Making a Flannelboard: “Seals on the Bus”

So, I made the “Seals on the Bus” flannelboard from Making Learning Fun and tried to photo-document my process so that I could theoretically teach others how to make the same flannelboard.

Obviously, an image intense entry, sorry slow browsers!

The “Seals” template had great instructions for the bus template, so I seriously just followed their directions.

I made two wheels, six windows, and cut a large piece of felt for the bus. (The pattern said to extend the middle of the bus 18″, but that was much too large for my flannelboard, so I only extended the bus 8″.) In the picture you can still see that the bus template is taped onto the yellow felt, which is how I know where to cut without marking the felt.

Next up, the characters:

What I did here was separate the characters into different levels of details. For the left group (snake, monkey, seal, and goose), I have a base layer and maybe one or two details. For the right group (bunny, sheep, skunk), there will be a lot of layering/detailing. And for the top group (tiger, girl, boy), there will again be a lot of layering/detailing, but a different kind. I’ll try to break down each group and my thoughts as I go.

For me, the easiest way to make a flannelboard character is to literally copy the template. I follow the following steps:

1. Print out the template and cut it out.
2. Tape the template to the felt.
3. Cut out the main piece.
4. Cut out the details from the template; largest to smallest!
5. Tape the detail templates to the felt and cut.
6. Glue layers/decorations.
7. Add eyes and paint.

So, for the seal, I just cut out the main piece first. Then, I cut out his flipper, and taped that to a felt scrap to make a felt flipper. To put together the seal, I put the template (with the flipper missing) on top of the felt seal, added a drop of Tacky Glue and placed the felt flipper where it belonged. Pretty simple!

And for the monkey, I cut out a large body piece using the whole template. Then, I cut off his head and cut a head out of brown felt. Then, I cut the template again and got a peach colored snout for the monkey. Finally, I cut off his tail and made a longer felt tail to attach to the back of the piece for some dimension.

Always start cutting out the biggest piece first and trim your template down from there. Don’t make the smallest pieces first, or you’ll wind up printing out multiple templates.

Now, for the second grouping, I’m going to use the bunny as my example.

Okay, so this picture gives you an idea on how I actually make the different pieces. Sometimes I use tape on the back of a template to adhere the template to the felt. Sometimes, I use a piece of tape over the template directly on the felt.

It also shows how I have a main piece that I add layers to. The front layers (the closer foot and arm) will be glued on top of the bunny while the back layers (the farther foot and arm) will be glued to the back of the bunny. If you’re gluing to the back of a piece, always make sure to leave some extra felt attached to the shape so that you can glue it without gluing anything together by the edges. (You can see in the picture the back arm has an extra bit of brown felt sticking past the template for gluing!)

For the third grouping, the people — start with the base/skin color and cut the whole template out. (Orange for tiger, peach for people.) Then, simply add the clothing in layers and trim the base/skin color so that it doesn’t show around the clothing. I didn’t take pictures of this because a) I was on the desk after-school while making this and b) it’s pretty straightforward.

But a finished product photo of all three: tiger, girl, boy:

Now, for painting and wiggly eye gluing.

So, painting. I just use a smidge of tempura paint. And yes, that IS a paper clip in the paint! It is way easier than using a brush (which is hard to control for small, concentrated areas like eyes) and I kind of hook my finger into the curve of the paper clip which helps me keep a steady hand.

A giant felt painting tip — don’t drag anything across the felt! You will actually pick up felt fibers which can and will smear your paint job. When I paint, I just get a little of the tip of paper clip and poke the felt. (So, for an eye one poke will do, but for the tiger’s stripes, I had to poke it several times to get the shape I wanted.)

Painting is the most stressful part for me, and I have had to remake a piece because I dribbled paint where I didn’t want it. (On the other hand, I’m a perfectionist and maybe the paint dribble wouldn’t have bothered you!)

Lastly, I attached wiggly eyes to some of the pieces. (Always for human characters, and occasionally for animal characters — the like the skunk, which I couldn’t paint black eyes on a black body.)


(I’d be wary too, little girl, with a skunk so close!)

Anyway, I hope this long and drawn-out post has given you some insight/ideas on how to make your own flannelboards. If you have questions, you can always feel free to leave a comment and I’ll do my best to try and find an answer/give advice!

