Dress the Baby!

Okay, I have to say I just love this cute Dress the Baby felt set.  I had a custom request to make a set for toddlers to play with during a baby shower, and this is the result.  Gah--SO adorable!

Kids young and old love babies, so this actually works well for such a large age range.  I picture this Dress the Baby set being used independently in homes, classrooms and at library felt tables.  But of course it would also work well at a circle time or story time.  Hand out the pieces and let the children come put them on that poor cold baby, lol.  Great to encourage color recognition/naming, clothing and baby vocabulary, etc.

Here's an adorable little song from the adorable duo at JBrary that would work so well with this set!  Baby Put Your Pants On

Here's a link to my other Clothing sets for more/similar ideas on how to use this guy.

Join in on all the Flannel Friday fun by clicking here!

Over in the Meadow

I presented a bunch of flannel board songs and games to a lovely group of librarians this past week, and on the drive back home I started down memory lane.  I miss doing circle times!  I love singing, dancing, reading, and playing with kids!  (My cats just don't interact the same way ;)  )

One of the songs that stuck out on that lane of memories is this fantastic version of Over in the Meadow.  It's a Barefoot Books version, which I was introduced to by one of my past student's mom.  I just love, love, love it.  Here it is!

I have a felt set of this song, too.  I couldn't do all ten animals--it was just TOOooooo much. 

 But I've got five parents, and 15 babies, and that's just right for me :) 

(I ended up making a custom set for a lovely lady, and it does include all 10 parents and their wee babies.  In case you're interested, here's what that looked like:)

And here's a video of my set in action:

I love combining books and music, and this one throws in math as well!  Hey!  Learning IS fun!

Happy spring!!

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Anytime Mapleson

  I recently had a request from a lovely librarian in Vermont for this set. It's based on a story I've never read, and it's out of print--Anytime Mapleson and the Hungry Bears by Mordicai Gerstein.  If you can find a copy, I recommend it--it looks pretty adorable!  I don't know the story in detail, but I'm sharing it here anyway in case anyone else knows the story and is also inspired to make their own set.  Or I can make one for you ;)  

Flannel Friday is going through some changes.  It will no longer be hosted each week on a blog--but it's got a new home on Tumbler, and and will still be pinned monthly to the Flannel Friday Pinterest Boards :)

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

 And I'd love it if you come visit my shop right here:  Flannel Board Fun.

The Wheels on the Bus

A  friend has her son enrolled in a new, very small family child care center, and wanted to give the teacher a few flannel board sets to get her collection started.  The Wheels on the Bus was one of her requests, and here are the results:

( I have lots of sets available for sale in my shop:   Check them out :) )

I always like to mix things up, so once I wear out the traditional verses of this song, we sing about animals on the bus, using animals from Old MacDonald or finger puppets. Or sometimes I like to put a few chairs in a row and let the kids come up and pretend to be the various animals or people we are singing about--lots of fun!

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.

Family Finger Puppets

 I love finger puppets.  (I've posted about my collections before.)  They are small enough to have and store lots of them, and their small size doesn't stop them from being a great tool to draw in those less than attentive wiggly kids during a group time.  I like these people puppets, and they can be made with so many different skin and hair colors that all children can find one to relate to.  I also love the opportunity they give to represent all sorts of families:  two moms, two dads, single parents, big families, small...  Endless possibilities!

 These would be great to use with a theme on families or All About Me.  But of course, pulling puppets out at any time is just a great way to get and keep the attention of the kids in your group.

The pattern for these adorable people is from Precious Patterns on Etsy (though I did make a few changes to the faces).

You can find lots of felt sets in my shop!

Flannel Friday is being hosted this week by Kate at Felt Board Magic.You can also find tons of ideas at Flannel Friday's Pinterest Pages, the Flannel Friday Blog, and Flannel Friday's Facebook page.

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!

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Five Little Mice

I have had these little squeakers ready to go for many, many months--except for the mama mouse.  Before some quick adjustments tonight, she looked sort of like a gray, long-tailed dog.  She only had one ear, and it was the wrong shape.  So I trimmed off her nose, peeled off that puppy ear, shortened her tail, made her nose pink, added a smile, and put two mouse ears on.  Ahhh.  Much better!

Here's the mama before I fixed her--yikes!

I found a couple of songs to go along with this. I can't for the life of me figure out where I got the first one...  Please let me know if I stole it from you!

To the tune of Five Little Ducks:

Five little mice went out to play

Through the fields and far away.

Mama mouse called "squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak!"

Then one little mouse played hide and seek.

Count down to zero, then...

Five little mice played hide and seek

Didn't come home when their mama squeaked.

                                     But when the big cat started to hiss,

They all ran home as quick as this (clap!)

I'd use my kitten puppet to go along with this, and I think I'll make (or borrow from another set) some items for the mice to hide behind.

The second one is from Kididdles:

Five little mice came out to play

Gathering crumbs along the way

Out came pussycat sleek and fat

Four little mice go scampering back

(continue, counting down)

Flannel Friday is being hosted this week by Kate at Felt Board Magic.  

