Wild Animal Count Up

 Counting Animals

I've often referred to this collection of cuties as jungle animals, but I've seen the error of my ways and will henceforth be referring to them as Wild :) Upcoming videos will even mention their various habitats, like the savannah, plains, rainforests, etc....

In this counting rhyme I've included some related vocabulary like roar, swing, stomp, snap and dive.  Let's keep things simple, right?  We name our animals, we count, we name our numbers...  Of course you can make this longer by pointing out various features of the animals, like colors, body parts, habitats, etc.  

But sometimes you just need something short and sweet, and I think this short counting rhyme fits the bill.  I hope you and the kids enjoy it!

 

Looking for more circle time and storytime fun?  More videos are right here!

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!

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 :)

Five Colorful Elephants!

Ahh, elephants!  They are incredible animals, and there are lots of little facts about them included in this fun counting rhyme :)  Click below to watch the video.

You can also have your very own set of adorable elephants:

or you can even make your own set with this pattern!

And if you like that, I bet you'd like a free pattern!

Five Elephants Went Out to Play

Edit:  Since originally posting, I've got a new, colorful elephant set you can read about here and here, or buy them here.

This is a remake of an old foam set I've had for years.  This time I made my elephants much bigger, and I have two poems/rhymes to use with them (and they could also go along with my bathtub from Five Elephants in a Bathtub)

Another edit: To hear these songs,  Here's my Elephant playlist on YouTube :) 

Here they are all lined up on a string...

One grey elephant balancing

Step by step on a piece of string 

He thought it was such a wonderful stunt 

That he called for another elephant 

Two grey elephants etc... 

Five grey elephants balancing

Step by step on a piece of string 

They thought it was such a wonderful stunt

That they called for another elephant.

(and then make them all tip off the string and fall--kersplat!--to the ground!

And here they are atop a spider's web (which here is made of paper, but I'll use black fabric paint on a white sheet of felt for the final product).

One elephant went out to play
Upon a spider’s web one day.

He had such enormous fun,

He called for another elephant to come… “Oh, ELEPHANT!”

Two elephants…
Three elephants…
Four elephants…
Five elephants went out to play

Upon a spider’s web one day.

They had such enormous fun

But there were no more elephants left to come.

Or:

The web went creak, the web went crack.

And all of the elephants went KERSPLAT!

Flannel Friday is being hosted this week by  Keith at Felt-tastic Flannelboard Funtime.  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!

This Little Jungle Critter...

Okay, so really some of these are sub-Saharan critters.  Lions, zebras and giraffes don't live in jungles, right?  Monkeys do...and crocodiles, and jungle elephants.  But anyway, on with the rhyme!

 I realize my giraffe is missing some important parts!  They're going on tomorrow :)

You can read the background story below if you're interested, but if not, let's just cut to the chase!

Choose five of your animals and line 'em up.  Put your sub-Saharan scene a bit away from your animals, and commence your chant:

This little monkey went to market.

This little lion stayed home.

This little zebra ate grass.

And this little elephant ate none.

And this little crocodile went 

"snap snap snap snap!" 

all the way home!

Move the crocodile to the picture as you're saying the last few lines, then move him back to the front of the line of animals and start over.  Always put your returning animal at the front of the line, so that the next time you do the rhyme you'll have a new animal at the end of the line--that's the one that goes "all the way home".  

You can really use this rhyme with any set of five animals--farm, zoo, jungle, pets, etc.  You could do it with bugs, even.  And sea creatures! Just make sure you know what everyone eats and what noise or movement they make before you get started :)

A new version of this set is available in my shop!

The Flannel Friday roundup is being hosted this week by Kate at Felt Board Magic!  You'll also find other Flannel Friday goodies at Pinterest, Facebook, and the FF blog--check them out!

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Background Story: A few weeks ago I was playing with one of my two year olds with these sorting farm animals:

  

We were lining them up, building homes for them, making them slide down ramps, and just generally having a good old time with them.  (They are great, and most sorting toys are too small for below age three, so I especially love these guys!) At one point I started doing the This Little Piggy rhyme, but the row of animals I was pointing at had only one piggy, so I substituted the other animals names and sounds, and did the rhyme that way.  It was a hit--I had to do it at least 17 times before I was allowed to play anywhere else!

Yesterday when I pulled out my Herman the Worm flannel board story, I recalled the hacked version of This Little Piggy rhyme and tried it with the Herman and his friends.  It worked, and I decided I wanted a set to devote to it.  I went for jungle animals because there are already so many farm songs and poems swimming around in my head, and I wanted to change things up a bit.  

Finger Puppet Duos!

A quick peek at Flannel Friday's Finger Puppet page sent me off to the store for embroidery floss and needles!  Two Little Blackbirds is a song that we do all the time during our Small and Large Group times (the adorable JBrary version linked is a chant--I'll try to find the tune I use and post it here).  I don't think I'd ever thought to use finger puppets for it--we just use our thumbs...  But these little guys really engage the children, and keep our fingers warm too!  

I maybe sewed last when I was in 8th grade, but haven't since then.  I will stick to basic stuff--my eyesight is definitely not what it once was!

These were made in the fall, and used a lot in the fall this year, but of course they can be used anytime!

The bats and blue birds above are from Mel's Desk.  I love her stuff!  My kids had to keep reminding me to say "bats" instead of "birds" when I used the bats.  Twenty years of saying "birds" is a hard habit to break!

This is a cute poem to go with these adorable penguins!

I did a google image search for bear finger puppets, and free handed my guys based on the results.

Can't remember where I found this:

To the tune of Where is Thumbkin:

Where is bear, where is bear?

Here I am, Here I am!

How are you today bear?

Very sleepy thank you!

Hibernate...hibernate...

 

The owls, turkeys,and elephants were all inspired by, you guessed it, Storytime Katie.  

These finger puppets aren't available to purchase, but please come visit my Etsy shop!  https://www.etsy.com/shop/FlannelBoardFun

Flannel Friday is being hosted by Lauren at The Dilley Dally, and of course you'll find lots of other ideas at Flannel Friday's blog or Pinterest page.

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!