I leave you with a final look at the newest flannelboard at my library:

November 19, 2010 30 Comments Short URLHow To

Fall! (Again.)

Last week, I had my first ever afternoon storytime! After some of my storytime kids started preschool during morning storytime, I scheduled a once monthly afternoon storytime for them. This worked really well, and I have a waitlist going for registration slots! Luckily, the weather cooperated with me and warmed up so that our fall theme was still appropriate!

I started off with “Mouse’s First Fall” by Lauren Thompson.

The kids were very excited towards the end of the book, where the reader is asked to help Mouse find his friend, Minka. (She’s hiding in the leaves.) I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again — I really like using the Mouse books as a primer about seasons for storytime. The titles are bright, colorful, and with familiar characters (yes, some of the kids have started recognizing Mouse!).

Next up, “It’s Pumpkin Time!” by Zoe Hall.

This one almost didn’t make the cut when I realized that the book ended with Halloween (which is obviously over with, Ms. Katie!), but I read it anyways and it gave the kids a chance to share who/what they dressed up as. And we had a LOT of Disney princesses and Spidermans — not that that surprised me, haha!

Modified my favorite fall flannelboard by changing “Halloween” to “fall.”

Flannelboard: “Five Little Pumpkins”
Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate
The first one said, “My, it’s getting late.”
The second one said, “There are witches in the air.”
The third one said, “I don’t care!”
The fourth one said, “Let’s run and run and run.”
The fifth one said, “It’s all fall fun!”
Then oooooh went the wind, and out went the lights!
And the five little pumpkins rolled clear out of sight.

And then, I went with an action rhyme from earlier this season:

Action Rhyme: “Pumpkin, Pumpkin”
Pumpkin, pumpkin on the ground, (touch the ground)
How’d you get so big and round? (make a big circle)
Once you were a seed so small, (pinch fingers together)
Now you are a great big ball! (make a big circle)
Pumpkin, pumpkin on the ground, (touch the ground)
How’d you get so big and round? (make a big circle)

And then, I read “Who Loves the Fall?” by Bob Raczka.

Ack, another book that mentions Halloween. Fortunately for this one, we had already talked about what they had dressed up as, so we didn’t need to mention it again. Again, the butterfly vertical spread was a favorite. The kids were sitting so still for this one, that I just went ahead with “Leaf Jumpers” by Carole Gerber.

This book is so much fun to read, and the kids love hearing about jumping in leaf piles. After the second kid mentioned that he had jumped in the leaves recently, I asked for a show of hands of those that had to avoid another seventeen stories. All of their hands were raised. And they were rambunctious after this book, so I quietly sang to them the following, while they used their hands to make some falling motions:

Song: “The Leaves Are Falling Down” (Tune: “Farmer in the Dell”)
The leaves are falling down
The leaves are falling down
Red, yellow, green, and brown
The leaves are falling down

Followed by another activity:

Fingerplay: “Way Up High in the Apple Tree”
Way up high in the apple tree (stretch arms up high)
Two red apples smiled at me (hold up two fingers)
I shook that tree as hard as I could (make a shaking motion)
Down came the apples… (make a downward motion)
And mmm, they were good! (smile and rub stomach)

Before reading my favorite seasons book of all time: “Old Bear” by Kevin Henkes.

Rather than emphatically stating my love with this book — I will just say that I recently purchased the ALA “Old Bear” poster for my office, and that it makes me happy every time I look at it.

Our craft was another one that I stole from Sarah that she made last fall, leaf wreaths!

My teen volunteers cut the paper plates, tied the ribbon, and cut out the leaves — all my storytime kids did was the leaf gluing, and I swear, they would glue all day long if I asked them to. I think it might be the purple glue we use. It makes everything much better.

November 17, 2010 4 Comments Short URL, Family Storytime

Storytime Break

I am currently on a storytime break until December! I do have two 3-7 year-olds programs this month, so you’ll see those posts after I do the programs. Also, I’m working on backdating my storytimes from before I started the blog, and also better organizing my songs, rhymes, and flannelboards.

I also have a planned post all about the fall flannelboards I made and didn’t make any posts about (since that’s what I’m getting the most search hits for), and also a step-by-step look at how I go about making my flannelboards.

