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!

Being Thankful!

I'm thinking ahead for Thanksgiving and saw this post on Flannelboard Fun's page and she credited Mel's Desk . I loved it and wanted to make my own set. I made my pieces big and tweaked the bird and changed some of the colors but I really liked the sort of stained glass, primitive look of these pieces to use with the Raffi song, 'Thanks a Lot'.  I'll probably let the kiddos help me put the pieces on the board as we sing the song.  It's such a sweet song and I'm sure it will give us a lot to talk about too! I'm thankful for so much in my life and especially for Fun with Friends at Storytime!

  

There are other great flannelboard 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 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!

Guest post for Bethany: Three Nervous Turkeys!

I'm so happy to be hosting Bethany on my blog! She is Head of Children's Services at the Bedford Free Public Library. She has a really fun song/rhyme in time for Thanksgiving!

Three Nervous Turkeys

A Thanksgiving flannel board song

I found Five Nervous Turkeys on the ALSC blog (http://www.alsc.ala.org/blog/2013/11/give-thanks-for-storytime/).  The song is funny, filled with my favorite autumn fowl, and easy to make with free clipart.  But, as I searched for images and hummed along, I wanted a chorus for everyone to sing and a new verse for the ducks.  5 turkeys, with a full chorus between each verse, plus a final verse to acknowledge the duckiness … is too long for my young storytime kids!  I reduced the turkeys to 3 and scavenged my surplus turkeys for silly mistakes on the duck costumes.

Three Nervous Turkeys—tune: “My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean”

Three turkeys were getting quite nervous.

Thanksgiving Day soon would be back.

So one turkey put on a duck suit, (swap a duck for a turkey)

And now he goes “Gobble, quack-quack.”

Chorus:

Turkey, turkey, (hook thumbs together, fingers stretched out for the turkey feathers)

Turkey goes “Gobble, quack-quack, quack-quack.” (flap elbows/wings like a duck)

Turkey, turkey, (feathers)

Turkey goes “Gobble, quack-quack.”  (wings)

Repeat for 2 turkeys and 1 turkey.

After all of the turkeys are in duck suits:

Now no little turkeys are nervous.

They’re finally feeling their luck.

But you, my poor dears, might get hungry …

… unless, of course, you like duck!

(Chorus)

Ha! Thanks Bethany for sharing a fun Turkey flannelboard set! 
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.

Flannel Friday Roundup/Placeholder 11/20/15

Hello Flannel Friday Friends. I have been so grateful for this generous group of storytime enthusiasts. The ideas and inspiration have been a continuing source of affirmation and encouragement to me this past year. I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday next week. We will not have a Roundup next week as we celebrate the holiday. So, I invite you to share your ideas and enjoy this week's Roundup!

Thanks Bethany for sharing an adorable rhyme, 'Three Nervous Turkeys'!

Katie@ Felt Board Magic has an adorable set to go with the fun song, 'Bingo'.

Katie, thanks for a second post this week, 'Five in the Bed'.

I'm sharing an interactive apple rhyme, 'I Love Apples - game', and a cute Home Extension.

Thanks Jane @ Piper Loves the Library,  for this wonderful post to remind us all to work together towards Peace in our world!








We really have so much to be thankful for!! I'm thankful for all of you Flannelboard Friends! 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.

Pizza for Thanksgiving!

Gobble! Gobble! Gobble!  What does a turkey want for Thanksgiving Day? Pizza for everyone! I saw this adorable set by Ms Monica @ Ram Sam Storytime and fell in love. Here's my version of the turkeys and pizza for our storytime fun! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Since our featured book, Turkey Trouble ends with everyone eating pizza, and the flannel set ends with pizza, and we had some leftover craft sets to make paper pizzas....guess what the kiddos got for their Home Extension? If you guessed paper pizza you are Right!

Turkey and Pizza are yummy and a lot of Fun with Friends for Storytime! You'll want to see the rest of this week's Flannel Friday Roundup HERE. Have questions about Flannel Friday? Check out the Flannel Friday official blog. Be sure to check out the Flannel Friday Facebook page too!

Going on a Turkey Hunt!

Thanksgiving is my FAVORITE holiday.  There's no big hype leading up to it, no presents, just, family, food and fun!! I wish Christmas was celebrated this way too! Anyway... I mentioned this Turkey rhyme/activity from Mommy and Me Book Club blog in my Thanksgiving post last year. I like it because it's versatile. It can be done with colored turkeys (I use felt Ellison diecuts) to be added to the board by the presenter or the children. It can also be done with a file folder!  There's lots to discuss with this rhyme! Here's a link to a Google doc of the rhyme that you could print out. Going On a Turkey Hunt!  

I guess you can't take the preschool teacher out of the girl. LOL.  Here's a learning game/activity that I made with some foam shapes and the copier.  I just put the pieces on the glass and laid a white paper behind them and printed them on yellow paper then laminated it on a piece of brown construction paper.  The copy was not in color. It was interesting to see  how some children approached this.  I used this when I taught preschool, but it could be a quiet activity for the early birds to do while waiting for storytime to start.  I've also made matching games with diecut shapes and seasonal stickers that I laminate and cut out and offer to the kiddos. So easy and fun too.

I also have a very simple craft/Home extension that is super easy prep and the children really like it. I show the kiddos my finished turkey before I hand out the turkey body and let the children pick 5 colored "feathers" for their turkey's tail. I suggest to the caregivers that the turkey can be attached to a toilet paper roll and will stand up.  I have programmed a sheet of paper with 3 of the turkey bodies so that I can stack and cut out several of them at a time. Prep for the week for 5 storytimes can take maybe 30 min. or an hour.  Easy, Peasy!!  Since the feathers are so easy to cut 3 or 4 at a time, I cut out A LOT and spread them out on one of our small tables.  This craft involves counting and decision making and the children have some control by choosing the colors they want.  I give the caregivers a little pep talk before I do this by telling them that making choices (within reason and when appropriate) builds connections in the brain and helps the kiddos learn to have self control. Having fun and building a brain...pretty amazing! 
Going on a Turkey Hunt is a lot of  Fun with Friends at Storytime!
You'll want to see the rest of this week's Flannel Friday Roundup HERE. Have questions about Flannel Friday? Check out the Flannel Friday official blog. Be sure to check out the Flannel Friday Facebook page too!

Pie!..."it's pretty tasty!"

My first ever Flannel Friday contribution was 2 years ago when I was a guest of Amanda @ Trails & Tales. I shared a couple of my pie sets and since then I have made another pie set inspired by Sarah @ Read Rabbit Read. I'm already thinking about the holidays coming and all the good food we cook around Thanksgiving and Christmas time. But you could use these pie rhymes anytime of the year! I thought I'd put my pie sets all together on my blog and share them again! Here's the picture of my "Five Pumpkin Pies in the Bakery Shop". I couldn't resist adding some shiny glitter 'sugar' to the tops of my pies. LOL!

ONE WHOLE PIE

One whole pie set by the door,

Cut into pieces, I count four.

Four pieces of pie all for me,

I ate one piece, now there are three.

Three pieces of pie for me too, 

I ate another piece, now there are two.

Two pieces of pie; oh what fun!

I ate another piece, now there is one.

One piece of pie; I can’t wait! 

I ate that last piece, empty plate! 

Yummy Pies

Tune: "Three Blind Mice"

By Jean Warren - 

(adapted by Kathryn Roach)

Pies, pies, pies,

Pies, pies, pies.

Yummy pies,

Yummy pies.

Strawberry, blueberry, and cherry, too.

Apple and Key lime to name a few.

Chocolate, lemon, how about you?

I love pie!

That's no lie!

After I sing ‘Yummy Pies’ and put up the flannel pieces, we talk about the different colors of the pies. Then we play “Which Pie  Did Miss Kathy Eat?”  The children close their eyes, I remove one piece and they guess.  When they guess correctly, I show them the piece and pretend to gobble it up! They always think this is hilarious! Of course, they have to talk about their favorite flavor! 
Pie is delicious and Fun with Friends at Storytime!

Check out the rest of the roundup @ Storytime Katie's blog.  Have questions about Flannel Friday? Check out the Flannel Friday official blog.  Be sure to  join us on the Flannel Friday Facebook page and enjoy the great Flannel Friday Pinterest boards too!

Thanksgiving!

I love Thanksgiving! I like it better than Christmas. I like thinking of all the things I'm thankful for!  It makes me feel so rich. One of the books I like to use at Thanksgiving is an older book, I Never Say I'm Thankful, But I Am by Jane Belk Moncure. We talk about what it means to be thankful and that we should say it more! It's so precious to hear little children talk about the people and things that they are thankful for. I have several thanksgiving flannels that I like to use too, especially my turkey ones. There are some really great turkey posts on the Flannel Friday Thanksgiving Pinterest board. I have one that I found at Mommy and Me Book Club called "Going On a Turkey Hunt!"  I used an Ellison diecut for my colorful turkeys. I got to thinking though, you could also make it a laminated file folder too.
I have ten little diecut turkeys that I can use several ways but I really would like to use them with this adorable song, Ten Little Turkeys by the Learning Station. I found another cute 10 little turkeys rhyme here.  Here's the link to the one I made up, "Ten Turkeys on the Fence".

Here's my favorite turkey rhyme/activity- The turkey body is colored pellon that I glued to a brown felt circle. I cut out a bunch of colored 'feathers' that I hand out and the children add to the 'nekked' turkey to make a beautiful turkey tail. The idea started with "Turkey Feathers" by Liz Wilmes from Felt Board Fingerplays with Patterns and Activities: Rhymes and Songs by Liz and Dick Wilmes. I used their turkey pattern but I wrote my own song to the same tune, Are You Sleeping?. Mine goes like this:

Turkey Feathers Game
(by Kathryn Roach)
Our poor turkey
lost his feathers.
Let's all help, everyone.
Do you have a  *(red) one?
Come and bring the *(red) one.
Oh what fun!
Oh what fun!

*change the color each time...
This is always a BIG hit!

 

I also have a sweet little 5 Little Pilgrims flannel set too. I have found it here and here.  I've used this set for years! The pieces are colored pellon. The food is separate so that I can add them as we say the rhyme: 

Five Little Pilgrims

Five Little Pilgrims on Thanksgiving Day

The first one said, "I'll have cake if I may"

The second one said, "I'll have turkey roasted"

The third one said, "I'll have chestnuts toasted"

The fourth one said, "I'll have pumpkin pie"

The fifth one said, "Oh, cranberries I spy"

But before they ate any turkey and dressing

All of the Pilgrims said a Thanksgiving blessing.


Last year I shared a couple of my pie felt sets as a guest on Trails and Tales's blog. I want to make this pumpkin pie set from Read Rabbit Read  to add to my collection. Food is always something to be thankful for. I usually do an activity where I name typical foods and ask for 'thumbs up if you like....'. Sometimes I get a thumbs up when I name broccoli!  The kids love this activity and it gives me the opportunity to talk about how we all like different things but that's alright! We can be thankful for one another!

I'm thankful for everyone that's a part of Flannel Friday. This past year this group has enriched my life so much. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!