Feltboard, flannelboard, whatchamacallit – that thing you stick stuff on.

• I use a flannelboard (feltboard? I never know which term to use)  a lot in my storytimes, and the kids really seem to enjoy anything I stick on the blue felt.  I carry a big red portable flannelboard and I often have kids point at it and say, “can we do that now?”   I have couple of ones that are particularly successful:
• BINGO.  Obviously, the song alone is fun.  But the way I’ve modified it for my flannelboard really (I hope) reinforces phonological awareness — the ability to hear the smaller sounds making up words. We start with the 5 letters, each on a bright colored square.  As I put each on the board, we say the letter, but also say the sound it makes: “What letter is this? B.  What sound does it make?  Buh. Buh.”  We go through the letters and sounds again, and I tell the kids that as we put the sounds together we make the word: “Buh, Ih, NN, Guh, Oh.”  I say it faster and faster until we’ve got the word “Bingo!”  I run my finger under the word each time, from left to right.
  

  The letters to the song "Bingo" on my flannelboard.

  We sing the song the first time through, saying each letter.  Then, I turn over the first letter to reveal…. a dog!  The next time we sing, I explain, instead of saying the letter B, we’re going to Bark.  One time — for one dog.  And then say the rest of the letters.  Singing commences…

  

  Bingo flannelboard with 1 dog showing

  We continue singing, turning over one letter to reveal a different dog each time.  We count the dogs to see how many times we will have to bark.  I ask the kids to guess what animal will appear next, giving them outlandish ideas like “octopus!” and “hippopotamus!”, while they continue to insist it will be another dog.   Finally, our last time through the song is all dog barks.

  

  All dogs!

The letters are felt, hot-glue-gunned onto felt squares.  The dogs were taken from Microsoft Word clipart, printed out, and attached to the felt with contact paper (not the best, most-sticky way to do it, but they’re okay).

• WHICH MONSTER (DINOSAUR, WHATEVER) IS MISSING? This one is less about early literacy skills and more about colors and memory.  I have 10 monsters (complete with googly eyes), each in a different color.  I put them all on the board, singing:

“One little, two little, three little monsters.  Four little, five little, six little monsters.  Seven little, eight little, nine little monsters.  Ten little monsters roar.  ROAR!”

We go through and name all of the colors, and then I tell the kids to take a good look, as I’m going to take one away and they’ll have to tell me which one is missing.  I turn the board around so only I can see it, hide behind it, and tell them not to peek (they always try to peek!).  I make a big show of “hmmming” and even sing a little song to myself: “I’m taking away a monster, a monster, a monster.  I’m taking away a monster, which one will it be?”  Occasionally I peek over the edge and glare at the kids as if I know that they’re peeking (this always gets a BIG laugh).  I remove a monster and ball it up in my fist.  Turning the board around I ask the kids to guess which color is gone.  We do this several times, with me eventually taking away two or three at a time.

This game has been a big hit.  The teachers are also able to evaluate which kids need help with their colors, and which have it down!  It can be done with lots of different themes — I have a set of 10 dinosaurs as well.

I don’t have any pictures of this one, but will try to take some and post them soon.  What are your storytime flannelboard (feltboard) hits?  And what the heck do you call that thing?

Tags: Bingo, flannelboards, Monsters, Phonological Awareness, Songs, Storytime