Flannel Friday--Naptime Chickens

I am SO excited to share this one. Last fall I asked my colleague Tami to share some of her flannels for a presentation I was working on, and she shared her Naptime Chicken with me. IT'S SOOOO CUTE. I finally made my own version, and here it is:

It's a full hand puppet, with a set of finger puppets that attach with velcro. Tami found the pattern online a few years ago, and saved the image, but no amount of Googling or reverse image searching led us to the original source. I'm afraid the blog she found it on was taken down. We searched diligently for the original source, but this is too cute not to share!

“Come little chickens,” calls Mother Hen (beckoning motion)

“It’s time to take your nap again.”

And under her feathers the small chicks creep. (velcro chick onto palm part of hen puppet)

And she clucks a song til they fall asleep (fold fingers to cover chicks, and make rocking motion while clucking a lullaby).

My favorite part about this is clucking the lullaby at the end. I made a Vine to give you the idea, but since there's sound I will link to it instead of embedding it. Check it out here. I love songs and rhymes like this that give us a good opportunity to be silly. I like clucking, "Rock a Bye Baby" or "Brahms Lullaby" for maximum silliness. For some reason, this is one that parents really get into too--score!

Themes: Farm, sleep/night, dinosaurs (closest living relative!), birds, singing. 

I took the liberty of creating a template for this flannel set. If you'd like it, please email me and I will send you a PDF.  My gmail address is opinionsbyanna.

And finally, if you know where this came from originally, please let me know!

This week's Flannel Friday Roundup is hosted by Katie at Storytime Secrets. To participate in upcoming roundups, or just find out what's what, check out the Flannel Friday Blog. 

Letter of the Day without Puppets

Image by mconnors via MorgueFile

I was brainstorming with @lizpatanders on Twitter about ways to do a "Letter of the Day" in storytime. I normally use a puppet for the letter of the day (Fergus the Letter Monster), but Liz was looking for ideas without using puppets and we came up with this idea:

"Letter" of the day. Decorate a box like a mailbox, or just use a manila envelope addressed to storytime.

"Letter B went on vacation and sent us back some pictures of things that start with 'B'!

Here's an uppercase letter 'B', and a lowercase letter 'b'. When we see the letter B we make the sound, Buh. Let's see what letter B sent us."

Then you could have pictures of things that start with B (and maybe even one that doesn't start with the right letter).

For doing this with a toddler group, eliminate the pictures, and just show the letter B and talk about its shape using words like straight, tall, round--maybe with some directed movement. Throw in some vocabulary stretching B words and you're set!

What other ways do you use to share a letter of the day--with or without puppets?

Children's Book Week: David LaRochelle Visits!

I highly recommend getting David LaRochelle to visit your school or library. He's great!

He talked a little about being an author, and read "The Best Pet of All." Then he told us about how a theater company had done a puppet show of "Best Pet of All" and sent him the puppets! 

He even got the kids moving by playing follow the leader with the puppets. It was a hit!

After that he drew us a hilarious story that he wrote, based on the numbers 1-10. Everyone was cracking up. Finally, he read "It's a Tiger" and talked about the process of making that story. It was such a treat to have him visit us. Not every author can do a great job with preschool age kids, but David's got it!

I even got a sneak peek of his new book coming out this fall with illustrator Mike Wohnoutka. It looks AMAZING and I'm sooooooo excited to read it in storytime.

Flannel Friday--Puppet Edition

Meet Fergus! Fergus is a very large, very animated puppet. I named him with the help of the Flannel Friday Facebook group. Unfortunately, I can't remember who it was who suggested the name Fergus (Linda, was it you? or was it Lisa?!), but I want to give credit to whomever it was. There were lots of great suggestions, but Fergus just stuck.


So, this qualifies as a Flannel Friday because I'm sharing my method for using Fergus in storytime. Fergus is our letter monster! He loooooooooves eating delicious letters, but he's very hungry, so after he eats them we have to think of some delicious words that start with that letter.


