Flannel Friday: Little Mouse Variations

We've been doing Little Mouse variations for years in my classroom--it is always a winner with children ages 2-4.  Up until this year we had a little mouse who hid in a house, a little fox who hid in a box, and a little cat who hid in a hat.  They are well loved and still around, but recently I went a little crazy and made several new versions! (Update:  I now have a million more:  they're all here.

You can buy this set right here., or make it yourself with this pattern!

The chant is as follows, subbing the bold words as appropriate:

Little mouse, little mouse, are you in the green house? 

And then you use all kinds of dramatic techniques to check behind the house, act confused/disappointed/stumped/etc. as you seek out that crazy critter! We like to pat our legs as we do the chant, just to get the kids even more involved and aware of the rhythm...  And of course invite them to tell you which color to check under (sometimes just lightly touching the one YOU want to do next will send a subliminal message and they'll 'choose' it for you!)

Here's an example of this set in action (click to see the video!):

These guys are available for sale right here.

The little duck and the trucks above, and the little bug and rugs below, were made based on clip art.  (I often include the word "cute" in my google searches for various clip art samples.)

The Little Peacock/Clock set below is printed out on card stock and laminated, with a sticky square of Velcro applied to the back.  I have done the same with a dinosaur and a set of doors.

                Below is another variation called Piggy Piggy Pancake (I originally found this here.)

Pink piggy, pink piggy, let me see...

Do you have some yummy pancakes for me??!

(We do a lot of snorting and pretending to eat like a pig in this one--it's so much better that way :) We sometimes even have to hose off the syrup that gets all over everyone from eating so sloppily!)

*This particular set is for sale, and you can find it right here, along with many of my other sets.*

Have some extra time on your hands?  You can make these cuties with this pattern!

There are several other rhyming things to do with this (frogs and logs or clogs; bears and chairs; ants and plants), but an easier chant to use, in which you can just randomly pick animals and objects is this:

Little _______, Little _____________, 

Playing Hide and Seek, 

Are you in the (red) ________________?

Let's take a peek!

So really, you could just print out a bunch of small creatures and critters, and a bunch of slightly larger familiar objects, and have a hide and seek party!  

   

The Flannel Friday Roundup is being hosted by Lisa at Libraryland.  Be sure to check out more fantastic Flannel Friday ideas at Pinterest or the Flannel Friday blog!