Flannel Friday: Colorful Seastars

It's a stormy Friday here in Florida today. Nice to have the rain and the cooler temperatures but I hope I don't need an ark to get home!

How's the weather where you are?

With it raining outside, it has been the perfect weather to do a little "flannelizing"! This week, I have been working on some flannel pieces that can be used on the flannel board or used as finger puppets. (I love making things that have multiple uses, don't you?)

For the multi-purpose flannel pieces, it is back to the ocean this week ~ one of my favorite places! ;o)  Oh, what is that there on the sand?

A bright, colorful sea star!

Isn't he wacky and fun??!??!

I also made 4 other sea stars from bright colored felt:

***Special Note: My inspiration for these cute sea stars came from this website. As usual, I tweaked mine to fit my needs ~ I made mine smaller since I wanted 5 to fit on my hand together. Mine measure 2 1/2" by 2 1/2". I will be making the other two puppets on this site in the very near future. :o)

The sea stars are kind of tiny because I wanted them to fit neatly on my fingers. It was a little more difficult to cut them out so I used a cool trick that I learned from the Flannel Friday group. Kari Ann made a wonderful video that shows this cool trick and a few other ideas, too. I recommend watching her video here. Thanks, Kari Ann!

The trick is to take your pattern and tape around the edges. This will hold it in place as you cut the felt. It makes cutting out small pieces and detailed pieces so much easier! Awesome tip!

I cut out two seastar shapes from each color. 

Then I cut out white ovals for the eyes ~ using the tape trick.

I sewed on the ovals with black thread because I added a black bead for detail.

I also sewed the mouths out of bright pink thread. Making each one different so that each sea star had its own little personality. ;o)

So fun and adorable!

The blue sea star has all his details. I am still working on adding details to the other ones. They should be finished this evening and I will share a picture of the final look when they are ready.  :o)

As I mentioned before, these sea stars can be used on the flannel board or on your fingers as puppets. However, that is not the end of their versatility! They can be used as sea stars for an ocean-themed storytime. They can be used as stars for an outerspace-themed storytime. But that's not all! They can also be used for a color recognition activity and for a counting activity! 

Here is one of the rhymes that I will use these colorful sea stars with:

Five Colorful Sea Stars

One little sea star so bright and blue,

Along came a green one, then there were two.

Two little sea stars, all that I could see,

Along came a yellow one, then there were three.

Three little sea stars on the ocean floor,

Along came an orange one, then there were four.

Four little sea stars, wiggly and alive,

Along came a red one and that made five!

1 - 2- 3 - 4 - 5!

Thanks for stopping by for another Flannel Friday! If you love ocean animals and finger puppets, be sure and check back over the next few weeks because I will be adding more to go along with my Octavia the Octopus and these colorful sea stars. I'll soon have an ocean full of finger puppets!

This week the round-up is being hosted by Erin at her blog, Falling Flannelboards.

Enjoy your weekend!

And, as always,

HAPPY READING TOGETHER!