I know I've mentioned them before, but I'm a big fan of this set of Alphabet Soup Starters from S&S Worldwide. There's a 'soup can' for every letter. Inside are cardboard upper and lowercase letters, and a variety of images that start with that letter. On the back of each image the word is printed and the letter is highlighted in a second color. For the vowels there are images for both long and short vowel sounds. I usually tape the images up on my storytime easel to prompt the kids with ideas, especially since many of my storytime kids are on the younger side of things.

I ask the kids if they can think of any words that start with our letter of the day, and as they throw out suggestions I pick one, "OOoh, ball is a GREAT "b" word. Buh, buh, BALL listen to that 'b' sound. Ok, let's feed it to Fergus-he's so hungry!" And then we count, "One, two, three, BALL" and 'throw' the word towards Fergus, who gobbles up words being thrown at him from all corners of the room (Think Cookie Monster).

It's a really fun shtick, and the kids find it delightful. I think it's a great way of making the letter of the day a truly fun part of storytime!

**update** if you are looking for ideas to do a letter of the day, but puppets just aren't your thing, check out this post. 

Here's an idea of how big they are.

Library Picnic

I've been working really hard to revamp the play area since I started at my new library (there was almost a full year with no children's librarian at my branch). 

Sometimes you just don't know if what you do makes a difference or has an effect. So it's unbelievably awesome to come across a scene like this: 

And a half hour later when I came by again? Everything was neatly put away where it belonged. 

So worth it.

Here is a House--using the iPad in Storytime

I've had this post in the draft stage for a while now, but with all the chatter on the Flannel Friday Facebook page on what to do with the (Awesome!) Folkmanis Sequoia finger puppet stage and some posts by Sharon and Erin I see that it's past due!

A while ago, I shared the house-shaped finger puppet stage that I made.

 

In case you forgot

I used it in a new way this summer that was absolutely delightful and wanted to share it with you.

I did extensive downloading and testing with my iPad to find which 'animal noise' app would be the most useful in storytime, and I was really pleased with "Music Animals," which I believe has changed its name. You can find it in the app store under the name, "Musical Flashcards" by Kids Place. It's a free app for iPhone and iPad--well, the first 12 animals are free, and then there's a small fee to get the total of 65 animals (at this point I don't recall the price, but just a few dollars). Compared with other animal apps I evaluated (many of which I bought) this was far and away the best value and best format for how I wanted to use it.

I liked it because:
--many animals on one screen.
--easy to choose which animal noise you wanted to play
--great selection; lots of useful animals and fewer of the weird ones like 'goldfish' (with the noise of bubbles (?))
--photographs of real animals
--very easy to use while also manipulating puppets

I buy Oriental Trading's plush mini bean bag animal assortment for SRP prizes, and digging through the box I was amazed that I could find over a dozen cute little stuffies to correspond with the animal noises in my app:

Combine those little cuties (or any finger puppets) with the house stage, add a cute rhyme and you've got a surefire recipe for success!

During a discussion about 'surprise' storytimes on the Flannel Friday Facebook page, someone mentioned the poem, "Here is a box." I loosely adapted the poem for my own purposes. My version is below, and you can see the original here on Katie's page.

"Here is a house
Where someone can hide
Let's knock on the door
to see who's inside (knock knock)
[use iPad for animal noise]
Yes! It's a __________!
There is no doubt
Let's look at the (window/door)
And see it pop out."

Missing/Search and Find Storytime

 

Add caption

I usually choose 5-6 books, and read 3-4 during any given storytime.
These are in order of most used across all sessions:
Where's Tumpty by Polly Dunbar
I Miss You Mouse by Greg Foley
Babyberry Pie by
Where's Catkin by Lord
What's the Matter Bunny Blue by Nicola Smee
Camouflage Clues

Opening Song: 1,2,3 I Love the Library
Where's Tumpty. I love this series of books by Polly Dunbar. I find the illustrations charming and the stories are simple and sweet. The kids enjoyed the repetition of this one, and thought Tumpty's attempts to hide were very funny.

