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.

Not a Flannel Friday: RAINBOW Dancers!

Happy Flannel Friday, everyone!


Here in Florida, it is a beautiful Springtime day ~ which means a quick afternoon rainshower or two just might be in our future.


I love the rain! I love the smell of it! I love the sound of it! I even love the feel of it... as long as I don't have to stay at work in soaking wet clothes. :-/


But, most of all, I love what follows the rainshower.

               A GORGEOUS RAINBOW!

One of my all-time favorite things!

So in honor of Spring, rainshowers, and RAINBOWS, I have decided to share one of my favorite  RAINBOW activities for storytimes. If you have read any of my other Flannel Friday posts and Not a Flannel Friday posts then you have probably noticed a recurring theme of colors and even RAINBOWS.

(I did just say that RAINBOWS are my favorite, didn't I?)


Over the years, I have searched out books, songs, fingerplays, crafts, snacks, and even creative movement activities to help me share the colors of the RAINBOW with my storytime friends. In this post, I want to share one song ~ but believe me, I will be sharing more RAINBOW activities in the future! This is just one of many...


It is a song with fun movements as well as opportunities to dance freely to the music. It is my MOST requested storytime activity ~ no matter what the theme or season!

RAINBOW DANCERS

(Sung to the tune of: "Where, Oh, Where Is Sweet Little Susie?")

RAINBOW dancers let’s get ready
Hold your ribbons nice and steady.
You’ll hear the colors of the RAINBOW.
Listen for your time to go.

  

Shake red…

Shake orange…
Shake yellow…
Shake green…
Shake blue…
Shake purple…

Red ribbons turn around,
Orange ribbons up and down.
Yellow ribbons reach up high,
Green ribbons fly, fly, fly.

Everybody dance!

RAINBOW dancers, dance around,
Ribbons swirl up and down.
Overhead and on the ground,
RAINBOWS flying all around.

Shake purple…
Shake blue…
Shake green…
Shake yellow…
Shake orange…
Shake red…

Blue ribbons tickle your nose,
Purple ribbons touch your toes.
Everybody dance around,
Swirl your ribbons up and down.

RAINBOW dancers dance around,
Ribbons swirl up and down.
RAINBOW dancers hug a friend,
Our colorful dance is at an end.

***For this song, I have either streamers, curly ribbon, or regular ribbon cut into 12" or longer strips.



I always make more sets of the RAINBOW colors than I think I will need. That way I have plenty of each color and each child can choose their favorite.

Sometimes I don't have time for them to choose their color ~ sometimes they just get the color that is next in my hand.

***Switching things up now and again is a good learning experience ~ because, as grown-ups, we all know that sometimes you don't always get what you want. What a hard lesson for little ones to learn! But they do need to experience this lesson ~ hopefully, in a fun situation so that they are ready to accept it more easily in a not-so fun situation.

Before starting the song, I go over the ASL sign for each color. When I make a color sign, I ask the children with that color to wave their ribbon in the air. The parents and children who do not have the chosen color are asked to make the sign with me. We go through all the colors and then we are ready to start the song. Everyone holds their color out in front of them ~ ready to start.

This song and dance is an extremely fun way to teach color recognition and following directions. Even the older siblings and parents enjoy doing this dance ~ especially when we change it up and each person gets two colors! Having two colors is, of course, more difficult and requires even better listening.

I found this song on the Start Smart Songs for 2's and 3's CD.

Here is a description of this CD from the website:

"Music and movement can provide crucial experiences for building early brain activity.  This CD contains action activity songs that are fun, short, and simple for toddlers and preschoolers.  Each song has been carefully designed and selected to reinforce important early skills development from one of four crucial areas of early brain development wiring: physical, social-emotional, cognitive and language learning."



Click here for a link to the website for the creator of this CD and several other CDs that you might find helpful when planning a storytime full of active learning experiences.

Do YOU have any RAINBOW activities, books, or crafts to share? How about snacks or songs? I would love to hear about them! Just leave a message in the comment section below. Let's have a colorful discussion about our ideas!


I have one last picture to share with you:

This little one had such a blast during the "RAINBOW Dancers" portion of our storytime that she asked for all the colors of streamers so she could dance with each color at home. She even said "please"! How could I resist such a sweet request and such an adorable face?

EVERYBODY DANCE! 

Here’s Flannel Friday information for this week:


Our host from Canada is Angela at Valley Storytime

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!



HAPPY READING TOGETHER!

Let's Celebrate Books ~ Dr. Seuss Style!

I love Dr. Seuss and all his wackiness so I never miss a chance to have some fun with one or two of his books. And every year we celebrate his birthday and Read Across America at our

library storytimes. As a matter of fact, each year our celebration gets BIGGER and BETTER and LONGER. This year we will celebrate with a two week long Seuss-ational event!

We will be starting with our first ever Dr. Seuss Pajama Party Storytime and end with an evening-long Family Storytime and Game Night.