But while I’m not posting…I’ll leave you with a picture of my brand-new storytime closet. When our library flooded over the summer, we had to re-do our entire programming area, and it was decided that we needed a closet just for storytime. And with our Target Early Literacy Grant, we were also able to purchase materials to fill it up. I am so excited about it!

And of our new steel bookcase, with our storytime collection of books:

November 12, 2010 1 Comment Short URLAnnouncements

Halloween Storytime!

My co-worker and I visited one of the local preschools [ages 3-5] on the 28th and 29th and each did three Halloween storytimes! Together, we found books, a flannel, a puppet, and some action rhymes/songs and went out to do our thing!

For each of my three storytimes, I started off with “Where’s My Mummy?” by Carolyn Crimi.

This was universally a great way to start off storytime. A longer story, but with its repetitive nature, the kids were easily engaged in what I was reading. And I apparently have a pretty good Drac voice, which the kids LOVED.

Next up, “Pumpkin Eye” by Denise Fleming.

My first group didn’t dig this one, but my next two groups did! They had a great time guessing why all these spooky creatures were on the street, and I was very pleased that it took us until the end of the book to hear the first few choruses of “It’s Halloween, Miss Katie!”

An easy segue from pumpkin book to pumpkin flannelboard.

“Five Little Pumpkins”
Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate
The first one said, “My, it’s getting late.”
The second one said, “There are witches in the air.”
The third one said, “I don’t care!”
The fourth one said, “Let’s run and run and run.”
The fifth one said, “It’s all Halloween fun!”
Then oooooh went the wind, and out went the lights!
And the five little pumpkins rolled clear out of sight.

And then, into an action rhyme!

“Pumpkin, Pumpkin”
Pumpkin, pumpkin, big and round, (Make big circle with hands)
Sitting on the cold, hard ground. (Touch the ground)
Soon I’ll pick you off the vine, (Pretend to pick a pumpkin)
Give you a name, and make you mine (Hug pumpkin tightly)
Carve a face for all to see, (Point to face)
Add a candle for Halloween glee! (Clap your hands)

And I absolutely mixed this “Pumpkin, Pumpkin” up with the one that I did for Fall Storytime in my second group. Luckily, no one cared. (And then never notice, so yay!)

Our planned book of “Mouse’s First Halloween” by Lauren Thompson was a no-go because the kids apparently knew the book by heart, as my co-worker found out. So, I grabbed “Plumply, Dumply Pumpkin” by Mary Serfozo off the reshelf cart on my way to storytime.

This was a great choice — I really enjoyed this one, and the kids really enjoyed guessing why Peter was getting a pumpkin! I followed this winner up with a song:

Song & Puppet: “Flutter, Flutter Little Bat”
Flutter, flutter little bat
How I wonder where you’re at
Up above the midnight sky
Peeking down with yellow eyes
Flutter, flutter little bat
How I wonder where you’re at

I’m not sure where my co-worker got this one, but it was obviously written by someone in the Midwest, given the preposition at the end! Recently, we just purchased tons of puppets using our Target Early Literacy Reading grant, and we got the Folkmanis bat finger puppet. It’s such a great puppet — I am in LOVE with it!

Finally, the book to end all storytimes forever more: “If You’re a Monster and You Know It” by Ed & Rebecca Emberley.

Yep, I again sang, action rhymed, and told this book. The kids could not get enough of it! Truly, this is probably my favorite new book of the year. A quick action rhyme before saying goodbye, to hopefully settle them down for their teachers!

Action Rhyme: “Monster, Monster”
Monster, monster, turn around
Monster, monster, touch the ground
Monster, monster, reach up high
Monster, monster, touch the sky
Monster, monster, touch your nose
Monster, monster, grab your toes
Monster, monster, touch your knees
Monster, monster, sit down please

Followed by the return of Batty, to let everyone give a kiss or a pat before I left.

Well, these storytimes were energetic and fun and scary for me! My first outreach storytimes! Well, they didn’t scar me too bad, I’ve already emailed the preschool asking when we can be back.

November 10, 2010 25 Comments Short URLOutreach Storytime

Monsters!

Rather than go with a Halloween theme (which I love, but wasn’t sure all of my parents would be on board), I went with a simple monsters theme. Also, any chance at all that you can give kids to roar around equals a great time.

First up, “If You’re a Monster and You Know It” by Ed and Rebecca Emberley.