Next we got some wiggles out with "I Can Jump Jump Jump"
When we sat back down, I asked the kids if they wanted to meet my friend who came to storytime, and brought out my baby bear puppet. Baby Bear is a A-DOR-able little puppet in a sleeping bag. we sing his wake up song because he's so shy:
(Frere Jacques)
"Are you sleeping?
Are you sleeping?
Baby Bear
Baby Bear
Will you please wake up now?
Will you please wake up now?
Come and play
Come and play"

Baby Bear helps us with the letter of the day, "M," and pulls a variety of items out of his sleeping bag, to great effect. I bought this set of "Alphabet Soup" cans from S&S Worldwide, and they're great for this sort of thing. Each soup can includes an upper and lowercase letter and at least five well-known items that begin with that letter. The last item that Baby Bear pulled out was his best friend, a stuffed animal mouse (one of the Mouse Count mice, actually), which led us to, "Oh! We have a book about a Bear and a Mouse! Should we read it to Baby Bear?" Of course the kids say yes to that, and we read, "I Miss You Mouse." After that we said good night to Baby Bear and he went away.

Next I asked the kids to show me a turtle (fist with thumb sticking out) and we sang, "I Had a Little Turtle" a few times.

Depending on which session I was in, and my reading of the group dynamic, I chose the next book on the fly.

Flannel Activity: I used a bunch of different animals from a commercial set that I have, and we talked about the differences/similarities between the different pieces. Then we played a few rounds of "What's Missing" where I would remove one and the kids would try to figure out which animal was gone. If they had trouble, then I started giving clues, "It eats bamboo" or "It has long ears."

After that we did the fingerplay, "My Hands"
If there was still a little time left in the session, we sang "Wheels on the Bus."

Closing Song: "Storytime is Over Now"
Hand Stamp

This week we did my favorite activity: Watercolor painting. I LOVE this activity and the kids do too. I just put out blank paper and have someone wet the paint as storytime is ending. I do have some smocks I put out, but it's just watercolor so most people don't use them.

Flannel Friday--Without Flannel Edition

Way back when, I did a house-themed storytime, and was inspired to create a little finger-puppet stage that looked like a house.

I used an old shoe box, and sheets of adhesive craft foam. I love building with cardboard!

Little House

Who's behind the door?

What color window will Little Chicken pop out of? 

Back view

I've used this with Popsicle stick puppets, to introduce letter of the day items, and for guessing games. I wish that I had made it bigger, because it's really too small for a larger crowd (my smaller storytimes are usually about 15 kids plus adults, but since I don't require registration I don't ever really know when those will be).  But it's perfect for a storytime of 15 or less.

Recently, I was inspired by Flannel Friday (Katie via Smashed Peas and Carrots) to have my student worker create a "Lorax Dice Game." I wanted to use it for my "Lorax Party" storytime during National Library Week, but didn't have a giant die to use. So, I re-worked the game pieces to coordinate with a letter (A=Leg, B=Arm etc.) and put foam letters into the box behind the house. The idea was to have the kids put their hands in through a window or the door and 'randomly' choose a letter and then put the corresponding Lorax piece on the board ('randomly' since I'd be able to nudge the right letter in their direction). My Lorax party ended up being insane attendance-wise,* so I didn't end up using it.

*I don't automatically consider large crowds insane, I LOVE big storytimes, but it depends on whether the majority of the group is new to storytime or not. If I have a lot of new kids, I usually end up substituting less-involved activities on the fly.

posted from Bloggeroid

Flannel Friday--Holiday Extravaganza!

Today I bring you felt finger puppets!

The happy trio

The naughty little elf

Rudolph

Santa

The finger puppets are made from simple shapes cut in felt, layered together and stitched. They could just as easily be glued if you're not a sewer. But if you want to try hand sewing, nothing is more forgiving or fun to work with than felt.

