Catching Fireflies

Fireflies are so magical! I've done this theme for years! Several years ago I made up a rhyme that I used with a pellon set of a jar and 5 pellon fireflies. Then I made a smaller set of 10 fireflies and a smaller pellon jar. Then, recently I was inspired to remake my set in flannel when I saw this post @catch the possibilities. Check out the Flannel Friday 'bugs' Pinterest board for other posts about fireflies. I decided to add my set and rhyme to the mix!  Here's a printable link for my rhyme,  'Catching Fireflies'


Here's the progression of my fireflies...

I also offered a craft with this theme. I cut out a jar shape from black construction paper. I put out pans of glue with glitter stirred in it and the kiddos stamped with little porcupine rings to make fireflies in their jar. Easy Peasy!  We recently got in this new firefly book. It's beautiful!! I want to use it next time I do this firefly theme! Fireflies 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! 

Trees!!

The trees around my house have got new baby leaves all over and the promise of shade for hot days in summer! We did a tree story time last year and it was a big hit! I have a small apple die cut that I used to add some apples in the book Tap the Magic Tree. I had to hold the book tightly until we got to the page when the apples all fall out of the tree. There were oohhs and aahhs when we got to that page! So much fun!! We also used a finger play about trees that Miss Margaret added some verses to called , The Rainbow Tree. Yummy fun! She started with the rhyme Two Big Lemons at Everything Preschool.com and added verses about other fruit! I made a tree for the fruit pieces but I might add velcro to the fruit pieces and use my Apple Tree hand puppet.  I shared my Apple Tree puppet in my post HERE.

I have a post about fruit HERE. I have a song and flannel set about a tree on the post HERE. Trees 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!

May 6, 2016 Flannel Friday Roundup/placeholder

Hey Friends, time for Flannel Friday Fun!  Enjoy the fun! Maybe some of these ideas will be just the thing you need to make your next storytime Brilliant!!

Wendy @Flannel Board Fun  has Five Fat Turkeys to share with us this week. The bewildered chef is adorable!!

Jessica @ Storytime in the Stacks has a really fun toddler-friendly rhyme appropriate for the pollen induced sneezing going on this time of year! She is sharing a second post for preschoolers that's a take on the Enormous Turnip, er...Carrot!  FUN!!

I'm sharing a set I made to go with a rhyme that my coworker wrote about the Rainbow Tree!

Oh My Goodness!! Jennifer  @Adventures in Storytime is sharing 5 ways to do the Five Green and Speckled Frogs!! Now that song is stuck in my head!






Check out the wonderful resources on the Flannel Friday Pinterest Boards. Here's the link for the official Flannel Friday blog for more info!

Rabbits!

A few weeks ago, Wendy @Flannel Board Fun shared her bunny sets and several rhymes and I was inspired!! We are planning to do a bunny theme in May so Wendy's post was a tremendous help in our prep! There are lots of bunny posts on the Flannel Friday Pinterest boards too. Anyway, here's my take on the bunny sets plus an original rhyme/activity set too. I used pom poms for the bunny tails and google eyes instead of making them from felt. I like the extra dimension it gives to the bunnies...plus cutting out eyes is a pain! LOL! I love the carrot patch and the baby bunnies!

Here's a printable link for Rainbow Rabbits. It's a take on my Old McRainbow character and his rainbow carrots and rabbits that eat them! The felt rabbits are a diecut. The carrots are just freehand cutouts. They are about 6 inches long. I did add some glue to the back of the carrot tops to stiffen them. They weren't quite dry when I took this pic. I do plan to make a filefolder of the carrot shapes too...eventually.

Rabbits are a lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime! There are more 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!

Old McRainbow's Flower Garden

Here's another post for springtime bees and flowers! I was inspired last week to make up a new rhyme for Old McRainbow for Springtime! This is a color recognition and listening activity as well. Since I hand out the colored bees the kiddos have to wait and listen and watch for the color of the flower to change in the filefolder. There are several learning skills happening with this simple little activity! My littlest kiddos get the hang of this very quickly and love to add their piece to the flannelboard! Here's the link for the rhyme:  Old McRainbow's Flower Garden.

This is fairly easy to make too. I used a Google image of a cute bee and programmed a sheet with four bees and copied them on colored paper. I used my handy little laminator and laminated them. I rough cut them so that I could laminate 6 at a time and use less laminating film. Once I cut them out more carefully I'll add a small velcro dot to the back. I also used a Google image for my flowers. I just cutout some 'grass' for the bottom of the filefolder and a couple of leaf shapes. I cut out the flowers and the bee but colored with a sharpie the outline and stripes of the bee shape. I laminated the filefolder and hotglued two little googly eyes and stacked my paper and we're ready for 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!