Elephant in a Hole

Elephant in a Hole

Many moons ago I made a printed, laminated version of this story.  But I recently realized that my Wild Animal set would work perfectly with this tale, too.  AND, with the upcoming Summer Reading Program theme of All Together Now, I thought friends helping friends would be quite fitting as well :)  So, off we go!

As you'll see in the video, size doesn't matter.  Often these cumulative stories have the smallest animal/character come last to help, and lo and behold, that's the one that saves the day.  But if you know me, you know I like to mix things up.  So in my version, it really doesn't matter who comes first, last, or in between.  It's all about working together to help each other.

Enjoy!

Lots more videos are right here!

Cumulative Story: Kite Stuck in a Tree

A little bird told me that the summer reading program this year is All Together Now.  I thought it would be nice to have a group of sweet felt friends all work together to solve a problem.  And that's how this little felt set was born :) 

Here they are:

And rather than write out the whole kite story here, I'll just show it to you on video :)  

Just click those cuties below to watch.

I've not got the videos up yet, but I'll also use these friends in a few more circle time activities, coming soon:

Kind Friend Count Up
Five Little Friends Went Out Today
Little Kite Hide and Seek

By the way, if you liked this video story, I've also got  a Halloween version of the Enormous Turnip!

Herman the Worm

When I was a little girl, my aunt Suzie told me the most hilarious story about her friend Herman, who ate various animals and grew bigger and bigger, until finally he burped and went back to his normal size.  I remember asking her to tell the story over and over again (she was quite the dramatic storyteller!), but I had forgotten all about it until I saw this post and the video that's linked in there. 

I googled some clipart and the results are below.  I hope I can tell it with as much flair as my dear aunt Suzie--can't wait to give it a try soon! 

Herman the Worm

One day, I was walking down the street and I saw Herman, and he was this big!  And I said, Herman!  What have you done?!?

And he said, "I ate an ant."

The next day, I was walking down the street and I saw Herman, and he was this big!  And I said, Herman!  What have you done?!?

And he said, "I ate a chicken." 

The next day, I was walking down the street and I saw Herman, and he was this big!  And I said, Herman!  What have you done?!?

And he said, "I ate a cow." 

The next day, I was walking down the street and I saw Herman, and he was this big!  And I said, Herman!  What have you done?!?

And he said, "I ate an elephant." 

The next day, I was walking down the street and I saw Herman, and he was this big!  And I said, Herman!  What have you done?!?

And he said, "I burped." 

Flannel Friday is being hosted this week by Miss Kelly at the Library!  You can also find tons of ideas at Flannel Friday's Pinterest Pages, the Flannel Friday Blog, and Flannel Friday's Facebook page.

The Elephant in a Well

Here's another set I made several years ago.  The Elephant in a Well was posted on a list of stories that work well as flannels.  I had never heard the story before, so I googled it and found this summary.  Based on that, I printed out and laminated clip art animals, threw in a string, stuck on some velcro, and I was done!  The children love this sort of cumulative story, especially if you make each animal's sound as they pull on the rope:  the sheep pulled (baaa!), the dog pulled (rufff!), the horse pulled (neeiiigghhhh!!!), etc.  We like to give the animals names, too.  Sometimes the children use people names, sometimes pet names, and sometimes random odd words, like "toe".  Or "box". Yep.  Just go with it.

(By the way, the photo below doesn't represent the story very well.  I place the elephant at the left hand bottom of the board looking up, the string extends down to him, and the animals line up one after another with the mouse last.)

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

Flannel Board Fun Shop