Here's what I do with Santa. I love this simple fingerplay, and so do kids. Especially when they don't know that I have a finger puppet on!

Here Is The Chimney
Here is the chimney(Make fist, enclose thumb)
Here is the top.(Palm of hand on top of fist)
Open the lid.(Remove hand quickly)
And out Santa will pop.(Pop up thumb)

Here's what I do with Elf. I do this song all year, it's one of my favorites and makes the kids giggle and giggle when I pop the Elf out from behind my back and look at him suspiciously before he jumps to the next verse location (My head!)

There's  a Little Elf
Sung to: "If You're Happy & You Know It"

There's a little elf that's sitting on my nose, Uh Oh!
There's a little elf that's sitting on my nose, Uh Oh!
I don’t know what to say, and then he runs away

Now there's no little elf on my nose.

There's a little elf that's sitting on my knee,
There's a little elf that's sitting on my knee.
I Don’t know what to say, and then he runs away

Now there's no little elf on my knee.

Clip art for "Call Rudolph"

Call Rudolph
Eight little reindeer pulling Santa's sled
One fell down and bumped his head.
The elves called Santa and Santa said,
"Can seven little reindeer pull my sled?"
7…6…5…4…3…2…
One little reindeer pulling Santa's sled;
He fell down and bumped his head.
The elves called Santa and Santa said,
"Call Rudolph!"

I ended up not enjoying this one when I did it before.  It was TOO LONG, and the joke at the end just really fell flat so I'll be on the lookout for other rhymes to use my Rudolph puppet.

Our round-up is hosted internationally this week, by Library Quine over in Scotland!

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Storytime--Stuffed Animal Theme for Teddy Bear Sleepover

Had my first Teddy Bear Sleepover at the library! It was amazing, and I can't wait to do another one.  For storytime we--of course--did a stuffed animal theme.

Opening song: 1 2 3, I Love the Library

We started out with Mo Willem's Knuffle Bunny. It was, of course, lovely. I have to admit, I was never a huge Mo fan until he started writing Elephant and Piggie.  I mean, I liked him, but I wasn't totally on the Mo train until those two came along. And yeah, Knuffle Bunny Free made me tear up earlier this year.

Puppet: Baby Bear! It was the first time I'd used Baby Bear since last spring, so it was nice to see him. He was so shy we had to sing his wake up song twice! But he had the letter of the day tucked away in his sleeping bag--it was T! Then he started pulling out pictures of things that started with T--the kids were amazed at how many things he had in his bag. Finally, when we couldn't believe that there was anything else in there, he pulled out a tiny teddy bear of his own! Well after that we just had to read, Where's My Teddy? by Jez Alborough 

I love that book! Next I got out my big lap-sized bear puppet. My arms go inside his arms, so I can make him do motions. We sang, "I Had a Little Turtle" but changed it to "I Had a Little Teddy."

After that we did a fingerplay/action activity that I modified from the old "Five Little..." standby (I was still using the puppet)
Five Little Teddy Bears

Five little teddy bears standing side by side.

The first one said, "I’m shy, so I will hide" (hide face)

The second one said, "Put your hand up, gimme five!" (high five)

The third one said, "Give me some honey from the hive!" (rub belly)

The fourth one said, "Let's run and run and run" (running motion)

The fifth one said, "I’m having so much fun" (victory arms)

I wanted it to be very action-oriented so the kids would get involved.

H. M. Ehrlich's lovely little book, Louie's Goose was next on the agenda. This is a sweet little book that I really like--Rosie the goose gets loved to pieces, and mom and dad can only do so much to save her. Then Louie has to take matters into his own hands.

Then we got rid of wiggles and giggles with the Watermelon Song.
Brought everybody back together with A is for Alligator, which I learned from a colleague:
A is for Alligator, chomp chomp chomp
B is for Bounce, hop hop hop
C is for circle, round and round and round
and D is for Don't sit down/is when we all sit Down.
(We sign A, B, C, D as we do this).