This book is an amazing plethora of crazy excitement. I was a very brave storytime lady and sang the book, and let the kids do the actions as we went. There was a ridiculous amount of paw stomping, claw smacking, snorting, growling, and roaring — the kids loved this book!

But my favorite part was when one of my little boys jumped up to interrupt the story and asked, “Hey! Are we going to do the head, shoulders, knees, and toes thing today?” I nodded and continued with the story. He, however, fist-pumped into the air and shouted, “YES!”

Sometimes the interruptions are worth it.

Continuing on, I did our flannelboard: “Go Away Big Green Monster.”

This is a super simple flannelboard version of the book by Ed Emberley. And I have to say — the book works really well as a flannel! The kids were delighted when I taught them how to say, “GO AWAY” to the big green monster. My little boys especially like getting to holler in storytime.

And I moved our “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” up to the top of the list, because it was requested!

And then the kids were still wiggly, so I went ahead and did another action rhyme:

“Monsters Galore”
Monsters galore, can you roar? (Roar.)
Monsters galore, can you soar? (Flying motions.)
Monsters galore, please shut the door. (Clap.)
Monsters galore, fall on the floor! (Sit/fall down.)

Credit: SurLaLune Storytime

Finally, another book — “Monster Hug” by David Ezra Stein was next.

This is a super simple, short text book about two monster best friends. This one was a big hit with my parents, actually. Almost all of my moms awwed at the end of the story and gave their kids hugs. It was super sweet to see!

But enough sweetness, this is monster storytime! So, the kids got up to do the “Monster Stomp.”

Action Rhyme: “Monster Stomp”
If you want to be a monster, now’s your chance.
‘Cause everybody’s doing the monster dance.
You just stamp your feet, wave your arms around. (Stomp, wave arms.)
Stretch ‘em up, stretch ‘em up, (Stretch up arms.)
Then put them on the ground. (Put hands on the floor.)
‘Cause you’re doing the monster stomp. (Stomp feet.)
That’s right! You’re doing the monster stomp. (Stomp feet.)

Credit: SurLaLune Storytime

Followed by one of my favorite bedtime books ever, “Go to Bed, Monster” by Natasha Wing.

A book all about a child trying to get a monster to go to bed! This was a great choice for storytime — any book that makes children sympathize with their parents is funny to see. We finished up with a song:

“Ten Little Monsters” (Tune: “Ten Little Indians”)
One little, two little, three little monsters
Four little, five little, six little monsters
Seven little, eight little, nine little monsters
Ten monsters roaring at me!

Credit: SurLaLune Storytime

And…the best monster storytime book ever, “Leonardo the Terrible Monster” by Mo Willems.

(Why yes, I do have Sam’s speech memorized.) I love this book (and author) so very much, it was such a pleasure to get to read it in storytime!

And for the craft, I borrowed one from Sarah — her monster mask craft. My teen volunteers cut out the masks, eyes, and used some scrapbooking punches to cut out the circles. They had a great time gluing away!

October 29, 2010 10 Comments Short URL, Family Storytime

Opposites!

Yep, I went ahead and tried a pretty difficult topic this week — opposites! But were my kids up for the challenge? Read on…

I started off storytime with defining opposites as two things that are exactly different from one another. I used the example of “big” and “little,” having the kids reach really far to the sides for big and very close together for little. We did this several times throughout storytime. Our first book was “Octopus Opposites” by Stella Blackstone and Stephanie Bauer.

I use a LOT of Blackstone’s titles in my storytimes. The simplicity of this book is that it uses animals to explain opposites in a bright colorful way. We did have a bit more fun identifying animals than opposites…but this was an excellent way to start off storytime. Next, I read “Big, Bigger, Biggest” by Nancy Coffelt.

It was my goal to get them to understand the difference between big and little by the end of the program, so this book was a great choice. I’m not sure how well the kids comprehended a lot of the larger words, but they did get big, bigger, biggest! I think the next time I use this book in storytime for my little guys, I might skip the bigger words.

I found this great action rhyme on Mel’s Desk and the kids LOVED it. We did it three times in a row!

Action Rhyme: “This Is Big”
This is big, big, big (stretch hands far to sides)
This is small, small, small (cup hands together)
This is short, short, short (hold palms close vertically)
This is tall, tall, tall (hold palms far apart vertically)
This is fast, fast, fast (roll hands quickly)
This is slow, slow, slow (roll hands slowly)
This is yes, yes, yes (nod head)
This is no, no, no (shake head)

And then a “little” to go with our “big!”

