Flannel Friday: Gingerbread Friends

HAPPY 

FLANNEL

FRIDAY!

I hope you are all having a wonderful day! 

This has been a busy week but it has also been an especially fun one, too!

We have had lots of new visitors ~ of the tiny tots and preschoolers types ~ at our library all week long. They have been so adorable that it has inspired me to start a new #hashtag on Twitter in honor of them. 

If you are one Twitter, just look for me ~ @StorytimeFun ~ or for #LibraryCuties. 

If you aren't on Twitter yet, I highly recommend that you try it out. You will find lots of ideas and interesting conversations for #Librarians and for others who work with young children (#ECE) including young parents. :o)

Oh, and we also have our own #FlannelFriday hashtag, too. (Bet you wondered where I was going with all this Twitter talk, huh? I also bet you didn't think it had anything to do with felt and Flannel Friday but ~ it did!!!)

So... 
come join in on all of the fun Twitter conversations!

Okay, let's get on with this week's Flannel Friday contribution:

We have been having an exciting time with Nursery Rhymes and Fairytales at my Library for the past few weeks. Last night was our culminating program. 

It was our Mother Goose Pajama Party featuring our very own version of the Gingerbread Boy! Yum! Yum!

I was inspired to do our new version by a resource book that I have had sitting on my desk for quite some time. It is such a wonderful book that I think all Storytime presenters (teachers, childcare providers, and parents) should at least take a peek inside its covers. 

This wonderful book is:

FingerTales

written by Joan Hilyer Phelps

As I was searching for Gingerbread Men ideas and Cookie ideas, I scanned the contents page and found BOTH! 

JACKPOT!

Combining the two topics, I came up with this version of the Gingerbread Boy (full written script available on request):

There was a little old lady and a little old man...

Don't you love the way the oven door opens and allows our Gingerbread Boy to look like he is popping out? I had fun tweaking the pattern to make that work. :o)

The Gingerbread Boy hopped out of the oven and ran...

The Gingerbread Boy ran by a black and white Cow
 chewing on grass in the green pasture...

The Gingerbread Boy ran by a brown Horse
munching on hay near the old red barn...

The Gingerbread Boy ran by a pink Pig
snuffling at its empty trough...

The Gingerbread Boy ran by a white Dog
by the kitchen door sniffing for food...

The Gingerbread Boy ran by a gray cat
in the flowerbed searching for a mouse...

And, as the story goes, none of them could catch the Gingerbread Boy as he ran past them calling, "Run, run, as fast as you can. You can't catch me. I'm the Gingerbread Man!"

Soon, the Gingerbread Boy saw a:

Fox coming across a field. 
The Fox began to run after him...

The Gingerbread Boy ran faster and faster until he came to a river and...

since the Gingerbread Boy could not swim, the Fox offered to...

Take the Gingerbread Boy across the river on his tail.

But when the water got deeper, the Fox suggested that:

The Gingerbread Boy climb onto his back
so he wouldn't fall off.

As the Fox swam further across the river, the water rose higher. The Fox worried that the Gingerbread Boy might get wet so he suggested that:

The Gingerbread Boy climb onto his head.

Finally, they reached the other side of the river. When they had climbed onto the shore, the Fox threw back his head and...

Gobbled up the Gingerbread Boy! Yum! Yum!

I know, I know! I spoiled the ending for you but I had to share the surprise of the Gingerbread Boy IN the Fox's mouth. I was so excited when I figured it all out.

It is actually too simple for words but here's how I did it:  I cut along the Fox's mouth line then I was able to slide the Gingerbread Boy into his mouth. 

I am really easy to excite, aren't I? 

Weeeell, in my defense, my storytime friends were just as excited about that part as I was!

By the way, did I mention that the patterns for this story were found in the book shared above? They are! 

