KITTY Bingo Felt Board Set

 I love cats.  I've got two of them snuggled up and snoring/drooling next to me right now.  The poor things aren't spoiled at all.  But I digress.  Let's move on to felt cats, shall we?

Ah, there we go.  And as you can see, we've got a cat version of BINGO going on here.  You can see more BINGO ideas here, by the way.

I don't think there's much explanation needed here, but when you flip those letters over, you've got a cat face, which lets the kids know it's time to say "meow" instead of the letter name.  

You'll soon have a story time full of adorable meowing children, which should make everyone purrfectly happy.  (Sorry, had to.)

Oh, and look!  Here's a video just in case you need to sing along and practice a few times:

Need some cat books to go along with this set?  Here's my Pinterest board on cat books.

Ghost Bingo Felt Board Set

 

It's no secret that I love a good variation on BINGO.  Some of my favorites include T-R-U-C-K, 

T-R-A-I-N, and A-P-P-L-E.  You can read about them here, and here, or for a quick review:

But kids don't just love food and vehicles, you know.  They are fans of the holidays as well.  So I thought, why not give them a little not-so-spooky fun...  And if we can mix in a little early literacy without them even knowing, we'll feel super smart and sneaky, won't we.  Why yes, yes we will.  

The things I don't like about Halloween:  being scared and getting cavities.  Neither of those are involved in this cute Halloween ghost set, so here you go!

There is a spooky friend I know and ghost is his name-O.

G-H-O-S-T, G-H-O-S-T, G-H-O-S-T, and ghost is his name-O!

 

Flip over the G to reveal the “boo” on the other side.  For the next verse, replace “G” with “boo”!  Continue in this way until you’re just boo-ing away. 

 

There is a spooky friend I know, and ghost is his name-O.

Boo-H-O-S-T, Boo-H-O-S-T, Boo-H-O-S-T and GHOST is his name-O!

 

You can certainly make this is silly as you'd like, exclaiming BOO! in sppoooky, long drawn out ways, or short, surprising ways!  Quiet boos.  Loud boos.  Medium, fast, slow.  No matter what, your kids will be boo-booing, and not boo-hooing, so it's a win :)

Oh, and I can't leave out my favorite Halloween book that just goes along perfectly with these cute ghosts:

Happy Halloween!

Patterns Now Available!

Woo hoo--I'm so excited to be sharing a new project... 

I've just released 11 of my sets as 

digital download PATTERNS!!  

If you're reading this blog, you are probably a teacher, librarian, or homeschooling parent.  And you might even fit into the "crafty" segment of one of those groups :)  If so--or even if you are brand new to making your own felt board set--these patterns are for you. 

I've started the pattern section of my shop with a few simple, a few more intermediate, and a few of my more complex designs.  

No matter which pattern you choose, they are all simple to create and come with written and visual instructions.  

I've even included video tips and tutorials to make cutting, assembling and gluing your set as easy as possible.

And of course, they all come with lyrics to songs and/or rhymes, and a list of book titles that go along well with the set.

I think they're totally amazing, and I hope you will too.

Ready to get started?  

You can check out all the patterns right here, 

or click the picture below :)

T-R-A-I-N Video!

Looking for a way to build some early literacy skills through a fun and interactive song?  Especially for the little train lovers?  It's your lucky day ;) 

Not only are you introducing or reinforcing letter names in this song, but you're building musical skills as the kids keep the beat by rubbing their hands together.  You're reinforcing color concepts as you name (or have the kids name) the colors of the train cars.  There are motor and coordination skills being built as they attempt to make the 'choo' movement (and try NOT to sing the letter name!).  Plus--it's fun!

I have a bunch of other train related preschooly stuff over on my FlannelBoardFun.com blog, too.  You can check those goodies out right here:

Like what you see?  Sign up for more preschooly goodness:

Week of the Young Child 2018

Well, somehow I missed the fact that this week was the Week of the Young Child!  But there's still today to celebrate all those little and amazing people (and then of course there's every other day of the year, too :) ) 

So how to celebrate?!  I'll pick two of my favorites from NAEYC's site...

NAEYC suggests fitting in an art activity or two, and has some nice guidelines to help parents fit it into their busy days.  I think these work for teachers and librarians, too, of course!  If you're scrambling for ideas, I've gathered a ton of ideas for preschoolers and toddlers over on my Pinterest Boards.

Here's my Preschool Art Board

And here are ideas for Toddler Art!

In the art area of my classroom, I had the following blurb posted, so that teachers new to my philosophy of "encouragement rather than praise" had some ideas for talking with children about their art...

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What to say at the easel/in the art area:

Nothing!

Or...

You used lots of paint today!

That yellow is so bright!

Do you want to talk to me about your painting?

Your hands were moving in big circles when you made those marks…

Say what you see!

