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!

Hand Clapping Miss Mary Mack!

Handclapping chants and rhymes are a very fun and important part of Storytime. There's a lot of learning happening during the silliness.  A Google search for Hand clapping chants for literacy will pull up a wealth of encouragement to include these as a great component for Storytime.  We have been doing Nursery Rhymes at our Storytime. This quarantine has given me time to make several felt sets to use when we are able to have Storytime again.  Here's my newest, Miss Mary Mack! She's got silver glitter glue buttons down her back.  I tweaked a Google image to make my pattern.  I made her so she can be flipped from front to back.  Handclapping is so much Fun with Friends at Storytime!

In My Little Red Wagon

We recently did a very fun 'Little Red Wagon' storytime theme.  Our mascot Harvey was the star of the Home Extension/craft that we offered and the first rhyme/activity was about him.  Miss Debbie had found Google images of objects that rhyme and we printed them and laminated them and then cut them out. I had a miniature red wagon that we pretended that Harvey was pulling with the objects in them. We would pull out an object and show it and discuss it and add it to the felt board then bring out the next object and point out that they rhymed! There was a lot of discussion about the different things in Harvey's wagon!


Here's the rhyme that Miss Margaret made up for this activity:

Wagon Flannel Game

(by Margaret Vaughan)

Walking along pulling his wagon behind,  

Look and see. What did Harvey find?

We had :  flower - shower ; log - dog ; book - hook ; pickle -nickle ; rock - sock ; and some random pics of items. Miss Margaret also made a cute flannel set of 5 colored wagons to play a version of the 'Little Mouse hiding in a colored house' game with a Google image of a dragon. Our flannel board has gotten a little bit slick so we added velcro to the back of the wagons. 

We sang Bumping Up and Down by Raffi and we used the parachute to sing and move to Old Brass Wagon (Wee Sing). Playing with a little red wagon is 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.

Flip Flap Jack

So...we're planning for September and our first week's theme is Names. My children's librarian found this adorable post by Anne at So Tomorrow and asked me to make us a set. Flip Flap Jack is another version of Aiken Drum. Also, if you teach preschool and use Handwriting Without Tears you might like Flip Flap Jack as another version of Mat Man! The rhyme/song and pattern is in Ready to Go Storytimes: Fingerplays, Scripts, Patterns, Music and More by Gail Benton and Trisha Waichulaitis. Here's a great link with a video and the words for Flip Flap Jack.  Here's my version with added glitter and fabric paint.

His head was a pancake...

His body was a waffle...his bellybutton was a raspberry!

his legs were bacon...his feet were French toast (with 'brown sugar glitter')

and his name was Flip Flap Jack!

I think he's adorable ... mmmmmm and DELICIOUS!  I also found a fun song to sing with this theme on an older CD, Ralph's World. It's the Name Song!  Check out this youtube video of the song. So much silly fun.  We're having Fun with Friends at Storytime

Hiding Easter Eggs

I don't like to ignore holidays but I also don't go into full blown holiday mode either.  Easter is a great excuse for doing books about eggs, chickens, bunnies, sheep and spring!  One of the books I like to use isn't an Easter book at all. I love the book, An Egg is Quiet by Dianna Aston and illustrated by Sylvia Long.  This book can be used in different ways. I read the largest text and let the children lead in talking about the illustrations on the page. I also use The Golden Egg Book by Margaret Wise Brown.  sooo sweet!

Then there is the great song by Laurie Berkner, 'I Know a Chicken', to sing with egg shakers that I made out of plastic Easter eggs, rice and hot glue/super glue. The children LOVE this song! I do like to play with Easter Eggs.   I have a fun Easter egg rhyme that I like to use. After I present the flannel rhyme we play a game, 'Which One is Missing?'.  I have the children close their eyes and cover them with their hands...(sometimes their little fingers are leaking and I see eyes peeking! LOL!!)  I usually stand in front of the board and reach behind my back to take one of the eggs off the board.  Then, I say "Open your eyes! Which one's missing?"  Usually the older preschoolers shout out the color first.  I will ask, "Are you sure??" And then I show them the egg and we all cheer and do it again!  I'm trying to be more intentional about telling the caregivers the educational benefits of these fun games.  This game is good for;  following directions, being patient, visual memory, color recognition and FUN!      Here's the rhyme:

Hiding Easter Eggs

by Kathryn Roach

I’m hiding Easter eggs today,

I have lots of colors so everyone will say,

“Look at all the fancy eggs.”

Come on, let’s start the hiding play!

The blue one with the pretty stripes I’ll hide inside a shoe. 

The red one with the squiggles will soon be hidden too!

High on a shelf the green one hides, it has colorful squares.

I’ll hide the yellow fancy egg beneath my father’s chair.

The rainbow dotted purple egg I’ll hide beneath the sink.

Inside a bag is just the spot for this egg colored pink.

I’ll hide the bright orange Easter egg in a very little space

When someone finds this funny egg they’ll have a happy face!

Let’s look for all the pretty eggs,

We’ll find them one by one

Grab your basket. Come on let’s go,

Finding Easter Eggs is fun!

These felt eggs are about 6 inches tall and embellished with yarn, fabric paint, more felt, ribbon, sequins, and details cut from fabric. These make me happy!       Have a Happy Easter everyone!  

I'm reposting this for the 5th Birthday/Anniversary Roundup of Flannel Friday! Woo hoo!! Check out the other posts on the ROUNDUP! Check out the wonderful resources from the last 5 years on the Flannel Friday Pinterest Boards. Here's the link for the official Flannel Friday blog for more info!