Mittens Hide a Snowball

 

I've been using this variation on the Little Mouse Hiding in a House game for years.  I thought I'd share it in time for Winter themes at Storytime!  This website has several great ideas to use with preschoolers!

Where’s the Snowball?

http://tonsoffunpreschoolactivities.blogspot.com/2011/01/tot-school-mittens.html

Snowball, snowball cold and round

behind which mitten can you be found?

I have always just used the one snowball to find but this time I might 'hide' other funny things behind the other mittens. It makes for a silly, fun activity! I cut my mitten shapes about 8 inches so that leaves me plenty of room to hide funny things.  I cut my snowball shape from batting so it is flat and keeps it's shape.  Mittens and snowballs are so much Fun with Friends at Storytime!

        

Mittens Galore!

 

I just realized I didn't have any mitten posts!  So here you go.  The mittens are for a color match rhyme activity.  You can hand out pairs so that the kiddos bring up their matching mittens to make a pair. You can put up one color and the kiddo that has that color brings it up to make a pair.  I have strung a yarn line and had the kiddos clothespin their mitten to the line (fine motor). There are any number of ways to play with these. Here's a couple of rhymes - Each Mitten Has a Mate  or  10 Little Mittens Hanging on the Line.  Here's a song I found MANY  years ago. I don't know the tune but it's a cute chant as you put on a pair of mittens! 

 The Mitten Song    

By Marie Louise Allen

“Thumbs in the thumb-place,

Fingers all together!”

This is the song

We sing in mitten-weather.

When it is cold,

It doesn’t matter whether

Mittens are wool,

Or made of finest leather-

This is the song

We sing in mitten-weather;

“Thumbs in the thumb-place,

Fingers all together!”

  

Stay as toasty warm as you can in mitten weather! Mittens are so much Fun with Friends at Storytime.

Our Tree in Four Seasons

 

We did a tree themed storytime at my library last week and I needed another felt set/ story for my program.  I already had these two Here and Here but I needed a story or something to round out my theme.  We used Tap the Magic Tree and The Busy Tree for our books.  I saw this idea on Etsy in several shops so I adapted it and made my own set. I used some glitter glue on the snowflakes but otherwise nothing shiny! Can you believe it?! I don't have a set script for this we just talked about the seasons as they follow each other and then ... start over again! Easy Peasy.  Trees are very important and Fun with Friends at Storytime!

Finger Puppets for January!

Here are 2 more Finger Puppet sets for January.  I love my sweet penguins and adorable little marshmallows. I used google eyes on the penguins but the marshmallows have fabric paint eyes that are not as goofy looking. LOL! Google images helped me make my patterns.  I have  penguin posts HERE and Hot Chocolate post HERE! 

This winter we are having so much Fun with Friends at Storytime! 

Here's Two Little Winter Puppets!

 

 I have made Two Daring Snowpals and Two Freezing Snowflakes for our wintery storytimes. 

Two daring snowpals at the top of a hill.  One named Bonnie and one named Bill.

Slide down Bonnie... Slide down Bill ... Come back Bonnie... Come back Bill. 

Two daring snowpals at the top of a hill.  One named Bonnie and one named Bill!

                                           

Two freezing snowflakes floating down from heaven.  One named Kay and one named Kevin.

Float away Kay...Float away Kevin...

I used toothpicks colored with a brown marker for my snowpal arms and the snowflakes are plastic snowflake Christmas ornaments hot glued to felt circles. I used fabric paint for the snowpals and google eyes and a cut up sequin for my snowflakes' faces.  We're having a lot of wintery Fun with Friends at Storytime!

Shy Little Penguin

 

Here's a find the penguin activity like the Little Mouse Game. I can't remember where I found the rhyme though...I don't remember if I made it up? Anyway, here it is!

Shy Little Penguin

Shy Little Penguin, quiet as can be, Where are you hiding?

Let's take a look and see!

  

Penguins are so much Fun with Friends at Storytime!!

Updating Balls of Yarn!

 

I posted a set of balls of yarn a while back (click here!) and got inspired to finally finish an idea I started in 2015! Here's my rhyme and I finished a set of balls of yarn and the Sweater!! Ya'll I'm super pleased with my cute sweater.  Here's the rhyme:   Balls of Yarn . Playing with yarn is so much Fun with Friends at  Storytime!   

   

             

Mugs of Hot Chocolate!

 Now that the weather is cooling down, I start needing something warm and cozy in my hands! Hot chocolate always is a delicious way to warm up on a chilly day or evening.  Here's some rhymes to go along with the different mugs.  Five Mugs of Chocolate is a fun add one more rhyme. I have a twofer using the 10 different colored mugs here  Hot Chocolate.  I can't wait to use this beautiful book! Hot Chocolate is always so much 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!!

Let's Build a Snowman.

One of my all-time favorite books to use with a snowman theme is Lois Ehlert's, Snowballs. It's always a big hit with the kiddos! I've got several snowman rhymes that I like to use for this theme. I made a pellon set for the classic snowman rhyme, 'Cute Little Snowman'.



