Five Brave Firefighers

In honor of Flannel Friday's fifth anniversary, 

I decided to share Five Little Firefighters :)  Happy Birthday Flannel Friday!! 

Oh, I cannot wait to share this one with my current Three-Morning-Three classroom!  One little fellow in particular will be SO excited.  Though we will be taking a trip to the local firehouse in May, I won't be waiting that long to share this set...

My firefighters and truck are based on a google or Etsy search, but now I can't find the exact set I used...  The original females were wearing skirts, but come on!   How impractical!  I gave them pants instead.

This set is sold out, but you can find lots of other adorable and useful sets right here!

And a rhyme to go along with these brave community helpers:

Five little firefighters standing in a row, 
1 2 3 4 5 they go. 
Jump on the engine with a SHOUT, 
As quick as a wink the fire is out. 

Four little firefighters standing in a row, 
1 2 3 4 shh they go. 
Jump on the engine with a Shout 
As quick as a wink the fire is out. 

Three little firefighters standing in a row, 
1 2 3 shh shh they go. 
Jump on the engine with a Shout 
As quick as a wink the fire is out. 

Two little firefighters standing in a row, 
1 2 shh shh shh they go. 
Jump on the engine with a Shout 
As quick as a wink the fire is out. 

One little firefighters standing in a row, 
1 shh shh shh shh she goes. 
Jump on the engine with a Shout 
As quick as a wink the fire is out.

I'll add a hose to my set for that one...  And I might paint the numbers 1-5 on their hats as well.

Here's a link to a bunch more.

Flannel Friday is being hosted by  Kathryn at Fun with Friends at Storytime this week. 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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Flannel Friday Guest Post: The Mitten Song and Little Green Peas

Here's a guest post from Dana, who has a lovely mitten set and song (to the tune of Frere Jacques).  In addition to a song card for her set, she printed and laminated a song card for each family member, so they had not excuse not to sing along!  Dana puts one of each pair on the board, hands out the matching mittens to her group, and thus begins the fun...

She's also made several pieces to accompany Keith Baker's Little Green Peas, which have proven quite useful in getting more participation from her more introverted story time participants!

Thanks for sharing, Dana!

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 Pinterest page!  And share these links with your co-librarians or co-teachers. The more we share, the better!

Flannel Friday Roundup 2/24

Woo hoo!  It's time for Flannel Friday! 

Here's this week's Roundup...

First up is Laura at One for the Books.  She shares a great Hide and Seek Mystery Box set, as well as a Wall-Sized Tretris game!!  (Hey--my favorite preschool game and my favorite 1980's study hall game!)

Mariah at ReadThemStories.com has such a fun new take on Way Up High in the Apple Tree.  I have to borrow this idea!

Star Trek fans unite, and head over to check out Keith's The Grand Old Captain Kirk.  You will not be disappointed.

But wait, there's more!  Amy at OneLittleLibrarian shares a sweet Hello Winter set and song (with a linky to the tune) that is perfect for winter--but easily adaptable to all seasons.

Jessica at StorytimeintheStacks has a collaborative Let's Build a Neighborhood set that is right up my alley (ha!)--and she includes a link to a template!!

We've also got a guest post from Karen in the Santa Clara library system.  She shared a beautiful set based on the book Jack's Garden.

And here's a second guest post, this one from Dana!  (Yay for non-bloggers getting on the Flannel Friday train!)  Dana shares Mittens and Green Peas!

Heather shares a totally adorable set of books and book worm, which can be used as a variation of Little Mouse, and also as a smart little library-themed take on Down Around the Corner.  She also shares a wonderful superhero set, with lots of rhymes and songs to go along with it!

Shawn at Read, Rhyme and Sing shares such a fun and simple Cat in the Hat set for children to use independently--and also a shot of her library's flannelboard after children have had their way with it :)

And finally, I've made a new set for one of my favorite songs, Over in the Meadow.

Thank you to everyone 

for your contributions this week! 

Need more info on Flannel Friday?  Please visit the blog, Facebook page, or Pinerest 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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Flannel Friday Guest Post: Jack's Garden

I'm thrilled to share this set from Karen, librarian extraordinaire! She made this beautiful set to go along with Jack's Garden by Henry Cole.

  This is one of several garden related boards she created for a story kit that the children's librarians pass around between buildings in her library system, Santa Clara County System.

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!

Valentine Cookies

It has been so fun watching the kids in my classroom play with my felts sets over the past year.  I love hearing them sing songs and repeat rhymes we've used during our group times. And I also love letting them just play creatively to their hearts' content.

I saw a whole lot of that creative play in December as they used my Christmas Cookies and Gingerbread sets, so I decided to make a Valentines Cookie set as well.  I think this one will be especially fun for them, as they love sorting by size and color as they play, and all these different sizes and colors of hearts lend themselves perfectly to that.  Plus:  sprinkles!

