Two Little Cows!

 

Two little cows eating grass and mooing softly,

One named Billy and one named Bonnie.

Moo moo Billy,

moo moo Bonnie,

Two little cows eating grass and mooing softly,

one named Billy and one named Bonnie!

I used a Google image to deconstruct and make my two cute cows. Some slick fabric paint and googly eyes and we're ready to moo, moo with Friends at Storytime.

Strawberry Pie!

 

  

Spring strawberries are the best! I'm planning a storytime them of  Strawberries are Red for this summer and I needed another felt set! I have a set of 5 strawberries in this post HERE. I made up a rhyme/story about picking strawberries and making pie Here!  I used some Google images for my leaves but I kinda freehand cut the strawberries, bucket shape and pie pieces.  I referenced my blueberry post here for the bucket and pie shapes.  Red Strawberries are so much Fun with Friends at Storytime.

Two Happy Jack-o-lanterns!

 

Here are my 2 little finger puppet Jack-o-lanterns for Halloween.  These are bigger than usual so that they fit on 2 fingers.  I cut a front and back using an Ellison diecut pumpkin as my pattern and just tweaked the bottom a little.  I did add a brown felt stem and my green vine is hot glued between the stems and to the top to keep that curly effect.  

Here's my rhyme:

Two Happy Jack-o-lanterns!

Two Happy Jack-o-lanterns ready for Halloween.

One named Jax and one named Jean.

Roll away Jax and Roll away Jean.

Come back Jax and come back Jean.

Two Happy Jack-o-lanterns say Boo! for Halloween.

One named Jax and one named Jean!

I do have other Halloween and Pumpkin rhymes Here and Here. Two Happy Jack-o-lanterns are so much Fun with Friends at Storytime!

Baa Baa Black Sheep.

 

Here's a new nursery rhyme set for Baa Baa Black Sheep!  I made the bags of wool by using black acrylic paint on cotton balls. I added black fabric paint stitches to the sides of the bags.  I used my favorite sheep pattern for my sweet black sheep. This set would be great with a storytime theme of farm or sheep or yarn/wool!  I have a lot of these nursery rhyme sets  HERE.  We're having a lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime. 

10 Sleepy Owls

I've made a new set of owls for our Halloween Hoot storytime! Here's a link for the doc.  10 Sleepy Owls. They turned out cuter than I expected. That's always a happy thing! Owls are so much Fun with Friends at Storytime!

Someone left the Barn Door Open!

Here's my version of the file folder prop and rhyme; Open the Barn Door. I had started on it a while back and then I saw Laura's version HERE and was motivated to finish mine. I did add a couple of verses to mine though. Here's a link for my copy. Open The Barn Door.

Sorry for the shiny spots, the lamination makes it tricky to take a good picture. I made my barn in 2 pieces for easier storage. I also used Google images of real animals and put them in order front and back on each green piece of paper to laminate them. I flip each picture over before I go to the next piece of paper as I say the rhyme. I made my barn door kinda big so that I could have a pretty good sized picture of each animal. The peek-a-boo action makes this really appealing for toddlers! This one turned out better than I had envisioned! Hooray! Farm animals in the barn 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. Here's the link for the official Flannel Friday blog for more info!

Hens of Different Colors

Here's an oldie but goodie, Hens of Different Colors file folder rhyme.  I usually start with the orange paper in place so that the kiddos can see the hen shape and details that I outlined with a sharpie on the laminating film. Then I start the rhyme and I stop talking as I change the color sheet for the kiddos to say the color. This is fun to use when I sing Laurie Berkner's song, I Know a Chicken! We use the shakey eggs and have a blast!

Hens of Different Colors

This little hen is black.  She stands in the barnyard by a big haystack.

This little hen is red. She is very tired and won't get out of bed.

This little hen is brown. She is feeling sad and wearing a frown.

This little hen is yellow. Her friend is the rooster. He's a handsome fellow.

