Down in the Farmyard: A Circle Time Farm Song

Calling all farm enthusiasts and little animal lovers ;) In case you can't make the trip to a real farm, I think you'll love this wee little farmyard experience on the felt board!

In this video, I sing one of my favorites--"Down by the Station"--with a farm twist.

I love this one because the kids really love to join in, which increases their farm and animal knowledge and vocabulary. Along with all the other early learning skills like counting and color naming, of course. And most importantly, they have fun and want to come back for more :)

🛒Buy this adorable Farm Animal felt board song and game set: https://www.flannelboardfun.com/product/old-macdonald-felt-song/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 🎵If you like singing with kids, you’ll love these 17 FREE song strips: http://bit.ly/SongStripsFBF

🍎📚FlannelBoardFun felt board story sets are multi-use circle time fun! With each felt set, you get the lyrics for three or more rhymes, songs and/or stories to use with it! Hello, storytime FUN! ✂️You can find felt board patterns right here: https://www.flannelboardfun.com/patterns/ 🛒🍎📚Shop all the Storytime felt board songs, rhymes, and story sets: https://www.flannelboardfun.com/storytime-felt-board-sets-shop/

Pie Count Up: A Circle Time Counting Song!

 

It's Pi Day!  (Well, for me, any day is pie day ;) )

And I have a video just right for this mini celebration:

I love this one, because it gets the kids' imaginations working, along with their arms and fingers!  When the kids are engaged and having fun like this, they're much more likely to retain all the information they're being fed (hee hee).

Little Broom Hide and Seek

 I've written about this Halloween game before, right here.  

You've seen these fine fellows in other posts, like this one, too.  Remember?  They look like this:

But I've only just gotten around to publishing the Little Broom Hide and Seek video, and I thought it deserved it's very own post.  So that's why we're here :)

If you need to know more about Little Mouse and all the fun to be had with this game, please check out all these fun versions of the classic preschool game!  

And now, for Little Broom in all it's not-very-scary action.... (Please take note of my blunder at the end, as well as all the vocabulary, position words, color naming and more early learning that goes on in this one!)

Trick or Treat Ghost Count Down!

Let's count some colorful ghosts, shall we?

This fun ghost felt board counting rhyme is all about not-so-spooky Halloween fun 😊 Get the kids counting down and having Halloween fun with this sweet little rhyme. The video shows simple ways to introduce Halloween concepts in a non-scary way.

Here are the ghosts (you can see lots more about them here and here, too!):

And here's the video:

Another Halloween Rhyme!

This Halloween felt board rhyme is simple and sweet. It exposes the kids to Halloween vocabulary words and concepts in a way that is sweet instead of scary. Using this type of felt board rhyme, with visuals to go along with the words, helps those little brains absorb all that early learning goodness 😊

Here are the felt pieces I used in the video:

Here are the lyrics:

Lots of Halloween friends, some are spooky some are sweet…

A friendly witch and some candy--that’s a yummy treat.

Here come some black ones now—bubbling cauldron… prowling cat.

And now two spooky fliers—white ghost and brown bat.

We need a jack-o-lantern, to shine on Halloween night.

And here’s a wiggly spider--it might give you a fright!

This little house is haunted—I won’t go inside those rooms!

This witch’s hat is pointy and it makes a great costume.

So many Halloween friends we have, some spooky, some sweet…

And don’t forget on Halloween Night to say “Trick or Treat!”

And here's video:

I Went Trick or Treating!

 Ah, another not-scary-at-all Halloween rhyme!

I don't like to scare kids.  But I do like Halloween :)  So let's put not-scary Halloween fun into the mix this year with this simple Halloween felt board rhyme!

I like this one because it has fun Halloween vocabulary words like "swooping" and "costume" mixed with colors and rhyming...   A witch's brew of Halloween early learning delight, if you will :) 

You can learn all the words and join in on the rhyme--here's the video demo for you:

Six Colorful Houses: A Felt Board Color and Counting Rhyme

Wait, MORE colors and counting?!

(click the photo for all the details)

Yep, I'm on a roll with colors and counting this month!  It's back to school time, so I suppose those are good concepts to be focusing on as the older preschoolers head back to school :)  

This felt board set is absolutely one of my favorites.  I've used it a zillion times, and I've written about it here.

But it's time to add more--I need this to be a multi-use set.  Saves storage space, and planning time, and stress!  So here we go with a new rhyme.  Fans of building, construction, counting and colors are going to love this Six Colorful Houses finger play and felt board rhyme!

This fun Six Colorful house finger play and rhyme is so fun for kids (and teachers) at circle time or story time. House and construction vocabulary words are introduced or re-enforced; color naming and counting are sneakily tucked inside, too! Let’s play to learn!

Counting Down Trucks!

 Ah, colors, counting and construction.  What could be better?  

No time for a big intro on this one, but you can see these colorful trucks in this post, and this one too.  Those two are great for early literacy skills like rhyming and naming letters, to name just a few.

