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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Five Green and Speckled Frogs (Flannel Friday)

Okay, so the post for my *first* Flannel Friday isn't really a flannel, but a manipulative that you can use for story time. It's great for on-the-go, if you're traveling to a classroom or center, and fun for kids to play with in the car. It's just so stinking easy, I have to share it!

This is a super simple prop you can use for the traditional favorite, Five Green & Speckled Frogs. I've used it for years now in story time, with a blue cloth draped over my lap, and I plop the frogs onto the floor as we sing the song together.

We make a craft together each week in my preschool story time group, and I've given children paper towel tubes and frog cutouts to make their own frogs on a log to take home and practice.

Hope you enjoy it!

The adorable printable can be found here:
http://picklebums.com/2011/03/29/five-green-frogs-printable/

Materials needed are:
5 frog cutouts, preferably on card stock or sturdy paper or laminated
a paper towel tube
razor knife or scissors, to cut the paper towel tube log

Using the razor knife or scissors, make one long slit along the middle of the tube, about an inch from each end, keeping the line as straight as you can. When cutting out the frogs, make sure to leave a longish tab along the bottom of each so that you have plenty of room to push the cutout into the slit. Line them up, and you're ready to go!



Here's Miss Nina's wonderfully fun version of Five Green and Speckled Frogs, in case you need a refresher:

Happy day,
Miss Lisa

Sandy the Clam

This is a super-simple puppet skit using a clam (or scallop) puppet, though just about any puppet you wanted to use would work as well. Reminding children to use inside voices after story time is an important part of socialization and learning. This is intended for a preschool audience.

Puppet:
clam



Props:

Sand bucket

(but you could just use your story time bag)

 

I told children I'd dug up a little sea friend for story time and asked them to guess what it could be. After some good guessing, I introduced Sandy the clam.

 

Keeping my fingers together so that her shell stayed closed, I explained to children that clams dig down into the sand and stay there. They are safest when the water is high. (I didn't get delve into high tide/low tide too much, since this was a preschool audience.) 

 

I wondered aloud how to get her shell open, and tickled her where I thought her chin might be. Sure enough, her shell opened and she laughed. (It was a loud laugh.) Immediately, I clamped her shell shut with the fingers of my other hand.

 

I did this a few times:  removing my fingers, then having Sandy open her shell and laugh--louder each time. Then I explained to children that Sandy had never been out of the water before, that she's never been indoors. So I asked them if they knew the difference between inside and outside voices. They sure did! So we practiced what our inside versus outside voices might sound like, so Sandy could hear and follow our example.

 

After a few tries, she laughed quieter and quieter, until she had the perfect inside voice.

 

I thanked the children for their example, and explained to them that Sandy couldn't help it; she's as happy as a clam!

 

Easy and fun. 



 

 



The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and The Big Hungry Bear

I adapted Don and Audrey Wood's classic into a short and simple puppet/flannel board combo. I like to use our mouse glove puppet, since the legs are easily manipulated.

Puppet:
mouse

Props:
a large red strawberry (pre-cut in half) 

strawberry leaves (for easy removal)
a square of dark felt, larger than your strawberry
A pair of those silly nose/mustache glasses with hinges and temples removed; add velcro

Here goes:

Oh, little mouse; whatcha ya doing? (Little mouse points to the strawberry on the flannel board.)
Wow, you found a red ripe strawberry! (Little mouse nods his head.)
Whatcha going to do with strawberry? (Little mouse pretends to pull at the strawberry.)
You're going to pick that red ripe strawberry and take it home? (Little mouse nods and jumps up and down.)
Hmmm . . . little mouse haven't you heard about the big brown bear who lives in these woods? (Little mouse shakes his head.)
Oh, (very dramatically) he's this big--arms up high--he sniffs like this (big bear sniffs), and he is VERY HUNGRY (rub your belly).
Little mouse scurries behind my back and peeks out.
So, little mouse, if you take this strawberry home, the big brown bear will know where you live. AAH!

It won't matter if you to try to hide it (cover strawberry with larger felt piece). Then remove the larger piece.

And it won't matter if you try to disguise it (put the glasses on the strawberry).
That big 'ol hungry brown bear will sniff it right out! (All sniff together.)

Did you hear that? (Pretend to hear something way off in the distance. Ask children if they hear it.)
I think that may be the big brown bear sniffing his way here now!

The best thing to do little mouse, is to cut that red ripe strawberry in two; give half to me and you keep half. (Pull the strawberry in two and remove from board.) Hurry! Let's eat.

(Rub your belly.) That's one less red ripe strawberry that big brown bear will get! Mm-hm.

THE END

Fireworks Jackson

A silly and calming puppet skit. I used this for my preschool group, but there were older siblings in the audience and they enjoyed it just as much.

Puppet:
small monkey hand puppet

No props needed.

I carefully took Fireworks Jackson from my tote bag. Wow, he was very shy! The children were off their feet and crowded around me to get a glimpse of him, so I pretended he whispered in my ear and said he'd be a little less scared if everyone was sitting down.
Once the children were settled back on the story time carpet, Fireworks Jackson whispered in my ear that he was sad because he was going to miss the Fourth of July fireworks--the noise was so loud, it frightened him. I asked the children if any of them were also afraid of the sound of fireworks. (Some were.)

So I told FJ and the children that even if they were anxious about the fireworks, they didn't have to miss them! Instead, I showed them how to make pretend fireworks with our hands.

It's easy!

I've adapted my own version from Billy Jonas' wonderful applause idea, and it brings smiles every time.

First, clap your hands together.
Next, hands together, shoot your pretend fireworks into the air with a whoosh!
Clap your hands above your head!
Now, sprinkle your firework fingers down to your right side, then your left--all the while saying "ooh," 'aah," "pretty colors!" Do this a few times and really play it up! Sometimes, I ask children to call out the colors of their fireworks as they descend; they come up with interesting combinations!

Once we were finished, FJ clapped (he has great little hands for clapping) and jumped up and down on my lap. He was so excited to try pretend fireworks!

Happy Fourth!

A brief video of Billy Jonas' "fireworks" can be seen here:

Who's in the Red Barn? Toddler Song

I fell in love with this FAO Schwarz plush toy and saw the opportunity to use it for a simple toddler story time stretcher. 

It has a set of double barn doors that close with Velcro and the back opens via a zipper. It's the perfect size for a small glove puppet or finger puppet. 

I use it with a song:  "Who's in the Red Barn?"

Who's in the red barn, the red barn, the red barn?

Who's in the red barn?

I don't know. 

Let's find out!

Then I open the doors to reveal the puppet. The children really enjoy it when an unexpected animal is inside, like a dinosaur or iguana. Then I can segue into a dance song to get us moving. 

Super simple. Super effective. Best used with a small audience. 

Lunch!

Super-simple way to incorporate a puppet into story time. Based on Denise Fleming's book, Lunch.

Puppet:
mouse

Props:
I made simple felts of :
a turnip
a carrot
pea pod
an ear of corn
an apple
a bunch of grapes
a slice of watermelon

Mouse is hungry. AAH! Mouse spies our picnic while we're napping! She eats through:
a crisp white, turnip; a crunchy orange carrot; a sweet green pea pod; a crisp ear of yellow corn; a juicy red apple; a sour bunch of purple grapes; and a slice of pink watermelon. Then, she takes a nap until DINNERTIME!

The kids thought this was funny and enjoyed guessing the fruit and vegetables as I pulled them out of our picnic basket.