This little hen is white. She dances and plays; Oh, what a sight!

This little hen is purple. She spends her day running in circles.

This little hen is green. She is the silliest hen I've ever seen.

This little hen is blue. She lays eggs for me and you.

This little hen is pink. She goes down to the pond to get a drink.

I have colorful hens so pretty to see. I love them and they love me!

I hI have posted several other 'chicken' posts so check them out! Chickens 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.

Chickens and Eggs!

It's that time of year again! Time for Chickens and Eggs!! Even though real chickens are not that cuddly or cute, storytime chickens are adorable! I have posted some chicken rhymes on a post from a few years ago HERE. I do have a new egg rhyme activity to share. "What's Inside the Egg?" . I saw the idea initially @ Mel's desk and tweaked it a little. LOL! I made eggs about 5" x 4". I cut them to look as if they had cracked apart. I used Google images that I sized to fit behind each colored egg. I doubled the felt on the lighter colors so that the kiddos couldn't see through them. I place them on the board so that the children can't see the items behind the eggs. Then we talk a little about eggs and what could be inside and then we play the game. I say the rhyme and remove the bottom part of the felt egg. As the kiddos see part of the item they can guess what it is. Then I move the top part of the egg and we see what was in the egg. Each item is very different and gives a lot of scope for discussion! We're looking for the baby chick so I make sure that's the last egg we 'crack' open! 

If you are doing an Easter Egg theme I have 2 posts from a couple of years ago, Here and Here. Of course, we will sing Laurie Berkner's fun song, I Know a Chicken! I have shakey eggs that I made for us to use. I put a teaspoon of rice inside the shiny plastic eggs and super-glued them shut. They've held up pretty well. I usually go through and check the eggs before I use them and reglue or take out any that are 'iffy'. Occasionally one will pop open but it's no biggy since there isn't much rice in them. I just run the vacuum quickly after storytime and we're good to go! Having them in a basket makes it easier to get them back too. This song is a favorite! Lots of clucking and shaking and laughing going on!!

We did hand out a fun Home Extension for this theme. I programmed a paper with 2 basket shapes and ran them off on colorful paper. We cut them out and cut out the handle. I have a Sizzix diecut of 2 small eggs that we used with large sheets of sticker paper to make our own stickers. Each basket had 5 for each kiddo to count and color and stick in their basket. 

Yessiree!! Chickens and Eggs are a Lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime!
The rest of the Flannel Friday roundup is @ Library Lalaland. Be sure to check out the Flannel Friday Pinterest Boards for other great chicken and egg ideas! 

Gossie and Gertie

When we were planning to do a friendship theme for storytime, I happened to be doing some research on Jane's blog, Piper Loves the Library.  Lo and behold, there was an adorable post about two best friends, Gossie and Gertie.  Oh Happy Day! It was exactly what we needed for the toddler storytime kiddos! I made a felt set of Gossie and Gertie. Then I scanned, enlarged, printed and laminated the pages from the little book to tell the story. I put the script from the story on the back of each page with cues for the felt pieces at appropriate places. This turned out to be easy to present and a big hit! Thanks, Jane, for the inspiration!

I have so much Fun with Friends at Storytime! Check out the rest of the Flannel Friday roundup @ What is Bridget Reading? for great ideas. Have questions about Flannel Friday? Check out the Flannel Friday official blog. Be sure to check out the Flannel Friday Facebook page too!