Over the next few days or even weeks, I will be sharing some of my tried and true ideas, some of my brand-new ideas, and some creative ideas from a few librarian friends. This should be a Seuss-tacular blog! 

But it will be a work in progress for awhile.

I hope you will bookmark it and come back often over the next few weeks...

I think I will try listing activities by the books that they are based on. This should help with the organization of all the  different ideas.

Most of the ideas will be active games that we have shared with our storytime friends at our Family Game Night but there will also be craft ideas, snack ideas and learning activities for homeschool and classroom use..

Everything should be adaptable for one-to-one interaction at home or group fun at parties, at storytimes, and even in classrooms. 

I will be posting a picture or two of each activity, a brief description, and a list of items needed. Included in the list will be a costume for the person in charge of the game (if we had one). Most items are found around the house, library, or classroom or something similiar can easily be re-created.

Put Me in the Zoo:

"Oh! They would put me in the zoo, if they could see what I can do."

Pin the Spot

Leopard likes to play with his spots, so why don't we have some fun with his colorful spots, too?

This game is just like Pin the Tail. It can be played two ways:

1. You can have no spots on the Leopard

 and the children can pin their spot

wherever they want.

2. You can have spots on the Leopard and

the the children have to try to pin their

spot to a spot of the same color.

You will need:

Put Me in the Zoo book

Yellow posterboard to make the Leopard

Black Sharpie marker

Scissors

Tape

Blindfold

Lots of circles:

Red

Orange

Green

Blue

Purple

Zoo Keeper Costume:

Hat





Our hat was a very old Keystone Cop hat
to which we added a Zoo Keeper patch
made from yellow fun foam and a black
sharpie. We attached it with a small
paperclip. 

Even some of our youngest storytime friends had fun with this game ~ sans blindfold. 

Go, Dog. Go!:

"Look at those dogs go. Go, dogs. Go!
Stop, dogs. Stop! The light is red now.

Go, dogs. Go! The light is green now."

Stop and Go Toss

 

The dogs need to know when to stop and when to go. Let's help them learn the difference between red and green lights.

This game is just a Bean Bag Toss game. We had the child toss the red bean bag onto the red circle when our helper said, "Stop!" and the green bean bag onto the green circle when he said, "Go!".

You will need:

Go, Do. Go! book

Black or gray posterboard

Red construction paper

Green construction paper

Tacky glue

Scissors

Black sharpie marker

Beanbags:

Red

Green

Dog Costume:

Ears

Tail

Nose

***We do a "live action" presentation of the book, Go, Dog. Go!, so we already had a dog costume. If you don't have one available, it is easy to make dog ears and tail from felt or even construction paper. You can add a nose with face paint or even a washable marker.

The Cat in the Hat:

"I know some good games we can play."

Cookie Stacking

The Cat in the Hat loves to play games and he loves to stack things so we thought Cookie Stacking would be the perfect game for him. He was very mischievious! And the rules seemed to change for each participant ~ but everyone had "lots of good fun that is funny!"



You will need:

The Cat in the Hat book

Cookies for stacking

Cookies for eating

Cat in the Hat costume:

Red and white hat

Black shirt

Black pants

Red bowtie

Cat nose

Cat tail



***As stated before, we do "live action" presentations of books so we already have many costume pieces ~ such as the cat nose and tail. If you don't have them, it is easy to make the tail from felt or even construction paper and you can add a nose and whiskers with face paint or even a washable marker. You can also make a Cat in the Hat hat with construction paper. There are many patterns on the internet for different styles. We made our bowtie from red felt and pinned it on with a safety pin.

All ages had fun stacking cookies!

Look at that concentration!
Even the younger ones were successful ~ sometimes with fewer cookies to stack.



***We found it best to have two different kinds of cookies ~ one kind for stacking and one kind for eating. We usually use the WalMart brand of sandwich cookies that have chocolate and vanilla in the package. We use the vanilla ones for stacking and the chocolate ones for sharing because everyone loves chocolate, right?   ;-)



The Sneetches:

"My name is Sylvester McMonkey McBean. And I've heard of your troubles. I've heard you're unhappy. But I can fix that. I'm the Fix-it-Up Chappie."

Fix-it-Up Tattoos

The Plain-Belly Sneetches all wanted stars on their bellies so The Fix-it-Up Chappie, Sylvester McMonkey McBean, came a long with his peculiar machine and gave them "stars upon thars!" Then the Star-Belly Sneetches decided to remove their stars and soon no one knew which Sneetch was which!

This activity is something that all the little ones line up for. We "face-painted" stars ~ but we put them on cheeks, arms, or hands ~ child's choice.



You will need:

The Sneetches book
Face paints
Paintbrushes
Bowls (if necessary)
Wet wipes or papertowels
Sylvester McMonkey McBean costume:
Green bowler hat
Large green bowtie
Yellow shirt

"That day, all the Sneetches forgot about stars and whether they had one,  or not, upon thars."

Check back again soon because I will be back with

more Seuss-tastic ideas!