Wheels on the Bus several ways.

I recently made a set of 10 colorful buses for a fun activity/song for The Wheels on the Bus.  My grandson loves to watch videos of this song and we saw a really cute one that I wanted to make for Storytime.  So I found a Google image that I deconstructed for my pattern.  I first made a bus with the little children riding in it. I have a diecut for the paint splashes and children. Then I made 10 colorful buses that can be counted or used with the kiddos.  This can be a match the wheels to the color bus or match the wheels to the color splash or count the color buses activity.  I'm super happy with how it turned out. 

Singing and playing the Wheels on the Bus at Storytime is 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!

Being Thankful!

I'm thinking ahead for Thanksgiving and saw this post on Flannelboard Fun's page and she credited Mel's Desk . I loved it and wanted to make my own set. I made my pieces big and tweaked the bird and changed some of the colors but I really liked the sort of stained glass, primitive look of these pieces to use with the Raffi song, 'Thanks a Lot'.  I'll probably let the kiddos help me put the pieces on the board as we sing the song.  It's such a sweet song and I'm sure it will give us a lot to talk about too! I'm thankful for so much in my life and especially for Fun with Friends at Storytime!

  

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 See the Moon!

      

I love variations of the Little Mouse, Little Mouse hiding game. When I saw this one @sotomorrow I wanted to add it to my collection! I tweaked my pattern a little and since I have a circle diecut I just used it for my moon. I added some shiny glitter glue and we are all set for some fun! This will be a great time to use Laurie Berkner's wonderful song, 'Moon, Moon, Moon'. I sing this song as a lullaby when my grandsons sleepover!
Singing and playing are so much 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!

Space; the Final Frontier!

Going boldly into outer space is super fun! Here's the five little astronauts that we used with this fun rhyme. (Don't remember where I found it) It's a take on 'Five elephants went out to play'.
One Little Astronaut 
One little astronaut floating out from base,
Hooked to a hose, exploring space.
She thought it was such an amazing trick,
She called for another astronaut to join her quick!
Two....
Three...
Four...
Five little astronauts floating out from base.
Hooked to a hose, exploring space.
They thought it was such an amazing trick,
But, then their work was done and they went back quick!

 My astronauts and rockets are diecuts. I hot glued a silver holograph sequin behind the opening for the helmet. LOL, One little girl with an eye for detail noticed that the yarn hose for the orange astronaut wasn't orange! Little things like that make storytime fun for me!! I do have several other posts about space and astronauts. Check them out!  Counting astronauts is 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!

Astronaut Amy goes to the Moon

  Zoom, Zoom, Zoom

We're going to the moon.

  Zoom, Zoom, Zoom,

We'll be there very soon.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...

   BLAST OFF!

We enjoyed a fun, astronaut storytime last week. We had a cute Home Extension also! Going to the moon is super 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! 

Sunny Days!

I saw this post by Amy @one little librarian and remembered the sunflower post I shared a few years ago. I mentioned that I had done a Sunshine storytime that was so much fun. I just had to make a set of those cute little suns and clouds to add to my plan. I used my Sizzix sun and circle diecuts and glued on google eyes and a crescent piece cut from a large sequin. I just freehand cut out the cloud shapes and added a little white glittery fabric paint. I'm kinda pleased with how these turned out. I'm so happy to have the great resources from Flannel Friday! 

Amy has the rhyme for the 10 little suns that I made into a printable doc HERE and the lyrics for Raffi's song Mr. Sun.  Here's a youtube clip of Raffi singing, Mr. Sun.  We offered a Home Extension using my Sizzix sunshine diecut and some pipe cleaners to make 'sun'glasses! Ha! We enjoyed playing rhythm sticks with 'You Are My Sunshine'. We had so much Sunshiney 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!

♫Green Grass Grew All Around♫

A couple of years ago I saw this post from In The Children's Room for the song, 'The Green Grass Grew All Around'. I loved the song and the idea! Here's a Youtube link for a longer version of the song.  I set to work to make my version of each of the flannel pieces so that we could sing this fun song!  I told the kiddos to pretend they saw the tree and then added the branch, nest, egg with bird, feather and flea. My nest has pieces of rafia and string glued to it. I used a feather with a piece of purple felt glued to the back. I used this with a bird theme but you could also do it with a theme about trees or homes!  This was 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!

Veggies in the Garden

Time for planting gardens!! I made a set of veggies to go with a
song by Jean Warren to the tune of "Down by the Station. I can't remember where I found it originally because it's not on her excellent website, Preschool Express right now. There are a lot of other great vegetable songs there though!

Here is a printable copy of the song/flannelboard rhyme, Out in the Garden. I didn't really use a pattern for these pieces. I looked at a few Google images but they are pretty easy shapes to just freehand cut out. I could see playing the ever popular game, 'Which one is missing?' after singing the song. There's any number of ways to use these pieces and the song/chant. The children can help add the pieces or take off the pieces. If your group is too big you can have a puppet animal 'eat' the veggies!! Vegetables are 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!