These lovelies are sold out, but I've got lots of other holiday fun for sale right here!

Set these up on a table after a storytime about cookies, love, or Valentines Day!  Here are some books and songs that go along nicely with this set...

Mouse’s First Valentine by Lauren Thompson
Plant a Kiss by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Sweethearts by Jan Carr

The Biggest Kiss by Joanna Walsh and Judi Abbot

Will You Be My Friend by Nancy Tafuri

Mr. Cookie Baker by Monica Wellington

My Heart is Like a Zoo by Michael Hall

How about a Kiss for Me? By Todd Tarpley

           

Heart

I put my hands together,

This is how I start

I curve my fingers right around,

And I can make a heart!

Down Around the Corner

Down around the corner in the bakery shop
Are five Valentine cookies with sprinkles on top
Along comes ______ with a dollar to pay
S/he buys a cookie and takes it away!
(Continue with four, three, two, and one!)

Making Cookies

I am making cookie dough.

Round and round the beaters go.

Add some flour from a cup,

Stir and stir the batter up!

Roll them, cut them, nice and neat.

Put them on a cookie sheet.

Bake them, count them, 1-2-3--

Serve them to my friends for tea!

Flannel Friday is being hosted this week by Kathryn at Fun with Friends at Storytime.  You can find lots of other great stuff at Flannel Friday's Facebook and Pinterest pages, too!

Valentines and Envelopes

More fun, creative, pretend play!  I loved the envelopes I made last year, and was inspired to make some that the children could handle themselves.  My new set is machine stitched, and they close with a little piece of velcro.  I think the kids will love pretending to mail each other their cards--I plan to put these out near our toy mailbox, which generally sees a lot of mini stuffed animals shoved inside, rather than mail :)

(These cuties are sold out, but I've got lots of other holiday fun in my shop!)

Here are some books, rhymes and songs that would be great for a Valentines, mail, or love story time:

Mouse’s First Valentine by Lauren Thompson
I Kissed the Baby by Mary Murphy

Bunny Mail by Rosemary Wells

The Jolly Postman by Allan Ahlberg

Delivering Your Mail by Ann Owen

You Know What I Love by Lorena Siminovich

The Secret by Lindsay Barrett George      

Early In the Morning
Early in the morning at eight o’clock
You can hear the postman knock
Up jumps ______ to open the door
One letter, two letters, three letters, four!

Four Pretty Valentines

Four pretty valentines for everyone to see.
___________ bought one and then there were three.
Three pretty valentines said, "I love you"
___________ bought one and then there were two.
Two pretty valentines, this was so much fun.
___________ bought one and then there was one.
One pretty valentine sitting on the shelf.
I liked it a lot! So, I bought it for myself.

Mail Myself ToYou by Woody Guthrie

I'm gonna wrap myself in paper,
I'm gonna dab myself with glue,
Stick some stamps on top of my forehead;
I'm gonna mail myself to you.

I'm a gonna tie me up in a red string,
I'm gonna tie blue ribbons too,
I'm gonna climb up in my mail box;
I'm gonna mail myself to you.

When you see me in your mail box,
Cut the string and let me out;
Wash the glue off my fingers,
Stick some bubble gum in my mouth!

Flannel Friday is being hosted this week by Kathryn at Fun with Friends at Storytime.  You can find lots of other great stuff at Flannel Friday's Facebook and Pinterest pages, too!

Mermaid

So, I don't know if or how I might use this little lady in my classroom, but I am so proud of her that I have to post a photo :)  I made this set for a friend of a friend's nursery wall, and I love the way it turned out.  The mermaid is the only new thing--I've already posted my Ocean Set (more than once!)

Here she is in all her tail-flipping glory:

I'll be off looking for some mermaid rhymes, songs or poems so that I can use her in my classroom.  If nothing else, I will add her to my classroom's Ocean Set so the kids can play with her.  If you have any suggestions for rhymes or songs, please let me know!

I've got more mermaids and ocean sets available in my shop--come visit me there!

The Enormous Turnip

I have used the printed out, laminated-card-stock version of this story for many years (here's the pattern from KizClub), and decided to make a felt copy of it last night.  I could have sworn I made the mouse, even remember cutting the dark gray felt, but couldn't find him anywhere today--so a brown laminated version is being featured in these pictures :)

This set isn't available in my shop, but lots of other goodies are.  Please visit me there!

Oh, and hey!  I've made up some stories similar to this one!  You can find videos here!

Flannel Friday is being hosted this week by Anne at So Tomorrow.  You can find lots of other great stuff at Flannel Friday's Facebook and Pinterest pages, too!

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 :)