Hickory Dickory Dock Felt Board Set

 

Oh, I love a classic nursery rhyme!  (I think I might be an old fashioned, low-tech kind of girl.)

I had an older version of Hickory Dickory Dock, with a mouse.  And a clock.  But a one use set wasn't cutting it.  It was just a little too simple (although I do think simple is a good, good thing!)

So how to mix it up, but keep it simple, right?

Enter the mouse, the clock...and some friends!

Now, going up the clock isn't just for mice!  

Let's JUMP up the clock!  

Let's CRAWL slooowwwwly up the clock!  

Let's RUN up the clock!  

And hey--we can give clues to the kids and have them guess which animal is going next...

"I'm thinking of a tiny critter who has a shell and moves very slowly..." 

"Lets find an animal that jumps AND has a pouch for their baby..."

"This animal moves quickly, and can be a pet at your house..."

Here's a video of one way to use these friends:

Now, I also printed out a little clock, because why not have a Hickory Dickory version of the Little Mouse game?  It's always a winner, right?!

Tick tock, tick tock, the clock is hiding somewhere..

Is it beneath the green frog?  Let's check under there!

Counting Kittens

 Oh, why not?  Let's add one more way to use these adorable kittens to the circle time mix!  With numbers, this time... (You can find the KITTY bingo song here, and the Ball of Yarn game is right here!

Sometimes it's fun to count up, and sometimes its fun to count down... This time, we're starting with five, and counting down to none--how sad to see them go!

I like to sprinkle vocabulary words into my rhymes, so we're not only counting, we're building knowledge about the subject at hand.  This time it's cat knowledge :)

Five Little Kittens ©Wendy Gerbi

Five little kittens, stretching by the door, 

One pounces away, and that leaves four. 

Four little kittens, scratching on a tree, 

One pounces away, and that leaves three. 

Three little kittens, hissing at you! 

One pounces away, and that leaves two. 

Two little kittens, purring in the sun, 

One pounces away, and that leaves one. 

One little kitten, looking for some fun 

She pounces off to join her friends, and that leaves none! 

Oh, by the way--since you're here, I know you like fun circle time stuff...  

So feel free to go check out my YouTube channel for tons more ideas!

Annndddd....  Here's a video of the Five Little Kittens:

Diwali Flannel Board Fun!

I thought it would be fun to create some holiday sets for holidays that I don't personally celebrate. (I was right--it WAS fun, and wow, I learned a lot while doing research for these sets.)  I'm so happy to be able to share these, as I think it's so important to expose kids to various cultures, and to share in celebrations with the kids who DO celebrate holidays outside of my own experience :)  

I focus holiday sets on the parts of holidays that kids understand, so the concepts are about simple traditions vs. religious themes.  

I also want them to be usable both as storytime sets-- where the adult is using the set pieces as props to support a rhyme, song or story--and as play sets for the kids--where the kids are re-enacting traditions, songs, and stories that they've learned about.

So up first is Diwali.  I made up some super simple songs to go with the set--Diwali vocabulary and concepts are sprinkled within, and the tunes are familiar so everyone will have an easy time joining in.

It’s Diwali! ©Wendy Gerbi

to the tune of Frere Jacques

It’s Diwali, it’s Diwali,

The Festival of Lights, the Festival of Lights!

Light the paper lanterns, light the paper lanterns,

They shine so bright, they shine so bright!

It’s Diwali, it’s Diwali,

The Festival of Lights, the Festival of Lights!

Decorate with flowers, decorate with flowers, 

Colorful and bright, colorful and bright!

It’s Diwali, it’s Diwali,

The Festival of Lights, the Festival of Lights!

Make rangoli patterns, make rangoli patterns, 

Such a lovely sight, such a lovely sight!

It’s Diwali, it’s Diwali,

The Festival of Lights, the Festival of Lights!

Watch the pretty fireworks, watch the pretty fireworks, 

So bright at night, so bright at night!

And then there's Diwali is Here!.  You can read all about that and see the video right here.

I (of course) wanted a hide and seek/Little Mouse game for this set.  I drew a rangoli, printed it out, and laminated it:

Rangoli, rangoli, where can you be?

