Flannel Friday: Color Farm

My department has a pretty impressive collection of flannelboards. Honestly, I don’t utilize it enough because I tend to stick with my tried and true boards. But, the other day, I was planning a shapes and colors storytime and decided to check the department’s flannelboard collection to see if there was something new-to-me that I could use. And that’s how I stumbled upon our Color Farm flannelboard.

I know Storytime Katie has done a Flannelboard Color Zoo board before, but I haven’t seen one for the farm version (I’m sure it’s out there, though). I also haven’t seen one quite like this!

These pieces look like they were digitally rendered (I don’t know if we got this template from somewhere or if a very talented staff person made them) and each animal is missing a shape. Not only is this a great way to retell the story, but it’s also a great guessing game! After reading the story, I place a card on the board and ask the kids to tell me which animal it is and which shape is missing. The best part is that whoever made this set also included the shapes written out. What a great way to promote print awareness!

Jessica at Storytime in the Stacks is hosting this week’s Flannel Friday round up! You can also find a whole bunch of flannelboard ideas at Flannel Friday’s Pinterest page, the Flannel Friday Blog, and Flannel Friday on Facebook.

P.S. This is my first Flannel Friday post in years. O.O

Flannel Friday: Count and Clip Cards!

Okay, I admit it…I can’t take credit for this Not-A-Flannel Friday.  I am basically just posting this to make sure that everyone in the Flannel Friday community is aware of The Measured Mom and her awesome, free printables!  These transportation count and clip cards are perfect for a Things That Go storytime because they not only promote STEM, but they also reinforce fine motor skills!

After I printed the transportation count and clip cards template, I used a combination of thin cardboard, colored paper, and book tape to make these cards both attractive (or, I should say, more attractive) and sturdy.  This is a great project for teen volunteers to work on, but if you’re lacking volunteers and have some spare sheets of laminating paper, you could always just laminate the cards.

To use these cards in storytime (my Things That Go storytime is next week), I’ll simply pass them out with clothes pins, then give the kiddos a few moments with their caregivers to count and clip.  I’m hoping that I’ll be able to give at least two cards per child, but I only made 30 cards, so that really depends on the size of the group.  If I end up having a big group, I’ll hand out one per kid, then have kids switch cards after a minute.

Brooke is hosting this week’s Flannel Friday over at Reading With Red.  To see past Flannel Friday entries, visit the Flannel Friday Website or the Flannel Friday Pinterest Page.

Flannel Friday: Five Little Monsters

Okay, I know we’re no where near October, but I’ve been wanting to update the Five Little Monsters flannelboard that I made last fall, and I finally got around to it recently!  My original set of monsters are very small, and with my storytime crowds getting bigger, I need flannel pieces that everyone can see.  So I made the monsters bigger and even have a template to share for this week’s Flannel Friday!

Five Little Monsters Jumping on the Bed

Five little monsters, jumping on the bed.
One fell off and bumped his head.
Mama called the doctor and the doctor said…
No more monsters jumping on the bed!

Four little monsters…

Template: (click images for PDF)

 

Lisa is hosting this week’s Flannel Friday over at Story Time with the Library Lady!

Flannel Friday: Five Little Ninjas

After another long hiatus from Flannel Friday (my last contribution was in February!), I am back with a 5 Little Whats-it rhyme.  As I was planning my spring Pre-K storytimes, I had an urge to do a ninja themed storytime.  Because — I mean, let’s face it — ninjas are awesome!  And some really remarkable ninja books have come out recently that are just meant to be read in storytime!  However, finding extension activities for this theme was pretty darn difficult!  So I ended up making up my own Five Little Ninjas rhyme and creating this flannel set from some clip art I found in Microsoft Word.

Five Little Ninjas

Five little ninjas, creeping through the door,
One said HIYAH, and then there were four.
Four little ninjas, climbing up a tree,
One said HIYAH, and then there were three.
Three little ninjas with nothing to do,
One said HIYAH, and then there were two.
Two little ninjas, having so much fun,
One said HIYAH, and then there was one.
One little ninja, on the run.
He says HIYAH, and then there were none.