Morning on the Farm

 

There are so many fun books about Farm that you could use it for the overall theme for a month! Actually, I've done that before. The first week I did general Farm books. The second week I did Chicken books. That was an excuse to use Laurie Berkner's song, ' I Know a Chicken' and use the shaky eggs! The third week I did Pig books and the fourth week I did Sheep books.  I guess I could have continued with Cow or Tractor or Seeds or Veggies.  There are so many great books to choose from. Also, there are so many great songs to use too! There's the classic 'Old MacDonald had a Farm'. It's not technically about a farm but 'Cat Goes Fiddle-i-fee' has all the farm animals. I have a new favorite song now from Nancy Stewart. It's her song, 'When Ducks Get Up in the Morning'.  I think I first saw it mentioned on one of the Flannel Friday blogposts...but I can't remember which?! Anyway, since I have access to some great Ellison farm animal diecuts I decided to make the song an interactive activity. So I cut out about 5 or 6 of 6 different farm animals and handed them out to the kiddos. As we sang about that animal the children holding the matching animal diecut brought it up to the board. I tried a different way to do this with a small group of 2's and young 3's. I was able to give them all the same animal and they had to wait for me to say the sound that the animal makes to bring up their diecut. Waiting and listening for the sound before they could get up was challenging for one of the little kiddos. It didn't take long though, he got the hang of it and could sit on the edge of his chair and wait for the animal sound! I had as much fun as they did!! Playing is one of the ECRR components that we model in our storytimes. Now, I'm thinking a set of jungle/zoo animals might be next on my to-do list. The song is really easy to learn so that you don't have to have the music and you can improvise as you like. Be sure to check out some of the other great Farm/farm animal ideas on the Flannel Friday Pinterest boards.

Farm animals are a lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime! Check out the rest of the roundup  @ Library Village. Have questions about Flannel Friday? Check out the Flannel Friday official blog.  Be sure to  join us on the Flannel Friday Facebook page too.

Pigs and Pancakes

Pigs are fun and who doesn't love pancakes? Put them together and you have a recipe for FUN. A coworker shared this rhyme/game and pattern with me. (Thanks Louise!)  Here's the link for the rhyme and instructions on how to play. I tweaked it a little (5 instead of 6 piggies). This could be used with a Piggy or Farm theme or a Pancake or Breakfast theme. The kiddos really enjoy this one!

Pigs and Pancakes are a lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime!  Lisa @ Libraryland 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!

Old McRainbow's Pumpkin Farm

I just finished doing a Pumpkin themed storytime at a preschool to 10 classes divided into 4 groups.  It was a great success!  I heard, "Read it again!" or "Do it again", or even as he was leaving, a child said, "I love you!".  Of course, I replied," I love you too!".  *sigh*  That's why I do what I do!! Anyway, I used some old favorite flannel sets and a new favorite set copied from Sarah at Read Rabbit Read called Five Giant Pumpkins.  My set is a combination of felt pumpkins with glitter (of course!) and laminated Google images under the pumpkins. We even played a "which one's missing?" game with the Google images. This was a great hit!  But, I didn't have any interactive sets so that the children could get up and participate.  I realize, in that setting, there were just too many kids to really do the interactive game but I still would like a set for my library storytime or a classroom setting. I thought about it for several days and this is what I came up with:

Old McRainbow's Pumpkin Farm

by Kathryn Roach

There's a funny kind of farm where colored pumpkins grow;  

     planted by a funny farmer, Old McRainbow

         (chant or sing to tune of Mary Wore Her Red Dress)

       You can see a red one, red one, red one,

            a pretty red pumpkin on the farm.

(repeat with other colors as children bring up their matching colored pumpkin and add it to the 'farm')

        (speak the last rhyme to close the activity)

 What a funny rainbow farm with pumpkins row by row,

 Colorful pumpkins planted by Farmer McRainbow!

I die cut 4 of each color.  I plan to hand them out to the kiddos to bring up and add to the board as I chant/sing the color verse for each color.  I could see this being tweaked to apples or different veggies or fruit depending on the color. The first verse could be; There's a funny kind of farm where colored produce grow...  That gives me the chance to define a new, big word for the kiddos.  Rainbows and pumpkins are so much Fun with Friends at Storytime!

Not so Scary Scarecrow.

