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!

Guest Post...Five Elephants in the Bathtub!

I'm so happy to have Kelsey guest posting on my blog this week!

Happy 4th Birthday Flannel Friday!

Hi! My name is Kelsey and I’m a librarian in Washington State and am so very excited to be guest posting today on Kathryn’s blog for Flannel Friday’s 4th Anniversary. Flannel Friday is probably the highlight of my week and I was very excited to share something for the first time this month! 

Now I’ll admit, I tried to put together a great birthday flannel to share or something brand new that hadn't been on Flannel Friday before, but sadly my mind went blank and my creativity fled. So instead, I thought it only fitting that I share my own version of a classic and one of the many amazing creations I've seen on Flannel Fridays throughout the years. My version of 5 Elephants in the Bathtub was inspired by Lisa over at Libraryland  and the wonderful Mollie and Leah at SunflowerStorytime .

I’m sure many of you are familiar with the rhyme, but for those who aren't, it goes like this:

One Elephant in the bathtub,

Going for a swim.
Knock, knock (Slap knees twice)
Splash, splash (Clap hands twice)
Come on in! (Motion to come in with both hands)

Continue counting up until 5 …..

Five elephants in the bathtub,
Going for a swim
Knock, knock
Splash, splash
They all fell in!

At one of my coworker’s prompting, I tried pulling all of the pieces to the floor as they all fall in and the kids loved it. It got them wondering about the size of the tub and how many elephants it would take to break it. We've also talked about how many elephants they think could fit our meeting room, what colors elephants are in nature, and whether or not they'd want to take a bath with an elephant (that one always gets some really fun answers)! 

This set is really versatile as well; besides an elephant storytime, I've also used it for a color themed one and a messy/clean storytime. I also use the set to play a really simple guessing game. You can hide an elephant behind the tub and then try and guess which it is. I’ll bring out an elephant not “playing” in the tub one at a time until they can figure out which color is missing.

Thanks for checking out my contribution to Flannel Friday and thanks a million to Kathryn for agreeing to host my guest blog!

Thanks Kelsey for such a fun post! Love the size of your pieces too. It's always great to get ideas for using our sets in more than one theme/activity! 

The rest of this week's Guest a Palooza / 4th anniversary roundup is @ What Happens In Storytime. 

Animals in the circus

Here's the next installment of flannel board rhymes about the circus. There are lots of animal acts at the circus that lend themselves to being great flannel board rhymes.  I have a Sizzix diecut machine and a diecut of a seal and ball that I used to make a flannelboard set.  I used a Google image to make my matching colored tubs for the seals to balance on.  I cut out 10 black seals and 10 different colored balls and matching tubs.  I added red glitter to their noses, a black sequin for their eyes and a piece of wired ribbon on the tubs.  I had the diecut and wanted to use it but didn't have a rhyme, so I made one up:

Ten Circus Seals
Ten circus seals ready for a trick
which color ball will each one pick?
Let's match them up one by one
Circus seals are so much fun!

I put up the colored tubs first and we say the colors as I do.  Then we put up the seals and count them as we put them on the board. Then I say the first part of the rhyme.  Then I hold up a colored ball and let the children name the color and I put the ball on the seal's back flippers or nose to match the tub. If the group is small enough I can allow the children to take turns doing this. Then I say the last part of the rhyme:

Ten circus seals ready to rest
They have the color ball that they like the best.
We matched them up one by one
Circus seals are so much fun!

I tweaked this rhyme a little:
Five Circus Elephants 
Five big elephants - oh, what a sight,
Swinging their trunks from left to right!
Four are followers, and one is the king.
They all walk around in the circus ring.
*(take the last elephant off the board)
Four...*
Three...*
Two...*
One circus elephant - oh, what a sight,
Swinging his trunk from left to right!
One circus elephant marching round the ring.
All the others left and so did the King!

I used a diecut and embellished them with puff paint, felt, glitter, sequins and the king's crowning plume; metallic pipe cleaner.  I can never leave well enough alone! Glitter makes everything more fun! Circus animals are a lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime!