Flannel Friday: Whooo Whooo?

Whooooooo

was ready for

Flannel Friday?

I sure wasn't!

Whew! What a week!

I hope everyone had a fun and safe holiday. It was kind of strange to celebrate the 4th of July in the middle of a work week, wasn't it?

It kind of threw me off and it just doesn't feel like Friday to me today but I guess it is. :o}

I need to take a quick look around to see what I can share this week for Flannel Friday ~ since it snuck up on me!

Hmmmm... let me see.

Oh, here we go! Even though I usually save my Owl theme for the Fall, I recently found something that is getting me excited for my next Owl storytime.

Today is just as good as any to share my FUN FIND with you.

If you are new to my blog, you might be asking yourself, "What's a FUN FIND?"

You can find your answer here. But once I share a little more you will probably figure it out. ;o) 

While visiting my local Michael's (which I do quite often!) ~ I found the cutest little birds on the clearance aisle. They were:

OWLS!

But not just any old Owls!

They were cute little Owl HATS!

Isn't he adorable?

I found several of the owl hats but a few were missing pieces like a beak or a wing. That was okay because the missing pieces would easily be replaceable with a few pieces of scrap fun foam. Besides ~ I really just wanted one of them for a pattern.

I had plans racing through my mind for making five owl hats to go with a fun counting rhyme about owls. Plus, I wanted to make the owls all different colors so we could practice our color recogntion and ASL color signs.

These cute owl hats were perfect for this activity.

And the icing on the cake was the price!  

They were only .25 each!

Definitely a bargain!

A real Fun Find!  



I bought all the hats I could find for that price! :o) I used one of the owl hats with missing pieces to make a pattern for my own felt hats. It peeled apart pretty easily which then allowed me to trace around the pieces to make the pattern. Then I cut the pattern from felt and glued it together using Tacky glue which seems to hold the best for me.

The process was quick and easy!

Here is one of my felt owl hats:

Isn't she adorable, too?

With five owl hats in different colors, I will be able to share an awesome Color and Counting Rhyme with my storytime friends. I will choose five friends to come up and help act out the rhyme while everyone else helps by doing the ASL signs for the words that we know ~ such as owl, moon, tree, numbers one through 5, and all of the appropriate colors.

If the group is small enough, I will repeat the rhyme until everyone who wants to be an owl can have a turn.

 

Five Colorful Owls

One blue owl when the moon was new,

Along came a green one and that made 2.

1 - 2

Two little owls perched high in the tree,

Along came a yellow owl and that made 3.

1 - 2 - 3

Three little owls flew past the barn door,

Along came an orange owl and that made four.

1 - 2 - 3 - 4

Four little owls sitting side by side,

Along came a red owl and that made five.

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5

Five little owls hooted, "Whoo, whoo, whoo,"

And they all flapped their wings and away they flew.
5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1

There are lots of fun songs and fingerplays about owls so I am sure I will be sharing some more ideas for an owl theme in the coming months. I also have plans for an owl snack or two! So ~ if you are like me and you love owls ~ be sure to check back again soon.

Maybe I will even have a picture of the tiny barn owl that lives in my backyard here in Florida to share with you. Very sweet!

In the meantime, you might enjoy exploring these interesting owl books with your little ones:

Owl Babies

written by Martin Waddell



WOW! Said the Owl
written by Tim Hopgood

Little White Owl
written by Tracy Corderoy

Thanks for stopping by today. :o) I hope each of you has a nice, relaxing weekend!

And, as always,

HAPPY READING TOGETHER!

The round-up for Flannel Friday this week is being hosted by Mary at her blog, Miss Mary Liberry.



***Special Note: By the way, I will be offering my storytime friends an opportunity to make their own owl hats out of cardstock. They will be able to choose the color of the owl that they want to be. If you would like to make your own owl hats using the same pattern, please email me at storytimeabcs@gmail.com and I will share the template with you. Just put "owl hat template" in the subject line of your email so that I don't miss it.


 



Storytime Craft: Sparkly Fireflies!

Little ones ADORE fireflies!

Flannel Friday: Firefly Fun!

HAPPY

FRIDAY!