Beary Sleepy Bedtime

Bears and Bedtime are a winning combination for storytime! I've posted some other bedtime posts HERE and HERE. I made my own new set of Five in the Bed inspired by Miss Mary Liberry and Sarah at Read Rabbit Read. I actually made 6 little bears (can't remember why??) We offered a really easy prep, Home Extension that uses the adorable bear and bunny from this cute picture book! We put the cut squares in an envelope and paper-clipped it to the precut, programmed paper so that they could color Bear and bunny and make the blanket with the squares and a glue stick. I'm showing the example that I made. They loved it!! 

We also sang a fun silly song I saw at 1234 More Storytimes about colored pajamas that had everyone laughing! I laminated and cut out Google images of kids in 5 different colored pajamas; red, orange,green, pink and blue. I used those colors because they were one syllable and fit the song. Anyway, I was VERY expressive with my singing! After 2 colors the caregivers and the kiddos began singing with me. They thought it was hilarious! LOL! We're having 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.

A Camping Song

I've got another camping item to add to your storytime agenda! I found this song to the tune of Farmer in the Dell and I used Google images to find patterns to illustrate it as we sing. Here's the link for some of my other Camping posts.

A-Camping We Will Go

*a-camping we will go, (add boy)
*a-camping we will go, (add girl)
Hi-ho and off we go,
a-camping we will go.


More verses:
*First we pitch our tent...  (add tent)
*Next we get some wood...(add wood to look like campfire)
*We light the campfire now... (add fire)
*We cook our dinner now...(add frying pan)
*We sing some campfire songs...(add guitar)
*It's time to go to sleep...(close eyes and pretend to sleep)
Good Night!

There is an adorable 5 Little S'mores flannelset posted by Lauren @ The Dilley Dally blog that would be a great addition to a camping theme!!  Even better if there was some tasting at the end of Storytime! Campfires and Campfire songs 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.

The Wheels on the Firetruck...

This summer we will celebrate our community heroes, Firefighters! I found this cute set in our files that was made by a previous librarian. Here's the link to print out 'The Wheels on the (Fire)truck'. I add each piece as we sing the song. I couldn't leave well enough alone LOL! I did stiffen the small pieces with glue on the back and added glitter to the light that I place on the top of the firetruck. I used black fabric paint on the hook, hose and the siren (white part in front of the light) I also used fabric paint to update the two little firefighters too. I do have another post about Firefighters and here are some ideas @ Storytime with Miss Tara and friends. Check out the resources @ MakingLearningFun.com. You can listen to a cute song called Fire Truck by Ivan Ulz sung on Youtube. 

Firefighters are heroes to us! We're having 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.

Umbrellas

Umbrellas are so much fun for preschoolers! There's something cozy and safe about being under an umbrella that preschoolers really love. This is such a fun and easy theme for storytime. Using a real umbrella as a prop is always a big hit. I have an activity/rhyme that I like to use called 'It's Raining'. I've used it so long that I don't remember where I got it originally! I have noticed that this set has no glitter or shine?! *gasp* I will certainly fix that before I use it again! I put the big umbrella on the board and the kiddos with that color little umbrella bring it up to the board.  I say the rhyme slowly and pause after each color to give the kiddos time to bring their umbrella up. My little umbrellas are an Ellison diecut. This is always a big hit as we recognize colors and play together! I also have a song we sing to the tune of 'Ring around the Rosie'. It's called 'Listen to the Raindrops'. We pretend we're holding an umbrella over our heads as we sing and do the actions to the song. Big Fun!!

I also offered a Home Extension/craft with this theme that is a lot of fun. I cut out the umbrella and handle shapes and then used 2 primary color washable markers to make stripes on the umbrella part. A piece of tape or a dab of glue make it an umbrella and then the fun really starts! The kiddos 'paint' with water and watch the 2 colors blend to make a new color... Magic! Rainy days and umbrellas 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.

Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head!

April showers are here! We've had a lot of rain and even bad storms lately. This is a chance to do some fun Rainy Weather themes. I have used several really fun 'rain' books. I'm sure you can find many others! Check out the Flannel Friday Weather Pinterest board.


I like to use a fingerplay, Five Little Raindrops go Bye-Bye, as well as my raindrop felt set. There's a fun, sweet song by Dr. Jean that I like to sing too. I like her version the best, The African Village Song (storyteller's perogative LOL!)  I found a pretty version of When the Rain Comes Down by Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer. Here's the link for the rhyme, Five Little Raindrops Jump, that I've used for years. 

I also offered a craft. This is an easy prep. I did have an Ellison diecut for the raindrop shapes but if you don't they are a quick easy shape to cut several at a time. I used shiny curling ribbon but you could use mono filament  or even thread and tape or a dab of glue. I had the paper plates cut, the holes punched and the curling ribbon threaded through, including the hanging one. The kids could tape or glue on the raindrop shapes and color the rainbow with markers. Ta da! Now they have a mobile to hang in the window or on the doorknob of their room! 
Rainy Weather is a lot of Fun With Friends at Storytime!! 
Check out the other great ideas at this week's Flannel Friday Roundup! There are more 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.