I Am A Wolf

Dogs and families are so much Fun with Friends at Storytime!  

Here's Grandpa and His Bowties!

 

Here's the Grandpa from another blogpost...*Updated Dear Old Dad, with his snazzy bowties for each day of the week.  I couldn't resist the patterned felt pieces to make these fun bowties. Here's the rhyme for Grandpa's Bowties.  Playing with Grandpa is so much Fun with Friends at Storytime!

*updated, Dear Old Dad post

 

I have updated my Dear Old Dad  post and added Grandad and Jr.  This activity/felt set is for a family themed storytime.  Here's a link for my rhyme, Neckties and Bowties.  I jazzed up Dad's ties and made Grandad and Jr.'s bow ties to coordinate with the necktie that Dad is wearing.  I plan on this being an interactive activity with the kiddos.  I'll say the rhyme and add Dad's tie and then the kiddos holding the matching color bowties can come up and put one on either Grandpa or Jr.  The bowties are essentially the same size with a dot of velcro on the back to hold them in place. So, I can still use just the neckties and Dad and the original rhyme too. I guess I could use the rhyme and change out Dad or Grandpa or Jr for 3 different options too.  I just think these men are so dapper! LOL!  Family is so much Fun with Friends at Storytime!

Kisses for Valentine's Day

Here's an oldie but goodie for Valentine's Day. I found this rhyme years ago on Story Time Secret's blog. I decided to make some smoochy lips and add some kissing sounds as I say the rhyme! Here's a printable doc of Five Little Kisses.
Blowing kisses is a lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime!

Peek-a-boo Baby!

I wanted to share an update for this post about emotions and babies, Poor Little Baby,  from a while back. I made a new set of babies that are LARGE! This time I added a surprise monster baby at the end and tweaked the rhyme to be a Peek-a-boo Baby rhyme/activity. Now, how much Fun with Friends at Storytime is that?!

There are other great flannelboard ideas on the Flannel Friday Roundup.  Check out the wonderful resources on the Flannel Friday Pinterest Boards. Here's the link for the official Flannel Friday blog for more info! 

I Love Food!

It's getting close to Thanksgiving so my mouth is already starting to water, thinking of FOOD!  I shared on another post about a rhyme I have about healthy food called 'Brown Bread, Brown Bread'. We have used it this week in storytime to talk about Thanksgiving food. It's been a lot of fun. I laminated Google images of the different colored foods and handed them out. As I put a pic of the food on the flannelboard, the kiddos bring up their matching picture and put on my big platter on my lap. It's so cute that many of the little ones are so used to putting their piece on the board that they'd stand there and try and try to stick their laminated piece on the board! Since they had 2 different pictures (I made 5 of each food) the second time they would get it right!

We used one of my favorite food/family books, Feast for 10. I really like Cathryn Falwell's book for toddler/preschool storytime. It has nice big uncluttered pictures and minimal text. The kiddos think that the 5 kinds of beans page is funny! (hint: one of the kids is holding a bag of jelly beans!).  One of my kiddos today noticed that on the last page of the book, one child is eating jellybeans while the other is reading a book! It's not explicitly a Thanksgiving book but it ends with the family seated around a table that looks a lot like Thanksgiving!  
We  also gave out a fun Home Extension of pieces to make a bunch of grapes. The pieces are different shapes and the circles are different sizes and colors so there is a lot of scope for conversation about that! I have a sizzix diecut for the circles so prep was quick! 

Food at Thanksgiving is delicious and a lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime! There are more great ideas on the Flannel Friday Roundup! Check out the wonderful resources on the Flannel Friday Pinterest Boards. Here's the link for the official Flannel Friday blog for more info!

Family Hero Fingerpuppets

Last week Miss Margaret showed me an adorable blogpost about Two Little Superheroes @ Sunflower Storytime and I just couldn't leave well enough alone. Ha! We are doing a week of Family as Heroes so I adapted the rhyme to reflect family members and different colored capes/outfits. There is a link in that blogpost for a printable set of capes and masks from Hello Bee. They are so cute but I adapted them to make my Family Hero Fingerpuppets. I decided to make the fingerpuppet and cape the color that I needed and to make the head as if the family member is wearing a full hooded outfit. I'll probably eventually add some hair to some of them. And maybe a mustache for Papa fingerpuppet!  Anyway, using some glue and fabric paint and tiny google eyes I made a set of felt Happy Hero Family Finger Puppets!  Here's a link for a short rhyme inspired by 'There Was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe' that I adapted for our Hero Family Theme. The link includes the rhymes for the fingerpuppets inspired by the Two Little Blackbirds rhyme to use with the fingerpuppets:      Happy Hero Family!

There are great posts 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.

Dear Old Dad!

This is my version of  'Daddy's Ties'  by Katie @ Story Time Secrets for Father's Day. If you have a small group you could hand the ties out and the child could bring up Daddy's tie when you sing that color. 
I made my set out of felt and gave the Daddy a snazzy shirt with a button-down collar and a debonair mustache. LOL! I used him this week and he was a big hit!! Dads are Fun with Friends at Storytime!
Mollie @ What Happens in Storytime has 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!

A Gift for Mommy ...take 2

Last year I posted a rhyme that I had made about buying a gift for Mommy for Mother's Day.  I had used Google images (the color words are links on the other post) and laminated them to use with the rhyme. This year I decided to make a felt set to go with the rhyme. The pink lips are for the ending when we make a kissing sound as I put it on the board by the 'mommy' piece. I used a lot of glitter and glitter glue! I specially love the ring! I used some Google clipart and just eyeballed a couple of pieces for patterns. The dots on the scarf are white acrylic paint painted with the bottom of a marker and highlighted by glitter glue.
                             