I hope everyone is enjoying a bright and sunny Summer day!

This week in our storytimes, we decided to celebrate Summer by reading the book:

Mouse's First Summer

written by Lauren Thompson

This series of books is a favorite for my storytime friends and for me! If you have been following this blog then you may remember Mouse from our Springtime Celebration here.

In the Mouse's First Summer, Mouse and Minka, his sister, explore Summer after hitching a ride inside a picnic basket. They experience lemonade and grape jelly and lots of other treats for the first time throughout the Summer day. When it starts to get dark, they experience their first glimpse of ***FIREFLIES!***

I LOVE ***FIREFLIES!***, don't you? My storytime friends sure did!

I made colorful fireflies from construction paper using the cut paper technique that I like so well. :o) It is just so easy and fast for me! Oh, and I used a little glitter glue, too. Fireflies need their sparkle!

My inspiration for these fireflies came from a recent Flannel Friday post that you can find here. Thank you to Amy for sharing it with us and for linking to another Flannel Friday post  ~ where I found the inspiration for my firefly pattern and for the rhyme that I tweaked for my storytime purposes. You can find that post here. Thank you, Alison!

I actually decided to use 6 fireflies because I wanted to bring in a chance for my friends to practice recognizing and naming colors verbally and with ASL signs. As we began the rhyme, we counted out the fireflies and talked about what was the same about them and what was different.

Once we decided that they were different colors, we named and signed each color. Then as I said the rhyme, each firefly's colroful light "disappeared".

Six Little Fireflies

(Adapted from "Five Little Fireflies")

Six little fireflies blinking in the night

Looking at the glow of each other's light.

Whoosh went the wind.

And whistle went the breeze.

Then out went a red light 

With a great big sneeze!

Aaaaaachoooooo!

Five little fireflies blinking in the night

Looking at the glow of each other's light.

Whoosh went the wind.

And whistle went the breeze.

Then out went an orange light 

With a great big sneeze!

Aaaaaachoooooo!

Four little fireflies blinking in the night

Looking at the glow of each other's light.

Whoosh went the wind.

And whistle went the breeze.

Then out went a yellow light 

With a great big sneeze!

Aaaaaachoooooo!

Continue with: three/green and two/blue. 

Then with:

One little firefly blinking in the night

Looking at the glow of his very own light.

Whoosh went the wind.

And whistle went the breeze.

Then out went his purple light 

With a great big sneeze!

Aaaaaachoooooo!

Six little fireflies no longer blinking in the night

Flew off with each other in the pale moon light.

1-2-3-4-5-6

Bye, fireflies!

After cutting out the pieces to each firefly and gluing them together, I add white glitter glue to their wings and the matching glitter glue to each colorful body. Once laminated, the fireflies were ready to "blink on and off" by using double-sided tape. When the firefly is lit up, the colorful body is taped to him. When he is not lit-up, the colorful body is removed. So simple and fun!

I always like to include a craft for the end of our storytime or for take-home on our Pajama Party nights. Last night was our monthly Pajama Party for June so it was a take-home craft.

I also like to do a Library Search on Pajama Party nights so that any family who can not stay for a short children's video can easily leave from storytime without too much fuss. I combined the Search and the Take-home Craft in this way:

I informed my storytime friends that they each would be taking home six fireflies so they could do the rhyme at home. I brought out the take-home bag and we looked at what was inside. 

There were six firefly bodies ~ one in each color of the rainbow. 

But when we counted the fireflies there were only four. 

What?!!?? Only four?? 

How many did we need? That's right six. 

But where are they? Maybe they are flying around inside the Library.  :o)

We better go search for them and catch them! 

How many do we each need to find? That's right ~ 2 ~ one for each hand. 

Into the Library we go!

When all the friends return from the search, we have the video ready to go and a snack ready for them. This is the easiest way that I have found to transition into the movie portion of our evening. It helps those parents who do not wish to stay for the movie. They get their child's snack as they leave the room and there are no tears since they just don't return to the storytime room after they do the search. ;o)

For anyone who is curious, we did watch a video about fireflies. It was the Night Lights episode on a The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That! video:

Well, that is my Flannel Friday contribution for this week. If you want to learn more about Flannel Friday, you can visit the website here. 

I hope you have a lovely weekend!

And, as always, 

HAPPY READING TOGETHER!

Mr. Linky: Fun Blogs for Sharing Children's Books

~~~ Mr. Linky ~~~

This is a list of blogs that are written by creative men and women who enjoy sharing their love of books with young children and their families.

If you have a blog that you would like to add to this list, please enter your information below.

***I am testing several linky tools on my site over the next week or so. If you want to help test these tools, please click on the other posts (listed below) and enter your information into these lists, too.

I would appreciate any comments about your experience using one or all of these linky tools. I would love to hear what you think about things like ease of use, visual appeal, or any problems encountered while using these linky tools ~ whether you are entering your blog on the list or just visiting the blogs by way of the links.

Any and all comments are welcome! Thank you so much for helping me test these tools!

Here are the links to the other tools being tested:

Simply Linked

Linkytools

InLinkz



And here is the link up using:

 ~ Mr. Linky ~
(Click "Mr. Linky" to be taken to their website.)

InLinkZ: Fun Blogs for Sharing Children's Books

~~~ InLinkz ~~~

This is a list of blogs that are written by creative men and women who enjoy sharing their love of books with young children and their families.

If you have a blog that you would like to add to this list, please enter your information below.

***I am testing several linky tools on my site over the next week or so. If you want to help test these tools, please click on the other posts (listed below) and enter your information into these lists, too.

I would appreciate any comments about your experience using one or all of these linky tools. I would love to hear what you think about things like ease of use, visual appeal, or any problems encountered while using these linky tools ~ whether you are entering your blog on the list or just visiting the blogs by way of the links.

Any and all comments are welcome! Thank you so much for helping me test these tools!

Here are the links to the other tools being tested:

Simply Linked

Linkytools

Mr. Linky


And here is the link up using:

 ~ InLinkz ~
(click "InLinkz" to be taken to their website)

Linkytools: Fun Blogs for Sharing Children's Books

~~~ Linkytools ~~~

This is a list of blogs that are written by creative men and women who enjoy sharing their love of books with young children and their families.

If you have a blog that you would like to add to this list, please enter your information below.

***I am testing several linky tools on my site over the next week or so. If you want to help test these tools, please click on the other posts (listed below) and enter your information into these lists, too.

I would appreciate any comments about your experience using one or all of these linky tools. I would love to hear what you think about things like ease of use, visual appeal, or any problems encountered while using these linky tools ~ whether you are entering your blog on the list or just visiting the blogs by way of the links.

Any and all comments are welcome! Thank you so much for helping me test these tools!

Here are the links to the other tools being tested:

Simply Linked

InLinkz

Mr. Linky


And here is the link up using:

 ~ Linkytools ~
(Click on "Linkytools" above to be taken to their site)

*** I should quickly mention that you can choose to use the Linkytool that does not have a thumbnail picture. It has a text only link and it is a FREE option. I have chosen to use Linkytools on my site for all of my Blog Hops so I have the option to choose the thumbnail picture tool. If you are interested in using the thumbnail picture option, I can help you on your week to host. Just contact me at storytimeabcs@gmail.com and we can discuss it.

Simply Linked: Fun Blogs for Sharing Children's Books

~~~ Simply Linked ~~~

This is a list of blogs that are written by creative men and women who enjoy sharing their love of books with young children and their families.

If you have a blog that you would like to add to this list, please enter your information below.

***I am testing several linky tools on my site over the next week or so. If you want to help test these tools, please click on the other posts (listed below) and enter your information into these lists, too.

I would appreciate any comments about your experience using one or all of these linky tools. I would love to hear what you think about things like ease of use, visual appeal, or any problems encountered while using these linky tools ~ whether you are entering your blog on the list or just visiting the blogs by way of the links.

Any and all comments are welcome! Thank you so much for helping me test these tools!

Here are the links to the other tools being tested:

Linkytools

InLinkz

Mr. Linky


And here is the link up using:

 ~ Simply Linked ~
(Click on "Simply Linked" above to be taken to their site.)