Flannel Friday: Two Little Turkeys

Just in time for you to make some for the Thanksgiving holiday! This template and inspiration came from Frog Paper Paperie.

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I used this in an outreach Thanksgiving storytime from TWO years ago (I know, I know!) with the rhyme of “Two Little Turkeys”:

Two little turkeys sitting on a hill
One named Jack, one named Jill
Fly away Jack, fly away Jill
Come back Jack, come back Jill
(sitting on a pole/fast and slow & sitting on a cloud/quiet and loud)

Preschoolers love this rhyme and I’m thrilled to continually make new versions of finger puppets to go with it!


Nikki is hosting the round-up today! You can also check out our website, Pinterest, or Facebook!

Families: Bears

For more information on how I plan and prepare my family storytimes, check out this introduction post. I starred the materials used in the plan. Some activities go unstarred because I only do this program once a week.

The Plan

Books

bears

Bear Counts by Karma Wilson*
Bears in the Bath by Shirley Parenteau
Old Bear by Kevin Henkes
Welcome Home, Bear by Il Sung Na*

Early Literacy Tip
Imagination plays a critical role in problem solving and learning. You can nurture your child’s imagination by playing games like “Sleepy Bear”.

Theme Extension Activities

Featured CD: “The Apple Tree and the Honey Bee”*

Featured Track: #1 Dancing Bear*

Flannelboard: All Kinds of Bears*

Flannelboard: Polar Bear!*

Fingerplay & Puppets: “Two Little Bears”*
Two little bears sat on a hill, (hold up two fingers)
One named Jack and one named Jill. (wiggle each finger)
Run away, Jack; run away, Jill, (put fingers behind your back)
Come back, Jack; come back, Jill. (bring fingers back)
Credit: Childhood

Song & Puppet: “Sleepy Bear” (Tune: “Thumbkin”)*
Where is bear? Where is bear?
Here I am. Here I am.
How are you this winter?
Very tired, thank you.
Go to sleep. Go to sleep.
(Have kids shout “WAKE UP BEAR” to do the song again.)
Credit: Preschool Education Music & Songs : Animals > Winter

Repeating Extension Activities

I had lots of back-up activities in case I needed them for time. I starred which ones I used in this storytime:

  • Ants Go Marching
  • Five Little Monkeys Swinging From a Tree
  • Green Says Go
  • Head, Shoulders, Knees, & Toes
  • If You’re Happy and You Know It
  • Pat-a-Cake
  • Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear
  • *

  • Two Little Blackbirds
  • Way Up High in the Apple Tree

How It Went

Future Flannel Friday coming to show the flannelboards I made for this program!

This was a very rambunctious storytime. I had kids moving around every which way and really not wanting to sit still. I was so happy I had a bunch of puppets and flannelboards to catch their attention. Their favorite book was Welcome Home, Bear. I think the newer Bear books by Karma Wilson might work better as one-on-one reads. And “Dancing Bear” off Bari Koral Family Rock Band’s new album was an awesome song to dance to!

Puzzles!

The Plan

Books

puzzles

The Book With No Pictures by B.J. Novak
Follow the Line by Laura Ljungkvist
Hello, Red Fox by Eric Carle
Press Here by Herve Tullet

Extension Activities

Flannelboard: “I Spy”
I used several of the pieces and gave clues: “I spy with my little eye something with a tail” (kite, balloon, cat, fish could apply)…”I spy with my little eye something with a tail that flies” (kite, balloon could apply)…”I spy with my little eye something with a tail that flies that is round” (only balloon with our felt pieces). I gave as many clues as needed to guess and the kids were SUPER INTO beating each other.

Flannelboard: “Letter Puzzles”

Riddles
I just searched for easy riddles the morning of the storytime, but I should have checked out a riddle book!

How It Went

Site Information
At this location, I do two storytimes and each group has their own theme/storytime. Today’s group was the Pre-K and school age classrooms. I read to 38 people total.

