O Christmas Tree!

I wanted to share the felt Christmas tree and decorations that we are offering as an interactive activity in our children's area during our program break in December. I used my Sizzix Big Kick machine with several different diecuts. I made them so that they can be sorted by shape or main color or even size. We generally offer a different activity each week during the same time that we would normally offer our preschool or toddler storytime. This is a great way to continue to interact with our kiddos while we are planning for our next programming session!

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.

I Wish You a Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! I have several books and not-flannel props and a new flannelboard rhyme/game to share. One of my favorite toddler tested books is Nancy Tafuri's book, Counting to Christmas. It has large clear pictures and minimal text and a wonderful ending! I like to sing/read Here Comes Santa Claus by Gene Autry. Here's a youtube link if you need to hear him sing it HERE.  I just sing it without any music so I can go slower or faster or even stop and make a comment if I need to. The pictures are big and beautiful and the ending is adorable!

My grandson and I have discovered a new Christmas favorite that is hilarious! Dori Chaconas has written a wonderful rhyming story with a very satisfying ending and Lynne Chapman's illustrations of the cows are absolutely hilarious! 

Since the main focus of the story is the tree dilemma, I have a not-a-flannel prop that I like to use. This is a bulletin board cutout that I embellished with a large star and glitter glue on the top and dots of colored glitter 'bulbs' to make the tree shiny and special. I use this prop with several Christmas tree rhymes.





I have a new felt set that I made this year. I used an Ellison diecut stocking and made 10 different colored stockings and added glitter!of course! I made Google images of items to match the rhyme/activity that I made up. I laminated the images and put a dot of velcro on the back. I hide the items behind each stocking. As I say the rhyme and give the clue the children guess what the item is. Here's the link to the rhyme Christmas Stockings.

I also wanted to share a couple of extras that I've used before and after storytime as activities for the children to enjoy. I used old Christmas cards (I save them every year) that had a small picture on the back that matched all or a part of the picture on the front of the card. I mounted the small pics on yellow construction paper squares and laminated the card front and the yellow squares. I lay out the cards and hand the children the small squares to match them up. The matching game is fun and helps the children learn to isolate parts of the bigger picture. My 2 year old grandson got the hang of it after a little instruction. My 4 year old grandson played it on his own and was very proud of himself when he got all the matches done correctly and quickly! The other activity is laminated cards that I punched holes around the edge and tied a ribbon in one corner so that the children can lace around the card. Excellent for eye-hand coordination.
 I hope everyone has a peaceful and love-filled holiday season!
Christmas is so much Fun with Friends at Storytime.