Some of the patterns are in the "Cookies" chapter and the rest are in the "Gingerbread Men" chapter. They are simple patterns that can be enlarged to whatever size you want. Then simply cut them out of construction paper and laminate for the magnetic board or out of felt for the flannel board. I also like to make copies for each of my storytime friends to take home, color and cut, and use to retell the story.

I also have another activity for these pieces. I found it in the "Cookie" chapter and tweaked it so that I could use it as an extension activity for this storytime. It is my Gingerbread Friends version of Who Stole the Cookies From the Cookie Tray? Click here for the game.

The title of this post mentions "Gingerbread Friends" and "Flannel" so I will share a sneak peek at another Gingerbread Man extension activity that I will be posting about soon.

Here are my adorable little Gingerbread Friends that absolutely delighted my storytime friends last night:

Very simple to make from felt, glue, and brads.
Plus they are very versatile and easily used for
lots of learning activities like 
color recognition, counting,
and so much more!

I will have a "how I made my Gingerbread Friends" post up very soon since they are one of the items that I sent to one of my swap partners in our First Annual Storytime Swap. (Boy, I have a lot more typing to do, don't I?)

The swap  was such a wonderful experience! It was so successful that I have had many requests to do another one. Planning is underway for the next one and it will be announced this week. Be sure to check out the posts about our first swap and then come on back next week to find out how you can join in our next one!

Have a wonderful weekend!

And, as always,

HAPPY READING TOGETHER!

This week's Flannel Friday Round-Up is being hosted by Ann at So Tomorrow.

And I will be pinning all the awesome contributions from this week's Round-Up on Flannel Friday's very own Pinterest boards. :o) Stop by and enjoy all of our beautiful flannels and creative storytime ideas.

Flannel Friday: There was a Little...

Brrrrrrrrr!

It's cold outside!

Well. maybe not that cold here in Florida 

but definitely where this week's Flannel Friday friend lives...

Ooooh! A cute little ice bear
or 
~ polar bear ~
as they are more commonly known.

This one is made from white felt, black embroidery thread for the details on his ears and tail, and a small black bead for his eye. I backed him in stiff black felt so that I could cut the intricate details of his legs and head. He was very quick and easy to create.

For my Polar Friends Storytime, I decided to make this little ice bear to use with the rhyme that I shared last year featuring my penguin friend...

The penguin flannel set was one of the very first felt sets that I made after joining the Flannel Friday group last January. It is "There was a Little Penguin". 

This week, I am changing it to:

There was a Little Ice Bear

(a polar bear version of "There was a Little Turtle")

There was a little ice bear

Who sat on some blocks.

He swam in the ocean 

And he climbed on some rocks.

He snapped at a seagull.

He snapped at a seal.

He snapped at a fish.

Mmmm,

What a meal!

You could also do it as " there was a little polar bear". I have used both names at different times with different groups of children ~ depending on the circumstances.

Since we were talking about Polar Friends at this storytime, I brought a globe with me so we could briefly talk about the North and South Poles. 

I mentioned that while you might see penguins and polar bears together in books, they don"t actually live together in the real world. This was a surprise to many of the adults! I guess anyone can learn something new in a Family Storytime. ;o)

I am trying to keep this Flannel Friday post short and sweet so I am going to stop here. I will have more Polar Bear rhymes, fingerplays, and songs soon. Most of them, I have used for more years than I care to count so I don't have any credits to give for them. They are tried and true and lots of fun so be sure to check back soon.

And, as always,

HAPPY READING TOGETHER!

For all you Flannel Friday-ers, Sarah is hosting our Mushy Gushy Round-Up for Valentine's Day ideas this year. I hope you will all head on over and take a peek at the fun.

Flannel Friday: My Mommy Is Special!

Happy Flannel Friday!

AND...

to all the Moms and Grandmothers, too!

My contribution this week is Flannel Friday-inspired by Mollie at What Happens in Storytime... and also by these lovely felt "Moms" and "Daughters" made by Shelia at Note Songs.

Watch for the surprise!

M - O - M - M - Y

Sung to: "BINGO"

I have a very special friend 

And Mommy is her name-o!

