Circle Time Weather Bear: Dress for Winter!

As a teacher, I had a requirement to talk with the kids about the weather each day.  (I know--seems like a strange requirement to me, too!)  But anyway...Weather conversations occurred naturally, since weather is something that typically affects all of us in some way or another.  Raining?  The kids had rain gear on and likely got wet on the way to school.  Snowing?  Maybe we'll go outside and we'll have to put on some snow gear!  Hot and sunny?  We'll be sure we've all got sunscreen on for playground time...

But just in case it didn't come up in natural conversation, Weather Bear is a great workaround :)  

Here's a video I made to go along with this set 

(which, by the way, is also perfect for kids to play with independently!)

The Wind Blew

Pat Hutchins is one of my favorite children's book authors, so I loved making this set to go with her book The Wind Blew.  As with all story sets, if you know the book well enough you could use the set without the book at all.  Or, as you read the book you can add the pieces to your board. 

I would also put the pieces out for the children to use independently.  It's so cool to watch and listen to children re-tell stories.  Sometimes they remember it in a completely different way than I'd predict...so interesting to see how they understand and interpret the world!

I personally didn't use themes for my classroom or my story times, but I know that some people love to! Whether you're using a theme or just throwing ideas into the mix when the mood inspires you, here are some weather related ideas for you:

Books:  If you're looking for other weather related books for preschoolers, Here's my Pinterest board on that subject!

Make Rain:  Fill a clear cup about halfway with water, top with shaving cream, and let the children use eye droppers to drop liquid water color on top of the shaving cream. Once that "cloud" gets too full, it will start to rain!

Stormy paintings:  Provide shades of gray, white and blue paint along with black, white, blue or gray construction paper.  Add foam paint or shaving cream to the paints to inspire a cloud-like effect!

Storm Dancing:  Pass our scarves and play Vivaldi's Storm!

Shadow drawing:  Take the kids outside on a sunny day and trace their shadows with sidewalk chalk.  Go out again later, have them stand at the base of the drawings, and notice how their shadows have changed position!

Sun Art:  On a sunny and not too windy day, take construction paper and a basket of small toys outside.  Spread the sheets of paper on the ground in a sunny spot, and ask the children to decorate the papers with the toys.  Leave them outside for an hour or more.  Have the children remove the toys, and see what amazing artwork the sun has made!

   

Want millions of flannel board ideas?

Check out Flannel Friday!

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.

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 :)

Five Little Sailboats

Too much time has passed since I've made lots of new sets for teacher-use in the classroom.  I've been pretty focused on my shop and sets for kids lately.  This set was uncomplicated and quick to make, which is just what I was looking for.

Click to visit my shop for lots of other goodies.  

Here's the song I sing along with it:

Five Little Boats (sung to the tune of Five Little Ducks)

Five little boats went out one day (hold up five fingers)
Over the waves and far away (make those five fingers go over waves, then hold                                                             hand to eyes as if looking far away)
With the wind (hands make a windy motion)
they began to rock (rock your body back and forth)
And one little boat went back to the dock.

I pinned this set from Storytime Katie many moons ago, and finally made my version.  

I'm hosting Flannel Friday this week! 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!

Quilts Galore

I've been meaning to get around to this cute cozy set for ages!  I found this idea on Busy Crafting Mommy.  For my set, I used clipart from Etsy  (and some fabric scraps from one of the awesome moms in my classroom!)

When we cover up the animals, sometimes I put the quilts up to their chinny chin chins...

...and sometimes I only let their ears or the tips of their tails poke out.  This leads us into a whole new guessing game :)

There are lots of similarly adorable and useful sets in my shop, by the way :) 

Here's my  altered version of the Quilts Galore rhyme:

Five Cozy Blankets

5 cozy blankets with patterns galore,

1 covered Rabbit and then there were four.

4 cozy blankets as snuggly as can be,

1 covered Raccoon and then there were three.

3 cozy blankets with dots red and blue,

1 covered Fox and then there were two.

2 cozy blankets made just for fun,

1 covered Bear and then there was one.

1 cozy blanket left out in the sun,

It covered Owl and then there were none.

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

Flannel Friday Holiday/Winter Extravaganza Roundup!

Here's this year's Winter/Holiday Extravaganza Roundup!  

We have several fabulous contributions this week--check them all out:

Kate adorns a Christmas Tree with beautiful ornaments, stars, lights and more--and includes poems, rhymes and chants to go along with each!

Mollie shares a lovely, cozy set of winter wear in the gorgeous collage method--with two songs that will work perfectly with the pieces!

Jessica's Five Little Aliens will make you snort with laughter at some of the lyrics she's included--and she even shares her pattern!

I have three to share this week:

My first ever Hanukkah set, my most recent take on Five in the Bed, and finally Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

Thanks to everyone for contributing!  Next week Kate at Felt Board Magic will be hosting the roundup.  Please also check out the Flannel Friday Blog, Facebook, and Pinterest pages, which will give you tons of information and gazillions of ideas to spruce up your story times :)

Fall is Not Easy

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!