Topic
This particular facility selects themes for me to do ahead of time to tie into their curriculum. This week’s topics was “Puzzling Puzzles”.

Wowsers! This was a difficult topic to choose books for and I grateful to the co-workers who helped suggested Hello, Red Fox. We have a big book version of the story and it made easier for the kids to see. I warned them that they wouldn’t always be able to have the puzzle work, but I’m happy to report that only one fidgety kid reported that it never worked. The largest success though was The Book With No Picture — they thought it was a puzzle indeed how a book could have no pictures, but their confusion rapidly turned to laughter.

Toddlers: Farm

For more information on how I plan and prepare my toddler storytimes, check out this introduction post. And for a complete list of the repeating extension activities, visit this post. I starred the materials used in the plan; multiple stars indicate use for more than one session.

The Plan

Books

farm

Clip-Clop by Nicola Smee***
I Went Walking by Sue Williams*
Peek-a-Moo by Marie Cimarusti*
Piggies in the Pumpkin Patch by Mary Peterson and Jennifer Rofe*

Early Literacy Tip
By joyfully watching other children follow directions and applauding their success, you are teaching your children an important social skill — how to appreciate other people.

Theme Extension Activities

Featured CD: Rocketship Run***

Featured Track: #20 Farm (That’s What I Did)*

Flannelboard: “Open Up the Barn Door”***
Open up the barn door, the spring goes “Boink.”
There’s a pig in the barn, saying, “Oink, oink, oink.”
Open up the barn door before the clock strikes two.
There’s a cow in the barn, saying, “Moo, moo, moo.”
Open up the barn door, it’s a sunny day.
There’s a horse in the barn, saying, “Neigh, neigh, neigh.”
Open up the barn door, singing, “Tra-la-la.”
There’s a sheep in the barn, saying, “Baa, baa, baa.”
Open up the barn door, while the sky is blue.
There’s a rooster in the barn, saying, “Cock-a-doodle-do!”
Open up the barn door and don’t get off the track.
There’s a duck in the barn, saying, “Quack, quack, quack.”
Credit: Addison Public Library

Puppet Song: “When Cows Get Up in the Morning”**
When cows get up in the morning, they always say hello
When cows get up in the morning, they always say hello
And what do they say? Mooooooo
And that is what they say.
Credit: Jbrary

Repeating Extension Activities

  • My Thumbs Are Starting to Wiggle
  • Open, Shut Them*
  • This Is Big, Big, Big***
  • Tick, Tock**
  • Wiggle Your Finger & Stomp Your Feet*

How It Went

Tuesday morning
Week two always sees us adding a few new faces as people get moved up from the waitlist. This group was probably the most affected by those changes; they stuck pretty close to their caregivers because of all the new faces. That made Clip-Clop work SO GOOD as a bounce and a book that I almost cried from joy. I used the CD recording and because the group was so tentative, no one really got up and danced. I passed on the song for the next two groups.

Thursday morning (9:30)
I forgot my puppets for “When Cows Get Up in the Morning” for the Tuesday class. I remembered them for this class! When in doubt, hide things from toddlers and slowly pull them out. It’s magic! This was also reinforced by the flannelboard this week and I know the parents really got into that activity as well.

Thursday morning (10:30)
This class was another group that really enjoyed hiding things. I decided that Peek-a-Moo would be a natural choice and we spent the better part of storytime looking for hidden objects. 😀 I have some really great, involved parents in this group and several dads which I *love* seeing in storytime!

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Flannel Friday: Five Noisy Robots

A flannelboard that never saw an actual storytime, but I made anyways since Anne of Anne’s Library Life made these robots look so cool!

I once again used Anne’s picture as my template. I did use sticky felt letters for the numbers though to save myself some trouble. Here’s her rhyme:

Flannelboard: “Five Noisy Robots”
Five noisy robots in the big toy shop,
Shiny and tall with antennae on the top.
Along came a girl with a penny one day.
Bought a noisy robot and took it away.
(continue with 4, 3, 2, 1 noisy robots)

Like I said, I planned the robots storytime and never performed it at my last library. I likely won’t do it at my current library in toddlers, but I might try it in families. We’ll see!


