Flannel Friday re-post: Ask Mr. Bear

In honor of Valentine's Day, I'm re-posting this little story about showing your mom a little love :)

Years  ago I found a list of books that translate well to flannel boards...  If I can find it again I will post it here! Anyway, one of the books on that list was Ask Mr. Bear,by Marjorie Flack, and though I did get the book for my classroom, I never did make it into a felt board.  I finally got around to it last month, so here it is...

I scanned a page with each animal, one with Danny, and the last page--the hug :)  I printed them out and outlined them in black marker, and then used the collage technique shown in this video Best Flannel Board Video Ever
to make the pieces.  I used black fabric paint for the facial features and the mommy's bun...

(Updated to switch out the old grainy pics with what are hopefully a little more clear.)

Yep--Danny is reversible so he can follow the animals, and also face Mr. Bear as he talks to him!

This week you'll find the Flannel Friday roundup here and of course you'll find lots of other ideas at Flannel Friday's blog or Pinterest page.

Veggies

Most years we make real veggie soup with the kids in the fall.  We've been singing and dancing to the Soup Song by Laurie Berkner for a few years, and I thought it might be fun to add some visuals to go with that activity.  We also have a chant that we do a lot:  Chop, Chop, Chippity, Chop.  (When we do the chant, we use our big voice and our big knives to do some veggies, and our tiny knives and our tiny voices for others...)  We do this song, too:

Vegetable Soup Song (here's the tune performed by the Jbrary girls)

The soup is boiling up
The soup is boiling up
Stir slow-around we go
The soup is boiling up.

First we add the broth
First we add the broth
Stir slow-around we go
The soup is boiling up.

Now we add some carrots(tomatoes, radishes, etc.)
Now we add some carrots
Stir slow-around we go
The soup is boiling up.

So, this year we used the veggies below, and I also found lots of other ideas at Flannel Friday's Food Page!  I used clipart as my templates, and did the collage method to make everything really stand out :)

(Though I originally posted this in late December, I'm including it in the January 8th Flannel Friday Roundup.  This week's Flannel Friday is being hosted by Mollie at What Happens in Storytime.  You can also check out all things Flannel Friday related on Pinterest or the Flannel Friday Blog.)

Five Elephants in the Bathtub

(updated to change photo 12/10/15)

I don't know how I had never come across this chant in my 20+ years of being a preschool teacher, but somehow I only discovered this little cutie a few months ago.  I used clip art as inspiration for my free-handed elephants and bathtub, and used the collage technique

From the very first time we did this, the kids really loved it when the elephants come tumbling down from the board, so I quickly made them their own set to use in the Book Corner.  (Though I love the feel of the felt pieces, they would not stand up to as much (ab)use as the kids would put them through.) To do this I scan the pieces, print them out on card stock, laminate them and put velcro on the back of each piece.  The back of one of our shelves in the Book Corner is covered in Veltex, so the kids can use regular felt/flannel or velcro pieces on it.  We have also made 4 small Veltex covered boards that the kids can use on the floor, in their laps or on a table.  I use this method as often as possible so the kids can re-tell their favorite stories.  It is so amazing to hear them reciting the words to chants, songs and stories they've only heard a couple of times...  I'll do a post some day on the envelopes we use to store the children's versions of our flannel board stories.

Anyway!  Here's a link to the chant: Five Elephants  Thank goodness for JBrary!

Dear Zoo

Ah, Storytime Katie how you inspire me!  Though I didn't follow all of Katie's techniques, I was determined to make those cages and zoo critters after seeing what a wonderful job she did.  I used sheets of black sticker felt and cut them into strips using an exacto knife and this ruler.  I used a hole punch to make the black circles, and a rectangular hole punch to make the smaller lock parts on the camel's cage.  Fabric paint for smaller dots and animal eyes...

When I know I'm going to layer pieces on the board, I tend to make only the bottom layers using the collage method. I really love the way the black background looks using that method, but the pieces are a lot stiffer and thicker, so they don't stick as well to each other and can topple right off the board mid-story.  So with Dear Zoo, for example, I used the collage method for the animals, but just did plain, un-backed felt for the cages so they would layer easily and not fall off the animals.

This particular set isn't for sale, but please check out my shop with many of my other sets:

Flannel Board Fun SHOP 

Dog's Colorful Day

Everyone seems to make this one, so I figured I would too!  I used clip art for all the "accessories" that color dog throughout his day...  Got the pattern for Dog right here.

This particular set isn't for sale, but please check out my shop with many of my other sets:

Flannel Board Fun Shop