Happy Flannel Friday! And Happy St. Patrick's Day, too!
First let me say that I really missed participating in Flannel Friday last week. It was such a BuSy CraZy week that I didn't have time to post any ideas. And I definitely missed it!
Now ~ let's celebrate the "Wearin' of the Green"!
In the past, St. Patrick's Day has been a tough storytime to plan for our littlest friends. Most books about St. Paddy's Day and Leprechauns are long and wordy and difficult to share in a large group. But a few years ago, I decided to focus more on the idea of shamrocks and rainbows.
Then ~ quite by accident ~ everything else started falling into place...
My favorite St. Patrick's Day program is our puppet show featuring:
Shaun the Leprechaun
Today, I want to share the newest addition to my St. Patrick's Day activities for our upcoming Sunday Spectacular: Leprechaun Fun!
I actually used this activity ~ for the first time ~ at Family Storytime last night and it worked out fantastically! The children loved it!
As mentioned before, I enjoy making new versions of "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?"
Here is my Irish version:
(Click title for a copy for the words.)
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| Isn't he a friendly wee guy? |
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| The first thing our leprechaun sees is a BLACK hat. |
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| For the story, I place the hat upside down so that the other items appear to be coming out of it. |
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| Our first item "flying" out of the hat is a RED ladybug. (She has a happy face but it is hard to see ~ dang that photographer! LOL) |
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| Here's our ORANGE sun... |
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| A YELLOW star... |
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| A GREEN leaf... |
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| A BLUE bird... |
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| A PURPLE butterfly... |
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| By this point, someone usually yells, "It's a RAINBOW! If no one does, then I would ask what we made while making the ASL sign for rainbow. |
"Purple butterfly, Purple butterfly, what do you see?
I see lots of children in front of me.
Children, Children, what do you see?
We see:
a RED bird,
an ORANGE sun,
a YELLOW star,
a GREEN leaf,
a BLUE bird,
a PURPLE butterfly
Up above us ~ flying across the sky!
We see a RAINBOW!
And what does a Leprechaun hide at the end of a RAINBOW?
His Pot of GOLD!"
His Pot of GOLD!"
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| Here's our wee Leprechaun's pot of GOLD! |
At the end of the story, our board looks like this:
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The pieces were made by layering different colors of construction paper ~ to add fun details. I didn't have time to laminate them yet since I made them, literally, 30 minutes before my program last night. LOL!
Nothing like a last minute idea, huh? :-O
There are a few more details that I will add before I do laminate them and a few that I'll add after I laminate them ~ like antennae for the butterfly and ladybug ~ which I'll add directly to the lamination with a black Sharpie.
Since this was a craft week for our Family Storytime, we actually made our own black hat so that the storytime friends could pretend to be Leprechauns at home.
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| I think our wee friend just might be a PERFECT little Leprechaun! What do you, think? |
I hope you enjoyed this week's Flannel Friday contribution. I had lots of fun creating it!
It has also inspired me to make another St. Patrick's Day activity based on the Little Old Lady-type stories. I think you will be surprised in the direction that I take it. ;-) I'll be back to share it when it is done!
Soooo much I want to share and just not enough time... LOL!
It has also inspired me to make another St. Patrick's Day activity based on the Little Old Lady-type stories. I think you will be surprised in the direction that I take it. ;-) I'll be back to share it when it is done!
Soooo much I want to share and just not enough time... LOL!
HAPPY READING TOGETHER!
This week's Flannel Friday round-up is being hosted by Linda at Notes from the Story Room.
Round up archives and host schedule is at So Tomorrow.
Visually scan all the Flannel Friday posts at Pinterest.
Talk about storytime and flannelboards at the Flannel Friday Facebook Page.
Follow Flannel Friday on Twitter with the #flannelfriday hashtag. (You don’t have to be on Twitter to check this out.)
And, last but not least, if you’re a contributor, there is an awesome blog button from Melissa and you can grab it from the right hand menu at Mel’s Desk!
Round up archives and host schedule is at So Tomorrow.
Visually scan all the Flannel Friday posts at Pinterest.
Talk about storytime and flannelboards at the Flannel Friday Facebook Page.
Follow Flannel Friday on Twitter with the #flannelfriday hashtag. (You don’t have to be on Twitter to check this out.)
