Guest Post...Five Elephants in the Bathtub!

I'm so happy to have Kelsey guest posting on my blog this week!

Happy 4th Birthday Flannel Friday!

Hi! My name is Kelsey and I’m a librarian in Washington State and am so very excited to be guest posting today on Kathryn’s blog for Flannel Friday’s 4th Anniversary. Flannel Friday is probably the highlight of my week and I was very excited to share something for the first time this month! 

Now I’ll admit, I tried to put together a great birthday flannel to share or something brand new that hadn't been on Flannel Friday before, but sadly my mind went blank and my creativity fled. So instead, I thought it only fitting that I share my own version of a classic and one of the many amazing creations I've seen on Flannel Fridays throughout the years. My version of 5 Elephants in the Bathtub was inspired by Lisa over at Libraryland  and the wonderful Mollie and Leah at SunflowerStorytime .

I’m sure many of you are familiar with the rhyme, but for those who aren't, it goes like this:

One Elephant in the bathtub,

Going for a swim.
Knock, knock (Slap knees twice)
Splash, splash (Clap hands twice)
Come on in! (Motion to come in with both hands)

Continue counting up until 5 …..

Five elephants in the bathtub,
Going for a swim
Knock, knock
Splash, splash
They all fell in!

At one of my coworker’s prompting, I tried pulling all of the pieces to the floor as they all fall in and the kids loved it. It got them wondering about the size of the tub and how many elephants it would take to break it. We've also talked about how many elephants they think could fit our meeting room, what colors elephants are in nature, and whether or not they'd want to take a bath with an elephant (that one always gets some really fun answers)! 

This set is really versatile as well; besides an elephant storytime, I've also used it for a color themed one and a messy/clean storytime. I also use the set to play a really simple guessing game. You can hide an elephant behind the tub and then try and guess which it is. I’ll bring out an elephant not “playing” in the tub one at a time until they can figure out which color is missing.

Thanks for checking out my contribution to Flannel Friday and thanks a million to Kathryn for agreeing to host my guest blog!

Thanks Kelsey for such a fun post! Love the size of your pieces too. It's always great to get ideas for using our sets in more than one theme/activity! 

The rest of this week's Guest a Palooza / 4th anniversary roundup is @ What Happens In Storytime. 

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!