But this new rhyme has the bonus of early math packed into it!  Of course with all the rhyming involved there's early literacy in there, too.  And it's just all around fun, especially for those kids who really love trucks, and construction, and all things road-related :)

Here's are the trucks (click the picture for all the details)

And here's the video of the rhyme:

(Ohh, and now there's also a pattern for these cuties!  Just click below :) )

Apple Tree Felt Board: Wiggly Worm Hide & Seek!

Apples + circle time.  They go together like peanut butter and jelly.  In fact, they're so popular that I have written about them before: here, and here, and even here!

🐁 💗And combined with my love of the classic circle time game Little Mouse, I love apple felt board sets even more :)  (Rhyming.  Early literacy.  Color recognition.  Fun.  💗)

Throw in a cute, wiggly worm, and my heart is all aflutter ;) 

If you need a little more info on why and how the Little Mouse game is so fabulous, please take a look here and definitely here.  

And if you need no introduction, let's just skip right to the video!

Fruit Song for Kids: Fruit Salad Ballad!

I can't have a felt board set that can only be used one way, now can I??  No, I can't!

My Rainbow Stew set is definitely a favorite with kids and educators.  It's magical, for sure.  I've got a video of that fun song right here.

But of course I needed to write another song for it.  A fruity song.  A song that includes colors and rhyming and pretending...

So I did.  And I called it Fruit Salad Ballad.  Because I think that's so darn cute.

Here's the video--I hope you love it and use it with your kids as soon as possible :) There will be picking, and plucking, and chopping and tossing and eating!  Get ready for fruity fun!

Oh!  And now you can also get a pattern and make your own set!  Click below :)

Hickory Dickory Dock--Ocean Style!

Hickory Dickory Dock, the fish swam up the clock!  Here's a fun way to combine an old classic nursery rhyme with ocean critters.  

You can see my Hickory Dickory post here, set for sale here, and original video here.  My Ocean Set post is here, the felt set for sale is here, and there are a bunch of Ocean videos here.

Somebody's Moving in the Sea (an Ocean Song for Kids)!

When I was teaching preschool, we used to use this tune to welcome the kids to circle time.  "Somebody's knocking at my door--oh, Suzie, I hear you knocking..."  It's actually an old hymn, but we went a little lighter with it ;) 

I thought this tune would work perfectly with my ocean set.  I think I was right :)  I certainly had fun making this video and performing all the movements.  

It would absolutely be super fun to make this a standing up movement activity!  Do it!!

Ocean Friend Count Up

I wrote this song to go along with my Five Ocean Critters set last year, but only now got around to making a video for it!  I had a lot of fun with this one!  

This ocean song is just a wee bit tricky in the math department, probably most understandable to older preschool kids.  You'll see what I mean when you watch the video.

But it's SO fun for all the little ones: we get to do diving and splashing and all kinds of fishy movements!

And as usual, I've made it easy to learn and join in on by using a familiar tune--this time, it's the Five Little Ducks tune.

Take a look right here:

Hope you like that one!  And I hope it makes any ocean, beach, or fishy themed circle time that much easier to plan for :)

Sorting With Vehicles!

Okay, time for a little sorting fun.  Ready?  Let's go!

I'll use my Transportation Set for this little game.  Because it has sorting cards, which we need for this activity...  Here they are (laminated in all their cardstock glory :) ):

(The steering wheel you see in the pictures goes with this hide and seek game, by the way.)

Okay, so what do you do with these sorting cards?  The point is to engage the kids in playful early math and early literacy. No strict rules or right or wrong--just have fun.

One way to use them:  Put the sorting cards that represent the four types of vehicles on your board on the four corners.  Talk with the kids about what each of the cards mean.   Now place each of your vehicles in the center of the board. Ask the kids to help you figure out where to put each vehicle.  You might want them to simply call out where that vehicle goes, or you might call children up to pick a vehicle and “steer” it to the right spot.

Use your “many” and “few” cards in the same way.  Does a particular vehicle carry many or few people?  What do many and few mean?

And then of course you can combine the cards and get them thinking even harder:

Have fun sorting, you little mathematicians!

Hey, by the way...  I bet you'll like my Transportation playlist over on my YouTube channel!  

Go take a look:) 

Ball of Yarn Hide and Seek!

So, yep.  It's two of my favorite things, all bundled up together:  Cats, and Little Mouse.  I mean, can you go wrong with this?  No.  No, you can't.  (Plus, these cats are the stars of Kitty Bingo, too, so--muti-use sets for the big win!)

Kids just love surprises, and it's always a surprise where that ball of yarn might be hiding...And sometimes, just to be super sneaky, I don't hide it behind ANY of the cats--I hide it behind the flannel board!!  Gasp!  The children are furious!  I'm delighted!

Anyway..

Ball of yarn, ball of yarn, where can you be?

Are you behind the gray kitten?  Let...me...see!

or 

Ball of yarn, ball of yarn, playing hide and seek...

Are you behind the orange cat?  Let's take a peek!

Fun cat books to go along with these sweeties are right here.

Motor Vehicle Count Up!

Why yessirree, I do like vehicles :)  And, I love counting--counting up, counting down. It's all early math, and I love to do it in a playful way.  So today, I've got my BIG Transportation set (which you may have seen here), and I'm using it to count UP.

