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!!
Miss Margaret and I and our newest staff member, Camille, are busy planning the fall programming session. When you get three storytime-picture book lovers together the ideas are abundant!! We are planning several themes in a row with a unifying device of a story that our mascot, Harvey is 'writing'. This will tie into our ECRR component of Writing! So the first week we are doing Astronauts and space, then Pirates, then Cowboys, then Ninjas and finally, Monsters! That will get us to our Halloween Hoot and dress up fun! I made a set of 5 friends that we will use each week as we talk about our story. I can tell from the pictures that I need to do a little trimming but I was too excited to wait to share them with everyone. Here's the link for my dress up friends from last year. Here is a second version of the Friends dressing up rhyme from that post...Five Jack-o-lanterns shining Bright (opt. version). Friends that dress up are going to be 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!
I've been using my summertime tub for storytime and came across this theme that we haven't used in a while. Pirates are so much fun! I remember that I was inspired by a couple of posts from Flannel Friday for these sets. Andrea @Roving Fiddlehead has a template and rhymes for the pirate ships. I found the cute pirate crab in the sale bin at Michael's and bought him as a pattern to make some more. I love his mustache! Then I saw this adorable pirate (Ha!) @ Loons and Quines which included a link for the pattern from Making Learning Fun. Also, check out Mrs. Andre's Library post about pirates! It's a treasure of ideas! Arghhhh! Pirates are a lot of Fun with Friends er...Buccaneers...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! 