And, last but not least, if you’re a contributor, there is an awesome blog button from Melissa and you can grab it from the right hand menu at Mel’s Desk!
***SINCE YOU ARE ALREADY HERE ~ WHY NOT MAKE A COMMENT BELOW?***
I will be doing a drawing next Thursday for a magnetic set of
"Leprechaun, Leprechaun, What Do You See?"
To enter, all that you have to do is make a comment below
before next Thursday (March 15th) at Midnight.
Easy Peasy, as they say!
Thank you so much for sharing this, Kay! I really wanted to do something for St. Patrick's Day in my storytime, but I couldn't figure out what. This will fit in very nicely!
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome, Erin!
ReplyDeleteIt really is simple to make. You could even use flannel pieces that you already have for the items coming out of the hat. I just wanted things that you would see flying "across the sky" but you could change that line to something like "We see ... in front of us" or "...looking at us". :-)
Fantastic! Thanks for sharing. I'm look forward to see your Little Old Lady-type story.
ReplyDeleteThank you for visiting and commenting, Pippi. :-) I am off work today so I am hoping to work on the new story. Hopefully, I will have it ready soon!
DeleteGreat redo on Brown Bear - did any children make the connection? Thanks for sharing a wonderful idea.
ReplyDeleteThank , Maureen! I do many versions of Brown Bear in my storytimes so my regulars do recognize the connection. It is always a fun way to include colors in any theme and it is always good for audience participation. ;-)
ReplyDeleteThank you for the welcome on my blog. I'm so glad I discovered this group of enthusiastic people working with and for children!
ReplyDelete:-) Thank you for popping over to my blog, Courtney. I agree that It is wonderful to discover a group of people who love what they do and always try to do more for our little ones. I look forward to sharing ideas with you!
ReplyDeleteThis is awesome. I am going to the store tonight to make this for my classes this week! I'm going to post it on my blog and link backnto you, is that ok?
ReplyDeleteThank you, Kathy! It would be wonderful to have you link back. :-)
DeleteI hope you have fun making the items and sharing the activity with your classes. What ages do you teach?
I would love to hear about their reactions and to see a picture of your version ~ if you take one. It is always fun to see other people's versions of an activity. :-) Have fun!
Wow - just what I was loooking for for my early intervention students (2 & 3 year olds). Could you post a link to the graphics as well as the words? Please!
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you can use this activity with your little ones! I will post the words as soon as possible but I don't have access to the graphics today. :-( I will try to post them tomorrow. So sorry that I can't get it done today.
DeleteI love the graphics from this story (so kid-friendly!) but I like your use of positional words and the representation of the rainbow just as much! Awesome!
ReplyDeleteThis was a hit in my Music and Movement classes this morning. True to your story, I was printing out clip art 15 minutes before and "make it work" by using some removable scotch tape to stick them to wooden board I have laying around (so I can laminate them later, of course). What a great idea!
ReplyDeleteIt is sooo fun to hear about your experience with it. Thanks for taking the time to share, Amy.
DeleteSometimes those last minute activities are the most successful. Gets your adrenaline pumping! Lol I am so happy you had fun with this activity with your little ones!
Laura, thanks so much for the kind words! :-) I do have to give credit where credit is due ~ I did NOT create the graphics myself! I am not that creative! A lot of the graphics that I use when making magnetic board pieces are from an old (hmmmm...I might be dating myself here so I'll just say "old") teachers'z` book that I used when I was a preschool teacher. I purchased it to use in my classroom and it says permission for use is granted for "educational purposes" so I'm pretty sure it will be okay to share them. I'll have to get the title of the book when I get to work tomorrow. :-)
ReplyDeleteLove St Patricks Day so much and this has to be the sweetest board activity I have seen!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your gift!
Thank you, Patricia! That is very nice of you to say. :-)
DeleteCould you please share the title of the book that you used for the clipart. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteLove all of these ideas - have been struggling to figure out what to do for St. Pat's since as you said, there aren't a lot of good books for this age and topic! Thanks!
ReplyDeletethey are adorable! I was wondering what to do with st. patricks day! :)
ReplyDeleteLove the ideas! Yes, please, could you possibly share the story again? This is totally adorable!
ReplyDeleteCan you please post the words for the story please.
ReplyDelete