Five Fat Turkeys--A Simpler Version :)

I love my old version of Five Fat Turkeys.  But I wanted to sell a set in my shop, and the turkeys in that set were blatantly copied from another Flannel Friday fan!  Plus, they were so layered and detailed that they would be a million dollars to buy.  Maybe a million and one.

After a few requests, I finally got my rear in gear and created a new, simpler set.  Similar cook, similar tree, new gobblers :)

(You can buy these guys right here.)

The video of this set uses my old turkey friends:

                                   

Don't forget to check out Flannel Friday's Pinterest boards for all sorts of amazing ideas!

And of course, feel free to visit my shop:

Like what you see?  

5 Little Snowmen on a Sled--The Video!

Winter is coming!  Let's get out the sleds, build some snowmen, and do a little counting while we're at it...  You can see my post on this cute set right here, buy those cuties right here, and click below to watch the video!

Want more fun preschooly ideas and shop updates?  Click below!

Space Song Video!

I had fun using my Space Quiet Set along with the song Zoom, Zoom, Zoom We're Going to the Moon!  (Thanks to JBrary for bringing this super fun song to my attention several years ago.  I've used it about a zillion times since then.)

Here's the set I used in this video:

And here's another post with more ideas on using this set!

Octopus Video!

Ah, the beloved Charlotte Diamond song!  I like to use my Ocean Creatures felt set with this one.  Here's a video example:

Piggy Pancake Video!

 Why yes indeedy! Pigs and pancakes on film :)  Not much else to say about this pig version of the fabulous Little Mouse game—the video sums it all up pretty nicely, I think.

Jungle Friends Felt Board Video

Editing:  Wait a minute, these cute critters are actually wild animals, not jungle!  Their habitats are the savannah, plains, rainforest and more--so I'm going to stop calling them jungle animals :)  AND, I've made some changes and updated these cuties!  So though the set below has changed, and the links will take you to a new Wild Animal set, the early math and early literacy aspects remain the same!

Got jungle creature fans on your hands?  Here's a simple way to use my Jungle Critters Set at home, at circle time, at story time...  Build those math skills!  Build those early literacy skills!  Have fun!

Love that jungle felt set?  You can get it in my shop, and it comes with the lyrics to more rhymes and songs, plus a list of animal/jungle books to go along with it!  (I do the work for you ;) )  Click the cuties below to shop:

Like what you see here?  

Down by the Station

I made a cute little Down by the Station video using my Train Set and characters from my Goldilocks, Five Little Monkeys, and Ocean Set.  You could make so many variations of this using whatever characters you want. (Edit: I've discontinued my Five Monkeys set due to racist roots.)

Talking about where Goldi drops off the animals at the end is a nice little way to build vocabulary.  The hand motions to go along with the song build musical skills (which in turn build early literacy skills.)  You can extend this to be more interactive by having the kids choose which animal goes in which color car...  As always, there are so many possibilities!  Have fun!

Muddy Pigs Revsited

So, one of my earliest flannel board sets after discovering Flannel Friday was a muddy pig set, 

inspired by multiple fabulous librarians.  

You can see the original version here.  

But I wanted to update my set to make it more of my own design, and I couldn't bear to rub brown fabric paint on these new cuties.  So I switched my mud spots to be made of felt, and I love them so much more.

I also decided those muddy pigs might like to get clean, too!  So I made my mud puddle reversible to a water puddle (or a lake, as I call it in my new little song...)

 Here are a couple of songs you could use with this set when you want to clean off the pigs:

Five Muddy Hog and Sows

Five muddy hogs and sows

(They’re pigs they are not cows)

Wanted to take a little swim.

One jumped into a lake

Got clean for goodness sake

That leaves four muddy hogs and sows

Continue, counting down to zero :)

Five Muddy Pigs

Down at the farm by the big blue lake

Were five muddy pigs for goodness sake

One jumped in and the mud washed away,

Now that pig is ready to play!

Keep counting down...

Go check out all the Flannel Friday goodness at the 

Flannel Friday Pinterest Pages!

50% off Holiday Sets!

I'm clearing out a couple of my winter holiday sets to make room for new designs coming this year :)  These two are perfect for the fine motor area of your classroom or library--ages 3-7 really love these!  Each set comes with a list of related book titles to check out at the library, as well as the lyrics to a few rhymes and songs that go along with the theme.

This is a quick sale--just today and tomorrow, 

12/30 and 12/31/18--

and there are only a few of each set left!

(Although these cuties are no longer available, I've got lots of fun holiday sets in my shop!)

Cats!

I happen to have two kitties who are in my lap as I type this.  I've been a cat owner for the past 25 years, and yet I've not had a cat flannel board set!  

Thanks to a recent request from a librarian, I was able to make this stinkin' cute set :)  Bonus for you:  you can buy these cuties in my shop!

