Jelly Beans

Felt candy is better for your teeth than the real stuff.  Because you can't actually eat felt.  A fact best repeated multiple times when handing out these jelly beans to two- and three-year-olds.

I've had a Jelly Bean Countdown set for many years, but my jelly beans were made of craft foam, and each bean was about half the size of my thumb.  These new and improved sweeties are each about the size of my hand--a much better visual aid during large groups, and easier for small children to handle as well.  Win-win.

Here are the words to Jelly Bean Countdown:
Jelly Bean Countdown
Five little jelly beans, I wish I had more!
I’ll eat the _________ one
Now there are four!
Four little jelly beans, as tasty as can be
I’ll eat the _______ one
Now there are three!
Three little jelly beans--only a few.
I’ll eat the _________ one
Now there are two.
Two little jelly beans, eating them is fun!
I’ll eat the _______ one
Now there is one.
One little jelly bean--the last one for me...
I’ll eat the _______one
I’m as full as can be!

When I'm working with a very small group, I invite the children to come up and take a bean, subbing their names for "I'll".

Three Green Jellybeans
I don't know where this song came from originally, nor can I share the tune, but here's a variation of a jelly bean song I learned when I taught in Arizona about 20 years ago:

One Green Jellybean 

One green jelly bean down in my belly bean

Giving me a tummy ache

What am I gonna take?

All my friends are telling me

They’ve got the remedy:

Don’t eat the green ones

And clap your hands.

Continue, putting a new color up on the board and changing your movements--clap, jump, turn, roll, etc. 

Flannel Friday is being hosted by Sharon at Rain Makes Applesauce this week.  For more FF fun and information, please visit the blog, Facebook page, or Pinterest page!  And share these links with your co-librarians or co-teachers. The more we share, the better!

Easter Eggs and Bunny

Who says we can't we have a Little Mouse variation for every holiday or event under the sun?  No one says we can't, so I'm on it.  It's an easy way to expose kids to the symbols of various holidays without having to go into the religious aspects, and it's hide and seek, so there's that too.

Click here to find out more about this set.

Here's an Easter Egg video of the color rhyme below:

I printed out my bunny (from Clementine Digitals) on card stock, cut her out, and "laminated" her with packing tape.  There's a small square of Velcro on the back of her.  She'll hide better than if I'd made her out of felt

I'll also use the eggs with this rhyme:

Five Little Easter Eggs

Five little Easter eggs, and not one more,
Mommy hid the pink one, and then there were four.

Four little Easter eggs, two and two, you see,
Daddy hid the green one, and then there were three.

Three little Easter eggs, and then before I knew,
Sister hid the purple one, and then there were two.

Two little Easter eggs, oh, what fun!
Brother hid the yellow one, and then there was one.

One little Easter egg, See me run!
I hid the last one, and then there were none!

Flannel Friday is being hosted by Sharon at Rain Makes Applesauce this week.  For more FF fun and information, please visit the blog, Facebook page, or Pinterest page.  And share these links with your co-librarians or co-teachers. The more we share, the better!

Build a Bot Set

I don't know what it is, but more and more of my kids are talking about robots lately.  I really don't have much of anything robot-related in my classroom, so I thought I'd start building up my robotics department a bit!  I'm starting with a DIY Set for the kids to use themselves. I've got lots of this type of set available in my shop!

 There are a LOT of pieces in this set.  I'll most likely start off by making only about half of the pieces available to the children.  Once I see how they do with that, I'll add more as needed.

These would also be great to put out in your library on a felt table, especially if you've just done a space or robot story time.  Here are some book ideas to go along with these metallic friends:

Robots Robots Everywhere by Sue Fliess

Beep! Beep! Go to Sleep! by Todd Tarpley

Boy + Bot by Ame Dyckman
Doug Unplugged by Dan Yaccarino
Junkyard by Mike Austin
Robots, Everywhere by Denny Hebson
Sometimes I Forget You’re a Robot by Sam Brown

Hello Robots by Staake
Ribbit Rabbit by Ryan
The Three Little Aliens and the Big Bad Robot by Margaret McNamara
The Birthday Box by Patricelli

Flannel Friday is being hosted this week by  Jessica at Storytime in the Stacks.  For more FF fun and information, please visit the blog, Facebook page, or Pinterest page.  And share these links with your co-librarians or co-teachers. The more we share, the better!

Four Little Hedgehogs

Maybe it's just me, but ever since, oh, around November 8th (2015) or so, I'm feeling a little exhausted.  I fizzled before I could get a fifth hedgie cut out, so here we have...

Four Little Hedgehogs!

These guys have been discontinued, but please come check out my other sets right here!

I was inspired by Kathryn's post, and found my own google clipart image so I wouldn't be a complete copy cat :)

I also changed up the lyrics to the poem she linked to--here's my version:

Four Little Hedgehogs

Four little hedgehogs, cute as can be

One rolled away and then there were three.

Three little hedgehogs—what could they do?

One found some bugs to eat and then there were two.

Two little hedgehogs, too tired to have fun

One dozed off, and that left one.

One lonely hedgehog wiggling his snout, “Where are my friends?” he began to pout.