Are you behind the paper lantern, let's peek and see!

Happy Diwali!

KITTY Bingo Felt Board Set

 I love cats.  I've got two of them snuggled up and snoring/drooling next to me right now.  The poor things aren't spoiled at all.  But I digress.  Let's move on to felt cats, shall we?

Ah, there we go.  And as you can see, we've got a cat version of BINGO going on here.  You can see more BINGO ideas here, by the way.

I don't think there's much explanation needed here, but when you flip those letters over, you've got a cat face, which lets the kids know it's time to say "meow" instead of the letter name.  

You'll soon have a story time full of adorable meowing children, which should make everyone purrfectly happy.  (Sorry, had to.)

Oh, and look!  Here's a video just in case you need to sing along and practice a few times:

Need some cat books to go along with this set?  Here's my Pinterest board on cat books.

Apple Tree Felt Board Set

 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!  

Apple Count Up © Wendy Gerbi

No apples on this tree, growing for you and me, 

No sweet fruit for us to bite and crunch...

One flower starts to bloom, 

An apple will be here soon…

Now there is one sweet juicy fruit—yum, yum! 

After a while, we'll have five apples just waiting for us!  How will we get them down??

Apple Tree © Wendy Gerbi

Down in the orchard, way up in a tree 

Were five crisp apples looking so juicy. 

________ shook the tree as hard as they could! 

And down dropped an apple—it tasted so good! 

Here's a video of that one:

And that wiggly worm is perfect to play an apple version of Little Mouse.  Ah, apples for days :)

Happy Fall!

Halloween Big Fun!

I think I was feeling nostalgic for my carefree childhood days when I made this huge Halloween felt board set.  I loved all the commercialized, candy-filled holidays when I was a kid, LOL.  The colors of Halloween decorations--orange, purple, black and green--were always one of my favorite combinations.  Covering the windows in our house with witches and ghosts, jack-o-lanterns and cauldrons...  It was just plain FUN.

So, those were all on my mind when I made this set.  I just wanted it to be full of cute Halloween fun, and of course I wanted it to be super useful, too.  There are plenty of felt board sets that go with just one particular song or story.  I need my sets to be multi-use--two or three songs or games per set, at least!

This one fits the bill.

Play Little Broom (a Halloween version of Little Mouse)  with these cuties, hiding the adorable laminated witch's broom under the pieces. 

Little Broom, little broom, we're searching far and near!

Are you under this black cat?  Let's look under here!

Or use the pieces for a Halloween version of Brown Bear, but sprinkle in Halloween vocabulary of course!

And maybe my favorite way to play with these is to use the pieces in a Halloween version of The Enormous Turnip, with all the characters working together to get that huge pumpkin off the vine...

Happy Halloween!

More Felt Board Ghost fun!

 Yep, ghosts are perfect for BINGO variations.  But that's not all those cuties are good for.  How about a little hide and seek?  Oh, with color naming, rhyming and rhythm, and FUN thrown in for good measure.  I've got you!  Sounds like we need a candy corn and ghost version of Little Mouse, yes?  

Yes.

Here they are on video!

Candy corn, candy corn, playing hide and seek, 

are you behind the purple ghost??  Let's take a peek!

Or...

Candy corn, candy corn, I'm looking everywhere!  

Are you behind the green ghost?  Let's check under there!

Happy Halloween!

Ghost Bingo Felt Board Set

 

It's no secret that I love a good variation on BINGO.  Some of my favorites include T-R-U-C-K, 

T-R-A-I-N, and A-P-P-L-E.  You can read about them here, and here, or for a quick review:

But kids don't just love food and vehicles, you know.  They are fans of the holidays as well.  So I thought, why not give them a little not-so-spooky fun...  And if we can mix in a little early literacy without them even knowing, we'll feel super smart and sneaky, won't we.  Why yes, yes we will.  

The things I don't like about Halloween:  being scared and getting cavities.  Neither of those are involved in this cute Halloween ghost set, so here you go!

There is a spooky friend I know and ghost is his name-O.

G-H-O-S-T, G-H-O-S-T, G-H-O-S-T, and ghost is his name-O!

