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!)
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!):
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!”
I love nice, crisp, sweet apples on a nice, crisp, sweet fall day! I also love soft, adorable felt apples on any kind of day. That's why I made my APPLE bingo set, and it's never failed me yet.
But how did those apples even grow? Were apple blossoms involved in some way?? And now that we've got apples, shouldn't we count them? And wait, wouldn't it be fun to hide a worm behind the apples? Yes! Yes! Let's make a huge apple tree set that we can play with in all kinds of ways!
First, let's make them grow. We'll start off with a bare tree, with no little apples growing on it. And then an apple blossom starts to grow...and soon, it turns right into an apple!
Here we go with the sixth 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--but I thought it would be fun to add some new songs and movement activities to the mix.
Over the remaining couple of weeks, I'll be adding new videos of these new songs to my YouTube channel. I'll also post them right here on the blog.
So, let's sing about squirrels and acorns, shall we? We'll do a little counting, a little rhyming, a little tail-swishing and pretending. Might as well tuck a bunch of early learning into one short song, right? Right. Off we go!
(to
the tune of Five Little Ducks or Over in the Meadow)
Spread
out your acorns on the board, and tell the kids we are pretending that they are
hidden underground.Have the squirrel dig and
search to find each acorn, and then she can either pile them somewhere else, or
munch them up happily 😊
Five
little acorns hidden in the ground
Along
comes a squirrel, to see what can be found.
She
swishes her tail, and she sniffs the air
And
look, she finds an acorn—right over there!
Four
little acorns hidden in the ground
Along
comes a squirrel, to see what can be found.
She
swishes her tail, and she sniffs the air
And
look, she finds an acorn—right over there!
Continue,
until….
No
little acorns hidden in the ground
Along
comes a squirrel, to see what can be found.
She
swishes her tail, and she sniffs the air
She
found all five acorns so she takes a nap right there!
Oh and hey--if you'd like to make your own squirrel set, the pattern is now available:
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 :)
What is her obsession with Old MacDonald, you might be asking yourself. I'm sort of asking myself the same thing! This set isn't that different than my second set, This one, though, is just right for Toddlers! None of the pieces are small enough to be considered choking hazards, so this set is perfect for the little ones to use independently if they are so inclined.
I'm selling these cuties in my shop--come check it out!
As you can see, these pieces are pretty darn huge, so this is a great set to use with a large crowd where visibility might be an issue. And of course you're not limited to just singing Old MacDonald with these pieces. Adapt songs like The Wheels on the Bus (The Chicken on the Farm goes cluck, cluck, cluck...) Make up stories using all or some of the animals... Play rhyming games (I'm thinking of an animal, and her name rhymes with that thing we wear outside in cold weather...)
Here are some farm themed books that might work well for you, too:
This set, like my Hickory Dickory Dock and One, Two, Buckle My Shoe sets is from a Judy Sierra pattern e-book. I actually didn't already have an Old MacDonald set--though I do often use my farm finger puppets when we sing it. I also have a pop-up Old McD book. But it will be nice to finally have a simple felt set to use with this classic little song.
You can find lots of my sets in my shop-come take a look!
Flannel Friday is being hosted this week by Lisa at Libraryland. 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!
I completely stole this idea from Rachel the Librarian, the local librarian who comes to our classroom on the first Wednesday of every month. Though she used a little clip art worm under her leaves (rather than the felt snail I'm using), it was her genius use of real leaves that grabbed my attention. Now granted, I will most likely make felt versions so this will be easy to do at any time (since the real leaves will dry out and crumble). But I just love the idea of using the real leaves so the kids are exposed to them (in more ways than just trudging through them on their sidewalks :) )
I wanted to add a few Halloween sets to my stash, and I don't have a ghost set. But I was just sort of uninspired by the clipart ghost selection I found... Enter Inky, Blinky, Pinky and Clyde (and their un-named friend)! Perhaps you recognize them from an old video game...
These things have been a life saver this year in my Two Year Old class! One of my little girls has been having a hard time with coming to school and being away from home for the first time. One morning when she was having a particularly tear-filled morning, I remembered her mom mentioning that she loved the book Five Little Pumpkins. I quickly pulled the book from it's spot in our musical books basket, and ran to the drawer full of finger puppets to nab these fellows. The minute she saw them, all was well! She carried at least one of the jack-o-lantern finger puppets around with her the rest of the morning, and we did the chant at least ten times that day!
Of course there are also the more traditional ways to use these :) I put them on when we're reading the book or just saying the chant. Sometimes we invite the children up and each child puts on a finger puppet (or holds a laminated, large pumpkin) and speaks their part of the chant. This one just never gets old :)
You can find lots of felt songs and stories like this in my shop!
These adorable guys are based on patterns from PreciousPatterns on Etsy. Like my Christmas Finger Puppet Set, these Halloween creatures are not actually finger puppets--but they certainly can be made as puppets if that's what you want to do. I chose to save time and just glued them together instead. Children can use these to tell stories on a small felt board, or adults can use them to accompany songs or stories. I like the fact that they're all pretty cute, which can take away some of the spooky aspect of Halloween that isn't much fun for some of our littlest kids. (There was a skull pattern, and I chose not to use it.)
This is a super simple idea that can be used on a table at home, in a classroom or library; with individual flannel boards; or as a group participation activity to go along with Halloween themed stories. Cute, fun, and sugar free Halloween fun!
For a group time, or at home with your own kids, you could pass out the various pieces and ask children to come up and help you build the faces. Think about all the shape and color naming and recognition that will happen as you say "If you have a yellow circle, bring it up to the board!" "If you have a shape that has three sides, bring it on up!"
Build even more math skills with this set by having the children help you sort all the black shapes onto one section of the board; all the yellow onto another... Count how many round shapes you have. Count how many corners there are... The possibilities are pretty endless!
Here are some possible Halloween stories to go along with this set:
I'm still adding to my collection of sets that children can use independently. Here's a link to my other sets if you're interested :)
I've got holidays on my mind for some reason! I think the heat that's finally arrived has me longing for cool fall days. Halloween, anyone?
In my three year old classroom we sing various Halloween songs and chants, and I think the children will naturally sing them as they play with these pieces. And of course those children who are a little anxious or fearful about some Halloween-related topics can get a sense of control, as well as time to talk about those fears, as they manipulate this set.
It's almost summer, and that means fall is just around the corner, so....I'll just link Flannel Friday's Fall Pinterest Page--I was inspired by several Fall is Not Easy posts there to create this one! I have one tough little cookie in my group this year who always says "I don't wanna hear that story" about pretty much everything. But when I suggest Fall is Not Easy, she says "Oh! That's my favorite one!"
Click below to see a video of how I use this set:
I highly recommend scrunching up your face and being very theatrical with each attempt to change the leaves--guffaws are sure to follow!
Everything can be random except the spring, summer and fall leaves. I always make sure they are in the right order when I put them away for next time. I have 'spring' and 'summer' written on the back of those pieces, so everyone using the set knows what's what!
I printed out the Pittsburgh Pirates and Penguins emblems on Pellon Lutradur. They aren't very vibrant, and the glue dots show through, so I am not totally happy with them. But the kids LOVE their teams, so those are a big hit. I don't particularly like the NFL (shhhhh!), so I skipped the Steelers!
