playing!! I made a second set of whole sheet matching cards that I laminated and these could be used before or after storytime! I had another idea of putting the pictures on a heart shape and clipping clothespins to the matching picture like I did with a camping set HERE.


I have a set of laminated construction paper diecut hearts that I've used in a preschool class as a Hide and Seek game. I 'hide' the small heart in the classroom. I usually just lay them out in various places so that the kiddos can see them. I instruct them to only pick up the one that is the same color as the one in their hand! LOL! This is really hard for some kiddos! It's fun to watch them help one another too! This could easily be adapted to storytime by placing the cutout heart diecut on the magnetic/flannelboard and having the child with that color bring it up to fit inside and make a complete heart! Just add a dot of velcro or a magnet to the back of each piece!

There's the easy peasy matching game of duplicate kiddy valentine cards laminated with a dot of velcro or a magnet on the back of them! Or you can make a matching set by using duplicate valentine stickers on heart shapes and laminate them! There are so many ways to jazz this up!  Have the kiddos reach into a mailbox to pull out a card and then match it to the one on the board. You could hand out the duplicate pieces to an even number of kiddos in storytime and let them find the matching piece among the group (this could get a little loud LOL!) Another idea is to have one of the set hanging on a line with clothespins. The kiddos take turns walking down the line to find their matching piece. It could be even better if they can use those fine motor muscles to pin the two pieces together back on the line!

My last idea is a before-and- after activity supervised by an adult because of the small pieces. I have found Valentine erasers at the Dollar store and programmed a pattern on pink paper using the copier. The kiddos find the matching eraser and make the pattern on the paper. Be sure, this is well supervised! I usually put the erasers in an empty heart shaped candy box. Ha! That's my classic preschool teacher move, I don't throw anything away. I find a way to use it!! I've been out of the classroom for several years but you can't get the classroom out of me! LOL!! Valentines Day activities are sooo much Fun with Friends at Storytime. There are other ideas this week @ 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!

Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Valentine's Day Extravaganza - Flannel Friday Roundup for 1/20/2017

Hello Flannel Friday Friends!! This is the Valentine's Day Extravaganza Roundup for 2017. Please add your Valentine's Day ideas or any other theme ideas to our Roundup this week. I'll try to have everything posted by Friday evening.


Mr. Keith @Felt-tastic Flannelboard Fun has an adorable baby hugs rhyme to share!











Wendy @ Flannelboard Fun has 2 terrific Valentine's Day posts to share with us! Here's her set of felt Valentine Cookies and here's the link for her cute set of Valentines and Envelopes.

We love Lindsey's (Jbrary) set of 5 Little Snowpeople




Kate @Felt Board Magic has a cute Little Fox, Little Fox game similar to the Little Mouse hiding game.





I have a not-a-flannel post of several Valentine's Day fun ideas.












Now how cute are these 5 Lovebugs from Emily @ Literary Hoots?!








Thanks everyone for sharing this week! For more info about Flannel Friday check out the official blog or see the Flannel Friday Pinterest boards!

Saturday, January 14, 2017

Pandas!

So, we are programming for the winter and realized we've never done a Panda theme at our library! Well, that's got to change! I had seen this cute idea @Storytime Sparks and decided it was just the ticket for our program. I had made a felt set for Pippa's Penguins by Susan M. Dailey similar to the one @ RainMakesApplesauce. So I just adapted the story script to reflect our boy, Peter, and his cute colorful pandas. My pandas are a deconstructed Google image. Since we are using a nonfiction book about pandas too, we can talk about the difference between the real pandas and pretend toy pandas! Talking and Playing are two of our ECRR components!


There are more ideas on this week's Flannel Friday RoundupCheck out the wonderful resources on the Flannel Friday Pinterest Boards. Here's the link for the official Flannel Friday blog for more info!

Wednesday, January 4, 2017

Fox in Socks

Whwooo, here's my first post of the new year! Christmas was fun but, I'm glad to get back to a steady schedule! We are planning a 'fox' themed storytime to use the Five Little Foxes that I made a while back and we needed one more thing. I saw this adorable idea @ Storytime with Miss Tara and Friends and wanted to add it to our program. She used it with a sock theme so this is a versatile set! I made my set pretty big and we will teach the kiddos a couple of new color words; turquoise and tan. Foxes are a lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime!





















There are more ideas on this week's Flannel Friday RoundupCheck out the wonderful resources on the Flannel Friday Pinterest Boards. Here's the link for the official Flannel Friday blog for more info!