 

Flip over the G to reveal the “boo” on the other side.  For the next verse, replace “G” with “boo”!  Continue in this way until you’re just boo-ing away. 

 

There is a spooky friend I know, and ghost is his name-O.

Boo-H-O-S-T, Boo-H-O-S-T, Boo-H-O-S-T and GHOST is his name-O!

 

You can certainly make this is silly as you'd like, exclaiming BOO! in sppoooky, long drawn out ways, or short, surprising ways!  Quiet boos.  Loud boos.  Medium, fast, slow.  No matter what, your kids will be boo-booing, and not boo-hooing, so it's a win :)

Oh, and I can't leave out my favorite Halloween book that just goes along perfectly with these cute ghosts:

Happy Halloween!

Transportation Felt Board Fun!

 

Oh, hello vehicles!  Aren't you just the most colorful things...  

I WISH driving down the freeway was this exciting in real life! 

 But hey, that's what felt boards are for, right?

So, kids do tend to love vehicles.  Trains?  Check.  Trucks? Check.  Rockets? Oh, yep.

So let's put them all together in one big set, and have some good old transportation fun, shall we?

I made up a rhyme to go along with them.  Sprinkled transportation vocab and concepts in there.  You just pile your vehicles up in the right order before you start, and then place them on the board as you name them.  Or--pass out the pieces and have the kids bring them up as you name them.  

Oh, I like that interactive way a lot!

Look at all these Vehicles! © Wendy Gerbi

Look at these vehicles that like to go, go, go!

Car, truck, and bus, they drive to and fro.

And here come some more, way up in the sky…

Plane, ‘copter, rocket—they were made to fly.

But wait, there’s more—let’s not forget the boats!

Ship, submarine, and sailboat, they all know how to float.

And finally, our rail friends: train, subway and streetcar.

Look at all these vehicles—they take us near and far!

And you know how much I love the Little Mouse game, so this set has a laminated steering wheel so we can play that game, too!  So many colors and vehicle types to name!  So much learning through play to be done!

Steering wheel, steering wheel, playing hide and seek,

Are you behind the ___________?  Let’s take a peek!

OR

Steering wheel, steering wheel, you steer us everywhere.

Are you behind the _____? Let’s check under there!

Okay, that's probably enough transportation to digest for the day.  I'll be back with more!  I've got sorting cards and more fun ways to use this set...

Summer Reading #8: Dragon Tails

Hold on, it can't be...  Yep, it is already the eighth (and final!) 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--so I thought it would be fun to add some new songs and movement activities to the mix.

I've been adding new videos of these new songs to my YouTube channel and I've been posting them here on the blog, too.  

For my last new song, I've returned to my trusty old dragons.  They make me so happy with their cute faces and colorful wings.  They've bean soaring around in several other videos, but in keeping with the whole 'tails' theme, I decided to create one more song where we can wiggle our posteriors with abandon.  (There really isn't anything much cuter than a group of kids under the age of five wiggling their tails ;) )

So in this simple dragon song, I've decided to count up from zero to five.  So many of our songs start with five and count down--and don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with subtracting :)  But I'm all for addition, too.  

So this one has addition, color naming, rhyming, movement, pretending, direction and comparison words--just a bunch of good old early learning tucked under our dragon wings in a playful way.  Which is of course, in my opinion, the only way.

Here are the dragons:

Here's the video:

And here are the lyrics:

Dragon Tails ©Wendy Gerbi

To the tune of The Itsy Bitsy Spider 

 

No little dragons flying all around (shrug)

Along comes a blue one with a little roaring sound (roar!)

She wiggles her tail and roars a little more (wiggle and roar!)

She blows a little flame (whooo!)

Then up she soars! (flap wings!)

 

One little dragon flying all around (flap arms)

Along comes a red one with a little roaring sound (roar!)

He wiggles his tail (wiggle) and he roars a little more (roar!)

He blows a little flame (whoo!) then up he soars!

 

Continue, until… 

Five little dragons flying all around (flap arms)

They make a big ruckus with all those roaring sounds! (roar!)

They wiggle their tails and they roar a little more (wiggle and roar)

But now their wings are tired so down they soar!

And now you can make your own dragon cuties!