Fingerplay: “Little Turtle”
There was a little turtle (put hands on top of one another)
He lived in a box (make box)
He swam in a puddle (swimming motion)
He climbed on the rocks (climbing motion)
He snapped at a mosquito (clap)
He snapped at a flea (clap)
He snapped at a minnow (clap)
And he snapped at me (clap)
He caught the mosquito (cup hands together)
He caught the flea (cup hands together)
He caught the minnow (cup hands together)
But he didn’t catch me! (shake finger “no”)

Next, I read a very short book: “A Garden of Opposites” by Nancy Davis.

This book is a great lapsit to read, particularly at the end where there is an opportunity to review the opposite pairs that readers have learned. It worked well in storytime though because it’s eye-catching and quick! And I definitely had wigglers this week, so I switched it up with the flannelboard next.

Flannelboard: “Big, Bigger, Biggest”
A little ball, a bigger ball, and a great big ball I see
Now help me count them, one, two, three!
Credit: Debmonn PB Wiki

I just made three simple balls — a tennis ball, a beach ball, and a soccer ball out of felt and put them up. We also did this rhyme a couple of times, to the delight of the kids. Next, we practiced our “Heads, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” — which I am pleased to report that most of my kids have down now. They aren’t singing with me yet, but we’ve got the motions down pat.

The last book for this week was “Where is the Green Sheep?” by Mem Fox.

This was a HUGE success. This book is so engaging and clearly shows opposites in the different sheep. And while I know the kids were hearing the opposites, they were also looking for green sheep. Luckily, they found green sheep at the end of the book, fast asleep.

I ended storytime by using egg shakers and doing “Opposites Hokey Pokey” with the kids. (You shake your egg up/down; left/right; etc.)

Our craft: Opposite Books!

I got the idea for this craft from Bright Hub and I got to work immediately making a template. My teen volunteers cut out words, pictures, the book, and assembled the whole project. All my storytime kids did was color the pictures in!

October 23, 2010 8 Comments Short URL, Family Storytime

Shake Your Sillies Out

In addition to my storytime duties, I also try to have a once in a while special program for ages 3-7. Last week at the library, we shook our sillies out.

(Really, this program was a big excuse to use my new storytime aides that we purchased after receiving a Target Early Literacy grant this summer. And believe me, the kids LOVED the new items — especially after I told them that they were the first kids to get to use them!)

I kicked off the program with “Dancing Feet” by Lindsay Craig; illustrated by Marc Brown.

The kids tapped and stomped their feet along to this animal guessing story. The book has got great rhythm and my kids love when they get to guess which animal is coming next. The book will definitely be used again and again at my storytimes.

Next up, I read “I Know a Shy Fellow Who Swallowed a Cello” by Barbara S. Garriel.

This book is based on the “I Know an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly” song, so my kids figured it out pretty quickly. It was fun hearing them try to recite the story along with me as I went, but the kids did get tripped up on some of the instruments. I can see this working as a great introduction to different instruments in a music class.

And that was it for the stories at this program. The rest of the program was shaking! First up, I passed out egg shakers to do the hokey pokey:

“Hokey Pokey” (with egg shakers)
You shake your egg up, you shake your egg down
You shake your egg up, and you shake it all around
You do the hokey pokey, and you turn yourself around
That’s what it’s all about!
(more verses can include: left/right, front/back, etc.)
Credit: Bay Views Storytime Ideas

Followed by a rendition of “Shake Your Sillies Out.”

“Shake Your Sillies Out” (with shakers)
Gotta shake, shake, shake my sillies out
Shake, shake, shake my sillies out
Shake, shake, shake my sillies out
And wiggle my waggles away
(more verses can include: clap my crazies out, jump my jiggles out,
stretch my stretchies out, yawn my sleepies out)
Credit: Raffi

I forgot the tune of this one as I started to sing, so I made it up and went with it. Most of the time, I try to sing this to “Skip to My Lou,” but I know there’s a proper tune out there!

Then, we traded our shakers for our activity scarves. I was done singing for a bit, so I put in a CD of “Let’s Go Fly a Kite” and “If You’re Happy and You Know It” for the kids to move their scarves around to. Our version of “Let’s Go Fly a Kite” has instructions on it to use with scarves.

