Move Over, Rover!

Move Over, Rover! by Karen Beaumont is one of my favorite rainy day stories to share with preschoolers and is easily adapted into a short puppet skit. My library branch doesn't own all of the animals in Beaumont's book, so I use what we have on hand and try to include varying sizes of puppets.

Then, I just stack the puppets one on the other inside Rover's dog house, having the children repeat the refrain "Move Over, Rover!" with me. I've tweaked the ending of the version I tell, since we don't own a skunk, and instead have a dinosaur join the mix, scaring the tuna salad out of every animal involved.






Props:
I used my favorite building prop, a tri-fold presentation board, to construct a simple house facade. Cardboard rectangles secured with brass fasteners made the roof, and I cut out a large hole in front.

Puppets:
Dog

You can use what you have on hand and adapt. Here's what I used today:
Cat
Mouse
Bunny
Opossum
Dinosaur

I mostly follow the format of this cumulative story, keeping it simple by saying  "Rover's in the dog house, sleeping through the storm . . . (the animal) is looking all around to find a place that's warm . . .  MOVE OVER, ROVER!"

And I end it with the dinosaur puppet, saying "Crowded in the dog house, snoring all around. What's that sound? ROAR! A dinosaur!" And everyone skit skats out of Rover's dog house.

I hope you enjoy this one.



Happy day,
Miss Lisa

Family Felt Board Party!

In honor of the Week of the Young Child, we celebrated all things felt! I hosted a craftastic morning with parents, caregivers, and children, creating a portable felt board. Who knew a plain 1" three-ring binder could be so much fun?!

We made three play sets to take home:  "Three Green & Speckled Frogs," "Three Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed," and "Shape Monster." The sets were easy to create, and the overall program lasted about an hour and a half.

Here are some quick photos:

I was struck by the cuteness of these peel and stick felt stickers found at Michael's. They are a steal at $3 per pack of 24. I sorted them into baggies of 3 stickers each, so attendees could have a set of each. And boy are they easy peasy to use:  just adhere to a piece of felt and trim the edges.

Plain black 1" binders found at Wal-Mart for $ .97 each. We covered the front with a blue piece of sticky-back felt. Sticky back felt: $ .90 at A.C. Moore

 

I dug out all the excess felt and flannel I've had sitting around my branch for the last ten years! It felt good to pare down this assortment of odds and ends to make room for some clean new felt. I grouped the felt by color and displayed it on a table for families to choose their colors. Cost:  $0

 

 

My set up to quickly demo the rhymes and songs we were making and take a few minutes to introduce myself, talk about the importance of Every Child Ready to Read, as well as the tactile and simple satisfaction that telling a felt story can bring. I also showed attendees examples of other types of felt boards:  the easel I use, a sturdy piece of cardboard, and even an embroidery hoop!

 

 

Each portable felt board included copies of the rhymes and songs we were using, as well as a case to hold the individual pieces we made for "Three Green & Speckled Frogs," "Three Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed," and "Shape Monster."

 

 

And I snuck some ECRR material in there!

 

 

 

 Here are a couple of snapshots of our finished sets:

 

 

 

 

 

It was a successful and simple program; minimal cost and prep with the instant gratification of a felt board to play with in the car on the way home! I had adults asking if we could get together again and make more felt play sets--I can't wait to host a Family Felt Board Party again.

 

 

 

Shape Monster Booklet can be found  on one of my favorite blogs, Chit Chat and Small Talk:

http://chitchatandsmalltalk.blogspot.com/2012/11/shape-monster-book.html

 

Happy day!

Melisa