Motor Vehicle Count Up © Wendy Gerbi

Start with an empty board, adding your pieces at the appropriate parts of the rhyme. 

 

No motor vehicles traveling today,

No motor vehicles carrying people on their way.

Along comes a car, hear the engine roar!

Now there’s one motor vehicle, let’s go find some more!

 

(Continue adding any 4 vehicles you want, (make sure you include at least one each that drives, sails or flies) counting up until…)

Five motor vehicles traveling today, 

Five motor vehicles carrying people on their way.

They drop off the passengers, the people wave goodbye.

They’ll be back tomorrow to drive, sail and fly!

Here’s a video for you!

And in case you want to see them up close, here are a couple more photos for you :)

Happy transporting!  Happy counting!  See you next time :)

More Felt Board Ghost fun!

 Yep, ghosts are perfect for BINGO variations.  But that's not all those cuties are good for.  How about a little hide and seek?  Oh, with color naming, rhyming and rhythm, and FUN thrown in for good measure.  I've got you!  Sounds like we need a candy corn and ghost version of Little Mouse, yes?  

Yes.

Here they are on video!

Candy corn, candy corn, playing hide and seek, 

are you behind the purple ghost??  Let's take a peek!

Or...

Candy corn, candy corn, I'm looking everywhere!  

Are you behind the green ghost?  Let's check under there!

Happy Halloween!

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!

Transportation Felt Board Fun!

 

Oh, hello vehicles!  Aren't you just the most colorful things...  

I WISH driving down the freeway was this exciting in real life! 

 But hey, that's what felt boards are for, right?

So, kids do tend to love vehicles.  Trains?  Check.  Trucks? Check.  Rockets? Oh, yep.

So let's put them all together in one big set, and have some good old transportation fun, shall we?

I made up a rhyme to go along with them.  Sprinkled transportation vocab and concepts in there.  You just pile your vehicles up in the right order before you start, and then place them on the board as you name them.  Or--pass out the pieces and have the kids bring them up as you name them.  

Oh, I like that interactive way a lot!

Look at all these Vehicles! © Wendy Gerbi

Look at these vehicles that like to go, go, go!

Car, truck, and bus, they drive to and fro.

And here come some more, way up in the sky…

Plane, ‘copter, rocket—they were made to fly.

But wait, there’s more—let’s not forget the boats!

Ship, submarine, and sailboat, they all know how to float.

And finally, our rail friends: train, subway and streetcar.

Look at all these vehicles—they take us near and far!

And you know how much I love the Little Mouse game, so this set has a laminated steering wheel so we can play that game, too!  So many colors and vehicle types to name!  So much learning through play to be done!

Steering wheel, steering wheel, playing hide and seek,

Are you behind the ___________?  Let’s take a peek!

OR

Steering wheel, steering wheel, you steer us everywhere.

Are you behind the _____? Let’s check under there!

Okay, that's probably enough transportation to digest for the day.  I'll be back with more!  I've got sorting cards and more fun ways to use this set...

Summer Reading #8: Dragon Tails

Hold on, it can't be...  Yep, it is already the eighth (and final!) installment of my summer reading ideas for the Tails and Tales theme!

The summer reading program is focusing on animals (tails) and stories (tales) this year.  Well, I've got plenty of both types of flannel boards that fit the bill--so I thought it would be fun to add some new songs and movement activities to the mix.

I've been adding new videos of these new songs to my YouTube channel and I've been posting them here on the blog, too.  

For my last new song, I've returned to my trusty old dragons.  They make me so happy with their cute faces and colorful wings.  They've bean soaring around in several other videos, but in keeping with the whole 'tails' theme, I decided to create one more song where we can wiggle our posteriors with abandon.  (There really isn't anything much cuter than a group of kids under the age of five wiggling their tails ;) )

So in this simple dragon song, I've decided to count up from zero to five.  So many of our songs start with five and count down--and don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with subtracting :)  But I'm all for addition, too.  

So this one has addition, color naming, rhyming, movement, pretending, direction and comparison words--just a bunch of good old early learning tucked under our dragon wings in a playful way.  Which is of course, in my opinion, the only way.

Here are the dragons:

Here's the video:

And here are the lyrics:

Dragon Tails ©Wendy Gerbi

To the tune of The Itsy Bitsy Spider 

 

No little dragons flying all around (shrug)

Along comes a blue one with a little roaring sound (roar!)

She wiggles her tail and roars a little more (wiggle and roar!)

She blows a little flame (whooo!)

Then up she soars! (flap wings!)

 

One little dragon flying all around (flap arms)

Along comes a red one with a little roaring sound (roar!)

He wiggles his tail (wiggle) and he roars a little more (roar!)

He blows a little flame (whoo!) then up he soars!

 

Continue, until… 

Five little dragons flying all around (flap arms)

They make a big ruckus with all those roaring sounds! (roar!)

They wiggle their tails and they roar a little more (wiggle and roar)

But now their wings are tired so down they soar!

And now you can make your own dragon cuties!