Art is in the Eye of the Beholder!

This week at Storytime it was all about ART! This turned out to be a really fun theme with both the older preschoolers and the younger toddler kiddos. The book we used with all the groups was David's Drawing by Cathryn Falwell. This book has fairly minimal text and nice clear illustrations with a great cumaltive device of David's drawing on each page. Since David's 'drawing' is so small in the top righthand corner of each page, I enlarged and copied it on a color copier. I mounted each picture on a piece of construction paper and laminated them. As we read the book we would put the laminated picture on the white magnetic board. The pictures stacked one slightly on top of the other (I put the magnet at the top back of each picture).  This combination of book and white board with pictures was very easy and effective with all of our age groups. I was also inspired to make a felt set of a post I saw @ Story Time Secrets by Katie Fitzgerald. It's called Harold's Other Crayon. I made felt crayons with an Ellison diecut and added glitter! LOL! Then using the same glitter colors I made a rainbow on a big piece of white fleece (my pretend paper) for a shiny happy ending! Big Hit!!

I needed another artsy type of rhyme so I finally settled on a file folder of a paintbrush and I made up a rhyme that ended with a picture and segued into the Home Extension for each kiddo. We had a cardstock programmed 'frame' for each kiddo to make their own picture! Here's the link for my rhyme Colors in My Picture.  I used a Google image of a paintbrush and drew on the drop and puddle of paint. I used black construction paper and some silver paper to make the handle. I cutout the brush, drop and puddle, then laminated the file folder. I stacked the color paper and made the picture to match the rhyme and had it last in the file folder. Oohs and Aahs when I turned it around for the kiddos to see! This turned out better than I had expected! Love it when that happens! Art and colors are so much Fun with Friends at Storytime!!

The rest of the Flannel Friday roundup is @Story Time Secrets. Be sure to check out the Flannel Friday Pinterest Boards for other great ideas!

All Aboard the Teddy Bear Train!

Woo, Woo....choo choo choo choo....This week we are combining two favorites of the little kiddos, trains and teddy bears! Miss Margaret made a teddy bear train! Our small groups were able to take turns pulling the train up and down the aisles between the picture books.  So much fun!

We made a felt train on the flannelboard. Here's the link for the rhyme; This Little Train. The kiddos would say the color train car as we put the pieces on the flannelboard. I had a small group one day and was able to hand out the felt pieces so that the kiddos could bring one up to help make the train. 

The pieces are Ellison diecuts. The boxcar pieces have been handled a bit and are stretched a little bit. Oh well, easy to replace them when they are too ragged. Eli had to count the different types of cars. He noticed that there were 3 tankers and 4 boxcars plus the engine and caboose. Love what I do!!  We also sang a new-to-me song, We're All Riding on the Train. We made a train and chugged around the rug while we sang the song. You can access the song at the link above.  It's easy to learn and there are several fun interactive verses. The verse where we go faster was a big hit! 

Of course there are some fun Teddy Bear songs to use too.  I have a little rhyme about Two Little Bear Cubs that I used with my two bear hand puppets.  I made my bear puppets into a brother bear and sister bear by adding a pink bow to one puppet. We offered an easy Home Extension with this theme too. I had some 8x14 white paper that was folded in half so that it could stand up. I diecut a black engine, orange flat car (was the caboose diecut that I trimmed to make a flatcar) and a brown bear.  They were thrilled to get this simple project that will help them to remember our theme. Teddy Bears and Trains are so much Fun with Friends at Storytime!




























The rest of the Flannel Friday roundup is @Ms.Kelly at the Library. Be sure to check out the Flannel Friday Pinterest Boards for other great ideas!

Fun at the Beach!

I know it's the middle of winter but I need some sand and sun and warm weather. I'm longing for summer. This is my mid-winter virtual beach trip. To The Beach by Thomas Docherty has a little boy that utilizes any way he can to get to the beach! I totally agree with his single-minded focus! This is a great read for preschool storytime. I've also used Going to the Beach by scanning and enlarging the pages. I mounted each page on yellow construction paper and laminated them. I have the text on the back of each laminated sheet to make it easier to read. The pictures are clear and uncluttered and there is minimal text.  I was inspired to make a set of sandcastles after seeing this post @Story Time Secrets. Her rhyme is great with a cute ending!  I made my sandcastles out of felt with added shell sequins for some shine! Each of my sandcastles has a different colored flag on a toothpick pole. I cut the shapes out freehand after looking at some Google images. 
Easy peasy!

