Super Hero Fun!

Five Superheroes and Their Mixed-Up Capes

By Kathryn Roach

 Five superheroes have been standing up for Right!

They sent their capes to the cleaners to get them clean and bright.

But while the capes were there, the villain made a switch!

Now their capes are mixed up. Let’s find which is which!

*talk about each color of cape and match it to the color superhero.*

Now, our superheroes have their own cape to wear.

All you evil villains better beware!

These colorful heroes are strong and brave.

They are ready to make every villain behave!

Well, we are getting ready for the Super Hero fun this summer and I made a set of Five Little Superheroes. Here's the link for the rhyme: 5 Superheroes. The original rhyme is from Jbray. A coworker added one more verse. This felt set was labor intensive because I was making up and tweaking the pattern as I went. I started with an image given to  me by a coworker. The redhead with the black cape is the original pattern.  I changed the mouth and used google eyes on my superheroes. Then I made the other superheroes with different hairstyles and used 5 shades of skin tones. I made each one so that you could see the back because the cape and masks are separate pieces.This made the boots and gloves double pieces and the hair had to cover the back of the head. Each superhero is about 8 inches tall. I used my star diecut for the first little guy and lots of fabric paint, glitter glue, rhinestones and Aleene's Tacky glue! I made up a rhyme that involves matching the capes to the Super Hero. Here's a link for a printable copy Five Super Heroes and Their Mixed Up Capes.  This was a lot of fun and I'll probably make 5 more different ones so that we'll have a set of Ten Little Super Heroes. Check out the Super Hero Flannel Friday Pinterest board for more ideas!

There are more great posts on the Flannel Friday Roundup. There are more 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.

Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head!

April showers are here! We've had a lot of rain and even bad storms lately. This is a chance to do some fun Rainy Weather themes. I have used several really fun 'rain' books. I'm sure you can find many others! Check out the Flannel Friday Weather Pinterest board.


I like to use a fingerplay, Five Little Raindrops go Bye-Bye, as well as my raindrop felt set. There's a fun, sweet song by Dr. Jean that I like to sing too. I like her version the best, The African Village Song (storyteller's perogative LOL!)  I found a pretty version of When the Rain Comes Down by Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer. Here's the link for the rhyme, Five Little Raindrops Jump, that I've used for years. 

I also offered a craft. This is an easy prep. I did have an Ellison diecut for the raindrop shapes but if you don't they are a quick easy shape to cut several at a time. I used shiny curling ribbon but you could use mono filament  or even thread and tape or a dab of glue. I had the paper plates cut, the holes punched and the curling ribbon threaded through, including the hanging one. The kids could tape or glue on the raindrop shapes and color the rainbow with markers. Ta da! Now they have a mobile to hang in the window or on the doorknob of their room! 
Rainy Weather is a lot of Fun With Friends at Storytime!! 
Check out the other great ideas at this week's Flannel Friday Roundup! There are more 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.

Check your Pocket!

Miss Margaret wanted to do a 'Pocket' theme for storytime and wanted to use this book, What Did You Put in Your Pocket? by Beatrice Schenk deRegniers. Michael Grejniec's illustrations are childlike and very bright and colorful but the text is difficult to read on some of the pages because of the placement. So,... we made a felt set to use with the text.  I did use a little creative license with one of the items from the book. I changed the Monday item from chocolate pudding to pistachio pudding. I didn't have enough brown felt for two items (pudding and molasses) and I did have a great pistachio green piece of felt. I used some slick fabric paint and some glitter glue for details on the pieces. My grandson's hand was the pattern for the hand.  I did paint the back of that piece with glue to stiffen it up a bit.  I typed up the text and we're ready for some rhyming fun!

We offered a Home Extension too!  We prepped 2 shapes and made holes for lacing to make a pocket. We did use some glue on the ends of the yarn to stiffen it a bit to make it easier for the kiddos to lace the shape. We gave the kiddos some leftover  ant die cuts from another programming session to go in their pockets. The ants tied our pocket theme into another book,  Max Cleans Up by Rosemary Wells.  Max is always so funny! Check your pocket for lots of Fun With Friends at Storytime!   Mallory @Mallory Tells Stories has the rest of this week's roundup! If you have any questions about Flannel Friday you can find answers at the official Flannel Friday blog.

What's Behind the Mushroom?