M - O - M - M - Y

M - O - M - M - Y

M - O - M - M - Y

And Mommy is her name-o!

Here comes the surprise!

Each flower has a different Mommy on the other side!
So as you sing the song, each time you will turn a flower over to reveal a new Mommy.
For each new Mommy, you will add a kiss instead of singing the letter.


For example, the 2nd verse would be:

I have a very special friend 

And Mommy is her name-o!

(Kiss) - O - M - M - Y

(Kiss) - O - M - M - Y

(Kiss) - O - M - M - Y

And Mommy is her name-o!

At the end, there will be 5 kisses and 5 Mommies ready for the next song. :o)

Five Pretty Mommies

Sung to: "Five Little Ducks"

Five pretty mommies I once knew.

Cute ones, busy ones, happy ones, too.

But the one in the middle, pretty as can be.

I love her and she loves me!

Down to the grocery store we did go,

Skippety-hop, skippety-hop, to and fro.

But the one in the middle, pretty as can be,

I love her and she loves me!

Here is another song for our lovely Mommies:

Mommy Is Special

Sung to: "Frere Jacques"

Mommy is special.

Mommy is special.

~ If you look ~

~ You will see ~

Someone very special.

Someone very special.

~ It is Mommy! ~

~ It is Mommy! ~

I hope everyone enjoys a delightful Mother's Day with their families! 

If you are looking for a quick, simple, last-minute gift for your children to make for the special lady in their lives, here is the one we made at our Family Storytime last night. 

(Click on the picture for directions on how-to make it.)

"Don't Forget ~ I Love You!"

Magnetic Note Holder

And one last song to go with this special Mother's Day gift:

Hugs and Kisses

Sung to; "Frere Jacques"

Hugs and kisses,

Hugs and Kisses,

Just for you!

Just for you!

Just to tell you Mommy,

Just to tell you Mommy,

I love you!

I love you!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

And, as always,

HAPPY READING TOGETHER!

Flannel Friday: EXCITING NEWS!

Good mornng, everyone!

Yes, you read the blog title right. And, yes, I know it is Monday, not Friday. ;o) LOL

I am just so EXCITED about the news that I HAD to share it this morning! So drumroll, please!

Introducing the Flannel Friday website!

 

As many of you know, Anne at So Tomorrow has been an amazing manager and archiver of Flannel Friday information for the past year. Anne and her husband are expecting their first baby in June. (Congratulations Anne!) So we wanted to give her a break from Flannel Friday during her maternity leave. This spring, Anne and Mel from Mel’s Desk and a small group of old and new Flannel Friday-ers worked to create a new web home for Flannel Friday.

Here’s the link! http://flannelfridaystorytime.blogspot.com

The new site will be the home of the Round Up Schedule, the archives, FAQs about Flannel Friday, information about how to get involved with Flannel Friday, and links to help new members get started with social networking and blogging. 

There will also be a link to the week’s Round Up, but the Round Up will continue to be hosted on individual blogs. 

We’ll just point to each Round Up from the site.

Refining the Round Up Procedure:

The Flannel Friday community has grown continuously over the year, with new bloggers, new Round Up Hosts, and new members every week on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. We are building an amazing community and are grateful to each and every one of you for your participation and enthusiasm.

As the group has grown, you’ve probably noticed that so have the Round Ups!

We’ve seen an inevitable increase in missed links and general confusion as the Round Ups are compiled. We thought that the launch of the new site was a great opportunity to take a page from other round ups in the blogosphere and establish one single method for building the Round Up each week.

This information will be in the FAQs on the new site, but here’s our new strategy in a nutshell:

Every week the Round Up Host will publish a “placeholder” post for the Round Up on the host blog at 10pm EST on Thursday.

Each blogger who wants to participate in the Round Up will make a comment to the Round Up post with the link back to their Flannel Friday post by 10pm EST on Friday.

This will be the only place to post links for the Round Up! 