I’m hosting the round-up today! You can also check out our website, Pinterest, or Facebook!

Flannel Friday Round-Up 10/30

Apologies that this round-up took so long! I was in a *very* minor car accident, but spent a great deal of my weekend/week with insurance, the body shop, and switching from my loaner car back to my (repaired) car.

On to the round-up!!

Storytime Ukulele has given us a lovely and simple flannelboard of cars with a template included! Additionally, there are also ukulele chords for Woody Guthrie’s Take Me For a Ride! I love the different patterned cars here.

Jaime at Miss Jaime’s Library Journeys has a fabulous take on an ice cream cone rhyme that she found at Kathryn’s blog. Jaime used this at a Candy and Desserts storytime instead of a Halloween one and I think that’s a splendid idea.

Katie at ¡Es divertido hablar dos idiomas! is hosting a guest post from Kate Cruz, a library assistant at Washoe County Library System. Kate has a great bilingual activity where her character Duke dresses up as a cowboy as Kate teaches Spanish vocabulary. I think that Kate did an amazing job explaining how to do this flannelboard and if you didn’t scroll down to see Duke dressed up as a barber, you’re missing out on life.

And speaking of Kathryn…Kathryn left us a link to my dear friend Sarah’s FIRST Flannel Friday!! (I am so proud of you, Sarah!) Sarah at GreenBeanTeenQueen made a flannelboard adaptation of Buddy and the Bunnies by Bob Shea and it’s wonderful. Sarah is highlighting one of her state’s picture book award nominees which I’m also a big fan of!

Nikki at Hey There Library solved an outreach problem nightmare: keeping your felts with you. Who hasn’t lost a piece on their way to/from the car while doing outreach? (Just today I lost a piece coming back from outreach storytime!) Nikki has made a most ingenious pocket for the back of the flannelboard. I will be making that immediately.

And I had Five Noisy Robots this week.

Thanks friends for contributing! Thanks friend for your patience!

To learn more, you can also check out our website, Pinterest, or Facebook!

Families: Books

For more information on how I plan and prepare my family storytimes, check out this introduction post. I starred the materials used in the plan. Some activities go unstarred because I only do this program once a week.

The Plan

Books

books2

Book, Book, Book by Deborah Bruss*
Elephant’s Story by Tracey Campbell Pearson
My Book Box by Will Hillenbrand*
Where Are My Books? by Debbie Ridpath Ohi*

Early Literacy Tip
It’s important for children to have a good feeling for book-sharing time. Remember that you don’t need to finish a book in one sitting. If your child’s not in the mood, close the book and come back to it.

Theme Extension Activities

Featured CD: “The Bossy E”*

Featured Track: #5 More Books for Me*

Flannelboard: Five Little Books*

Folder Story: Alpha-Gator*

Repeating Extension Activities

I had lots of back-up activities in case I needed them for time. I starred which ones I used in this storytime:

  • Ants Go Marching
  • Five Little Monkeys Swinging From a Tree
  • Green Says Go
  • Head, Shoulders, Knees, & Toes
  • If You’re Happy and You Know It
  • Pat-a-Cake
  • Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear
  • Two Little Blackbirds
  • Way Up High in the Apple Tree
  • *

How It Went

What a great storytime! The kids REALLY enjoyed today’s music selection, so I recommend that you add THE BOSSY E to your list of storytime music. They also really loved Alpha-Gator which I got from Flannel Friday’s Nik! I pushed my group today and read three books — I probably should have skipped My Book Box since we were starting to get antsy, but they still did fine. “Five Little Books” with puppets is another sure-fire crowd pleaser!

Shake, Shimmy, & Dance: 7/20

During the summer, we’ve switched to a weekly format again! I’m packing in between 60-120 people in a room and we are DANCING ourselves silly!

shakeshimmyanddance

The Plan

hiccupotamus
Book
Hiccupotamus by Steve Smallman
All of the animals make noise to create music, but what has Hippo been doing this whole time? Lots of participation options for making noises and moving around which is perfect for opening a Shake, Shimmy, & Dance! program. The book does run a little bit longer though, so I won’t be able to use it during the school year where my age range skews more towards babies/toddlers.

