A Collection of Finger Puppets for Spring

 We've started planning for Spring! Yay! We like to end our storytime with a finger puppet rhyme. The repetition of the technique doesn't get old because we change up the shape and the names of the two littles! Here are my ducks, frogs and trees! These are addictive to make! LOL!

Two yellow Ducks paddling in the pond. one named Daphne and one named Don.

Swim away Daphne. Swim away Don...

Two little frogs croaking in the swamp. One named Ribbit and one named Jump.

Hop away Ribbit! Hop away Jump! ...

Two happy trees, waving in the wind. One named Fancy and one named Finn.

Wave your leaves Fancy. Wave your leaves Finn!

Stand up tall Fancy. Stand up tall Finn!

Two happy trees, waving in the wind. One named Fancy and one named Finn.

We are having so much 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!

Lucky Ducks!

This picture book is great for several reasons! There are nice clear pictures, adorable ducklings, a big problem and then a wonderful resolution! We really enjoyed this picture book this week at all of our storytimes. The younger ones enjoyed quacking and the older ones enjoyed the suspense and rescue. Harvey had to pretend to be a duck and there was a lot of laughing and quacking going on! I wanted to use the cute ducks I saw at Mel's desk but I wanted 10 ducks, that were different colors to play a "Which One is Missing Game". I tweaked a previous rhyme ("Turtle Fun") and came up with a counting by 2's rhyme with 10 different colored ducks. I outlined my ducks with slick, black fabric paint and used google eyes. Here's the link for the rhyme:Ducks on the Pond. 

We also offered a cute paper plate duck Home Extension. Here's a link for the template and instructions. daniellsplace. You have to scroll down a little to see it and she calls it a goose. We used it as a duck. We chose this pattern because the prep is super easy and quick and the finished 'duck' is so cute!




























Ducks are a lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime! 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.

EEeekk! Snakes in the Grass!

There's something fun and shivery about doing a snake theme for Storytime. There's a fine balance between the scariness of snakes and the fun books and rhymes about snakes. Still, I really like this theme! I don't usually have realistic pictures to show, but I do mention that there are non-fiction books available that have great pictures and information for any kiddos that really want to investigate snakes!  I like to use my soft, beanie baby snake as a prop and let the kiddos touch it. I've got a couple of rhymes to share that I use with the felt snakes.  I have 2 different 5 little whats-it rhymes: '5 Little Snakes' and 'Five Little Snakes'. One of the rhymes calls for specific colors in the rhyme. You can make your snakes any colors you'd like! Here's mine:

I think I got the pattern from the craft that I offered. I believe I originally found this idea and the patterns in one of the series of monthly idea books by The Education Center: Mailbox Magazine.

This is easy prep and a great fine motor, eye-hand coordination activity. Actually, you could let the kiddos cut the 'grass' at the top of the 9x12 piece of construction paper. I'd probably prep the slits for weaving. But you could have the paper folded with lines drawn for the older kiddos to cut. Snakes in the grass are a lot of Fun with Friends at Sssstorytime! 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.

Something is Fishy!!

  

We just did a great week of fish stories and felts and songs. It was a lot of fun! We sang, 'Slippery Fish' and Laurie Berkner's, 'Goldfish' and I made a new felt set to use with a rhyme we found from Abby the Librarian's blog. It's called Color Fish. Her coworker made theirs as a prop box. I made my set out of felt. The light blue background is white polar fleece that I dyed with some food coloring and vinegar. The tank is about 16" x 12".  I found a cute fish clipart to use as my pattern. You could use the Ellison fish diecut if you have access to it.  I wish I did *sigh*. Anyway,  I added glitter to my fish and shiny 'bubbles' in the tank and that made me HAPPY!  I placed the google eyes in the middle of the fish face so that I could turn them either way.

Fish are a lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime!  

Mollie @ What Happens In Storytime has the rest of this week's roundup. 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!

Down by the Pond

We have a pond near our house that we visit when the grandkids come over. They never get tired of walking to the pond to look for tadpoles or frogs or dragonflies or other bugs or geese or turtles or fish or just to throw in a few rocks to watch the ripples and hear the 'splooosh".  I am doing a special set of storytimes at the end of the year celebration at my favorite preschool and I decided to do a 'Down by the Pond' theme. I have a flannelboard version of Mr. Gumpy's Outing by John Burningham that is always a big hit! I will sing/read the Jo MacDonald book.  I have several felt sets of assorted pond life I could use but I especially wanted to do turtles and I really wanted something new. So, I made up a new rhyme about 5 turtles by the pond that I call 'Turtle Fun'.  Here are my 5 little turtles. The middle pic of the turtle's tummy is closest to the true colors of felt. The flash made the shell look yellow and it's really an olive green. The turtles are about 6 to 8 inches long.  I like my pieces to be big! LOL! Turtles at the Pond are so much Fun with Friends at Storytime!

 

Check with Dana and Lindsey @ Jbrary for the rest of this week's Roundup!  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!

Froggies R Playing it Cool!

I love doing a frog theme because there are so many cute frog books!  We just did frogs again at my library and it was a blast!  I read one of my favorites ever, The Wide Mouthed Frog: A Pop-Up Book by Keith Faulkner. The caregivers always laugh too when I purse up my lips very small to read the last line from the frog right before he jumps into the water, "SPLASH"!  I also used 2 other popup books;  Ten Tiny Tadpoles by Debbie Tarbett and Mo Willems', Big Frog Can't Fit In: A Pop Out Book. Of course, I did 5 Green and Speckled Frogs and Little Frog Are You Hiding.  I know someone has done Little Frog with paper?  but I can't remember who? *update...found it here! My version is made of pellon (the little frog) and different colored felt 'logs'*   Anyway, I wanted something new and interactive so...I cut out a bunch of different colored felt frog Ellison diecuts and made up a simple rhyme.  As I snapped  my fingers for the beat, and said the rhyme in a cool and groovy way (as cool and groovy as a white-haired librarian assistant/grandmother type can be; HA!)  the children brought their froggy to the flannelboard 'pool'.

Froggies in the Pool

by Kathryn Roach

Little Froggies *red, if you want to be cool,

Come right up and jump into the pool!

*blue, green, orange, yellow, purple, pink

Next time I'll have to wear sunglasses to help with the coolness factor.  Have a 'hoppy' time at Storytime with froggies!