Flannel Friday: The Wide-Mouthed BullFrog

Here is my contribution for Flannel Friday this week.


It is one of my all-time favorite Frog stories. I have presented it in lots of different ways over the years ~ and now I can present it as a Flannel Story! Yay!

It is:

The Wide-Mouthed Bullfrog

Here's our lively little Bullfrog as he hop, hop, hops along.

This story can be found in many different versions and formats because it has been around for a very long time! Personally, I use many different techniques when telling this story. Each time I tell it, I try to choose the one that best suits my audience.

The book that I use most often is this pop-up version by Keith Faulkner:

See any resemblance between my felt guy and this big mouth guy?
;o)

When I storytell, I use Keith Faulkner's version of The Wide-Mouthed Frog but I always say "Bullfrog". It is the way I first learned the story and it has stuck with me! :o)

Here is a quick re-cap of the story:

The Wide-Mouthed Bullfrog loves hopping around and visiting with the animals that he encounters along the way, like:

"a blue-feathered bird"

and

"a furry brown mouse".

With each new encounter, the Wide-Mouthed Bullfrog shares that he is indeed "a wide-mouthed (bull)frog and (I) eat flies" and then he asks, "What do you eat?"

Of course, the bird and mouse eat simple, harmless things like "wriggly worms and slugs" and "crunchy seeds and juicy berries". 

BUT, this really is not a simple, harmless tale!

Because... 


Who should the Wide-Mouthed Bullfrog meet next? 

(Cue suspenseful music!)

Aaaaahh! 

It's a big green alligator!

Isn't he cool in all is 3D awesomeness?

And do you know what alligators like to eat?!??!!???!!!

 You guessed it!

They like to eat "delicious wide-mouthed (bull)frogs"!!! 

Watch out for those sharp, white teeth, our little froggie friend!

But no need to worry! Our little froggie friend is pretty intelligent! He quickly sizes up the situation ~ he puckers his lips and makes his mouth as small as possible and says...

"Ooooh. You don't see many of them around, do you?"

And he leaps into the pond with a ...

Thank goodness he was a smart and quick frog!

I love this story and so do the children and their grownups ~ no matter HOW I tell it!

As I mentioned before, I use different techniques at different times.

For example, with the alligator in particular, I sometimes use the pop-up picture in the book. He is so well-illustrated that it is fun to surprise my storytime friends with his snapping white teeth when I open the book at just the right moment.

Other times, I use only my arms and hands to form the jaws of the alligator. When I do this, I encourage my storytime friends to also make their own "alligator" with their arms and hands. Snapping them open and closed. This works out well when I have a surprise storytelling session and don't have the opportunity to prepare too much ahead of time.

I also sometimes use our green alligator puppet:

Watch out for his sharp, white teeth!

I would like to mention one more version of The Wide-Mouthed Bullfrog that I occasionally use for my storytimes ~ it is a musical version!

We have a local music educator, Maryann "Mar." Harmon, who is also a children's songwriter. She has a song on one of her CDs that is based on Keith Faulkner's book. You will find a downloadable link to the song here.

It is a fun, easily remembered song version of
The Wide-Mouthed Bullfrog.
Great for adding a little music to your storytime!

For one of my storytimes this past week, I used my new flannel set with the above song. It was fun!


Oh, in case you missed it, the mouth on the frog is interchangeable!

I place the small mouth on first and then the wide-mouth over it.
When it is time, I remove the wide-mouth to reveal the small one.

My storytime groups have had a ton of fun with Frogs these past few weeks! 


So much fun, in fact, that I still have lots more Frog ideas to share on my Frog ABC'S Blog Hop. I hope you will take a look at the Blog Hop while you are visiting my blog today. And please feel free to link up any Frog ideas that you have enjoyed with your child/ren!

Here are a few ideas that are coming soon to a blog near you:

Froggie Crafts

Wide-Mouth Bullfrog Story Craft with interchangeable mouths

Fly-eating Frog Hat

Froggie Snacks:

Frogs on a Log ~ simple, delicious, and fun!

I hope you have a HOPPING-ly fun weekend! And, as always,

HAPPY READING TOGETHER!

Flannel Friday information for this week:

I am the host for this week's Flannel Friday Round-Up. It is my very first time to host and I am having lots of fun today! You will find the FFUP here when it is posted.

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!