This is one of my favorite books from long ago. It was originally published in 1974. I'm so glad it was republished in 1997. The artwork is wonderful and the story has a great ending! For some reason, mushrooms appeal to me. I made one in a set for a hiding game for St. Patrick's day a few years ago. Here's the link; 'Do You Feel Lucky?'. It's still one of my favorite pieces. Well, a couple of weeks ago I had a brainstorm and a rhyme and hiding game were the result. 'Mushroom Guessing Game'  I looked at a few Google images and made my own pattern for a mushroom big enough to 'hide' things behind. I made 10 mushrooms.  I used 2 shades of each color to get that underside, where the gills are, a contrasting color. I doubled the felt on the lightest colors so that the kiddos couldn't see through them. I used sequins and glitter glue to embellish my mushrooms. I am including a few pics that show my process in making my funny mushrooms. I used Google images for different items to 'hide' behind the mushrooms. I sized them to be about 3 inches, printed them, laminated them with my small laminator, cut them out and added a small piece of double-sided tape. This game is a favorite and always inspires a lot of discussion. Wondering and guessing are so much fun as we play this game. The surprise when we show what's hiding behind the mushroom makes this activity almost magical for the kiddos!

 

Mushrooms are so much Fun with Friends at Storytime! Kimberly @Literary Commentary has the rest of this week's roundup! If you have any questions about Flannel Friday you can find answers at the official Flannel Friday blog.

Sammy the Seal, Inspired post.

This week I have a post that was inspired by Dorothy @ The Wielded Pen - Children's Corner. I saw this and pinned it 2 years ago. At the time I saw it she had used it as an interactive activity with a song to the tune of Frere Jacques suggested by Mary Zenker (in the comments). So cute!!  I've been thinking about it off and on for these 2 years and last week I was suddenly inspired with a rhyme to go with Sammy. I chose to make 10 colored balls and program them with the number symbols 1-10. My rhyme uses two clues for the children, colors and numbers.  My coworker, Miss Margaret suggested a theme of animals that balance balls (she has a wonderful set of elephants that balance on different colored balls) or plays with balls. I'm also thinking of the book, The Seals on the Bus. So, I don't have to wait to do a circus theme to use my version of Sammy the Seal! Here's the rhyme: Sammy the Seal Counts to 10.

Sammy the Seal and his amazing counting color balls is a lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime!

Here's the rest of this week's roundup @singing in the stacks!  If you have any questions about Flannel Friday you can find answers at the official Flannel Friday blog.

Flannel Friday Roundup for March 20.

Hey everyone! Spring is almost here, and boy, am I glad!! I'm looking forward to all the posts for this week's roundup. Please leave your link in the comments and I'll have it ready on Friday. I can continue to add links during the day as needed. 

I'm so happy to see these beautiful cardinals from heytherelibrary!

Here's an adorable 'inspired' post of  Denise Fleming's book Lunch @Libraryland.

Catch these French fish puppets on a stick @rovingfiddlehead! Ooo la la!

See what the well-dressed cowboy is wearing @littexaslibrary. Welcome to a first time contributor!!

My blog has gone to the dogs! LOL! @ Fun with Friends at Storytime.

Here's a great idea for a walk!! Thanks Jane & Piper @Piper Loves the Library.

March Madness anyone?!! Wow, book competition! Which one will win??  Thanks Jane for a really fun idea! from Piper Loves the Library.

Here's a set of cute Dragon/Dinosaurs for a different version of 'Two Little Blackbirds' @ Storytime Katie.

Thanks Cate @storytiming for a Mister Roger's inspired idea!

Here's a cute felt set for the book Move Over, Rover from Rachel @rachel'sreadingroom.

Thanks Katie for sharing the great Freddy Figuras bilingual set of your guest, Paula Mason @¡Es divertido hablar dos idiomas!










What a great roundup for the First day of Spring!! Thanks to everyone that shared a post this week. My to-do pile just got bigger. Be sure to check out the Flannel Friday Pinterest boards for other great ideas. If you have any questions about Flannel Friday you can find answers at the official Flannel Friday blog.

Doggy Wants a Bone!

We did a lot of barking and laughing with our Doggy Theme! This is such a popular theme, we should probably do it more often. There are a lot of fun dog books to use! There are a lot of cute ideas on the Flannel Friday Pinterest boards, including Dog In Boots @ busycraftingmommy.  I use the rhyme, Five Juicy Bones with my dog hand puppet and some white felt bones. I let my doggy 'eat' the bones as I say the rhyme. That's always a big hit!

I like to use the classic, Dog's Colorful Day; a Messy Story about Colors and Counting by Emma Dodd. I used a Sizzix die-cut for the circles. There's always the great song, BINGO too. I programmed some construction paper pieces with the letters on one side and  Google images of different dogs on the other. I laminated the pieces and added velcro to both sides so we can flip the letter over and bark as we sing the song! 

We did hand out a Home Extension that is a lot of fun! It's a puppy hand puppet. We prepped the pieces and clipped them to the paper bag and handed them out for the kiddos to enjoy! I had programmed a paper with the eyes on it so that we could print off a lot and cut out a lot quickly!  Dogs are a lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime!! I'm hosting the Flannel Friday Roundup this week! Check it out here. Have questions about Flannel Friday? Check out the Flannel Friday official blog.