I don't really do scary Halloween themes for storytime. I don't read books that have ghosts or scary witches. That's a personal preference and presenter's prerogative. Here are some of my previous Halloween ideas; spiders, monsters and bats.  I do have a not-so-scary scarecrow that I like to use. I made this cute scarecrow many years ago from Liz and Dick Wilmes' terrific book, Felt Board Fingerplays with Patterns and Activites: Rhymes and Songs. I have used so many of their patterns and rhymes over the years. This is one of my favorite, most used resources!  Anyway, I did enlarge the patterns a little because I like my flannel sets to be big.

Let's Build a Scarecrow!

First the body,
Then the head,
a big straw hat,
and a scarf of red.
buttons for eyes,
a carrot nose,
a mouth made of stitches,
In two smiling rows

I made my scarecrow out of pellon and colored him with color pencils. There's two pieces of velcro on the back of the buttons to hold them on the scarecrow. I may have to use some tape because they tend to slip and slide when I put them on. His carrot nose and mouth are made of felt. I'm thinking of doing a little freshening with some yarn and slick puff paint this year.  I can't leave well enough alone! LOL!
My coworker introduced me to a cute little song, "Dingle Dangle Scarecrow" to use with this theme.  Here's another youtube link for the song.  I also talk about the fact that scarecrows are for scaring crows and not people. We talk about dressing up and pretending at Halloween.

We have a lot of Fun with Friends...and scarecrows...at Storytime.

I'm Going Batty!

I have an adorable little Beanie Baby bat that inspired this theme for my Storytime. Last year when I saw this cute post by Amanda at Trails & Tales about Bats! I just had to make my own set.  I tweaked the rhyme by adding one more verse*.

5 Little Bats
1...
2...
3...
4...
*5 little bats were trying to behave
They hung by their feet upside down in a cave.
They slept all day until the fading of the light.
Then they woke and said, "We're hungry!" and flew into the night!
(alternate: Then they woke and said, "Happy Halloween" and flew into the night!)


Then I found an adorable song by Carole Peterson on her CD, H.U.M. - Highly Usable Music, All Year Long!; "Black Bat Farm".  I decided to make flannel pieces to go with it as I sang it. I don't use the CD because I don't sing the ghost verse.  But, it is still adorable!  It's a version of "The Green Grass Grew All Around".
Black Bat Farm
Carole Peterson - adapted by Kathryn Roach

There was a farm - *echo line*
A quiet farm -*
The quietest farm -*
that you ever did see...eeeeee!
A field is on the farm, the farm is dark and quiet
Chorus: And the black bats flew all around, all around
Oh, the black bats flew all around.
And in that field -*
There was a vine -*
the creepiest vine -* that you ever did see...eeee! The vine in the field, the field on the farm, the farm is dark and quiet
Chorus

And on that vine -* 
There was a pumpkin -*
the cutest pumpkin-*
that you ever did see...eeeee!
The pumpkin on the vine, the vine in the field, 
the field on the farm, the farm is dark and quiet...
Chorus

And on that pumpkin -*
There was a face -*
the happiest face -*
that you ever did see....eeeee!                
The face on the pumpkin, the pumpkin on the vine,
the vine in the field, the field on the farm, the farm
is dark and quiet...BOO!
Chorus
Happy Halloween!

I made the field with two sheets of felt and pieces of yarn glued on as rows in a plowed field.  The vine is green ribbon with some velcro under the pieces of felt glued to the 'B' and exclamation point.  I glued the ribbon so that the 'O's keep their shape.  I cut out 10 of the small black bats and added a few each time I sang the chorus until they were all up on the board. The caregivers and kiddos soon were singing the chorus with me and everyone liked the happy Jack-o-lantern face at the end. I also got quieter as I sang the last part, "the farm is dark and quiet"... pause... then I said, "Boo!" and we all laughed and sang the final chorus together. This was a really big hit! Turns out I am a batty old lady after all!  LOL!   
Bats are a lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime.
update: Check out the rest of the roundup @ Library Village.  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!