Flannel Friday - Tired Bunnies

Welcome to another edition of Flannel Friday!

This week's submission was used in my bunny storytime last week, but could easily be used for a Mother's Day theme as well. The picture doesn't make it too clear, but the gray bunny on the left is larger than the others. That's Mother Bunny.

 Tired Bunnies

“Come my bunnies, it’s time for bed.”

That’s what the mother bunny said.

“But first I’ll count you just to see,

If you have all come back to me.

Bunny 1, Bunny 2, Bunny 3, oh dear,

Bunny 4, Bunny 5, yes, you’re all here.

You’re the sweetest things alive,

My bunnies 1,2,3,4,5.”

-- I’m a Little Teapot!: Presenting Preschool Storytime by Jane Cobb. Point Roberts, WA: Black Sheep Press, 1996. 

Be sure to check out the other blogs participating in Flannel Friday. If you're on Twitter, search for #FlannelFriday (be aware that a flannel shirt group uses this hash tag, too!).

Storytime - Earth Day!

Earth Day is April 22, but we celebrated it on April 15.

See my post here to find out about my Toddler and Preschool storytime formats.

Books Used

Biscuit's Earth Day Celebration by Alyssa Satin Capucilli

Toddler

The Earth Book by Todd Parr

Preschool

I Love Our Earth by Bill Martin Jr.

Toddler

We are Extremely Very Good Recyclers by Lauren Child

Preschool

  

Special Song

"Pick It Up"

Sung to: "London Bridge"

See the litter, pick it up.

Pick it up, pick it up.

See the litter, pick it up.

We are not litterbugs!

-- Free Preschool Activities

After the children learned the words and motions, I played the song for them on my keyboard.

Felt Board

"Five Bottles of Juice on the Wall"

Sung to: "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall"

Five bottles of juice on the wall,

five bottles of juice.

Put one in the recycling bin.

Four bottles of juice on the wall.

Continue until there are no more bottles left.

  

-- The song is from PreschoolEducation

The pattern for the bottles is from Felt Board Fingerplays by Liz and Dick Wilmes, Elgin, IL: Building Blocks, 1997.

Craft

 

Toddlers: Make Your Own Planet

The toddlers were given blue and green tissue paper squares and paper plates. They colored and pasted the squares on to the plates.

Preschoolers: Recycled Notebooks

We have tons of scrap paper in our back room. I cut sheets in half, designed a cover, and had the holes punched by a volunteer. The parents tied the yarn for the preschoolers and I gave them crayons to color the pages.

Flannel Friday - Five Bottles of Juice on the Wall

Most members of our Flannel Friday group are posting a One World, Many Stories themed felt board, which is their summer reading theme. Since Texas has a different theme, Digging Up a Good Book, I thought I'd focus on that theme instead.

I used this board for Earth Day, but it could be used for a garbage/recycling truck theme, too.

After finding a lack of recycling and Earth Day themed felt boards, I was able to piece together one of my own. The song is from PreschoolEducation.com (I changed pop to juice) and the template for the bottle is from Felt Board Fingerplays by Liz and Dick Wilmes, Elgin, IL: Building Blocks, 1997. The recycling bin is a file folder. I stapled the sides together and used tacky glue to attach the blue felt to the front. I printed out a picture of the recycling symbol onto cardstock and cut out the arrows, then used what was left as a stencil.

Enjoy!

Five Bottles of Juice on the Wall

Sung to: 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall

Five bottles of juice on the wall,

Five bottles of juice.

Put one in the recycling bin.

Four bottles of juice on the wall.

Continue until none are left.

Storytime - April Fools' Day!

It was a silly day at the library on April Fool's Day!

Books

Silly Sally by Audrey Wood

Toddler and Preschool

 








Such a Silly Baby by Steffanie Lorig
Toddler

Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing by Judi BarrettPreschool (oh my goodness did these kids laugh!)

