Halloween Babies

Last year I made a large set of babies and blankets to play a Peek-a-Boo game with our youngest storytimers.  It was a big hit! Here's the link Peek-a-Boo Baby!   So this year I made a new set and a new rhyme for Halloween. These make me smile!!

Trick or Treat Peek-a-boo Babies

By Kathryn Roach (10/2018)

Trick or Treat!

Look and See.

Someone is knocking.

Who can it be?

We had used Frankenbaby last year and he sort of was the inspiration for Halloween babies. We are using felt sheets with a large sequin 'doorknob' to hide the babies and then we'll say the rhyme and the magic happens! LOL!   Babies and Peek-a-boo are a lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime!

Firetruck File Folder!

I have already shared my 10 Firetrucks HERE but I finally got the file folder version done last week!! I cut out the truck shape and added the tires and ladders before I laminated it. I hot glued on the sequins for the flashing light. Then I just stacked the color pages and we're set! Firetrucks are so much Fun with Friends at Storytime!

Marching Elephants

We recently did an elephant theme for storytime and I wanted a new flannelboard set! I have shared my circus elephants HERE and I also made my own set of 5 Elephants in the Tub but that just wasn't enough! LOL! I made a new set of 10 elephants marching trunk to tail.  Elephant Counting. This rhyme gives us an opportunity to talk about 'first' and 'last'.  We really enjoyed counting to 10 and then, subtracting and counting backwards to 0.
Elephants are so much Fun with Friends at Storytime!

Beary Fun!

Fall is upon us and a really fun theme is 'Bears!' I've posted about bears before...Here. But I thought I'd share a fun version of the Little Mouse hiding game with a bear.
Here's a link for the rhyme/instructions for Where Is Bear Sleeping?  The bear is a traced bear on Pellon and the 'caves' are easily cut out 2 at a time from different colored felt. This fun peek-a-boo game never gets old with preschoolers! Yay!!
Fun with Friends at Storytime is
'Beary' Fun!!

The Band is Rockin'!

Here's my 10 Rock and Rollers ready for Summer Reading Storytime Fun!! I had a diecut for the body and the rock and roll clothes and accessories. I had to modify the body cause they weren't made for each other. I made my own patterns for the hair and adapted the clothes to make a vest and shirt for two of my rock n roll stars. Ya'll can tell I used a good bit of glitter and sequins and shiny fabric paint too! I did make up a rhyme for these rock stars too. Here's a link for 10 Rock and Rollers in the Band.
 Rockin' out is Fun with Friends at Storytime!

                 

Electric Guitars

                               

I made a shiny set of Five Electric Guitars and a rhyme to go with them to use this summer with our Summer Reading Programs. Here's a link for my rhyme, Electric Guitars.  I saw this set on a Flannel Friday Facebook post by Syntha Martin Green and was so impressed!! I  made my own set and then one thought led to another and viola! Five Electric Guitars!!  Here's a fun guitar craft idea from notimeforflashcards.com!

Rock On Dudes!!   Rock n Roll is so much Fun with Friends at Storytime!

Rhythm and Music

Here's an interactive rhyme/activity for Summer Reading this June. I just Googled an image for my pattern. I stapled 2 pieces of felt together and cut 2 shapes at a time while I watched T.V.  Easy Peasy!! Here's the link for the rhyme: Musical Notes .  I made 4 of each of  7 colors but depending on the typical size of your story time you can either make more of each color or add more colors. I am considering making a file folder of the note shape eventually to give the kiddos that color cue as I say the rhyme. I hand out the shapes and tell the kiddos to listen (or watch) for the color that they are holding. They bring the shape up to add it to the board. The toddlers like this activity a lot!! We generally hand out a Home Extension at the end of our story time and for this program we'll hand out 2 unsharpened pencils and some small sticker to make their own rhythm sticks.

Rhythm and music are so much Fun with Friends at Storytime! Check out other flannel board ideas at the Flannel Friday Pinterest boards.  

Five Fancy Peacocks!

I've been wanting to make a set of peacocks for awhile and finally I did it!!  We plan on doing a program later this summer about birds and one of our books features a peacock, so that's as good an excuse as any to make a rhyme and set of 5 proud peacocks. Here's a link for the rhyme- Five Peacocks.  I used a Google image and loosely translated it into felt using some sequins and gold glitter glue, fabric paint and hot glue! I'm happy with the results but I don't want to make anymore!! This was fairly simple but very tedious! 

Birds and especially Peacocks are a lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime! 

Sea Otters and other Sea Creatures!

I know this is kinda random for February but Miss Margaret and I have been thinking about this for months!  Finally, here is my rhyme/activity for Sea Creatures!!  A few months ago we saw this adorable book about a sea otter and one thing led to another and the idea morphed into a 5 sea creature item.  Then we got John Lithgow's new book about a manatee and knew it was a sign!! LOL! Anyway, I got the set made by using bits of different Google images and some fabric paint and thread (whiskers) and a cute little shell sequin.  I love them!! We'll probably use them this fall but I had to work when inspiration hit!  Did you know that you can tell a seal and sea lion apart by the little ear flaps visible on the sea lion and not on the seal? There's a new fun fact!

Here's a fun video from Veggie Tales and the song, 'Barbara Manatee' !  

Sea creatures are a lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime!! Here 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!

Choo Choo! Here comes the Train!

We're starting the year with a preschool favorite theme...Trains! I had a couple of things from before when we did this theme HERE but I wanted something new! I found some great resources on the Flannel Friday Pinterest Transportation board. I made my version of Melissa's train set. Check out her blogpost HERE.  Now, we're ready to Choo Choo and Clickety Clack for Storytime!
Be sure to see the other ideas on this week's  Flannel Friday Roundup!