(and remember that it is ok to say nothing)

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One of NAEYC's other celebratory ideas is all about music.

As you probably already know, many of my flannel boards are musical, and if they aren't, I sing them anyway :)  Below are just a few of my favorites--I love the fact that singing and dancing with children builds so many skills--fine motor, gross motor, early literacy, math...the list goes on!  Best part?  It's FUN!

And here's a link to a bunch of my other song sets!

You can find lots of my felt board sets at my shop :)

And don't forget to check out Flannel Friday's Pinterest Boards and Tumbler Page for a zillion flannel board ideas!

BINGO Variations Galore!

I recently posted my APPLE variation of BINGO

 

and thought it would be fun to include some other variations since the kids love them so much!  Such a great early literacy tool. The children really love talking about the letters and letter sounds, and saying the new words that we create each time we take away a letter.  Once they've got the hang of it, we sometimes mix it up and remove letters out of order rather than always from left to right... Oh, the hilarity!  When we're singing about vehicles, we pretend to drive, when we're singing about animals, we pretend to be those animals.  I sometimes put a visual on the back side of the piece, so when we flip it over the letter is gone and a new symbol indicates the new sound to make ("crunch" for apples, "beep" for trucks, "snort" for pigs...)

This apple set is available pre-made, or as a pattern so you can make it yourself :)

Let's start with T-R-U-C-K! 

(You may recognize the trucks below from my previous post on Little Mouse Variations.  It's great to be able to re-use pieces in different flannel stories and songs.)

I learned this song from a co-worker many years ago.  I'm not sure where she got it--she was extremely creative, so no doubt she just whipped it up on her very own...  It goes like this:

I've got a great big shiny truck, I'm driving it today-o!

T-R-U-C-K, T-R-U-C-K,T-R-U-C-K,

I'm driving it today-o!

Once the letter is flipped to show just the red circle, we say "beep!"

Next up--P-I-Z-Z-A!

I stole this from Storytime Katie!.  For this one, I just remove the letter from the piece of pizza rather than flipping it over--I couldn't come up with something to represent the "YUM" and the tummy rub we do.  (Feel free to share if you have an idea!)  So, for this one it's:

There is a treat I like to eat and pizza is its name-oh!

P-I-Z-Z-A, P-I-Z-Z-A, P-I-Z-Z-A, 

And pizza is its name-oh!

 We are all seriously hungry after this one...  Don't forget to get out your napkin and wipe your saucy face off at the end!

Moving right along, let's get snorting with some pigs!

I found my idea for the song here, and was greatly inspired by these cute little swine as well.  Here's the song:

There was a hungry little hog, and Piggy was his name-o!

(or:  There was a hog who loved the mud, etc.)

 P-I-G-G-Y, P-I-G-G-Y, P-I-G-G-Y 

And Piggy was his name-o!

When we flip over the letter, the little pigs and their big snouts tell us to say "oink" (or snort!) in place of the letter name!  

And now...T-R-A-I-N!

(Which my husband and I made up during a recent car ride together... my husband drew the oncoming train image that is on the reverse side of each car.)

You can buy these cuties here.

What's that chugging down the track?

I think it is a tra-ain!

T-R-A-I-N, T-R-A-I-N, T-R-A-I-N,

Oh, yes!  It is a tra-ain!

When we flip the car, the oncoming train tells us to say "choo!"

Next up:  HEART

I've had a plain laminated version of this for a few years, but I loved making these fancy felt valentines.  When we flip over the hearts we make a kissing noise or hug ourselves (or both!), so I used the universal symbol for hugs and kisses. xoxoxo!  Here are the lyrics (which I thought I got at Perpetual Preschool years ago, but now I can't find them there):

I made a valentine for you, the heart shape means "I love you!" 

H-E-A-R-T, H-E-A-R-T, H-E-A-R-T, 

The heart shape means "I love you!"

And finally, we have B-U-N-N-Y!

These bunnies star in various other stories and songs, so the letters are not permanently attached.  I made them out of regular felt, but decided to spray them with stiffener so they wouldn't get so squashed in the storage bag.  We take the letter off and make our bunny-ear-fingers hop as we say "hop", or we even do this standing up and actually HOP when we say it!  Here's the song (which I pulled out of my magic hat):

I know a cute white cottontail and Bunny is her name-oh.

B-U-N-N-Y, B-U-N-N-Y,B-U-N-N-Y,

and Bunny is her name-oh!

That's my collection for now!  I'm sure I'll add to it, as I've seen versions for ROBOT, MOMMY, DADDY and more at the Flannel Friday Pinterest Song page.  Take a look for more inspiration :)

     

     

Flannel Friday is being hosted by Ms. Kelly at the Library and of course you'll find lots of other ideas at Flannel Friday's blog or Pinterest page.