Special Song

"If You're Happy and You Know It"

I usually end the song with the verse:
If you're happy and you know it,
Sit on the floor! 

Felt Board
"Five Little Monkeys Swinging From the Tree"
Five little monkeys swinging from the tree.
Teasing Mr. Crocodile, "You can't catch me!"
When along comes Mr. Crocodile aaaaaaaaaand
SNAP!
Continue until there are no more monkeys left.I usually cheat at the end and bring them all back, but if you can stomach having the monkeys be in the crocodile's tummy, more power to you!

Craft
The toddlers made jester masks. I used our mask die cut with orange paper and gave them each a popsicle stick and some foam shapes to glue on.

The preschoolers made jester crowns. I cut out crown shapes (using our die cut) out of red paper and gave them jewels to glue on their crowns.

Flannel Friday - Pretty Ladybugs

Happy Friday! The rest of the Flannel Friday gang is posting felt board ideas for "One World, One Story", the theme of their Summer Reading Program. But I'd like to give a little love to Texas where our theme is "Dig Up a Good Book". I'll be using this flannel board for our insect theme in July.

Pretty Ladybug

Sung to: "The Muffin Man"

Ladybug has 1 black spot,
1 black spot, 1 black spot;
Ladybug has 1 black spot,
Pretty ladybug!

Continue until there are 6 spots.

 -- PreschoolEducation.com

  

While we sing, I'll place the numeral on the board, too.

Preschool/Toddler Time - Ducks

More ducks!!!

See my post here to find out about my Toddler and Preschool Storytime formats.

Books Used
Dimity Duck by Jane Yolen and Sebastien Braun

I used this with my toddler and preschool groups.








Duck Dunks by Lynne Berry
Toddlers only.












 
Duckie's Ducklings by Frances Barry
Preschool only. The children were hysterical with laughter when I turned the page to find another duckling that Duckie didn't notice!






Special Song

"Little Ducks" (to the tune of "London Bridge" borrowed from PreschoolEducation

I played the song on my keyboard after I taught the children the words.

Felt Board

I used Miss Mary Liberry's "Baby Duck, Are You in the Blue Egg?" activity. My version looks like this:

Craft

Toddler Craft on top, preschool craft on bottom.

Flannel Friday - Blue is the Sky

The quality of my camera phone doesn't do the colors justice, but here is my submission for Flannel Friday. I made this activity to use during a rainbow storytime, and the children loved shouting out the color of each part.

Blue is the Sky

Blue is the sky,

Yellow is the sun,

Green is the grass,

On which you run.

Grey are the rainclouds,

Pink are the flowers,

White are the raindrops,

When we have a shower.

Orange are the leaves,

And brown is the tree,

Red is the ladybug,
Smiling up at me.

The original poem is from Toddler Storytimes 2 by Diane Briggs. I made some modifications to it in order to include more colors.

Wee Read - Ducks

Our Baby Storytime (now called Wee Read) is on Wednesdays from 10:30 to 11:00 for ages 0 months to 18 months with an adult.

I had more than usual for Baby Storytime today, some new faces, and they had lots of energy! But they made it through and I was very proud of them. Before beginning storytime, I taught them the sign for duck: place your hand in front of your mouth and join your thumb to your fingers, giving the appearance of a duck bill.

1. "Good Morning" (Toddler only)
Good morning, good morning,
Good morning to you.
Good morning, good morning,
and how do you do?

2. "Hello, How are You?"
Verse 1: Hello, how are you? x3
How are you today?

Verse 2: I am fine, how about you? x3
How are you today?

Repeat Verse 1.

It's good to see (1st child's name) here.
It's good to see (2nd child's name) here.
It's good to see (3rd child's name) here.
How are you today?
(repeat this verse until all children have been named.)

Repeat Verse 1.

3. "Up, Down, Turn Around"

Up, down, turn around.

Touch the sky, and touch the ground.

Tickle your tummy, tickle your nose,

Blow a kiss and wave, "Hello!"