For more info about Flannel Friday, check out these links:

Pinterest and Facebook and the Flannel Friday Blog!

And hey--I'd love to have you visit my shop!

Cookies!

Here's another set for the children to use independently--and another one that's inspired by my thoughts of cooler weather... (Here are my other sets.)

Hungry, anyone?  Here are some cookies for you!

Hmmm...  Those look a little plain.  How about we add some frosting?

That's better, but do we have any sprinkles?

YUMMMY!!  They look good enough to eat, don't they?  (My cat and I highly discourage this.)

Sometimes around the holidays we make real cookies with the children (ah, sweet, sugary fun!)  I think this will be a great set to put out for them to extend that activity, as well as get some conversation going about activities they do at home with their families.  And of course these pieces provide perfect opportunities to sort, count, name shapes and colors, and otherwise learn as they play.

This set is sold out in my shop, but lots of other felt goodies are waiting for you.

  I hope you'll visit me there!

Flannel Friday is being hosted this week by Kathryn at Fun With Friends at Storytime.  Check out the round up there, and don't forget to find more amazing flannel board ideas at Pinterest and Facebook and the Flannel Friday Blog!

Titch

This has been on my To Do List for at least ten years...  No time like the present!  Pat Hutchins was one of the first authors I was introduced to as a preschool teacher, and I've continued to use her books in my classroom over the past twenty years.

 Titch, his sister Mary, and his brother Pete.  Those bigs--they always get the big stuff!

 Hmph!  Tiny little pinwheel....

 Silly little trike...

 Puny little whistle...

 Nails?  Really?

 Miniscule little seed.  Pfff.

WOW!!  Look what I grew!!

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

Flannel Board Fun Shop

I'm hosting Flannel Friday this week!  Check out the Roundup HERE.  And of course you can find a huge assortment of ideas at Flannel Friday's Pinterest Board, and other goodies at the Flannel Friday Facebook Page and  FF blog.  Check them all out!

Five Little Ducks

Five Little Ducks is a classic, and a song I've shared with every group of kids I've taught for the past 20+ years.  I started out just doing it as a finger play, and I still share the hand motions with the kids as we sing about the ducks.  I made a foam set for the flannelboard about 5 or 10 years ago, and we've been using that. But I felt like it needed to be freshened up, so I scanned my foam ducks and printed them out to use as templates for this felt version.  I also changed my old mama duck from yellow to white--because, um, mama ducks aren't yellow! 

I've made a video with this set so you can see all the moves and hear the tune!

Click here for yet another song to sing with these cuties!

Five Little Ducks

Five little ducks went out one day (hold up five fingers)
Over the hills and far away 

(move hand like it's going over hills, then hand to forehead as if you're looking far away)

The mama duck said"Quack, quack, quack, quack." (other hand quacks like the bill of a duck)But only four little ducks came back. (fold one finger down)

(count down till all the ducks are gone)

Sad Mama duck went out one day

Over the hills and far away

Mama duck said

Quack, quack, quack, quack

And all of the five little ducks came back!

Click here to buy this set at my shop!

Flannel Friday is being hosted by Melissa at Mel's Desk!  You can also find tons of ideas at Flannel Friday's Pinterest Pages, the Flannel Friday Blog, and Flannel Friday's Facebook page.

Little Gorilla

For years I've loved Little Gorilla, and I've been intending to make a flannel board version of it for almost as long.  I think I once even printed out clip art images of each of the animals, intending to make a laminated version. But Flannel Friday is having it's birthday, and I wanted to do more than just a laminated story, and more than just cupcakes and presents (even though I love those too!)

So this week I got to work!  It was difficult trying to make my pieces resemble the illustrations--those faces do not translate all that well to flannel...  But, in the end I'm okay with what I have.

So, here's Little Gorilla:

Once there was a gorilla, and everybody loved him.  His mother loved him.  His father loved him.  His whole family loved him! Even when he was only one day old, everybody loved Little Gorilla.

Pink butterfly flying through the forest, Green Parrot in his tree, and Red Monkey in her tree, all loved Little Gorilla.

Even big Boa Constrictor thought Little Gorilla was nice.

Giraffe, walking tall through the forest, was there when Little Gorilla needed him.

Young Elephant, and Old Elephant too, came to see him.

Lion roared his loudest roar for him.

Even Old Hippo took him wherever he wanted to go, because she loved Little Gorilla.  Just about everybody in the great green forest loved Little Gorilla!  Then one day, something happened...  Little Gorilla began to grow...and grow...and grow.

And one day, Little Gorilla was BIG!

And everybody came, and everybody sang "Happy Birthday Little Gorilla!"  And everybody still loved him.

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

Flannel Board Fun SHOP 

Flannel Friday is being hosted this week by Mollie at What Happens in Storytime!  You can also find 850,000+ felt and story ideas at Flannel Friday's Pinterest pages, or Flannel Friday's Facebook Page --check them out!