Props
Shaker Eggs!

The Playlist

Hello & How Are You? — Old Town School of Folk Music
Clap Your Hands — They Might Be Giants
Dance All Day — Bari Koral Family Rock Band
Marching Medley — Ralph Covert
Fruit Salad Salsa — Laurie Berkner
Shakeable You — Imagination Movers
Milkshake — Old Town School of Folk Music
Shake Hands With Friends — Ella Jenkins

How It Went

Since we’re several weeks into summer by now, the families are very much used to the routine. I love seeing all of my regulars and I’m continually welcoming new people as well. “Fruit Salad Salsa” is a great egg shaker song and cannot say how much I appreciate Laurie Berkner’s music in this program. This summer I have been incorporating some television show music tie-ins (Fresh Beat Band, Imagination Movers) and those has been great successes since the families recognize the musicians.

(For an example of the Powerpoint and handouts that I made for each Shake, Shimmy please visit the original post.)

Toddlers: My Day

For more information on how I plan and prepare my toddler storytimes, check out this introduction post. And for a complete list of the repeating extension activities, visit this post. I starred the materials used in the plan; multiple stars indicate use for more than one session.

The Plan

Books

toddlers-myday

Goodbye, Hello! by Shen Roddie
If You’re Happy and You Know It by Jane Cabrera**
Lulu’s Busy Day by Caroline Uff*
Say Hello! by Linda Davick***

Early Literacy Tip
Library programs like this can be considered a child’s first class. Encouraging personal interactions with a group leader help children develop a positive attitude toward learning.

Theme Extension Activities

Featured CD: Songs for Wiggleworms***

Featured Track: #18 Milkshake**

Flannelboard: “Dog’s Colorful Day”*

Flannelboard: “Ten Little Babies”**

Repeating Extension Activities

  • Elevator Song**
  • Everyone Can March*
  • This Is Big, Big, Big**
  • Thumbkin*
  • Wiggle Your Finger & Stomp Your Feet**

How It Went

Tuesday morning
This was an older group with nine returning toddlers from previous sessions. “Everyone Can March” was their very favorite thing that we did today. Our parents had great participation and were able to keep the toddlers grouped together on the rug. They were also great models for what to do. I managed a tricky toddler who didn’t want to listen to mom, but was happy to follow my directions. I also made new friends today — one who gave me a hug on the way out!

Thursday morning (9:30)
This is my smallest toddler group (only 18 out of 20 registered) and is also my youngest group. They were pretty hesitant about me at the beginning, but many of them came around by the end of the thirty minutes. I did “Milkshake” with this group in particular to start working on giving/taking since I do it a lot in toddler time. Lots and lots of laughter during the “Or with a giggle” line in SAY HELLO.

Thursday morning (10:30)
This was my rowdiest group and biggest since I let a few extra kids slip in. This was the group that loved singing. So we did “Elevator Song”, “Thumbkin”, the Song Cube, and read IF YOU’RE HAPPY AND YOU KNOW IT. They also were the best group at singing along to “Ten Little Babies” with me!

Flannel Friday: A Blanket for the Princess

A flannelboard that I got from Mary of Miss Mary Liberry!

I used Mary’s template and added lots of color to the blanket. I decided not do any stitching though and just went the puffy paint road. I used the King & Queen from the Manhattan Toy “A Day at the Castle” set (still available!) and used Cinderella from the Manhattan Toy “Cinderella” set (no longer available) as my puppets.

manhattantoyblanketfortheprincess

I told this story in Blankets/Teddy Bears family storytime and it went over fairly well. I think it was over some of the kids’ heads, so I might reserve it for preschool use only from now on.


Kathryn is hosting the round-up today! You can also check out our website, Pinterest, or Facebook!