Tag Archives: clothing

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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Hats and Hair Storytime

8 Aug

I mentioned in my last Flannel Friday post (over a month ago…eeek!) that I was creating this storytime after reading Super Hair-o and the Barber of Doom. It went over pretty well with the preschoolers, so it’s time to share.

I have a bunch of assorted hats sitting in a drawer in my office (as you do) so I brought some of them along and put on a different one for each story. And there were some GREAT stories!:

  • Rocco, Jon. Super Hair-o and the Barber of Doom. Jon thinks his wild, curly super hair-ohair is the source of his super powers. But when the barber cuts it all off, what will he do to regain his powers?
  • Klassen, Jon. I Want My Hat Back. Bear goes looking for his hat. Nobody has seen it. Or HAVE they?
  • Game: “Who Wears This Hat?”: I printed out some pictures of various hats (cowboy, hard hat, astronaut helmet, firefighter hat, etc.) and covered with clear contact paper. I held them up and the kids helped me figure out who wears each hat, and what job they do.
  • Agee, Jon. Milo’s Hat Trick. Milo the magician HAS to improve his show with a hat trick. He goes looking for a rabbit, but instead finds a bear with an impressive skill.
  • Flannelboard: “My Hat It Has Three Corners“
  • Lita Judge. The Red Hat. Sort of a wordless picture book – the only words are sounds (but OH WHAT AWESOME SOUNDS!). A bear cub pulls a child’s red hat off a clothesline and begins a game of chase with his animal friends, resulting in the hat unraveling.

Other books I like:

I tip my cap to you, storytimers. What are your favorite hat/hair books?

 

 

 

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Flannel Friday: My Hat It Has Three Corners

28 Jun

This week I read John Rocco’s Super Hair-o and the Barber of Doom and was inspired to create a hair-themed storytime. But when I wasn’t able to find as many stories as I liked, I expanded the theme to include hats. Ah. NOW we’ve got a good storytime!

I poked around (with a very long stick) the Flannel Friday pinterest page and saw Mollie’s version of “My Hat it Has Three Corners” and was immediately inspired.  See, when I was very little, my family lived in Germany while my father was on an exchange scientist program through the USAF. And this song was one of the ones I learned to sing in German (and one of the few that I remember): Mein Hut, der hat drei Ecken, Drei Ecken hat mein hut. Und hätt er nicht drei Ecken, so wär es nicht mein Hut. So I HAD to make a flannelboard!

hat

(the word corners going around the corner was unintentional. I ran out of space. But I like it!)

My hat, it has three corners

Three corners has my hat.

If my hat had not three corners,

It would not be my hat!

(Tune)

Now here’s the extra fun part: When you sing it, you do actions when you say these words: Hat (tap head), Three (hold up 3 fingers), Corners (tap elbow). Sing it once, doing all the motions and saying all the words. Then turn over the hat picture and sing again, but DO NOT say hat. Just tap your head. Sing a third time with hat and three turned over, and do not say those words but keep doing the actions. For the final time, turn over hat, three, and corners, and sing without saying those words. FUN!

Today’s roundup is hosted by Bridget.  To see all the flannels, check out our pinterest page by clicking the icon to the right!

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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Flannel Friday! Froggy Gets Dressed by Jonathan London

18 Nov

I’m pretty sure we’re all familiar with Jonathan London’s stellar first book about Froggy. But if not, here’s the Cliffs Notes Version. Froggy wakes up, sees snow out his window, and decides to go out and play in it. His mother tries to convince him to go back to sleep, as “frogs are supposed to sleep all winter. Wake up when the snow melts.” But Froggy is determined, so he puts on his socks, boots, mittens, scarf, and hat and flops out into the snow. Flop, flop, flop.

Froggy’s mom asks him what he forgot to put on, and he realizes he forgot his pants. After returning inside, taking off some clothes, putting on pants, and putting clothes back on, he flops back outside, only to be reminded that he forgot his coat and shirt. Flopping back inside, he remedies his lack of coverage on the top half of his body. On his third trip outside, his mom asks him yet again what he’s forgotten. This time, he can’t figure it out, until his mother reminds him: “your underwear!”

Needless to say, this story always gets a big laugh from the preschoolers. Here’s the flannelboard I created, with pictures via KizClub.

Froggy in bed, with his mom:

First trip outside (flop, flop, flop):

2nd trip outside, pants added:

3rd trip outside, with coat and shirt added:

And here are all the pieces that make up this flannel (socks, shirt, etc.) as you can’t see all of them in the pictures!