Amanda is hosting this week’s Flannel Friday over at Trails and Tales.  And don’t forget to check out our Website and Pinterest!

Flannel Friday: Sorting Train

Kids love trains (and so do I), and kids love sorting.  So it makes sense to combine the two to make the ultimate sorting flannel set!  I initially got this idea when I was browsing iPad apps for kids.  I don’t remember the actual app (I ended up not buying it), but one of the games consisted of children sorting different colored items into different colored train cars!  Genius!  Clearly, however, this is a popular idea because shortly after I saw the app, Katie posted about sound trains in her Growing Readers program!

Since sorting trains are so popular, I’ve decided to go ahead and flannelize it.  I made the train set out of felt using this train template from Mel’s Desk (I enlarged it just a bit).  I then printed off and laminated various clip art for the children to sort.  Right now I only have a colors set, but I plan to make all sorts of sets for this:  letters, numbers, shapes, animals, etc.

K Leigh is hosting this week’s Flannel Friday.  To view past Flannel Fridays, you can stop by either the Flannel Friday website or the Flannel Friday Pinterest.  We also have a Facebook page!

Flannel Friday: Bird Houses!

My contribution to this week’s Flannel Friday is a flannel matching game that works well with a birds, shapes or colors theme!  I swear I saw something similar to this idea on an old Flannel Friday post (back when FF first started), but I’ve looked at our Pinterest page and couldn’t find it, so I decided to contribute mine.

For this matching game, I made several bird houses, each with a different shaped entrance.  Then I made different shaped birds to match with the houses (after much consideration, I decided to color-code them as well).  To play the game, I put the houses up on the board, and then the children help me find the right house for each bird.  The shapes I used were tiny circle, big oval, triangle and rectangle.  If I ever feel up to it, I’ll make other shapes to add to it.

Since this flannel set is shapes based, it was pretty easy to make.  A rough template is below if you’re interested (the pieces are a bit big):

Bird Houses

Katie is hosting this week’s round-up.  And don’t forget to check out our Pinterest account!  And our Flannel Friday website!

Flannel Friday! Roundup Post!

Here’s the Flannel Friday roundup for the week of August 10, 2012!  If you’d like to learn more about Flannel Friday, please visit the Flannel Friday website.  If you’d like to visually explore past Flannel Friday ideas, visit the Flannel Friday Pinterest account.  And, if you’d like to see what new Flannel Friday ideas we have this week…scroll down.

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Anna from Future Librarian Superhero has a great idea that incorporates finger puppets, a finger puppet stage and an iPad!  This one’s sure to be a crowd pleaser!

Sandra at Storytime Sparks brings us an adaptable rhyme for all kinds of fruits and veggies!  Great for hungry/food/harvest storytimes!

Lisa from Libraryland has Halloween on her mind with this super fun storytelling prop, Halloween Hilda!  The kiddos are sure to have a Happy Halloween storytime with this one!

Sarah at Read Rabbit Read has some adorable penguin finger puppets with a link to the template!  The rhyme that goes with the finger puppets is also very adorable!

Speaking of finger puppets, Kate from Storytime Katie brings us two amazing elephant finger puppets, along with the template to make them.  These finger puppets are very cute and very fun!

Bridget from What is Bridget Reading brings us Blue Ted Said, a flannelboard that was inspired by Red Ted Said.  Love the adaptability of this one!

Linda at Notes from the Story Room shares a folktale that she adapted from 1001 Nights and a magnetic board that she made to go with it!  This one’s perfect for a dreams storytime, and the children will love the twist at the end!

Lucy from In the Children’s Room gives us a great flannelization of the classic Row, Row, Row Your Boat!  Kids will love this one!

Sharon at Rain Makes Applesauce has a really imaginative use for a Build-a-Bear box, along with an accompanying youtube video to demonstrate how to use it!  If you have a baby/toddler storytime, you must check this one out!