(Since this post was originally published, I've added another kitty cat felt board set to the mix!  

You can check out the blog post here, and the felt set is right here.)

So many ways to use this set!  You can pass out the cats and ask the kids to bring them up by color, and use position words like over, under, next to, above and below as you ask them to place them on the board.  Doing a color theme or story time?  Ask the kids with a cat the color of a night sky, or a violet, or dirt, (or whatever clever ideas you have) to bring their cat up.  Increase their visual discrimination skills--"If you have a sleeping cat, bring it to the flannel board!"

I've also come up with a rhyme for using five of these:

Five Little Kitty Cats
Five little kitty cats sleeping on the floor
One pounced away, and now there are four!

Four little kitty cats, cute as can be,
One leapt away, and now there are three!

Three little kitty cats, hunters through and through,
One caught a mouse, and now there are two!

Two little kitty cats, basking in the sun,
One slinked away, and now there's only one!

One little kitty cat got up to stretch and yawn,
I looked away...and now he's gone!

Thinking about doing this with puppies too!

You can click below to get shop updates and sale announcements, 

as well as fun preschooler-related tidbits :)

Create a Car (or really, a vehicle :)

Another custom order that's turned into something I'll carry regularly in my shop!  This set is along the same lines as many of my other do-it-yourself sets, and this time the theme is vehicles.  If I were still teaching, I would love to see what kind of crazy combinations the kids would come up with by mixing the various vehicle parts together...  

This set is great for color and number naming and recognition, and could easily be used in a group time by handing out the pieces and letting the kids come up and decide where their piece could go!  You could also ask things like "If you have a red piece that is BIG, come put it on the board...or..If you have an orange piece that is small, come put it on the board."  You could play a color sorting game, and just have them bring their pieces to a designated area of the board, not building anything, or you could decide as a group that you want to build four vehicles--you could build the bases and then ask them to come put the wheels, windows, and other accessories on.  What a great team work project that builds vocabulary at the same time.  I love these sets as both a group time activity and for kids to use on their own...

Discover Flannel Friday--and join in if you like to make flannel boards, too!

Here's the Tumbler Page if you'd like to check it out, and here are the many amazing Pinterest Boards!

And hey--feel free to check out my shop right here:  Flannel Board Fun

Chubby Snowmen (a re-post!)

I'm busy. And this week, I don't have something new to post for Flannel Friday, even though it was one of my (million and one) goals for the year.  Is it cheating to do a re-post from a couple of years ago?  If so, I guess I'm cheating!  But these guys haven't seen the light of day in a while since I'm not in the classroom anymore, so they needed to at least come out for a photo shoot and star appearance on my blog. So without further jibber jabber, here are Five Little Snowman Fat!

You can see a video of these guys in action right here!

And you can buy them right here!

And here is the accompanying rhyme/song:

Five Little Snowmen Fat
Five little snowmen fat,
Each with a funny hat.
Out came the sun and melted one,
What do you think of that?
Down, down, down, down.
What do you think of that?

I found the poem here, and used clip art as inspiration for the snowmen and their cute little accessories. I made two sets for each snowman--the second set got scattered onto a "puddle" made of  light blue felt. When each snowman melts I take him away and replace him with his puddle :) 

This week's Flannel Friday is being hosted by Lisa and Libraryland.  You can also access Flannel Friday at Pinterest or the Flannel Friday Blog for zillions of ideas!  And please come visit my shop, too:  Flannel Board Fun :)

Toddler Bots

Why have I been ignoring my littlest friends?  Most of the sets I provide for the kids in my classroom are for age three and up, not only because of the size of the pieces, but also the quantity of pieces and complexity of the sets.  Enter my Toddler Build a Bot set!

These guys are no longer available for sale, but lots more are waiting for you right here! 

(By the way, I've done a similar set, with a lot more and smaller pieces for kids three and up--find my regular Build a Bots here.

Teachers, put these fellows out in your fine motor area or your book corner along with some individual flannel boards.  Librarians, these would be great on a felt table or large felt wall.

Librarians and teachers, these would be great to use during a story time!  Put your bases on the board, and then hand out the accessories to the kids, naming the colors and shapes as you go.  Then announce "Let's build some robots together!  If you have a yellow shape, come up and put it on one of the robots..."  Continue this way until you have what will surely be some extraordinary bots :)  This is a great way to build color and shape recognition, and to build vocabulary as you use words like dial, gear, antennae...

Here are some robot books to go along with the theme:

Little Bot and Sparrow by Jake Parker

Bitty Bot by Tim McCanna

The Robot and the Bluebird by David Lucas

Robots Robots Everywhere by Sue Fliess

Beep! Beep! Go to Sleep! by Todd Tarpley

...and some more goodies:

The Lights on the Robot (to the tune of The Wheels on the Bus)

The lights on the robot blink on and off, on and off, on and off.

