Pickles for My Picnic

It's summertime and picnics are on the schedule. I've done some other posts for PICNIC that needed one more fun activity! I have an interactive rhyme about a jar of pickles for our lunch.  I made a large jar shape and added the light grey lid shape with silver fabric paint. I made about 30 pickle circles with felt and used dark green fabric paint for the peel and white fabric paint for the seeds.  I can hand out the pickles and tell the kiddos to listen as I give a clue. I then say, "If you're wearing sandals today, bring up your pickle and add it to my jar.". I'll continue with different clues,  If your name starts with (say a letter); or if you have a dog for a pet... We'll celebrate together when the jar is full of pickles! Pickles are so much Fun with Friends at Storytime!

                                      

Old McRainbow's Wheels on the bus

  

I'm revisiting my schoolbus sets with my Old McRainbow rhyme.  I had forgotten that I made this up a couple of years ago.  This is an interactive rhyme.  I hand out the colored wheels to the kiddos. There's enough for 20 kids.  As I say the rhyme I put up a colored bus and the kiddos bring up the matching wheels.  They love doing this activity. There are so many learning skills involved in this game.  They have to stay engaged to wait for their turn.  They need to know that wheels go at the bottom of the bus shape. They see that each bus has 2 wheels. Plus they enjoy the chance to get up and move and the felt just feels good too!  Old McRainbow and his colorful buses are so much Fun with Friends at Storytime!

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’.

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!

*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!

Transportation Activity: Where Does it Go?

 

Here's a fun activity with a new rhyme for our next Transportation theme for Storytime.  You can use any flannelboard transportation pieces that you have to sort them by where they Go.  This is a fun and educational activity.  Here's a couple of articles that explains all the benefits of sorting.  From Especially Education, "Sorting-Why Children Need This Skill" or from Education.com, "Preschool Math: All Sorts of Sorting".    Here's my rhyme and instructions for Where Does it Go?  Sorting and Playing are so much Fun With Friends at Storytime! 

Astronauts in Space!

I love my new set of colorful astronauts! I used an adaptation of the song, One Elephant Went out to Play. Here's a link for the rhyme I used; Five Astronauts Went Up in Space.  I copied Amanda's astronaut on Mr. Keith's blogpost Here.  I love how they turned out!! They were tedious and halfway through I was tempted to stop at 5 but I'm so glad I did the ten. With a small group the kiddos can help put the astronauts on or take them off the board. They love that!  It's hard to tell in the pic but they have shiny glitter glue 'knobs' on their front panel. The red astronaut has a glitter felt face shield since I didn't have an alternate color to use for that.  These astronauts made storytime out-of-this-world Fun with Friends!

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!

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!!

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.  

Peek-a-boo Baby!

I wanted to share an update for this post about emotions and babies, Poor Little Baby,  from a while back. I made a new set of babies that are LARGE! This time I added a surprise monster baby at the end and tweaked the rhyme to be a Peek-a-boo Baby rhyme/activity. Now, how much Fun with Friends at Storytime is that?!

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! 

Shoo Fly!

This is a theme we did 2 years ago but it was so much fun I'd love to do it again! There are several Flannel Friday Pinterest posts about flies and then there is the classic, 'I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly' but I made up an interactive rhyme so that the kids could buzz up to the flannel board. Here's the link for the rhyme, 'Colored Flies'.  I programmed a sheet of paper with a Google image of a fly and printed it on colored paper. I used my little laminator and then cut them out and added a piece of velcro to the back and we were set!

Get out your fly swatter and get ready 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! 

My Lovey Friend!

We just did a sweet program about having a 'Lovey'.  I made up a rhyme with an activity for our program. Since not every child has a teddy bear as their lovey I made it a little more inclusive, LOL! Here's a link for the rhyme 'Where's Teddy?'  I saved the Google images that I used on that link also. I printed them, rough cut so that I could laminate 2 images at a time in our little laminator, cut them out and put a dot of Velcro on the back of the big pieces. I used a piece of double-sided tape on the backs of the 'lovies' so that there is no bump under the big pieces. I set up the board with the teddy bear last. I set up the activity before the kiddos came. This way the kiddos didn't see that there was something behind every item. I let the kiddos come up and check under each item for teddy. I used the different lovies so that each kiddo finds something! So much fun! After that game we played 'Which One is Missing?' with the lovies. Talking and Playing are those ECRR components covered with this activity.  

This turned out to be a really fun theme that seemed to 
resonate with the littles in my storytimes this week! I used this precious book at both my toddler and preschool sessions and it was a big hit! I also used Knuffle Bunny with the older set. When I introduced it I heard a child say, "I love that book!". Yay!!

