My Colorful, Cozy Quilt

 

We are launching a Family Storytime in the evenings and so a bedtime/pajama time theme is the perfect opportunity to make a 'quilt'.  I had sample upholstery fabric swatches that I sorted and cut with pinking shears to make the fabric part of my color felt squares. I hot glued the fabric swatches to the squares of colored felt.  I used a large piece of white felt with hotglued rainbow ribbon to make a grid for my quilt.  I added hook side velcro dots to the top and bottom to keep the backing stable as the kiddos add a color square to make a comfy cozy quilt.  This type of activity works with multiple ages for a Family Storytime. I made up a rhyme to cue the color that the kids bring up.  You can hand out 1 per child if the group is large. Two per child of different colors if your group is small.  After storytime the kiddos can make a quilt on their own. Check out the other bedtime posts in the labels box!   Quilts at bedtime are so much Fun with Friends at Storytime!

My Cozy, Colorful Quilt 

  

Let's make a comfy quilt to keep us cozy in our bed!

It takes a lot of colorful squares, so let's begin with red!

 

by Kathryn Roach 12/20/22 

 

Hand out the squares to the kiddos and as you say the color they can bring up the matching square to add to the ‘quilt’.

Two Little Turkeys

 
For your Thanksgiving enjoyment! LOL!  Two Little Turkeys finger puppets.

Two little turkeys ready to play 

One named Tina and one named Trey 

Run away Tina,   Run away Trey. 

Come back Tina, Come back Trey. 

Two little turkeys gobble, gobble to say 

Have a Happy Thanksgiving day! 

I made up a new rhyme for them for Thanksgiving but you could easily change it out for a farm theme or forest animal theme. We are using them with a Native American Heritage theme that emphasizes forest animals.

I deconstructed a Google image and tweaked (simplified) it to make my little turkeys. The opening for your finger is between the dark grey and darker brown pieces so that the turkey body lays a little flatter. I used two pieces for the body to sandwich the little feet. Tina and Trey are too cute though! Finger puppet turkeys are a lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime!

Buttons everywhere!

 

I made a set of colorful shirts and buttons to use with Pete the Cat and His Groovy Buttons.  This is an interactive game where I hand out the colored buttons and the kiddos bring them up to match the shirt as I add it to the board.  Even the nonverbal toddlers can play this and they LOVE it!! I deconstructed a shirt image from Google and used 2 shades of each color and glued them onto a dark grey back. I did it this way so that I could make my pieces Big!. I have a Sizzix circle diecut for the buttons. I used some black shiny fabric paint for the thread holes on my buttons.  I usually add a hook side Velcro dot to the back of the big pieces to keep them steady while we play.  I made a Pete the Cat felt set a few weeks ago. He's so mellow and groovy, LOL. 

Buttons for My Shirt

Kathryn Roach 09/16/2022

Here’s my green shirt, but the buttons are gone!
Bring a green button and let’s put it on!

Put up the next shirt and say the rhyme with new color word.
Orange, Purple, Yellow, Pink, Blue

Buttons and Pete the Cat are such groovy Fun with Friends at Storytime!

Where is Bear Sleeping? Revisited!

 

So...I made a set of caves for a pellon bear HERE.  We are planning a Bear storytime soon but I couldn't find my original set! What to do??  Yeah, losing a set is a good excuse to remake it and tweak it to be bigger and 'better' this time. LOL!  I made my caves to be about 5 by 6 inches and decided to have another animal behind each cave until at last, we find the bear.  I Googled images of cute hibernating/sleeping animals and then laminated and cut them out.  Here's some rhymes to use with the this set.    

                    

  We're having so much Fun with Friends ... and bears! at Storytime!         

Storytime with Miss Kathy on Youtube

   

 Hey Friends, I have a Playlist on Youtube where I share some felts and Picture books!  I'm having so much Fun with Friends at Storytime!

I Want to Write a Story

 

We are doing Back to School or Starting School storytimes and I wanted a new rhyme inspired by my Five Happy Pencils Ready to Write felt set from a few years ago. The new set has different colors and have emotions that go with the new rhyme I wrote.  Colored Pencils Help me Write a Story   You can't tell but this set is Big! Each pencil is about 10 inches from top to tip. I deconstructed a Google image to make my pencils and used glitter glue and shiny fabric paint and google eyes for the details. 

I can always just tweak my first rhyme to use the color words or the emotion words to use them in a slightly different theme.  We're having a lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime!

Someone Lost a Button!?

I recently made a felt set to be used as I read the book Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons.  I had been inspired by this post HERE  She posts a link for a template for Pete the Cat and his buttons that you could use HERE.  I did use her idea of making Pete's coat attached at the top so I can show off his belly button!  Here's a cute extension activity to make a Pete the Cat booklet! Be sure to change the setting from Letter to Legal size paper for it to print correctly.  I plan to do a Button storytime and use the felt piece for the rhyme/chant, Miss Mary Mack. Buttons are so much Fun with Friends at Storytime!

Flies, Flies everywhere!

 

We are all set to do a fun storytime about flies!! I bought this felt set of the Old Lady that Swallowed a Fly many years ago! I don't even remember where I got it. Her dress front is clear vinyl so that as I put the fly and other animals in her mouth the kiddos will see them in her stomach. I shared ideas for this theme before HERE.  I made some cute pipe cleaner and pom pom flies on a popsicle stick for a fun activity and as a home extension. I adapted Mel's idea here. 

Flies are a lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime!

Shapes, Colors and Counting Felt Puzzle

 

We recently got in 2 adorable board books that have nice large clear pictures and minimal text that will be perfect with our toddler crowd at Storytime.  Miss Margaret asked for a puzzle felt set to  go with them and I noodled a bit and came up with this set. We'll add each row starting with 1 and hopefully they'll guess what it is by the time we get to 10. That's the plan right now...LOL! We'll see how it goes.  I used glitter fun foam for my shapes but I had some butterfly sequins that would fit for the number 10.  There were only 9 shapes in the shape book so we added the trapezoid shaped basket for number 10.  It will be fun to teach them that word!  Shapes and Colors and Counting to 10 are so much Fun with Friends at Storytime!

 

I Am A Wolf

Dogs and families are so much Fun with Friends at Storytime!  

Beach Riddle Game

Here's a fun guessing game for Storytime!  I originally posted about this riddle game HERE.  I used it again this week and it was a big hit! 

What I Saw at the Beach Riddle Game

July 2014

I like to go to the beach to swim and play all day.

I dig in the sand and take a walk. I like to stay and stay.

There's so many things to see there. I'll play a game with you.

You guess the thing I saw at the beach when I give you a clue!

1. This shines in the sky at the beach (sun)

2. You wear these on your eyes because it's so sunny at the beach (sunglasses)

3. This is fun to throw and bounce and play with at the beach (beach ball) 

4. You pick these up from the sand at the beach (seashells)

5.This sea creature has flippers and crawls across the sand to go swim in the ocean (sea turtle)

6.This is a round sea creature and has a star shape on the outside (sand dollar)

7. You can make this with sand a a pail and shovel (sand castle)

8. This sea creature has 5 arms and swims in the ocean at the beach. (starfish)

9. This little sea creature has claws and lives in a seashell (hermit crab)

10. You wear these on your feet to walk on the hot sand at the beach. (flip flops)

Riddle games are so much Fun with Friends at Storytime!

Let's Find a Pearl for the Pail

I saw this cute shell game at Storytime in the Stacks and wanted to tweak it a little and use it this summer with our kiddos at Storytime! We have a lot of really young kiddos so we need to keep it fairly simple but they love to interact with the felt board. This kind of game helps them learn to wait for their turn, follow instructions and enjoy the anticipation and fun of discovery!  Plus...I love watching them play these games 😍.  My plan is to call them by name to come choose a shell. When they discover the 'pearl' they put it in my beach pail! If they can I'll ask them to tell me the color too. I'll take the shell shape down as it's chosen just to speed up the process.  I made 21 shells so we should be good! I did add a piece of velcro to the back of the grey back to hold it on the board as we try to lift the colored front shape.  I did make an alternate rhyme instead of my naming the color shell, I changed it to "Little Clam, Little Clam"  Here's a link to my doc.   Little Shell, Little Shell.

Going to the beach at storytime is so much Fun with Friends!

                         

Here's Grandpa and His Bowties!

 

Here's the Grandpa from another blogpost...*Updated Dear Old Dad, with his snazzy bowties for each day of the week.  I couldn't resist the patterned felt pieces to make these fun bowties. Here's the rhyme for Grandpa's Bowties.  Playing with Grandpa is so much Fun with Friends at Storytime!