This way the Host won’t have to worry about checking Facebook or Twitter as well.

If a blogger can’t make the 10pm EST deadline on Friday, we’ll ask that the post be held for the next week’s Round Up.

The Round Up Host will gather links from the Round Up post comments throughout the day, and publish the Round Up at the end of the day.

We hope this will make the Round Ups easier to create and easier to contribute to!

We’ll look forward to your feedback over the next few weeks. Sharon / @ReadingChick at Rain Makes Applesauce has the Round Up this week, 5/11, so she’s going to try out the new procedure with us and see how it goes!

If you have questions or comments, don’t hesitate to share them via the new Flannel Friday email: flannelboardfriday [at] gmail [dot] com

Thanks for all you do to to make Flannel Friday more than a blog event–but a great community too.

Here’s to the next great year of Flannel Friday!

And, as always,

HAPPY READING TOGETHER!

"Not a Flannel" Friday: Penguins, Penguins, Everywhere!

It is finally time for some Penguin Fun at my Family Storytime so I thought I would share some of the fun with you, too.

I actually have several penguin activities to share.
Let's start with a playful rhyme that allows you to use ordinal numbers with your little ones, as well as counting up and counting down with a little help from our cute black and white friends.

Five Little Penguins 



Five little penguins,

As happy as could be,

Standing on a rock, 

Looking out at sea.

Crash! Went the waves,

Oh, what a din!

Said the first little penguin,

"Shall we all jump in?"

Said the second little penguin,

"The water's like ice."

Said the third little penguin,

"That's not so nice."

Said the fourth little penguin,

"Let's bask in the sun."

Said the fifth little penguin,

"Hey, that's no fun!"

So the five little penguins

Take a leap and dive 

And splash into the water,

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5.

Three seconds later, 

Out they all pop.

And stand once again

Atop the big rock.

5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1.

Yay!

Our second activity is a good one to use with a simple penguin puppet. It is easy to make a puppet for each child by photocopying a small penguin, cutting it out, and taping it to a popsicle stick. 

Or if you have a Ellison diecut machine and a penguin diecut, it is even easier to make a puppet for each storytime friend. ;-)

This activity allows you to demonstrate positional words with even the youngest storytime participants ~ just have the adult do the motions with the puppet for their child.

The Penguins

The penguins are here; the penguins are there.

The penguins, the penguins are everywhere.

The penguins are up; the penguins are down.

The penguins, the penguins are all around.

The penguins are in; the penguins are out.

The penguins, the penguins are all about.

The penguins are low; the penguins are high.

The penguins, the penguins all say "goodbye"!

Another activity that I use with my Penguins, Penguins, Everywhere storytime is the flannel set that I shared a few weeks ago: 

There Was a Little Penguin
(Click on the title for a link to my post.)

For our craft, we made Adorable Penguin Hats so that the children could pretend to be penguins and waddle around in our last two activities.

Adorable Penguin

I'm a little penguin

Black and white,

Short and wobbly,

An adorable sight!

I can't fly at all,

But I love to swim.

So I'll waddle to the water 

And dive right in!

For this rhyme, I teach the sign for penguin, black, and white. We also do motions for "short and wobbly", "fly", "swim", "waddle", and "dive". This particular activity gets numerous requests for repeating it. I usually plan to do it 2 to 3 times. The repetition will help the little ones remember the rhyme so that they can continue to "be penguins" at home. I also send home a flyer with the words and I post them on my library's Facebook page for easy accessibility.

Our last rhyme was also fun to do together with lots more waddling and diving.

Penguin Cheer

I like fishies.
Yes, I do!
When I want fishies,
Here's what I do.
One, two, three...
SPLASH!

And finally, here is a picture of one of my storytime friends in her Adorable Penguin Hat. 

She is so precious!

HAPPY READING TOGETHER!

Here’s Flannel Friday information for this week:

This week’s Flannel Friday roundup is hosted by Katie.