We offered a Home Extension based on the illustrations from Sam and Jump. Those kiddos love something with a handle!! We had a picture of our mascot puppet, Harvey cut out so that he would tuck into the bucket shape.  I suggested that they use Harvey to play a hide and seek game at home later. I heard caregivers affirming that idea! Love when that happens! We love our 'Lovies'! and have Fun with Friends at Storytime!! *update: I had a caregiver tell me the next week that they had played with Harvey all week! Love it!!

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! 

Happy Gorilla and Rainbow Bananas!

I just shared 2 story times at my favorite preschool's end of the year picnic and wanted to share with you the Gorilla rhyme/activity that I used. I shared a fun gorilla blog post before HERE but didn't have this activity finished then. Here is 'Rainbow Bananas for Happy Gorilla'.  I programmed a paper with 6 banana images and printed it on 7 different colors of paper. I used a deconstructed Google image for my Gorilla face and construction paper for him. I just free-hand cut green fun foam that I had to make the leaves to hot glue to my shoe box. I painted the inside of the shoe box black before I glued the leaves to the box. I laminated my banana papers and Gorilla face and cut them out. I taped the Gorilla face to my box and we were ready for FUN!

I had the banana shapes on a small table by the door as the kiddos entered the storytelling room. I invited them to pick a colored banana and find a spot on the rug. They held onto the banana until later in the program when we played our game. Since this was a family event I had all ages of preschoolers for the program and everyone was able to play and everyone enjoyed feeding the Gorilla! Something about stuffing a colored banana into the mouth of a Gorilla was exciting and Fun with Friends at Storytime!! Check out the other ideas on the Flannel Friday Roundup HERE!

Building with Blocks

We are getting ready for our Summer Reading Programs and since our theme is a building theme we needed a set of blocks! I'm not totally happy with these so they might get redone before June but for now they will do.
Let's Build with Blocks
by Kathryn Roach
We have some colorful building blocks ready for some fun!
We can work together and add each and every one!

I made 3 of each color shape so that we can play some interactive building games with these. The short rhyme I have made up is still a work in progress. Actually, you don't really need a rhyme to direct an activity with these. They will also lend themselves to our favorite game, 'Which one is Missing?'. Building with colorful blocks is so much Fun with Friends at Storytime! There are more ideas on this week's 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 

A Basket Full of Easter Eggs



I know I have posted other Easter Egg posts...here and here... but here's one more just-for-fun set. I made this set with my Sizzix small double egg diecut. I made another basket and egg set that is a lot bigger in this post HERE. This one is a lot smaller so it would work with a smaller group or as a center for one or two children. The larger eggs are glued to the basket shape and the smaller eggs are meant to match them. I could see this used several different ways. I could 'hide' the small egg shape in the room for the children to hunt and then bring to match the one in the basket. I could hand out the small eggs and either point to an egg or call a child's name to bring their egg up and match the egg on the basket.
I could put all the small eggs in a cute container and let the children take turns pulling one out and matching it to the one on the basket. This could be a quiet activity for one child that needs some alone time. I plan on using this little Easter Basket in several different settings and several different ways! To use this set in storytime I did make up a rhyme to go with it:

Basket Full of Easter Eggs
A basket of Easter Eggs is so much fun!
Let's match the pretty eggs one by one!

Yes sirree! Matching colored eggs 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 

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 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!

Pirate Treasure!

While we were preparing to do a Pirate storytime Miss Margaret expressed a wish for an interactive rhyme with a treasure chest and 'treasure'. We collaborated and she made up the rhyme and I made the flannel set and it was a big hit! Those little scallywags at storytime loved adding their treasure to the treasure chest...yo, ho, ho!! We did a lot of 'Shiver me timbers!' and 'Arghhh, matey' and other piratey talk and we had a blast! I looked at several Google images and took parts from several to make my chest and I made my own glitter felt using glitter glue. If I make any other sets that need glitter felt I will spend the extra pennies for it!! Anyway, here they be, matey!!
Here's a link for the rhyme 'Pirate's Treasure Chest'.

Arghhh!  Pirate treasure is 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!

Pretty Balloons!

You can't go wrong with a storytime about balloons! We needed an interactive rhyme so I just threw together this one and cut out a bunch of 4" balloon shapes with a string tied to the bottom. easy peasy - lemon squeezy! Just hand out the felt balloons and then say the rhyme and count as the kiddos bring up their matching balloons. They never get tired of these interactive rhymes. We'll have some one-to-one correspondence and comparing more than or less than math happening!! Here's my post about birthday balloons.    

Balloons are a lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime!

Counting Balloons

(by Kathryn Roach Sept. 2016)

*Red Balloons, red balloons, how many do we see?

*Red balloons, red balloons, count them now with me!

Yellow, Green, Blue, Orange, Pink, Brown





















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!