Then, we put away our scarves and got out our parachute. Our is a small one — I think it’s a 20′ one — but it’s perfect for our space. I started off by throwing six soft balls on the parachute and just letting the kids shake the parachute until the balls fell off. We call this game “Bouncy Balls” and it is a crowd-pleaser! Everyone shrieks and laughs while we do this and I’m pretty sure that they could play this all day if I left them.

Next, we tried a brand-new parachute game with one of my favorite baby bouncy rhymes:

“The Noble Duke of York”
The noble duke of York (shake parachute)
He had ten thousand men (shake parachute)
He marched them up to the top of the hill (parachute up)
And marched them down again (parachute down)
He marched them to the left (walk to the left)
He marched them to the left (walk to the left)
He marched them to the right (walk to the right)
He marched them to the right (walk to the right)
And then he marched them up (parachute up)
And then he marched them down again (parachute down)
Oh, what a silly sight! (shake again)
Credit: Preschool Education – Parachute Games

Another big hit here. The kids did this one three times in a row before I went to the center of the parachute and told everyone to let go. (It makes bunching up the chute into a game, and it also goes much easier than trying to get preschoolers to fold it up.)

Our craft was just a simple paper plate shaker.

My teens pre-stapled the plates, leaving just the smallest gap for dumping beans into. We had a table just for beans, and there was a giant mess on the floor. While the kids were attaching the streamers (pre-cut) with Glue Dots, I brought out the carpet sweeper to pick up the beans — every kid INSISTED on having a turn with the sweeper to pick up the beans. After the beans were picked up, I had to put more on the floor so that everyone could have a turn.

The kids are always surprising me. A task that I absolutely hate, but find necessary, they are amazed with.

October 20, 2010 3 Comments Short URL, Special Programming

Farm Storytime!

I had a daycare class of three-year-olds and four-year-olds request a special storytime all about the farm. Their daycare is taking them on a field trip to a farm next week and the kids were PUMPED to hear farm stories today!

(I was also pumped because I think farm storytimes are my favorite storytimes. Also, because I was reading four brand-new-to-me books that I ordered from different libraries in our library system. And I definitely have some new favorites to be purchased for our storytime collection.)

(And! I really made a conscientious effort today to work on transitions between books and to really introduce each title by pointing to the words.)

I started off with “Cock-a-Doodle Quack! Quack!” by Ivor Baddiel & Sophie Jubb.

This was a case where I really feel like I found an absolute perfect book for me to read. While the text is naturally funny (the story is about a baby rooster trying to figure out what to say to wake the other animals up in the morning), I also found myself raising my eyebrows and shrugging — and the kids fell into giggles after every page. But not the kind of off-topic giggles that can occur; actual responding to the story giggles!

Then I asked the group about their favorite farm animals which led into “Well, Miss Katie’s favorite farm animal is a pig…and look, she’s got a story about piggies RIGHT HERE.”

I read “Piggies in the Pumpkin Patch” by Mary Peterson & Jennifer Rofe.

Short and sweet, this book went by quick! The kids loved it though and asked for the book to be read again. As much as I wanted to oblige, their teacher stepped in for me and told the kids that they could read it at school again. So, then I asked the kids if they wanted to grow some pumpkins and they jumped up to do our action rhyme:

“Pumpkin, Pumpkin”
Pumpkin, pumpkin on the ground, (touch the ground)
How’d you get so big and round? (make a big circle)
Once you were a seed so small, (pinch fingers together)
Now you are a great big ball! (make a big circle)
Pumpkin, pumpkin on the ground, (touch the ground)
How’d you get so big and round? (make a big circle)

Next up, I dropped the ball a little on my transition, but we did our “Old MacDonald” flannelboard. I asked the kids about the different animals in the song and said that we should be on the lookout for them in our next book (leaving the animals up on the board). And then, we read “Hurry Hurry” by Eve Bunting.

As we went through the story (each page only has four words on it at the most), we matched up animals on the flannelboard and in the story, putting the animals away as we went. I think the kids really enjoyed this interactivity, and the story in “Hurry Hurry” is simple enough that the kids could follow it even as we broke away from the book to work with the felt animals. The end of “Hurry Hurry” involves the arrival of a new chick at the farm which was a natural segue to sing “Over in the Barnyard” with finger puppets. We started with the yellow chickies.