Finally, we finished up by reading Emily Gravett's Monkey and Me. I just love this author, and this book in particular. The kids love joining in on the rhythmic refrain and guessing what animal the girl and her toy are impersonating.

Closing song: Storytime is Over Now.

Hand stamp!

No Flannel Friday--Old MacDonald Had a Farm

I got this idea from the amazing puppeteers at Neenah Public Library during the 2009 WLA conference. Take a box (B&T boxes are so great since they have a flat bottom). Paint it to look like a barn door.  Don't worry, you don't even have to do that good of a job--the kids won't care.

Then cut the upper part of the door so that it opens like so:




Now when you sing Old Mac you POP the puppets through the door. "Old MacDonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O. And on that farm he had a...COW!!!"




Sometimes I put in a big pause and really punch the animals through. Half the kids jump, and then they laugh and laugh. I always tell them when we've seen all the animal friends in the barn, but maybe if we all sing nice and loud one of them will come back for an encore. Usually it's cow who comes back, and he moos with gusto before saying goodbye to the kids.

I use this once a month or so regardless of my theme, but sometimes I'll put in a weird animal who relates to the theme or something to surprise the kids--like at Halloween the sheep 'dressed up' as a ghost when he popped out.

So much fun and easy to do!

posted from Bloggeroid

Five (Six) Little Apples

B & T box covered with construction paper.

Not one but two of my fellow Flannel Fridayers recently posted about this little ditty and how they use it-- Anne at So Tomorrow and Katie at Storytime Secrets--I guess this is an inspiring rhyme, because I've been using it regularly for a while too!

Both Katie and I found the rhyme on this site, and this is the text as written there:

Five Little Apples

Five little apples hung on a tree
The farmer didn't care
So guess who came to eat
A caterpillar... munch, munch
Four little apples hung on a tree
The farmer didn't care
So guess who came to eat
A bird... munch, munch
Three little apples hung on a tree
The farmer didn't care
So guess who came to eat
A pig... munch, munch
Two little apples hung on a tree
The farmer didn't care
So guess who came to eat
A horse... munch, munch
One little apple hung on a tree
The farmer didn't care
So guess who came to eat
A scarecrow... munch, munch
Now the tree is bare
There are no more apples there
But when next fall comes around
Guess who'll be there
The caterpillar
The bird
The pig
The horse
And the scarecrow
Yum, yum.

I thought this was a great opportunity to use some of the many puppets I inherited in this job. So I took a old B&T box with the flaps cut off (book boxes are great because of the flat bottoms). I covered the bottom with construction-paper and then reinforced with book tape.

Next, I used velcro dots, and placed them on the tree. I made six, because I want to free children from the tyranny of the number five...or because I just felt like it.

I spent a dollar on a package of six large pom-poms (oh, that's where the six came from) and attached the grippy side of the velcro dots to the pom-poms.

Crow, bee, bunny, raccoon, mouse, bear

When I use it in storytime I grab whatever six puppets I feel like using that day--sometimes I'll choose a silly one like the dragon or octopus if I can tie it into my theme, but these are the ones I have that make the most 'sense' (except maybe the bunny--I don't really think they eat apples, but I can imagine one taking a nibble).

When I use it in storytime, I put the box up on my lap or table and all the puppets are inside the back of the box mostly out of sight.  We say the rhyme with actions. When we get to "Guess who came to eat?" I pause, and then peek part of the puppet out or make a noise/action so the kids can actually guess. The puppet takes an apple, I make a munching noise/motion, and then say, "Bye rabbit!" and make the rabbit wave--the kids all wave/respond and then we go on.

I don't use the second part of the rhyme because I never memorized it, but I bring the animals back and we talk about them--which ones fly, which has long ears, etc. I should memorize it though! Next time.

Crow Puppet

The crow puppet steals the show. There's a squeaker in the beak that really does sound like a crow!--he's always the last one to come out and he flies and swoops cawing madly. I don't know where this puppet came from, but he's great!

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