The Three Little Pigs

Okay, it's time for a good old fashioned felt board story.  Not a rhyme.  Not a song.  Not a game.  A story!  And for that, simple is best:

I decided not to go for many details on the houses.  No fabric paint at all!  I didn't want to have any pieces other than the main characters and their humble abodes.  Easy peasy.  My only problem is that my wolf is not a baddy--he borders on cuter than the piggies! 

When we tell stories in my classroom, we usually start out by telling it pretty much "by the book".  Once the children become familiar with it, we retell it and mix it up a little.  Sometimes we ask the children to name the characters...  Sometimes we change the story line a little--maybe one of the pigs has a broken arm like one of the kids in the class, and needs help from his brother-- or bring a character from another story into the mix. Goldilocks has made an appearance in this story, for example.  She was just passing through the woods...  We might change the ending depending on the mood of the kids (or teachers).  There are lots of ways to use these simple pieces to encourage imagination, build vocabulary, and just generally have fun and inspire a love of reading!

Or click below to get the pattern for these cuties!

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

Five Little Monkeys

Editing:  It's come to my attention that The Five Little Monkeys has racist roots.  For this reason, I no longer use, recommend, or sell this set in my shop.  Here's some more information.

After I made this, I realized I already have another very similar set (which I've never used!)  These monkeys are  a bit smaller, and numbered...  We are working on having more print numbers available for the children that represent quantity, so this will be a set that the teachers and children both have access to.

I based my cute little creatures on a Precious Patterns pattern.  And though my bed looks a whole lot like the one in my other set, this one is actually from a clipart search.  And my doctor's stethoscope is directly copied from my snowman doctor's...

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

Five in the Bed

I haven't had enough time to make my own bed in the morning lately, but in the past week I've made two felt beds!  I love this one and the bears that go with it (both found through clip art searches).  And Five in the Bed is one rhyme that I use every single year, probably every single month at least once...  You can't go wrong with it :)  Five Little Teddy Bears by Susan Pflug (1998) is also adorable.

Five Little Teddy Bears (1998 Susan Pflug) 

Five little teddy bears sleeping in the bed,

Three at the foot and two at the head.

One little teddy said, “This bed is too full,”

So he grabbed the blanket and started to pull!

He pulled and he pulled and he pulled some more,

Until one little teddy went BOOM to the floor!

(Make pulling motions, and clap on BOOM)

(Count down until there's just...)

One little teddy bear sleeping in the bed,

Zero at the foot and one at the head.

This little teddy said, “This is not right!

I don’t want to sleep alone tonight!”

So…

One little teddy bear sleeping in the bed,

Zero at the foot and one at the head.

This teddy said, “This bed is not full!”

So he put out his paw and started to pull.

He pulled and he pulled and he pulled some more,

Until four little teddies climbed up from the floor!

Now...

Five little teddy bears sleeping in the bed,

None at the foot and five at the head.

One little teddy said, “This is JUST right!”

So five little teddy bears said, “Good Night!”

Five in the Bed

There were five in the bed and the little one said, “I’m crowded, roll over.”
So they all rolled over and one fell out...

Wheee….Boom!

(count down until…)
There was one in the bed and the little one said, “I’m lonely, come back now!”

So they all came back and they snuggled in tight,

There was not a sound and they said “Good night!  Sleep tight! Don’t let the bed bugs bite!”

This set is for sale in my shop!  I hope you'll visit me there...

Flannel Friday is being hosted this week by me!  You'll find the Roundup here.  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 :)

Hanukkah Set

We don't really read a lot of Hanukkah or Christmas books in my classroom.  Most of the books I've found that focus on those topics aren't really great in terms of quality literature.  However, we do sing several Hanukkah songs, play with dreidels, and make latkes.  We do similar Christmassy stuff, and I have a few Christmas sets for the children to play with.  But as far as Hanukkah goes, we had nothing in felt.  

So, now we do:

This set could be used on a felt table for individual use after a Hanukkah story time.  

It could also be used just to help aid in having a conversation about Hanukkah.  

