Bzzzz...Said the Bee!

I have a felt set...well, really a Pellon set of animals to use with the text of this great book! I think I adapted the animal patterns from Felt Board Fingerplays many years ago to use for this set. If I could only have 1 resource for storytime this is the book I would have! I have used this book A LOT!! So I made my Pellon animals and colored them with crayons. I did add a tiny google eye to the bee. I had the text of this Easy Reader book typed out and used the animals on the board. It's easy peasy and lots of fun! I'm sure the minimal text and simple plots of a lot of Easy Readers would lend themselves to being adapted to flannel board stories. Hmmm.... I'll need to do some more research on that! This little story would go well with any farm theme and this song that I posted HERE.

Bees and farm animals are a lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime! There are other great ideas on the Flannel Friday Roundup this week. 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.

There Was A Bold Lady That Wanted a Star

This week I did a 'Rocket' theme and wanted to use this really fun book! This book could work for several themes. You could use it with a transportation theme or stars or space. The pictures are detailed and a little bit small so I made my felt pieces big and used them as I read the book. I found this pattern set to download from The ALA website from the great resource book,  Storytime Magic.  I tweaked them a little and used the set this week and it was a BIG hit! I heard ooohhhs and aaahhhs when I put the jar with the star in it on the board. I had taken the star off the board and pretended to put it in my pocket. I had the jar piece sitting in my lap and so I just added it to the jar as I was putting it on the flannel board. This turned out better than I had hoped! That's always a win!! I started with the small glittered star in the top corner of the felt board then I lined the pieces up from top to bottom with the rocket and jar at the bottom.  You could just as easily line them up from bottom to top as it is in the book. I just made the pieces that she bought in her quest to get to the star that was so far...away. I made the shoes and skates big! I made my own pattern for the shoes and skates by looking at the pictures in the book. The bicycle was a little tricky! But, it turned out to be my favorite piece of the set. I made my own pattern for the big jar too. Can you tell I like for my pieces to be big? LOL!

I offered  a Home extension so that the kiddos could make a rocket-in-space picture to remember our fun rocket theme. The rockets are diecuts. I taped pieces of Christmas tinsel to the bottom as the 'fire' exhaust. The fireworks foam stickers were leftover from another activity. We also had some SRP stickers leftover that had a rocket on them that I handed out and the kiddos were so happy to get them! 

We sang Laurie Berkner's really fun song, Rocketship Run. I heard one of the little boys singing it as we were checking out books after storytime. Ha! That's why I do what I do! I can't believe I get paid to have this much fun! 

Rockets 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.

Flannel Friday Roundup for May 22, 2015

Hello Flannel Friday Friends, I'm your host for the week. I always look forward to the great ideas shared on the Flannel Friday Roundup and today I'm not disappointed! There may be few but they are great! Thanks everyone for sharing. Enjoy!

Laura @ literacious is sharing an adorable file folder barn and farm animal rhyme!

Here's a second Laura @Library Lalaland with a fabulous felt set for a story; The Goat in the Turnips.

Welcome to a new participant this week.  Julia @Miss Julia's Life in the Library is sharing the cutest set of five little friends!

In time to use for this summer, Lauren @thedilleydally is sharing a yummy set of Five Little Icecream Cones!

I'm sharing my flannel set for There Was a Bold Lady Who Wanted a Star.











Have a great week!!  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.

Umbrellas

Umbrellas are so much fun for preschoolers! There's something cozy and safe about being under an umbrella that preschoolers really love. This is such a fun and easy theme for storytime. Using a real umbrella as a prop is always a big hit. I have an activity/rhyme that I like to use called 'It's Raining'. I've used it so long that I don't remember where I got it originally! I have noticed that this set has no glitter or shine?! *gasp* I will certainly fix that before I use it again! I put the big umbrella on the board and the kiddos with that color little umbrella bring it up to the board.  I say the rhyme slowly and pause after each color to give the kiddos time to bring their umbrella up. My little umbrellas are an Ellison diecut. This is always a big hit as we recognize colors and play together! I also have a song we sing to the tune of 'Ring around the Rosie'. It's called 'Listen to the Raindrops'. We pretend we're holding an umbrella over our heads as we sing and do the actions to the song. Big Fun!!

I also offered a Home Extension/craft with this theme that is a lot of fun. I cut out the umbrella and handle shapes and then used 2 primary color washable markers to make stripes on the umbrella part. A piece of tape or a dab of glue make it an umbrella and then the fun really starts! The kiddos 'paint' with water and watch the 2 colors blend to make a new color... Magic! Rainy days and umbrellas 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.

More Super Heroes!

Here's the sequel to my previous Super Hero post.  I made 5 more little Super Heroes and 1 Villain! I am super pleased with these little guys and girls!! Take a look!  

 

I think we are ready for Super Hero Action this summer with our SRP storytimes! Wow! Biff! Kapow!! We'll have some Super 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.

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.