“Over in the Barnyard”
Over in the barnyard
Early in the morning
See the yellow chickies
Standing in a row
See the busy farmer
Giving them their breakfast
Cheep, cheep, cheep, cheep
Off they go (remove finger puppet)
[Also, pink piggies and spotted cows]
Credit: Teach-nology Farm Songs

Our next book was “How Kind” by Mary Murphy.

I made sure to define “kind” for the kids in my introduction of this book to make sure that they all understood what was going on. I also told them that this book would be a lot like another one we had read earlier — it was their job to help me figure out which one it was like. In “How Kind,” animals on the farm do favors for one another resulting in another baby chick hatching. At the end of the story, the kids were able to point to “Hurry Hurry” as the book that this one was similar to. One enthusiastic boy shouted, “Because they both have baby chicks!”

Next I asked the kids what else happens on a farm besides animals. No one was able to get the word “crops” out, but we did get a lot of food called out. So, I told the kids we were going to grow some food ourselves next in our action rhyme:

“Farm Chores”
This is the way we plant our seeds, plant our seeds, plant our seeds
This is the way we plant our seeds so early in the morning
[Water our seeds, weed our seeds, our seeds grow up, pick our plants, eat our plants]

Then, I told the kids that my favorite thing grown on farms was apples! And that led us to our fingerplay: “Way Up High in the Apple Tree.” I was so excited that the kids knew this one from school, so they all did the rhyme along with me.

And with that, we had arrived at our last story of the day, “Clip-Clop” by Nicola Smee.

I love this book — it’s a great storytime book, with a fabulous rhythm to it. I always speed up my reading as Mr. Horse speeds up his ride, so that when the other animals go flying the kids are laughing and gasping. And my favorite part of reading it to a group is the one child who is very concerned that someone got hurt, and is very relieved once we discover the animals want to fall off again.

A super simple craft today — a paper pig mask that my teen volunteers had attached to popsicle sticks.

I found our pig mask template here at Animal Jr.

October 18, 2010 9 Comments Short URLOutreach Storytime

Fall!

I am really more of a summer person, but I do love fall books — fall has a ton of options for storytime, too!

Because I have a wide variety of ages in my storytimes (6 months to 4 years), I started off with “Mouse’s First Fall” by Lauren Thompson.

The text in this book is pretty predictable (and I have the book memorized after just two storytimes!), but you cannot beat the bright colors, and the adorable characters. It’s also a great introductory to a few of the traditional fall activities. I followed up with “Who Loves the Fall?” by Bob Raczka.

In Raczka’s series, there is always a page where you turn the book vertically and read — the kids absolutely love this part! In “Who Loves the Fall?,” it’s a spread about butterflies, and I had to do two full pans before the kids seemed ready to move on.

Next, the kids got up and we did some action rhymes, and our flannelboard for the week.

“Pumpkin, Pumpkin”
Pumpkin, pumpkin on the ground (touch the ground)
How’d you get so big and round? (make a big circle)
Once you were a seed so small (pinch fingers together)
Now you are a great big ball (make a big circle overhead)
Pumpkin, pumpkin on the ground (touch the ground)
How’d you get so big and round? (make a big circle)
Credit: Step by Step — Pumpkin Theme

And, of course, “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes.”

And our flannel:

Flannelboard: “Five Little Leaves”
Five little leaves on the tree next door
One fell off and then there were four
Four little leaves all over the tree
One fell off and then there were three
Three little leaves where the wind blew
One fell off and then there were two
Two little leaves sitting in the sun
One fell off and then there was one
One little leaf in the tree all alone
The wind blew and blew now there are none!

I redid the flannelboard that the library had for this rhyme (it was this old transfer paper-like felt and hand-drawn) into bright new felt colors for this year’s season. Simple — took me about a half hour.

Then, I read “Old Bear” by Kevin Henkes.

“Old Bear” is a book that talks about all seasons and you better believe that I use it at almost every season storytime I do. It’s a great way to introduce the concept of our seasons cycling, and I absolutely adore Henkes’s illustrations. They are just gorgeous and so eye-catching. Next up, another favorite — “Fall Leaves Fall!” by Zoe Hall.