The lights on the robot blink on and off, as he moves around!

(Continue with more verses:  arms/up and down,

Dials/turn left and right,

Legs/go up and down,

Power on the robot powers down/when it’s time for bed!)

If You’re a Robot and You Know It

If you’re a robot and you know it clank your coils (clap)

If you’re a robot and you know it clank your coils (clap)

If you’re a robot and you know it and you really want to show it clank your coils (clap)

Continue with: “Clunk your gears” (stomp feet), and “Press your buttons” (“Beep beep”)

Jessica is hosting the roundup this week.  You can also find tons of ideas at Flannel Friday's Pinterest Pages, the Flannel Friday Blog, and Flannel Friday's Facebook page.  

And hey, feel free to stop by my shop for more felt goodies: 

Flannel Board Fun :)

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!

Over in the Meadow

Finally!  I have been trying to make a new Over in the Meadow felt set for at least a year.  I think I was overwhelmed with the number of pieces--I had planned to make the accompanying scenery like sand, tree, beehive, etc.  But when I gave myself permission to just do the animal babies and their grown ups, it all came together :)

My animals are as cute as I could make them ;) My eyeballs are cut using a die cuts--no way can I make my circles that neat with a pair or scissors!

Here's a video of these guys in action:

You can get more details and buy these cuties here.

I love this song so much--I have four versions of the book in my classroom--not even including the Over in the Garden, Arctic, Jungle and Ocean versions!  

Here are links to my favorite Over in the Meadow books:

Over in the Meadow  Absolutely love the cd that goes with this one!

Over in the Meadow  Why do Jane Cabrera books go out of print??

Over in the Meadow  Our copy of this is a Big Book

Over in the Meadow  This is nice for one-one-one, but the illustrations are not good for group story times

I'm hosting Flannel Friday this week--and you can find the roundup here!  For more FF fun and information, please visit the blog, Facebook page, or Pinerest page!  And share these links with your co-librarians or co-teachers. The more we share, the better!

Like what you see?  

Click below for 17free song strips and lyric cards, and more preschooly goodness delivered to your inbox!

Valentines and Envelopes

More fun, creative, pretend play!  I loved the envelopes I made last year, and was inspired to make some that the children could handle themselves.  My new set is machine stitched, and they close with a little piece of velcro.  I think the kids will love pretending to mail each other their cards--I plan to put these out near our toy mailbox, which generally sees a lot of mini stuffed animals shoved inside, rather than mail :)

(These cuties are sold out, but I've got lots of other holiday fun in my shop!)

Here are some books, rhymes and songs that would be great for a Valentines, mail, or love story time:

Mouse’s First Valentine by Lauren Thompson
I Kissed the Baby by Mary Murphy

Bunny Mail by Rosemary Wells

The Jolly Postman by Allan Ahlberg

Delivering Your Mail by Ann Owen

You Know What I Love by Lorena Siminovich

The Secret by Lindsay Barrett George      

Early In the Morning
Early in the morning at eight o’clock
You can hear the postman knock
Up jumps ______ to open the door
One letter, two letters, three letters, four!

Four Pretty Valentines

Four pretty valentines for everyone to see.
___________ bought one and then there were three.
Three pretty valentines said, "I love you"
___________ bought one and then there were two.
Two pretty valentines, this was so much fun.
___________ bought one and then there was one.
One pretty valentine sitting on the shelf.
I liked it a lot! So, I bought it for myself.

Mail Myself ToYou by Woody Guthrie

I'm gonna wrap myself in paper,
I'm gonna dab myself with glue,
Stick some stamps on top of my forehead;
I'm gonna mail myself to you.

I'm a gonna tie me up in a red string,
I'm gonna tie blue ribbons too,
I'm gonna climb up in my mail box;
I'm gonna mail myself to you.

When you see me in your mail box,
Cut the string and let me out;
Wash the glue off my fingers,
Stick some bubble gum in my mouth!

Flannel Friday is being hosted this week by Kathryn at Fun with Friends at Storytime.  You can find lots of other great stuff at Flannel Friday's Facebook and Pinterest pages, too!

Mermaid

So, I don't know if or how I might use this little lady in my classroom, but I am so proud of her that I have to post a photo :)  I made this set for a friend of a friend's nursery wall, and I love the way it turned out.  The mermaid is the only new thing--I've already posted my Ocean Set (more than once!)

Here she is in all her tail-flipping glory:

I'll be off looking for some mermaid rhymes, songs or poems so that I can use her in my classroom.  If nothing else, I will add her to my classroom's Ocean Set so the kids can play with her.  If you have any suggestions for rhymes or songs, please let me know!

I've got more mermaids and ocean sets available in my shop--come visit me there!