Courtney at Miss Courtney Meets Bobo has a great ‘Who’s There?’ rhyme that goes along with a which house is the bird hiding behind game!  Kids will be absolutely smitten with this one!

Amanda from Toddler Tales has a flannelboard rhyme about raccoons!  This one would work great with a woodland creatures theme!

K at Storytime ABCs made some really spectacular seastar finger puppets to go along with her seastar counting rhyme.  The silly faces on the sea stars are sure to delight!

Tara from Storytime with Miss Tara and Friends has a lovely flannel to go along with the book, Birdsong by Ellie Sandall!  Her flannel birds are exquisite!

Jane at Piper Loves the Library has a great song about a giraffe named Sophie!  Love the use of giraffe patterned felt, Jane!

Last, but definitely not least, there are 3 eggs in a basket over at Storytiming!  This one’s great for discussion-starting!

Flannel Friday! Placeholder Post!

I am the Flannel Friday host this week!  And I know it’s only Wednesday night (at least here in Texas), but I am way too excited to wait until tomorrow, so here’s the placeholder post for your Flannel Friday links!  Please leave your links in the comments, and I promise that I’ll be checking as often as possible over the next two days and replying as soon as I can.

The Roundup post will most likely be up late Friday night (or, possibly, in the wee hours Saturday morning,) so keep your eyes peeled!  Everything will be up on Pinterest by Saturday afternoon.

If you’re new to Flannel Friday and would like to learn more, you can always check out the Flannel Friday website!

Flannel Friday! Where’s Walrus!

What’s this?  I’m posting another Flannel Friday?  Why, yes I am!  I will say that I currently have nothing planned for next week’s Flannel Friday, and I’m heading to ALA this weekend, so I may not have time to prepare one either.  But maybe the week after…

This week, I’m bringing you yet another flannel that was inspired by a picture book.  This time, however, the book in question is a wordless picture book.  Where’s Walrus is such a cute book/story, that I just had to flannelize it!  The book might be hard to read in storytime (though if you have a small crowd, it could be fun to have the children tell you the story), but it makes a great hiding flannel game.

As you can see, this is still a work in progress.  My goal is to one day have a piece for all the places in the book, but I’ve already been working on this for weeks, and I need a long hiatus from it before I can continue it.  It can still work with just four pieces, though…especially if you have a toddler crowd.

I’m particularly proud of the walrus:

Shawn is hosting this week’s round-up at Read, Rhyme & Sing.  For more Flannel Friday information, or for past Flannel Fridays, be sure to check out the website.

Flannel Friday! A Tree for Me!

A few weeks ago, something momentous happened to me:  I began to develop the skill of being able to tell when a picture book would make a good flannelboard.  I was flipping through the book, A Tree for Me, and I realized, “Hey…this could work as a flannelboard!”  And I’m telling you, folks, it was as though the librarian gods blessed me with a new skill that I was previously lacking.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the story, it’s about a boy who’s looking for a tree that’s just for him.  However, he finds most of the trees that he climbs are already occupied by someone:  first it’s an owl, then possums, then worms, and so on and so forth.  At the very end, he finds the tree for him, and it has a tree house in it!

Not only is this book easy to flannelize, but it also has a great refrain that the children can say along with you:    Big one, small one, skinny one, tall one, old one, fat one, I choose that one!

I see this flannel set working one of two ways.  Either you read the story and use the flannel pieces to help tell it.  Or you can make into a sort of game where you hide the various animals behind the trees and have the children help you find the tree that has the tree house.  You say the refrain, pick a tree, maybe have the children try to guess who might be in the tree, and then remove the tree to see if it’s the right tree for the boy, or if it’s already inhabited by an animal.

I can’t wait to try this one out!

Our Flannel Friday host this week is the amazing Sarah at Read It Again!  To learn more about all things Flannel Friday, go see the awesome website.