Now, I had three Zoe Hall books to choose from: “It’s Pumpkin Time,” “The Apple Pie Tree,” and “Fall Leaves Fall.” And it was a hard choice! I went with “Fall Leaves Fall” because of the linear story and that the story covered most of the highlights of the season (including a brief mention of Halloween!). Next, we switched gears a bit as I began prepping the kids for our craft with our fingerplay/action rhyme:

“Way Up High in the Apple Tree”
Way up high in the apple tree (stretch arms up high)
Two red apples smiled at me (hold up two fingers)
I shook that tree as hard as I could (make a shaking motion)
Down came the apples… (make a downward motion)
And mmm, they were good! (smile and rub stomach)

And then, we read “Apple Farmer Annie” by Monica Wellington.

This is such a great story about apples and I love Monica Wellington’s books. (Especially “Pizza at Sally’s!”) We finished up with a different closing song than normal with:

“The Leaves are Falling Down”
The leaves are falling down
The leaves are falling down
Red, yellow, green, and brown
The leaves are falling down
Tune of “The Farmer in the Dell”

Our craft was super simple — I got a tree template, had my teen volunteers cut out tree trunks and leaves and then let the kids crumple up tissue paper squares to make apples. They had a ton of fun crumpling!

October 15, 2010 11 Comments Short URL, Family Storytime

Birds!

One of my best friends is a giant nature person and she loves birds, so I decided to do a bird storytime for my preschoolers! We started off with “Birds” by Kevin Henkes. We had a much larger group of 4/5 year olds this time around, so I decided to stretch storytime a little bit longer.

This is big, colorful book just perfect for storytime. I love Henkes’s illustrations but sometimes his stories aren’t so linear — and that’s the case with this one. But because I used it first, it really gave the kids a primer for all the different kinds of birds we were going to see throughout storytime. They really enjoyed the “surprise” layout in the book as well.

Next up, a perennial favorite of my staff, “Grumpy Bird” by Jeremy Tankard.

This book has such a great pattern and repetition that I definitely had some kids call out, “Walking!” after an animal asked Grumpy Bird what he was doing. We had great attention skills while we read this book (I think probably because the pictures are so bright and commanding), I almost hated to break away to do some action rhymes and my flannelboard.

Action Rhyme: “Little Birds”
Little birds, little birds, jump up and down
Little birds, little birds, don’t make a sound
Little birds, little birds, tip-toe to me
Little birds, little birds, bend your knees
Little birds, little birds, peep, peep, peep
Little birds, little birds, sleep, sleep, sleep
Little birds, little birds, fly to the leaves
Little birds, little birds, sit down please
From: Greatest Resource Education Child Care

Two very enthusiastic thumbs up to this action rhyme — the kids loved pretending to be birds! And then after we sat down, we did this amazing flannelboard that I found on Mel’s Desk – Farm Storytime. The clip art is from Microsoft Office, and the flannelboard is super easy to make. I did it in about a couple of hours.

Flannelboard: “Ten Fluffy Chickens”
Five eggs and five eggs
And that makes ten
Sitting on top
Is Mother Hen
Cackle cackle cackle
What do I see?
Ten fluffy chickens
Yellow as can be

We did our flannel twice (yay repetition!) and then we read “Pepito the Brave” by Scott Beck.

Very simple, but effective story about a little bird who’s scared to fly and instead hops, climbs, swims, etc. to get where he’s going. My only hesitation with using this book again is that the book is a small size, so it did require a lot of book panning with my large group.

We followed up the book with one of the few rhymes I remember from childhood — “Two Little Blackbirds.”

Next up, “Who Will Sing a Lullaby?” by Dee Lillegard.

This book has a ton of variety in the kinds of birds trying to get a baby to sleep. The kids were very calm during this story, happy to listen. And, of course, the kids practiced their weekly “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” before launching into the last story of the morning: “I’m Not Scared” by Jonathan Allen.

I adore Little Owl and Owly and was so happy to share this story with my group. The kids kept insisting that Little Owl wasn’t scared, which was really amusing to see them side with Little Owl as he called out “I’m not scared!”

After storytime, we made a bird puppet craft. Super simple; found the bird template at Danielle’s Place and just glued feathers all over it. My teen volunteers had already prepped the craft by tacky gluing the popsicle on so that no one had to wait until the stick dried to play with their puppets.

October 8, 2010 20 Comments Short URL, , Family Storytime

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