(bring other hedgehogs back)

"Here we are, here we are, and don’t you worry. Let’s go outside hurry, hurry, hurry".

Flannel Friday is being hosted by Jessica at Storytime in the Stacks this week.  For more FF fun and information, please visit the blog, Facebook page, or Pinterest page!  And share these links with your co-librarians or co-teachers. The more we share, the better!

Leprechaun Hide and Seek

Here's a variation on Little Mouse--I've got lots more here.  I'm particularly happy with this set because I made it BIG (I think the hat is around 6 inches tall, for reference), and because I don't have much else in the way of flannels for St. Patrick's day.  With the threes, we do go on a treasure hunt, and we have a leprechaun puppet in the classroom about which we sing a cute song (see below).  But this is an easy way to appropriately share a little bit about St. Patrick's Day with my twos, without going overboard on holiday-related stuff.

(Ack!!  I just realized I made a four-leaf clover instead of a shamrock--two very different things!  I apologize to any offended Irish folks, and will be changing the offending piece before using it in the classroom again!!)

(This set isn't available in my shop, but lots of other goodies are.  Come take a look!)

So, the rhyme to go along with the set is:

Leprechaun, leprechaun, 

Playing Hide and Seek...

Are you behind the _________??

Let's take a peek!

Please be dramatic as you hunt that guy down--the kids like it so much more with a bit of flair :)

And the Mr. Leprechaun song I mentioned above:

Mr. Leprechaun 

(credit goes to a past co-worker, Angela Lenz)

Mr. Leprechaun, Mr. Leprechaun, Mr. Leprechaun--Hello!

Mr. Leprechaun, Mr. Leprechaun, Mr. Leprechaun--I Know...

...you're a cute little elf,

If I say so myself!

In your suit all of green, 

You come on March seventeen!

(The tune is a waltz I believe, but I have not idea the title of the original, so you might have to make up your own melody :) )

I'm hosting Flannel Friday this week!  You can find the Roundup here.  For more FF fun and information, please visit the blog, Facebook page, or Pinerest page!  And share these links with your co-librarians or co-teachers. The more we share, the better!

Five Little Sailboats

Too much time has passed since I've made lots of new sets for teacher-use in the classroom.  I've been pretty focused on my shop and sets for kids lately.  This set was uncomplicated and quick to make, which is just what I was looking for.

Click to visit my shop for lots of other goodies.  

Here's the song I sing along with it:

Five Little Boats (sung to the tune of Five Little Ducks)

Five little boats went out one day (hold up five fingers)
Over the waves and far away (make those five fingers go over waves, then hold                                                             hand to eyes as if looking far away)
With the wind (hands make a windy motion)
they began to rock (rock your body back and forth)
And one little boat went back to the dock.

I pinned this set from Storytime Katie many moons ago, and finally made my version.  

I'm hosting Flannel Friday this week! You can find the Roundup here.  For more FF fun and information, please visit the blog, Facebook page, or Pinerest page!  And share these links with your co-librarians or co-teachers. The more we share, the better!

Flannel Friday Roundup March 17th!

Spring is almost here, and it's time for another rousing rendition 

of Flannel Friday!  Thanks to everyone for your contributions this week!

Laura at One for The Books starts us off with a really cute Garden Set for the children to use independently.  I love that it has flowers and vegetables!

Next we've got Kathryn's Basket Full of Easter Eggs--which can be used in various settings in various ways--and includes an original little rhyme as well!

Kate at Felt Board Magic shares a lovely, simple Shamrock counting set, with template included!

Jessica at Storytime In the Stacks shares an adorable Little Chick game, which can be used for so many story time themes!

Keith at Felt-tastic Flannelboard Funtime shares the cutest worm I've ever seen, along with a poem that is brand new to me!

Heather has some lovely peas in a pod to share--check them out!

And I've got two to share this week:  A Leprechaun variation of Little Mouse; and a very simple Five Little Sailboats set.

Need more info on Flannel Friday?  

Please visit the blog, Facebook page, or Pinerest page.  

Quilts Galore

I've been meaning to get around to this cute cozy set for ages!  I found this idea on Busy Crafting Mommy.  For my set, I used clipart from Etsy  (and some fabric scraps from one of the awesome moms in my classroom!)

When we cover up the animals, sometimes I put the quilts up to their chinny chin chins...

...and sometimes I only let their ears or the tips of their tails poke out.  This leads us into a whole new guessing game :)

There are lots of similarly adorable and useful sets in my shop, by the way :) 

Here's my  altered version of the Quilts Galore rhyme:

Five Cozy Blankets

5 cozy blankets with patterns galore,

1 covered Rabbit and then there were four.

4 cozy blankets as snuggly as can be,

1 covered Raccoon and then there were three.

3 cozy blankets with dots red and blue,

1 covered Fox and then there were two.

2 cozy blankets made just for fun,

1 covered Bear and then there was one.

1 cozy blanket left out in the sun,

It covered Owl and then there were none.

Flannel Friday is being hosted by Kate at Felt Board Magic this week.  For more FF fun and information, please visit the blog, Facebook page, or Pinterest page!  And share these links with your co-librarians or co-teachers. The more we share, the better!