*updated, Dear Old Dad post

 

I have updated my Dear Old Dad  post and added Grandad and Jr.  This activity/felt set is for a family themed storytime.  Here's a link for my rhyme, Neckties and Bowties.  I jazzed up Dad's ties and made Grandad and Jr.'s bow ties to coordinate with the necktie that Dad is wearing.  I plan on this being an interactive activity with the kiddos.  I'll say the rhyme and add Dad's tie and then the kiddos holding the matching color bowties can come up and put one on either Grandpa or Jr.  The bowties are essentially the same size with a dot of velcro on the back to hold them in place. So, I can still use just the neckties and Dad and the original rhyme too. I guess I could use the rhyme and change out Dad or Grandpa or Jr for 3 different options too.  I just think these men are so dapper! LOL!  Family is so much Fun with Friends at Storytime!

Rainbow Rain Felt board Activity

 

April Showers are supposed to bring May flowers. Right?! I needed a felt board interactive rhyme that included a rainbow concept for our theme. I made up a rhyme; Rainbow Raindrops and cut out a bunch of colored raindrop shapes.  I will hand out the colored shapes and the kiddos will bring up the matching color raindrop as I put a glittery raindrop above the big umbrella. The giant umbrella will make another appearance later with my set of children when we do an umbrella theme in June. I have some other posts from past years with some cute Rain and umbrellas themes HERE!   Rain and Rainbows are a lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime!

More Duckies!

Well, it's spring time and in my mind that means eggs and chicks and ducks!! I shared the set I made last week for a Duck theme HERE.  Our preschoolers right now are young and so they really enjoy an interactive activity at the flannelboard so I made a set of colored ducks and a new rhyme so that we can play a game.  They don't seem to get tired of this activity!!  I say the first part of the rhyme initially and then only repeat  *The (color) ducks go swimming with a quack quack quack* and change the color each time. The kiddos with that color felt duck get to bring it up and put it on the felt board "pond". Then I close the rhyme with the last two lines and we all admire the colorful ducks!  

Old McRainbow’s Colorful Ducks

by Kathryn Roach 

There’s a funny kind of farm where colorful ducks grow.

They’re cared for by a funny farmer, Old McRainbow!

Waddling to the pond way out in the back

*The red ducks go swimming with a quack quack quack!

Orange Yellow  Brown Green Black Blue Purple Pink  White

See the colorful ducks swimming and their quacking seems to say,

"Please come back to play with us on another day!"

                         

Be sure to check out my other duck post HERE!  Ducks are so much Fun with Friends at Storytime!

Ducks Away!!

 

I wanted to make a felt set to use as I read this adorable book , Ducks Away!.  Our storytime group is tending to be the younger preschoolers right now. I wanted to have a little more movement as I read the book to try to keep the attention of our young crowd. Since we are a small community branch we don't have age specific storytimes so we have All ages! It can be slightly challenging some times, LOL.  I intend to add the ducklings as they do in the book and then when one 'falls' into the water under the bridge I can tuck their feet behind the blue felt so that they look as though they are swimming.  The momma duck is two sided so that she can turn around to look down at the ducklings in the water.  I'm in love with the whole set! Ducks are always so much Fun with Friends at Storytime!

Hello Friends!

 

We wanted to have a diverse set of children felt set for multiple uses so
I made a set.  I used 5 different skin tones and made my kiddos slightly different sizes and 2 have some physical challenges. They all have on different outfits that can be changed if we want to. You can see my little girl in her 'underwear'.  They are 'holding' musical instruments that match the ones we used in Storytime that week. I made up some rhymes to go with them for our debut use.  Their different colored backgrounds correspond to the colors of the 5 components of ECRR that we use for our Storytimes.  They are anywhere from about 10 inches to 12 inches tall.  

Hello Friends!

Hello friends, I’m glad to see each boy and girl today.

We’ll talk and sing and write and read and of course, we’ll play.

Let’s take turns, and smile a lot! these 5 friends will show the way.

Storytime and friends are great! Hip Hip Hooray!

We had a lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime!

Updating Balls of Yarn!

 

I posted a set of balls of yarn a while back (click here!) and got inspired to finally finish an idea I started in 2015! Here's my rhyme and I finished a set of balls of yarn and the Sweater!! Ya'll I'm super pleased with my cute sweater.  Here's the rhyme:   Balls of Yarn . Playing with yarn is so much Fun with Friends at  Storytime!