Each piece is covered in clear contact paper.  Froggy, his mom, and the bed have velcro dots on the back to make them stick to the flannelboard. Froggy also has a piece of double-stick tape, as do all the other pieces, to make them stick to each other. Easy peasy!

I usually read this story with my clothing themed storytime, but it would obviously work with frogs, winter, snow, silly stories, underwear stories (has anyone tried THAT as a theme?)…

Visit Cate’s blog later today for the full Flannel Friday roundup! And click on the icon to the right to see all past and current flannels, handily organized in a visual format via Pinterest!

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Flannel Friday: Matching Mittens

8 Jul

I can’t take credit for this great idea; my co-worker Kim created our first matching mittens set. But I made these, so I CAN take credit for the silly designs on the mittens.

I made 2 mittens of each color; there are 26 mittens in all (a couple of colors have 2 pair – light and dark blue; light and dark brown). They are clipped, by clothespin, on yarn that I braided together to make it thicker. A rope would probably work better. I got the clothespins at Walgreens, I think. A large bag is pretty inexpensive.

Here’s how I use these: I give each child one mitten (one of each pair; I keep the match). Then I hold up one mitten and ask the kids what color it is. After they’ve answered, I ask if anyone has the match. The child who has it brings up the mitten, and I hold the clothespin open as he or she puts the mitten in. I add the match and hold it up so we can admire our work! We continue until all the matches are made.

If I have more than 13 kids I give out both of the pair, and ask, “does anyone have a green mitten?” The two children with green mittens bring them up and add them to the clothesline.

This could be used to learn about patterns, shapes, and, obviously, colors.  I use it with my clothing storytime. You could make matching socks instead of mittens, or even a variety of clothing, if you want.  It would be a great follow up to Mrs. McNosh Hangs Up Her Wash or The Mitten.  It’s always been a big hit with the kids – they love getting to bring the mitten up and match it in front of the whole group.

Visit Storytime Katie later today for the full Flannel Friday round up!

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Flannel Friday! Best-Dressed Bear

6 May

This flannel comes from the book Best Dressed Bear by Mary Blocksma. I’ve actually never seen the book, but got this from a co-worker (I think?). It’s a nice rhyme, but honestly, my version has devolved into telling the kids that bear is going to a party and wants to be the best-dressed bear. What should he wear? We talk about all of the things he has to put on (vocabulary building!!) and I put them on EXACTLY in the order they tell me. Hilarity ensues. But if you want to do the ORIGINAL version, here it is:

A bear went down to a store in town.

“A dance!” Said the bear. “I’m going to a dance.

WHAT can I wear to be the best dressed bear?”

Bear has shorts as the kids kept telling me he needed them. So I made them.

“Socks,” said the fox, “get socks that are new.

You can get one, or you can get two.”

(Chorus) “Look!” Said the bear, “just look at me now,

I am the best dressed bear. OH WOW!”

“Not yet! Get a shoe!” said the kangaroo.

“You can get one, or you can get two!”

 (Repeat Chorus)

Bear's not afraid of color.

“Not yet,” said the sheep, “You need to wear,

A shirt and a tie, to be the best-dressed bear.”

(Repeat Chorus)

“Not yet,” said the goat, “Get a coat with a tail.

“Look at this coat, you can get it on sale!”

(Repeat Chorus)

“Not yet,” said the cat, “You need a new hat!

You cannot go without a hat like that!”

(Repeat Chorus)

Bear wears his hat at a jaunty angle, a la Gene Kelly.

“I’m the best,” said the bear, “I’m the best I can be.

I’m off to the dance, so EVERYONE can see.”

Then the bear left, to go out the door,

But everyone said, “there’s just ONE THING MORE!”

(KIDS CAN GUESS WHAT HE’S MISSING)

…”PANTS!” said the bear, when he got to the door.

“A best-dressed bear needs something more!”

You're never fully dressed without a smile! Bear also has mittens because the kids requested them.

So he went to the dance, in a new pair of pants,

and EVERYONE said, when the bear got there…

Look at that wonderful BEST-DRESSED BEAR!

(Stylish, isn’t he?)

See more Flannel Friday posts at So Tomorrow, Nikarella, Mel’s Desk, Rain Makes Applesauce, Abby the Librarian, 1234 More Storytimes, Miss Mollie’s Storytime Fun, Read Rabbit Read, Storytime Secrets and Storytime Katie (links to the right!)!

Or, check So Tomorrow later today for a round-up of all today’s Flannel Friday posts!

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