Tag Archives: Friday Flannel

Flannel Friday! Shapes Rhyme (now with homemade finger puppets!)

29 Apr

Today’s Flannel Friday post is about shapes! Technically, this isn’t a flannel BOARD story (although it can be used as such) but a rhyme told with puppets.  When I first read this rhyme, I decided, since the shapes are “talking”, they should be puppets. So I cut the shapes out of two pieces of felt, glued them together on all but one side (leaving a space for fingers), and added faces, googly eyes, hands, and feet. The finished product looks like this:

Meet Ricky Rectangle

Here’s the rhyme:

Ricky Rectangle is my name,

My four sides are not the same.

Two are short and two are long.

Count my sides, come right along!

I’m Sammy Square, that’s my name

My four sides are just the same.

Sammy and Ricky strut their stuff!

I’m Timmy Triangle, that’s my name!

My three sides are short, or long, or just the same!

I’m Suzie Circle.

Watch me bend!

Round and round from end to end.

Timmy and Suzie. Suzie looks rather surprised! (her mouth is also a circle)

 Ollie Oval, that is me.

I’m not round, as you can see!

Like an egg that is laid,

That’s the way I am made!

Ollie's one happy shape.

While hunting for the original source of this rhyme, I found similar versions online that include stars, diamonds, octagons, and even hearts.  Maybe I’ll add to my shape puppet collection!

Please also visit So Tomorrow, Rain Makes Applesauce, Miss Mollie, Mel’s Desk, Nikarella and Storytime Katie (links to the right) for more Flannel Friday Fun! And if you’re on twitter, search for #flannelfriday.

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Flannel Friday! Who Uses This?

22 Apr

In today’s edition of Flannel Friday – no rhyme, no song. Just pictures, and words.

I try to include words on as many of my flannels as possible. While preschoolers generally can’t/aren’t reading them yet, I point out the words and hope they’re making the connection between what I’m saying and what is written. It’s kind of my little way of continuing what the preschool teachers do; labeling many things in their classrooms.

One of the themes that preschools often take up is “community helpers.” You know – people who make a difference in their communities, like firefighters, police officers, teachers, garbage collectors (absolutely!), LIBRARIANS, etc.   This flannel is a take-off on that theme.

I made a bunch of objects that various “community helpers” (or people doing specific jobs) might use. I picked occupations that had a specific “item” associated with them that the kids might recognize.  I freehanded them all (althought I do look at pictures online so I can get an idea of what something looks like).  I labeled them all; the kids also might learn a bit of new vocabulary:

The kids tell me what the object is, and I show them the word. I then ask, “who uses this?” When they tell me, I add the word for that occupation. These are paper, covered in contact paper, with velcro tabs on the back:

Firefighter’s hydrant; Librarian’s book (yes, that’s a picture of me on the word strip):

Hairstylist/Barber’s scissors; Doctor’s stethoscope.

Mail carrier’s letter (on the back it looks like an envelope and says “letter”; teacher’s pencil.

Can you think of any objects I should add?

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Flannel Friday! Baby Duck, Are You In the Blue Egg?

18 Mar

My friend Melissa over at Mel’s Desk decided to start writing a “Flannel Friday” post – every Friday, she will feature a new flannelboard story that she has used in storytime.  She mentioned this on twitter, and shortly thereafter, Anne at So Tomorrow decided to join in the fun. Not wanting to be left behind, I decided I wanted to contribute as well!

Here’s my inaugural Flannel Friday post, which, appropriately enough, comes from Melissa herself and is related to Anne’s post (the concept is the same).

Unhatched eggs

Here we see eight eggs of varying colors. If my group is small enough, we take turns choosing a color (otherwise I choose an egg and they tell me the color) and then I “crack” the egg open to see if a baby duck is inside! Before looking, we say this:

Baby duck, baby duck, are you in the [color] egg?

A dramatic pause always helps at this point, and I open the egg with a “gasp!”. If the duck isn’t inside, we move on to the next child who chooses a color.

Baby duck, baby duck, are you in the PINK egg?

 

Fuschia, really.

There he is!  Just to increase the sillyness factor, I added a couple of “surprises” for us to find in the eggs:

 

How did that FROG get in there?

If we find the duck before each child has had a chance to choose an egg, I turn the board around and put the eggs back together, moving the duck to another color. I ask the kids to close their eyes (no peeking!) and I made up a little song to remind them. To the tune of “London Bridge”:

Everybody close your eyes,

close your eyes,

close your eyes,

everybody close your eyes,

We’re not peeking.

Everybody keep them closed,

keep them closed,

keep them closed,

everybody keep them closed,

No one’s peeking.

Besides the obvious fun, there are several benefits to doing a flannel like this:

  • Learning colors (or patterns – eggs could be striped, or dotted, etc.)
  • Learning to take turns (if each child gets to choose a color)
  • The chanting rhyme helps with phonological awareness, as children learn to hear the smaller sounds that make up a word.
  • You might also count the eggs to practice those skills. How many are cracked? How many are still whole?

This is great fun that the children and I have enjoyed very much. In fact, today, when we found the baby duck, a child was SO excited she began to cry. Wow. That’s powerful.

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