Beautiful Butterflies

Butterflies are incredibly beautiful and such a wonderful storytime theme! I haven't checked the Flannel Friday Pinterest boards yet, but I'm sure there are several with butterfly posts.  I thought I'd add mine here. I have an original rhyme, Color Butterflies, that I use with my large glittery felt butterflies and diecut matching butterflies that I hand out to the kiddos to bring to the pretend flannelboard 'garden'.  I also use the large butterflies minus one to do a counting rhyme. I can't remember where I found it sooo long ago!

Counting Butterflies

Six little butterflies happy to be alive

One flew off, then there were five.

Five little butterflies on flowers galore,

One flew off, then there were four.

Four little butterflies among the sweet peas

One flew off, then there were three.

Three little butterflies with nothing to do,

                                   One flew off, then there were two.

                                         Two little butterflies resting in the sun,

                                      One flew off, then there was one.

                                        One little butterfly, now the only one,

                                        She flew off, then there was none.

You can see the pic of the craft. A coworker shared this idea many years ago. I used snack ziploc bags that the kiddos spooned some colored cereal into. They colored the clothespin black. Then the bag and a small piece of black pipecleaner was pinched together in the clothespin to make the 'butterfly'.  Instead of cereal you could use shredded tissue paper or sequins. (This is a craft from many years ago ... librarians/preschool teachers don't throw anything away LOL!)   Butterflies are a lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime!

Bridget @ What is Bridget Reading? 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!

Hot Air Balloons take 2

This is technically not-a-flannel post. LOL! Last year I posted my Hot Air Balloons and promised a riddle game that goes with that theme. Finally, I am posting the riddle rhyme link here; Hot Air Balloon Ride. I used Google images that I mounted on colored construction paper and laminated for each verse of the riddle. You can add a piece of velcro to the back of each picture and put them on the flannelboard as you say the riddle rhyme. My memory of using this is that it generated a good bit of discussion about the places we like to play or go.

I prepped the craft by punching the holes in the small paper plates and cutting the tissue paper into strips. You could easily just have the kiddos color the plate with markers and even add some stickers before trimming to hot air balloon shape. They threaded the yarn through the holes and glued them to the 'basket' (cut up old file folders).  When I did it, I had the kids glue the tissue to the plate with glue stick and then the parents trimmed the plates but you don't really even have to trim the plates. This craft could lend itself to talking about shapes too!

Hot Air Balloons are a lot of Fun With Friends at Storytime!
Hannah @ Lovin' The Library 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!

Airplanes are Flying High!

My grandsons have become obsessed with Peppa Pig and going on holiday. LOL! Peppa's family travels by airplane to go to Italy for their holiday. She sings a made-up song about flying in the airplane that has a tune that sticks in your head, arghhhh! They also LOVE the Disney movie, PLANES. We have a lot of those airplanes flying around the playroom! They have inspired this post this week. I have an airplane counting rhyme to share and my 10 airplanes with a little bling and glitter. I still like to use the classic airplane book by Crews with this theme. But there are lots of newer airplane or flight books that would be great!                          

Here's the link to the rhyme, 10 Airplanes. My airplanes are Ellison diecuts to speed up the process. I cut a sequin in half for the cockpit window and used glitter for the stripes on the wings.

 Airplanes are so much Fun with Friends at Storytime!
Check with Katie @ Storytime Katie 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!

Dear Old Dad!

This is my version of  'Daddy's Ties'  by Katie @ Story Time Secrets for Father's Day. If you have a small group you could hand the ties out and the child could bring up Daddy's tie when you sing that color. 
I made my set out of felt and gave the Daddy a snazzy shirt with a button-down collar and a debonair mustache. LOL! I used him this week and he was a big hit!! Dads are 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!

Summer Sailboats

We've been playing in the water sprinkler a lot now that it's warm! Hooray! The water and the warm sun reminded me of the beach and seeing beautiful sailboats on the water. I have a set of sailboats with a rhyme I made up a few years ago for a summer beach theme series.  This rhyme lends itself to being a guessing game too.  I would first do the rhyme and then play, "Which one is missing?" with the sailboats.  We all name the colors together and then I have the children close their eyes and I remove a sailboat. They open their eyes and guess which color is missing. They never get tired of this game. Thanks goodness! Here are some books that would be good with this theme: 

Sailboats

By Kathryn Roach

Sailboats are quietly floating by,

Beautiful sails are flying high!

Red and yellow,

Green and blue

Can you see the colors too?

Floating on the waterway,

See more colorful sails today.

Orange and pink,

Purple and brown

Beautiful sailboats don’t make a sound.

Sailing on the water under the sun,

Riding on a sailboat is so much fun!

Summer sailboats are so much Fun with Friends at Storytime. 

Check with Linda @ Notes from the Story Room 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!

Rub a Dub in the Tub!

A favorite storytime theme of mine is Bathtime! There are so many great 'bath' books.  I have an interactive rhyme about rubber duckies to use with this theme.  I diecut colored felt ducks that I hand out and we pretend the flannelboard is the tub. When the children hear the color that they are holding they can bring their 'rubber ducky' and put it on the board. Even toddlers like to do this! Here's a youtube link for some Rubber Ducky fun with Ernie and friends on Sesame Street. Bathtime with rubber ducks is so much Fun with Friends at Storytime!

  Rubber Ducky

By Kathryn Roach

Splish, splash in the tub

With my rubber duckies

This funny one jumped on my head!

My rubber ducky red!

Splish, splash in the tub

With my rubber duckies

Here’s a cute wet little fellow

My rubber ducky yellow!

Splish, splash in the tub

With my rubber duckies

This duck’s the best swimmer that I’ve seen

My rubber ducky green!

Splish, splash in the tub

With my rubber duckies

First, upside down, and then upright

My rubber ducky white!

Splish, splash in the tub

With my rubber duckies

This duck can swim and dive down too!

My rubber ducky blue

Splish, splash in the tub

With my rubber duckies

This ducky floats and doesn’t sink

My rubber ducky pink!

Splish, splash in the tub

With my rubber duckies

I’ve played and washed, but now I’m done

With rubber ducky fun!

 *Update: We offered a fun Home Extension for bathtime. We programmed a picture of a child in a bathtub and printed it on card stock. I diecut paper ducks that we glued to a popsicle stick to make a 'puppet'. We cut a slit along the top edge of the bathtub in the picture so that the duck puppet could play in the tub.  It was a big hit! Here's a pic of my sample.

Check with Lisa at Libraryland 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!

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!