You could pass out candles and flames and have the children come up and "light" the candles!  

They can come up and put a latke in the frying pan to cook!

They can frost the sufganyot, and put the cherries on top!  

You can talk about the symbols on the dreidels, pass them out, and see if they can remember what their symbol means (bring me your dreidel if you have the symbol that means "take all").

This set is for sale.  Come visit my shop!.

Flannel Friday is being hosted this week by me!  You'll find the Roundup here.  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 :)

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Ah, a good old fashioned flannel board story...  Goldilocks!

I love Byron Barton's version of this one, and was inspired by the simplicity in his illustrations. The bears and their "stuff" are color coordinated, so this can work as a matching set as well as a story-telling set.

You can buy this set right here.

Or if you're feeling crafty, click here for the pattern :)

Just as with my Three Piggies set, I start off by telling this story as originally intended.  Later, as the children are more familiar with the characters and story line, I might change things up a bit.  I also leave the pieces out for the children so  they can use their own imagination and story-telling abilities!

Click below to see a video of Goldi and the bears in action:

Flannel Friday is being hosted this week by me!  You'll find the Roundup here.

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 :)

Thanks A Lot

Here's another one I made a year ago and never posted.  I actually haven't used this yet, other than to bring the pieces out to show the kids.  I need to download the Thanks A Lot song to go along with it, which I plan to do this weekend just in time to use it next week before Thanksgiving...

Anyway, pattern/idea/excellence is courtesy of Mel's Desk!

Flannel Friday is being hosted this week by Keith at Felt-tastic Flannelboard Funtime.  You can also find lots of information and ideas at the FF Blog, Facbook, or Pinterest pages!

Clip Art Mish Mosh

Sometimes there is just no time to get anything done. Cutting felt just takes a back seat.  Or in my case, cutting felt for the classroom takes a back seat while cutting felt for a craft show takes over every other inch of my life :) Luckily I love it!

Anyway, before I discovered the joys of felt, I made a lot of flannel board sets using clip art.  This is a great way to do it if you're short on time, lack cutting or artistic skills, or just aren't inclined to make felt board sets out of felt!  My suggestions:  print your pieces out on card stock, laminate them, and attach a piece of sticky velcro to the back.  (You can buy a huge roll of it at Discount School Supply.)  My flannel boards are covered in Veltex, which loves velcro and felt equally.  

Here are several examples of old sets from my room.  

Little Dinosaur (a variation on Little Mouse)

The Insects Outside

 Hey Diddle Diddle

Three Little Fishies/ Boop Boop Ditty

Flannel Friday is being hosted this week by Keith at Felt-tastic Flannelboard Funtime.  You can also find lots of information and ideas at the FF Blog, Facbook, or Pinterest pages!

Nervous Turkeys

I made this set a year or so ago, but didn't post it since it was such a total copy cat...  However, I'm busy with preparing for an upcoming fair, so I haven't been making any new sets for the classroom.  So, here's to posting old stuff!

Here's my version of Five Nervous Turkeys (which I just love, by the way!)  I ripped it off of this genius version, and did just what he said to do in the comments section--printed out the images as a template for my pattern.

Flannel Friday is being hosted this week by Keith at Felt-tastic Flannelboard Funtime.  You can also find lots of information and ideas at the FF Blog, Facbook, or Pinterest pages!

And hey!  Come on over and visit my shop for lots of felt goodness!

Little Snail

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 used the baby snail from my Animal Pairs set.  

You can do this rhyme using colors, shapes, and real leaf names:

Little snail, little snail, playing hide and seek

Are you under the __________ leaf?

Let's take a peek!

Here are more Little Mouse variations.

PS:  Stick a little velcro dot to the back of the leaves to make them stick to the board.  Or a little loop of tape will work, too...

My shop has a TON of other hide and seek felt sets!

Flannel Friday is being hosted this week by Mollie at What Happens in Storytime.

Find all kinds of info at Flannel Friday's Blog, Facebook, or Pinterest!