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. Be sure to checkout my Flannel Friday Comment Challenge on the facebook page. This is the fourth week and I am offering an incentitive!

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!

Flannel Friday: Valentine Race

Wow! Is it Friday again already?

This week has been CrAzY! But I have a feeling next week will be even crazier ~ especially since Tuesday is Valentine's Day and we have 3 storytimes scheduled for that morning! Whew!

Well, let's get down to business. Since it is Friday ~ that means it is time for Flannel Friday!

My contribution this week is a simple version of a very OLD but extremely FUN fingerplay:

VALENTINE RACE

Five little Valentines were having a race.

The first Valentine was frilly with lace.



The second Valentine had a silly face.

The third Valentine said, "I love you!"

The fourth Valentine said, "I do, too!"

The fifth Valentine was as sly as a Fox.

'Cause he ran the fastest to your Valentine box!

Yay!

The Valentines were easily made from felt. In fact, it was such an easy project that I decided to make a second set out of fun foam for the magnetic board...



I am not sure which I like better. I had fun making both sets. Which set do you like best?

Here is a list of supplies and quick directions to make the felt set.

Supplies Needed:

White felt

Purple felt

Red felt

Pink felt

Yellow felt

Orange felt

Black felt

Pink ribbon

Sticker eyes or wiggly eyes

Black Sharpie

Fuschia Sharpie

Tacky Glue

Sharp scissors

Directions:

1. Cut the lacy heart out of white felt and a regular heart-shape out of purple felt. Glue the purple onto the center of the lacy heart. Make a small bow out of the pink ribbon and glue onto the lacy heart.

2. Cut a regular heart-shape out of pink felt. Add sticker eyes or wiggly eyes using the glue. Draw on the eyebrows, nose and silly mouth with the black Sharpie.

3. Cut a regular heart-shape out of red felt. Cut a small heart-shape out of pink felt. Glue the small heart in the middle of the large heart. Add the letters and punctuation with the black Sharpie.

4. Cut a regular heart-shape out of yellow felt. Add the letters and punctuation using a fushcia Sharpie. I love this heart because it looks like a candy heart to me. :-)

5. Cut a regular heart-shape out of orange felt. Cut the upper part of the heart shape out of black felt and glue to the top of the orange heart. Cut "cheek" shapes from white felt and glue on. Cut eyes and nose out of black felt and glue on.

Now you have five little Valentines ready for a race!

Have fun!

***I just want to mention my inspiration for the fox heart. This week our storytimes have featured Michael Hall's book, My Heart is Like a Zoo. In his book, there is a "crafty" fox. I thought he was adorable and silly ~ just perfect for our race! What do you think? 



The top fox is made from felt and the fox to the right is made from fun foam.



I really love when I can tie our featured book in with our songs, learning activities like fingerplays and creative movement, and our crafts ~ when possible. These tie-ins help young children stay focused a little longer and help make more connections in their brains so that the children will be able to recall more about the storytime later in the day or week. I believe anything I can do that helps to make those connections possible is well worth the effort. :-)

This week, I was delightfully reminded of how these types of tie-ins were important to one particular storytime friend. One of our regular storytime Moms took this picture of her daughter creating her Lion Puppet at home. They proudly shared the picture with family and friends ~ and ME! ~ on Facebook. It was a sweet surprise because I am usually the one sharing storytime pictures with the families. ;-)



I am hoping to see an increase in the circulation of My Heart is Like a Zoo due to this family's enthusiastic sharing.  I am also hoping to see new families attend the library storytime next week. You just never know... I have already been contacted by a Mom asking for craft directions and the words to the song we sang with the puppet. What an awesome result for such a simple take-home craft!

HAPPY READING TOGETHER!

By the way, here’s Flannel Friday information for this week:

Library Quine has the round up at her blog, Loons and Quines @ Librarytime.

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. Be sure to checkout my Flannel Friday Comment Challenge on the facebook page. This is the third week and I am offering an incentitive!

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!