A Gift For Mommmy

by Kathryn Roach

I want to get a gift for Mommy                 

for this Mother's Day.

Let me think! What could I find?

I don't have money to pay.

I know she likes some fancy shoes

I bet she'd like them blue.

Maybe a fancy party ring?

A lovely purple one could be the thing!

A mug for the coffee she likes to drink?

I know she likes the color pink.

Or a purse to carry all her stuff,
A red one might be big enough

An orange scarf fresh and light,
With white polka dots, could be right!

I know what I can give to Mommy
I know that this won't miss!
I'll tell her, "Mommy, I love you!"
With a great big hug and kiss!

Happy Mother's Day!

    

Check out the other Flannel Friday posts at the roundup hosted by  Anna @ Future Librarian Superhero.  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! 

Mommy Loves Her Little Monkey Face

I'm thinking of Mother's Day. I know, I'm just a sentimental grandma! Anyway, I was inspired by Bridget @ What Is Bridget Reading? to make my own set of pieces for the picture book, Monkey Face by Frank Asch for Mother's Day. Cate has a script for the story at the link above. But, I didn't really have a pattern for the pieces.  I sort of eyeballed the pieces from Bridget and Cate and some Google images and made my own pattern.  Anyway, here's my take on this fun book for Mother's day!

 

Happy Mother's Day!! Monkeys and Mommies are so much Fun with Friends at Storytime!

Check out the other Flannel Friday posts at the roundup hosted by Anna @ Future Librarian Superhero. 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!

Five Sweet Babies!

When my children's librarian mentioned doing a baby theme, of course I was happy to help plan that!! Everyone loves babies!  I had a previous post about emotions that involved a set of babies that we're using with our baby theme. Then, I found an adorable clipart baby to use to make a set of 5 babies. I made up a counting rhyme, 'Sweet Babies' to use with the felt babies. I cut out the whole body (including the head minus the ears) I cut out a second head that I glued on with the features and a separate diaper. The bottles are from a baby shower confetti set that I had. There is a black slick fabric paint bellybutton too!  These little guys are so cute!  

We are offering a Home Extension craft too. This is super easy to prep and prepare.  I used the 2 inch circle of the Sizzix circle diecut that I have to make the little pink baby faces. I made a blob shape that resembles a swaddled baby body. The children glue the baby face on the blanket and then glue the swaddled baby on the folded paper plate 'cradle'. Now the baby can rock while we sing, "Rock-a-bye baby".  Another cute baby song is Laurie Berkner's song, "Five Days Old".  Babies are so much Fun with Friends at Storytime!

 Check out the other posts at this week's roundup by Brooke @ Reading With Red. 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!

Poor Little Baby!

We recently decided to do an 'Emotions' theme for storytime. We used several cute books.  Of course we sang, If You're Happy and You Know It! I made a couple of felt sets to go with this theme inspired by posts on Flannel Friday.  Miss Angela's post about expressions/emotions at Spectacular Story Time was the first set I made. And then I made a cute set of babies that I plan to use again later when we do a 'Babies' theme. I was inspired by the Babies post by Lisa at Libraryland!! I loved the peek-a-boo rhyme/activity she shared; 'Poor Little Baby'.  Here's my set of babies...I made each one have a different emotion, under a different colored blanky, until...hooray!...the last little baby is happy! Sighs of relief and cheers all around!

Feelings and Babies are so much Fun with Friends at Storytime. The Flannel Friday Roundup is hosted by Katie @ Story Time Secrets!  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!

More Kite Flying

This is a repost for the Roundup at Flannel Board Fun for June 24th, 2016

By the end of the week of our kite theme, a book that we had requested finally came in to the library. Kite Flying by Grace Lin is perfect for older toddlers, 2 and young 3 year olds. There is minimal text and clear, uncluttered illustrations! I loved it so much that I have bought my own copy and made a felt set to match it that is an activity.  My plan is that after we read the book I 'make' the kite on the flannel board, except for the colorful streamers around the edge. I hand out the streamers and call for a color streamer and they bring it up and add it to the kite on the board. I had thought of calling for kids whose name begins with ..."name a letter". This would only work with older 2's or 3's. You could call for kids wearing socks or kids wearing a skirt or kids wearing a belt, kids that have a dog...you get the idea. If the group is small you could call for the boys to come up and then the girls to come up and add their color streamer to the kite.  It always takes longer than you would think to do these activities with the young kiddos, but it's worth the effort for all the learning happening!
Here's my felt set:

I cut out the center of the big yellow circle and filled it with purple glitter. I added orange glitter (non-metallic) to the edge of the yellow circle.

I edged several pieces with blue/green glitter glue and used purple shiny glitter for the 'eyebrow' and eyeballs of the dragon kite.  Walmart sells some colored glitter that is not metallic that is really pretty that I used for the yellow whiskers and the edging of the big octagon kite shape. I made up my own patterns by looking at the book's illustrations.  To get the nose even on both sides I drew and cut out my pattern folded in half and then opened it and placed it on the felt. The red kite is a 9x12 sheet of felt with the edges trimmed. I'm so pleased with how it turned out and the kiddos that played this activity at storytime seemed to really enjoy it!

Kites are so much Fun with Friends at Storytime!

Check out the other Flannel Friday posts at the roundup hosted by Bridget @ What's Bridget Reading?. .  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!