-- borrowed from Jim Thomas

4. "Open, Shut Them"
Open, shut them, open, shut them,
Give a great big clap.
Open, shut them, open, shut them.
Put them in your lap.

Creep them, creep them, to your chin.
Creep them, creep them,
But do not let them in!

(repeat first verse, substituting little clap)

5. I Can Help by David Hyde Costello

6. "Head and Shoulders"

Head and shoulders, 

Knees and toes, knees and toes.

Head and shoulders,

Knees and toes, knees and toes.

Eyes and ears and a mouth and nose.

Head and shoulders,

Knees and toes, knees and toes.

7. "Little Ducks"

To the tune of "London Bridge"

Little ducks go quack, quack, quack.

Quack, quack, quack.

Quack, quack, quack.

Little ducks go quack, quack, quack,

In the springtime.

-- borrowed from Preschool Education

8. "Peek-a-Boo"

To the tune of "Are You Sleeping?"

Peek-a-boo, peek-a-boo.

I see you, I see you.

I see your button nose, I see your tiny toes.

Peek-a-boo. I see you.

-- borrowed from Jim Thomas

9. Dimity Duck by Jane Yolen

We were able to get through half of this book; luckily there's a good breaking point when the frog joins the duck. 

10. "One Little Duck"

One little duck went out one day,

Over the hills and far away.

Mother duck said, "Quack, quack, quack, quack."

And two little ducks came waddling back.

(continue to five little ducks)

I used die cut felt ducks to do this song.

11. "Blue Bird, Blue Bird"

Blue bird, blue bird on my window,

Blue bird, blue bird on my window,

Blue bird, blue bird on my window,

Oh, Mommy, I'm tired.

-- borrowed from Jim Thomas

For this song, I use different color birds cut from foam (by the generous Dr. Thomas), blue, red, yellow, and green. While holding the bird in my left hand, I sign with my right. This song incorporates eight signs: each color, bird, window, Mommy, and tired.

12. Read Together - Touch and Feel Baby Animals by Julie Aigner-Clark

I'm lucky enough to have several copies of different board books. At this point in the program, each baby receives a board book. I read the book aloud once, then give the caregivers time to explore the book with their child.

13. "The More We Get Together"
The more we get together,
Together, together,
The more we get together,
The happier we'll be.

Because your friends are my friends,
and my friends are your friends.
The more we get together,
The happier we'll be. 

14. Play Time!

I allow between 10 and 15 minutes of free play for the children. This also allows the caregivers to interact with each other, giving them time for Adult Talk.

Flannel Friday: Teeth!

Let's get down to the real reason I started this blog: Flannel Friday, the new Twitter phenomenon (well, maybe not all of Twitter, but at least among us Children's Librarians)!

This week's entry features our pearly whites.

After searching in my system's felt vault for felt boards relating to my favorite theme this session (January through April) and coming up short, I set out to make my own.

Toddler Group - Five Little Teeth

For this group's activity, I used an old black glove I discovered in the lost and found. I used hot glue and attached velcro (the rough side) to the fingertips.

Thanks to www.makinglearningfun.com. You can find the poem and pattern here.

I put one tooth on each finger and sang:

There were 5 little teeth in my teeny tiny mouth.

I pulled and I twisted and one popped out.
Now there are… (continue until all are gone)

Preschool Group - Happy Tooth, Sad Tooth

I'm not very artistic, so when I can find the images already online, I will sometimes print them out in color, laminate the sheet, cut out the shapes, and hot glue velcro to the back. Gluing felt on the back would also work, and I know many people use this method, too.

I place the happy tooth and the sad tooth on the board and tell the children what makes them feel the way they do. Healthy foods like fruits and vegetables make teeth happy, while sugary foods make teeth sad. I show them a food and they have to guess how it will make the tooth feel.

Thanks to www.prekfun.com for this idea. You can find the PDF here.


That's all I have for this week. Check back next week for a new installment of Flannel Friday!