Tag Archives: Cats

Flannel Friday: Kitty Cat, Kitty Cat, Are You In The Blue Hat?

17 Jan

One of my most popular flannels has been Baby Duck, Baby Duck. I’ve also used the traditional Little Mouse version (that actually RHYMES)  to great success. So, here’s another. Because, WHY NOT?

The game goes like this: I put the hats up on the board, and we talk about their colors. We might even talk about who uses some of the hats (cowboy, builder, baseball player, etc). Then the kids close their eyes while I hide a kitty cat behind one of the hats (if he hasn’t already been hidden). We take turns choosing colors and then saying:

“Kitty cat, kitty cat, are you in the [color] hat?”

Holy over-exposure, batman! Oh well. You get the idea.

Holy over-exposure, batman! Oh well. You get the idea.

I whip the hat off the board and…*gasp!*…he’s there! Or he isn’t. 

Hi, little kitty!

Hi, little kitty!

The kids LOVE this game. They feel great when they find him but don’t suffer any great hard feelings when they don’t. Make sure you either have enough pieces for everyone to have a turn, or are willing to re-hide the cat if he’s found so that everyone has a turn. And EXPLAIN that you’re going to do this at the beginning. EVERYONE must get a turn or there will be ugly crying. And who wants that?

I’m not the best artist, but if you want to use my hats, here’s a photocopy of them: KittyCatHat

Today’s flannel roundup (floundup?) will be hosted by Kathryn. For all past flannels, click the pinterest link to the right.

Happy flanneling!

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Photo Friday?

2 Aug

Alas, I have no Flannel Friday post today. Just haven’t made any new flannels lately, and we’ve been busy ’round these parts with lots of (good) changes. I have several storytime plans I need to write up for y’all, and will get to those ASAP.

However, in the meantime, I give you….

Cat. Napping on Ukulele.

Image

 

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Flannel Friday: What Will Fat Cat Sit On? by Jan Thomas

27 Jul

I think many of us in library-storytimeland LOVE Jan Thomas’s books. They’re so simple, yet HILARIOUS. Who decides to write a book about dust bunnies who rhyme? Jan Thomas. Who decides to write about a fat cat deciding where to sit? Jan Thomas.

It’s the latter story that I decided to flannelize (yes, we decided that’s a word). I wanted my flannel pieces to look cartoonish, just like Thomas’s fun illustrations.

Here’s Fat Cat:

He enjoys his tuna.

Will Fat Cat sit on… THE COW!?

MOO!?

Will Fat Cat sit on the CHICKEN!?

SIT ON THE PIG! SIT ON THE PIG!

Will Fat Cat sit on the DOG?

GRRRRR….

Then what WILL Fat Cat sit on?

Oh boy…

Perhaps he could sit on…

…the CHAIR!?

OF COURSE!

And, you’ll just have to read the book to find out what happens next.

The pieces are all cut from felt and painted with Scribbles 3D Fabric Paint.  The cat, dog, and mouse  (I deleted the knickers) are from Marktoon.co.uk, a new site I found this week. Here are the cow,  chicken and pig. For the chair I photocopied a page in the book.

I’m considering adding some words to this (at least the word NO!) as that’s one thing I love about the book – the print awareness it reinforces.

The Flannel Friday roundup will be hosted by Amanda at Toddler Tales. To learn more about Flannel Friday (and how you can participate) visit our blog. Click the link to the right to see all the flannels (over a year’s worth) on Pinterest.

Happy Flanneling!

 

 

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Flannel Friday! Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons

25 May

It’s no secret that I LUUURRRRVVEEEE Pete the Cat by Eric Litwin and illustrated by James Dean. I loved the first book, liked the second book, and now am in love again with Pete’s latest adventure. And I was inspired to make a flannel out of it.

Here’s Pete wearing his favorite shirt with its 4 groovy buttons. I photocopied a page from the book to use as my template:

One by one, each of the buttons pops off and rolls away. Does Pete cry? “Goodness no! Buttons come, and buttons go.” When all of the buttons are gone, Pete discovers he still has 1 button left: his belly button!

Here he’s showing it off, along with the 4 buttons. Each button is 2 layers of felt with a tiny bit of velcro attached to the back to keep it on the shirt (but not pull on the felt too much). The shirt is glued down only on the outside edges, so it can be pulled open to reveal his belly button.:

Finally, I also made a set of numbers so that we can count down how many buttons he has left, and as a visual clue for when we sing: “My buttons, my buttons, my 4 groovy buttons!”

Go Pete!

The roundup today will be hosted by Melissa at Mel’s Desk.  Check there later to see all of this week’s flannels! For more information about Flannel Friday, visit our website. To see all past flannels (its a lot of flannels!) click on the icon to the right to see our pinterest page.

Happy flanneling! It’s all good!

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Happy Book Birthday to Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons!

1 May

I am in possession of a copy of this book RIGHT NOW and I can’t TELL you how excited I am. It’s wonderful! A good match for the first book. And the colors are bright and glorious. Plus there’s a very catchy chant:

I do NOT apologize for getting that stuck in your head. “My buttons, my buttons…”

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Pete the Cat dances!

23 Jul

Like most children’s librarians, I am super excited for the new Pete the Cat book, Rocking in my School Shoes, which comes out next week. In anticipation, I give you: Pete, dancing, to creator Eric Litwin’s music.

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We’re Reading Dogs and Cats: A Storytime

1 Feb

Woof! Dog stories. Cat stories. Dog AND cat stories. Here are my picks for a Dog-tastic and Cat-tacular storytime!

I have a lovely chocolate lab puppy puppet, named Hershey,Daisy Kitty who introduces our theme. We talk about why he’s named after chocolate (his color) and if he can eat chocolate (NO WAY! POISON!). We’re going to read stories about dogs, but also some cats, too, because I have the lovely creature to the right living in my house and I’m a bit biased.

  • Masurel, Clare. A Cat and A Dog=Un gato y un perro. A very simple story of a cat and a dog that don’t get along, but the preschoolers love it. We try predicting what will happen when the dog’s ball gets stuck in the tree and the cat’s fish goes in the water.
  • Alborough, Jez. Some Dogs Do. Magical realism in a picture book! “Do dogs fly? Is it true? Some dogs don’t, and some dogs do.”
  • Flannelboard: BINGO. My post on this, and pictures of my flannelboard, here.
  • Dodd, Emma. I Don’t Want a Cool Cat. After reading this one, I follow it up with I Don’t Want a Posh Dog. This gives us the opportunity to compare the covers and talk about what’s the same (the girl), what’s different (one has a dog, the other a cat), and the author’s name on both books (building print awareness and learning about authors and illustrators!).

Other books I like and will trade out for some of the above:

  • Beaumont, Karen.Move Over, Rover! A great repeated line, perfect for little kids who want to help.
  • Gravett, Emily. Dogs. The way Gravett depicts the dog that barks is perfect!
  • Henkes, Kevin. Kitten’s First Full Moon=La primera luna llena de gatita. Beautiful, expressive black-and-white illustrations.
  • Himmelman, Jon. Katie Loves the Kittens. The illustrations/book size are a little small for a large group, but if you’ve got a smaller group, or are sharing with just one young person, this one is lovely. It’s so much fun to express Katie’s excitement: “AROOOOOO!!”

And, don’t forget, when you’re doing dog and cat storytime, you can always include Soft Kitty.  Although I’m kinda partial to this version, performed by a colleague of mine in Colorado.

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