Mole's New Hole...an inspired post

Two years ago when our Summer Reading theme was 'Dig into Reading' I was inspired to make my own set for the story that Linda Meuse shared from Notes from the Story Room. Not only had she made up a cute story, she shared patterns ready for use!! I used her patterns and instead of coloring the pellon with colored pencils I used acrylic paints. I made my hole for mole out of felt with a couple of dots of velcro on the back to hold it tight as I maneuvered mole and then possum in and out of it. We all really enjoyed the story!

You could also play "Which animal is missing?" game with these pieces by having the kids close their eyes (ha!) while you take an animal off of the board. It's so funny that someone always peeks!! This story would be great with a nonfiction book also!! Forest Animals 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.

Guest Post for Nancy

I'm glad to be hosting this week for Nancy Becker Foss to share some of her adorable decorating ideas for her library! Here are some of her ideas:

She made a garland of tiny books 

And a Library Chandelier made from an old lampshade covered in fabric scraps and hung with tiny paper books! 

How clever!

Thanks for sharing Nancy! 

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.

Flannel Friday Roundup/Placeholder 09/11/15

Hello Flannel Friday Friends! Ready for some great ideas for storytime? You're at the right place for that. 

Here's a beautiful memorial for Sept. 11th from Jane and Piper @Piper Loves the Library.

Laura at Library Lalaland has a great story for a Bedtime storytime ; Lisa Can't Sleep.

Storytime Ukulele has two great songs to share! 
The Bear Went over the Mountain and I Think that Something is Hatching.

Miss Jaime at Miss Jaime's Library Journeys has a wonderful rhyme, 'Going on a Picnic'!

I'm guest hosting for Nancy Becker Foss to share some decorating ideas!

I'm sharing a new rhyme and 5 Hungry Hippos.

Allison @ Rainbow Beams has 10 Little Dumptrucks to share!







Hope you enjoy all the great ideas from this week's 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.

Happy Hippos

We recently got this new juvenile nonfiction book at our library. It has great pictures and the text lends itself to condensing or telling so I tested it on my preschool grandsons. Big Hit!! So....one thing led to another and I made up a couple of hippo rhymes and made a set of 5 hippos and we are ready for Happy Hippos at Storytime! Hippos are terrifying in real life but adorable in animation or illustrations in picture books. You know, there are a lot of pictures books that feature adorable illustrations of animals that are really not so nice in real life!! Anyway, I found a Google image that I tweaked a little and used some black slick fabric paint and little google eyes for my set of hippos. I remove one at a time as I do the rhyme and I put up the folded 'river' after the last hippo is gone. Then I unfold the river to show the 5 cool hippos swimming in the water! Makes me smile!

5 Hungry Hippos

Kathryn Roach

5 hungry hippos eating grass by the shore.

One went swimming in the river and that left 4.

4 hot hippos under a shady tree,

another went swimming and that left 3.

3 grazing hippos, found some grass to chew

another went swimming and that left 2.

2 hot, cranky hippos want to get out of the sun

one went swimming and that left 1.

1 lonely hippo needs the others for some fun!

He went swimming and now there are none...

But wait!...

Look in the river, what do we see?

5 cool hippos now happy as can be!!

 

The book, All God's Critters by Bill Staines features illustrations of the funniest hippo ever! Hippos can be 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. 

A Camping Song

I've got another camping item to add to your storytime agenda! I found this song to the tune of Farmer in the Dell and I used Google images to find patterns to illustrate it as we sing. Here's the link for some of my other Camping posts.

A-Camping We Will Go

*a-camping we will go, (add boy)
*a-camping we will go, (add girl)
Hi-ho and off we go,
a-camping we will go.


More verses:
*First we pitch our tent...  (add tent)
*Next we get some wood...(add wood to look like campfire)
*We light the campfire now... (add fire)
*We cook our dinner now...(add frying pan)
*We sing some campfire songs...(add guitar)
*It's time to go to sleep...(close eyes and pretend to sleep)
Good Night!

There is an adorable 5 Little S'mores flannelset posted by Lauren @ The Dilley Dally blog that would be a great addition to a camping theme!!  Even better if there was some tasting at the end of Storytime! Campfires and Campfire songs 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.

Sleeping Bag Chant

For some reason I think of camping this time of year?!! I don't even like to go camping. LOL! I like the idea of camping out but the reality of it...not so much! But, I don't have to tell my little kiddos that I don't like it...we can all enjoy camping fun at Storytime. I have posted before about some of my camping activities and books Here.  Here's my set for 'The Sleeping Bag Chant' that I originally saw @ Welcome to Storytime. I did tweak mine as she suggested (I took out the ghost and cricket). I made a little kiddo in a sleeping bag under a glittery star to begin the chant. I just chanted it and did not use the CD, H.U.M.:Highly Usable Music by Carole Peterson that she cited as the source of these lyrics:

Sleeping Bag Chant

I was lying in my sleeping bag—I couldn’t get to sleep

When the wind began to howl and the bugs began to creep.

So I rolled to the left and I rolled to the right

And I heard every sound that you hear at night—

Then I would make the sound of one of the animals/birds and the kiddos would identify it as I added it to the board. This is a cumulative rhyme so I would say the sounds and name of the previous creatures as I added another one.  This was a lot of fun and led to a lot of discussion!

Camping out is a lot of Fun with Friend 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.

2 by 2 Sea Creatures

Back during Shark Week, I saw the cutest variation of 2 Little Blackbirds @ sunflowerstorytime.com!
Her 2 little sharks were adorable. I made me a set and then I saw a really cute octopus @ storytime ABC's and I wanted 2 of them! After I had them I decided I needed, at least, 5 different creatures so I'd have a total of 10 (the magic preschool number!). After some research and fiddling with several pictures to make patterns, here are my Jellyfish, Seahorse and Crab.  Now, I need to make up rhymes for all but the sharks and I'm set!! I decided that I can use these as finger puppets or on the flannel board. I used combinations of Google images to design my patterns and then I used ribbons, sequins and glitter glue or glitter fabric paint to embellish them. I especially love the little crowns on the seahorses. I cut up a fancy sequin to get the parts for those and the cheeks for the jellyfish. They all turned out better than I had hoped! It's funny how that works sometimes! *Update: Here's the link for the rhymes for each set of sea creatures Two Little Sharks.

Any and/or all of these would go well with some of the other sea creature posts I've already done; Seahorses, Fish or with this song, 'Old Man Skipper'.

Sea creatures are so much 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.