I have another pellon set for a song/chant; 'Happy Snowman'. I really need to add some velcro dots to help the pieces stay in place as I dress the snowman. If the group is small you can hand out the pieces and the kiddos can dress the snowman!






Here's a little rhyme for this sweet snowman,

              'A Happy Jolly Fellow'

A Snowman sits upon the hill,

He's a happy, jolly fellow.

His hat is black, his scarf is red,

And his mittens are bright yellow!

And here's one more Snowman rhyme/song; this file folder one that I use with the CD by Carole Peterson; *Highly Usable Music kids Can Sing, Dance & Do! H.U.M.* all Year Long. The tune is London Bridge is Falling Down. Here's the printable doc. for  I Can Make a Snowman.  
Snowmen are so much 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 info! 

Winter Fun!

We're in the middle of winter so I thought I'd post some of my wintertime sets. I made these many years ago and have used them a lot! Both of these sets are made from pellon that I colored with crayons or colored pencils. This first set is a getting dressed set and in order to make the pieces stick to each other, I stapled velcro dots to them. There is a song/chant to the tune of 'Mulberry Bush'. Here's a link to a printable Google doc. for 'We Put on Snow Pants'. This would be great to use when you use the set for the book,  The Jacket I Wear in the Snow. I also have an active rhyme that I made a little pellon figure for. I think I got both of these from Felt Board Fingerplays by Dick and Liz Wilmes.  Anyway, here's the link for the active rhyme, 'Snow Everywhere'. I also sing 'Sing a Song of Winter' and use the little rhyme, 'Winter Signs'. Here's one more winter active rhyme from Everything Preschool, 'Cloudy Day'. Brrrrr, winter 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 info!

Get in Shape!

I'm starting the year off with a basic theme of Shapes! I saw this post about Summer Shapes @ Mel's Desk and loved the idea of using shapes to make seasonal items. I decided to make a winter set for our shape theme.  I've got circles for a snowman, a square shape for his hat, triangles for trees, a rectangle for a sled and for tree trunks. This game/activity will go well with the book, Shape Capers!

We have a Home Extension craft with this theme. A coworker programmed a paper with pictures of our mascot, Harvey and 5 different shapes. I diecut the circle, star, and heart shapes with my Sizzix diecuts. Squares and triangles are quick easy cutouts with the paper cutter.  The kiddos can play a matching game and then glue the shapes on their paper. Shapes are a lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime! Check out the rest of the Flannel Friday roundup @ so tomorrow for great ideas. Have questions about Flannel Friday? Check out the Flannel Friday official blog. Be sure to check out the Flannel Friday Facebook page too!

Let's Skate on the Ice (with how-to's)

It occurred to me there might be some of you just starting your flannelboard collections and I thought I would share a few of the tricks I've learned over the years in making a LOT of flannelboard sets.  I made a new set of  colorful ice skates to use this week at storytime with a Mitten/Ice Skate theme. I couldn't find any ice skate rhymes in a quick search and for me it's easier to make one up than to spend very long researching. So here's the link to my new rhyme Colorful Ice Skates. And here's how I made them:

I found a Google image that looked fairly simple and I traced it and cut it apart into my pattern. I marked on the pattern pieces the color and which is the top and where to apply glue.  Be sure to add a little extra space as you are cutting at the point that you will be gluing the pieces together.

Since I was making pairs of ice skates, I stacked two pieces of felt and cut two at a time of each shape. I hold the two pieces together with clothespins or pins or staples (they come out and don't leave holes).  For single small pieces I tape the pattern to the felt. I do it this way because I don't like to trace onto the felt. As you can see, I save and use scraps for small pieces for my sets.  I try to keep my scraps sorted by color in ziplock bags. (I hate to cut a small piece from a whole sheet of felt.)

I like to cut all my pieces and do all of my gluing at one go so that the pieces can dry overnight or for about 8 hours before I move onto the next stage of construction.

Time for fabric paint and glitter glue! Ha! You know I couldn't make these without glitter somewhere!  I made my own glitter glue by adding silver and iridescent glitter to white glue in two small bottles of glue. Some of the skates got the silver and some got the iridescent glue.  I usually let the fabric paint and glitter glue dry about 8 hours or overnight. After they were dry I cut small slits for the laces at the dots that I marked on my pattern.

I used a large needle and twine for my laces and starting at the bottom laced up to the top of the skate.

Back of the skate

 I glued the ends to the back and glued a pretied bow at the top of the ice skates.

Voila !!     An extreme amount of cuteness! LOL!!

After using these this week, I think I'll add one more step and cut out a second boot shape to glue to the back. I want to cover the ends of the lacing and make the skates sturdy enough for the children to handle for a matching game. Hope some of these tips help you make your next felt set!   Ice skates are a lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime!!  Enjoy other great posts for the week at the Flannel Friday Roundup here.