Click here to shop:

The Flannel Friday roundup is being hosted this week by Melissa at Mel's Desk!  You'll also find other Flannel Friday goodies at Pinterest, Facebook, and the FF blog--check them out!

Felt Doll Set

Here's another set I made to sell at my upcoming vendor fair.  This is definitely one I'll also keep available for the kids to use independently.  I know lots of story telling, vocabulary building, and conversations will happen while this one is in use. 

These remind me so much of the paper dolls I used to love as a child, but they're so much easier to use.  I can't wait to bring this out, and I'm sure I'll add more clothes and accessories every now and then.

This set is available in my shop!

Mitten Match

The first place I saw this was on Storytime Katie-- I absolutely love her use of the clothesline, and intend to use one myself some day soon.  I have it, and the clothespins, so what am I waiting for??

What is is about mittens that is so appealing to children?!  They're just so darn snuggly and warm, and when they don't have to actually wear them, they're even better! (I write this having just spent most of the time on the playground this morning picking up discarded mittens as the children frolicked about happily with freezing fingers...)  That said, when they get to come put a mitten on the board to make a pair, they are so proud of themselves.  And when they see all those colors and shapes matched up and lined up, they know something is just right in their world.

Flannel Friday is being hosted this week by Anne at So Tomorrow!  You can also find more fantastic ideas at Flannel Friday's Pinterest pages, or Flannel Friday's Facebook Page --check them out!

Three Little Penguins Sliding on the Ice

These cuties are available in my shop, 

and come with the lyrics on a printed card.

One late January night I felt like using felt, but ran out of steam midway through my project...  The result is this set of 3 (not 5!) penguins and their little patch of ice.  My intention was to do Five Little Penguins, in much the same way that Emily of Literary Hoots did.  Maybe one day I'll finish off the set, but until then, I think 3 is a lovely number :)

Three little penguins, playing on the ice 

One slipped off and "Ouch! That's not nice!" 

Mama called the doctor and the doctor's advice? 

"No more penguins playing on the ice!" 

This week you'll find the Flannel Friday roundup at Catch the Possibilities and of course you'll find lots of other ideas at Flannel Friday's blog or Pinterest page.

Move Over, Rover!

This was another new story for me.  I checked it out from the library (probably after seeing it suggested on one of the blogs listed on the right), and then checked Pinterest for a flannel board version.  Of course there was one-- Here's Rachel's version, complete with patterns! 

I just noticed I forgot to put Rover's name on his doghouse...  I also noticed cat hair and random fuzz on that raccoon photo that I couldn't see until I enlarged the picture.  Age is getting my mind and my eyes!

How Do I Put it On?

One of the first books I ever used as a preschool teacher was How Do I Put it On by Shigeo Watanabe.  Sadly, it's out of print now.  I searched around and found that someone else had already made a flannel board out of this--I copied her set!  After using it for the past couple of weeks with my two-year-olds during a season when we wear jackets, I've decided that I'm going to add a coat, mittens, long pants and a sweater to the set.  The children keep telling me that he's not ready to go outside without his coat!

Let's help bear get dressed--he doesn't know how!

Uh-ho!  Somethings not quite right here...

That's better!

I've got a similarly adorable dress up bear set right here!

I'm Going to Wear a Sweater

I plan to use these as comfy cozy visuals just to go along with the following action song:

I'm Going to Wear a Sweater

(to the tune of 'For He's a Jolly Good Fellow')

I'm going to wear a sweater, 

I'm going to wear a sweater, 

I'm going to wear a sweater...

When I go out today!

I'll plop each article of clothing/outerwear up on the board, and then we can all act out putting on that particular piece of clothing as we sing about it.  Of course, we'll probably have to put the boots on our ears, or the mittens on our feet, just for a little chortle, but it will all come out right in the end :)

I used clip art as a guideline for my patterns, and fabric paint for the scarf stripes and mitten snowflakes; can't remember exactly where the song came from--probably one of the links on the right hand side of the blog.

Flannel Friday: Snowmen!

This is my first Flannel Friday post--yippee!!  Here are two snowmen flannel boards in anticipation of the coming winter... (you can see the videos of these sets in action right here or buy them right here!)

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 snow friend melts I take them away and replace them with their puddle :) 

You can pick this set up right here.

Five Little Snowmen Riding on a Sled

2021 edit:  Since discovering that The Five Little Monkeys chant has racist roots, I'm removing it and its piggy back versions from my collections.  And I'm replacing it with fun new songs like this one:

Once upon a time on a cold winter day,

Five snow friends went out to play

They had such fun on the big fast sled

Until one friend fell off and bumped her head!

 I browsed through "cute snowmen clipart" images and kind of morphed them into my own little version, which I free handed.  The sled was clip art, too and I made the wood lines using fabric paint.  Frosty and the doctor are the same basic snowman as the five littles, but I spruced them up a tad with shiny fabric paint and the obvious accessories.  I kind of have a crush on the doctor.

Oh, by the way...  If you liked this post, you'll love the free song strips you get when you sign up to be notified of new videos and shop updates:

This week's Flannel Friday is hosted by What Happens in Storytime.  You can also access Flannel Friday at Pinterest or the Flannel Friday Blog for zillions of ideas!