I use a beach version of the Little Mouse game but it's with a little whale and colored pails.  The rhyme is: 
Little Whale, Little Whale 
Are you hiding in the ___ pail? 
I had to stiffen the felt handle pieces with white glue on the back and of course add some shiny sequins.  The little whale (now that's a contradiction in terms!) is made of Pellon that I colored with color pencils and outlined with a black Sharpie. I think he's adorable! Going to the beach (even in the winter) is so much Fun with Friends at Storytime.
The rest of the Flannel Friday roundup is @ What Is Bridget Reading?. Be sure to check out the Flannel Friday Pinterest Boards for other great ideas!

Beach Time!

I'm so tired of winter!! This will be my virtual beach vacation, LOL! Here's a link for some great beach books @ No Time for Flashcards.  There are some good posts on the Flannel Friday Pinterest boards too! I have a counting-to-10 seashell rhyme to add to your beach theme. I used an Ellison diecut for the shells and then added the glitter glue/fabric paint outlines. (By the way, the word green is supposed to rhyme with 10.) 

Picking up Seashells

by Kathryn Roach

I went to the beach with my bucket in my hand.

As I walked along I looked down at the sand.

I saw some pretty seashells; yellow, orange and green,

I counted as I picked them up

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

I also have a link for a riddle game that I made up. It's called What I Saw at the Beach Riddle Game.  I used Google images that I cut out and mounted on blue construction paper and then laminated. I sized the images to be about 4 or 5 inches and put a dot of velcro on the back of the laminated images so they'd go on the flannelboard. This leads to a LOT of discussion! Playing and Talking are 2 of our ECRR components. Well, at least this beach trip didn't involve sandy laundry or pesky sharks! The beach is a lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime. The rest of the Flannel Friday roundup is @ Storytime Katie. Have questions about Flannel Friday? Check out the Flannel Friday official blog. Be sure to join us on the Flannel Friday Facebook page too!

Birthday Candles!

Everyone loves birthday cake and candles! This is a fun and easy theme for storytime. I have links for 2 different counting candle rhymes: Five Candles and Ten Birthday Candles.  I have a cake shape made from pellon with white ric-rac trim and a red 'platter' to use with both rhymes. I made 2 different sets of birthday candles.  One set is based on the number shaped candles that you can buy for birthday cakes. The other set is a basic candle shape with added glitter!  There are some really great birthday ideas on the Flannel Friday Pinterest board.  Birthdays are so much Fun with Friends at Storytime!

The rest of the Flannel Friday roundup is @Storytiming. Have questions about Flannel Friday? Check out the Flannel Friday official blog. Be sure to join us on the Flannel Friday Facebook page too!  

Balloons say Happy Birthday!

Birthdays are so much fun for preschoolers. This is a great theme that offers lots of opportunities for fun flannel sets. I've got a not-a-flannel set of balloons to share.  I made my set from laminated paper with pipe cleaner 'strings' and a small piece of velcro on the back. I like the shiny look from the lamination, plus the last balloon can be programmed with the colorful words that say, "Happy Birthday". You could also play, "Which One is Missing?" with this set.  This could be a cute file folder set. Here's the link for the rhyme - Birthday Balloons.

We offered a home extension for this storytime. It's a crown that I saw on Pinterest that we adapted for our theme. We prepped the paper plate crowns and gave the kiddos some holograph stickers and paper birthday candles to decorate their birthday hats! This is super easy prep for a lot of kiddo fun!! 

This is one of my favorite author/illustrators. Our library copy of this book is too small for using in Storytime, so I scanned and enlarged it and mounted the pages on black construction paper and laminated them. I typed out the script and mounted each page's text on the back of the laminated sheet. The last 2 pages I mounted on a larger sheet of construction paper for the impact of the Happy Birthday! This is a big hit with the kiddos! 
Happy Birthday is a LOT of Fun with Friends at Storytime!!   

The rest of the Flannel Friday Roundup is @ Literary Commentary.  Have questions about Flannel Friday? Check out the Flannel Friday official blog. Be sure to check out the Flannel Friday Facebook page too! 

Shape Up!

I like Ellen Stoll Walsh's books! Check out this post at Read, Rhyme and Sing for some other Walsh inspired sets. I especially like Mouse Shapes. Our copy of the book is not as big as I like so I enhanced it a little.  I made some felt pieces to use as I read the book to my kiddos at storytime. I enlarged the pictures about 129% and used them as my patterns. I did use my sizzix diecut for the circles because they are just so hard to cut out. The pieces are glued to the white felt 'pages' on both sides. My coworker suggested that it would be easier to handle these pieces that way as I held the book too! I'm looking forward to the discussion we'll have as we see what these little mice can make out of shapes! Here's another way to make this set @ Read Rabbit Read. 

Mice and Shapes are a lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime!