Tag Archives: halloween

Flannel Friday: Monsters the Easy-Peasy Mac-N-Cheesy Way

11 Oct

Several years (years? YEARS.) ago I posted about a 10 little monsters game we do in storytime. Each monster is a different color and after we’ve counted them and identified their colors, I turn the flannelboard around and take a monster away. The kids get to guess which color is missing. It’s fun! The monsters I was using, however, were looking pretty shabby. Plus, a few of them mysteriously disappeared. So, it was time for replacements.

In a fit of laziness, I decided to freehand my own monsters rather than cutting patterns out of paper and then using them to make the felt ones. After a couple of false starts, I came across the magic formula for creating an easy monster:

SHAPE + APPENDAGES + GOOGLY EYES + PAINT = MONSTER

IMG_5597

Seriously. Cut out a shape – circle, square, cloud, blobule, etc. Add some legs, arms, horns, antennae. Glue on some eyes. Paint on a mouth and maybe some eyebrows. Instant monster – no pattern needed!

Shh....don't tell the others, but these three are my favorites.

Shh….don’t tell the others, but these three are my favorites.

 RAAAARRRRRRRR!

This week’s roundup will be hosted by Lisa. To see all the previous posts, visit our Pinterest page via the icon to the right.

Happy flanneling!

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Flannel Friday: (No Sew) Monster Finger Puppets

19 Oct

Oh boy, do I LOVE how these little monsters turned out!

I was inspired by this owl finger puppet post* from playingwithwords365.com to make these monsters.  As you can see in that post, the puppets are a rectangle of felt, rolled into a tube with ends glued together. She then folded over two edges of the tube to create the owl “ears.”

I did the same for a couple of my monsters (fuschia, although it’s covered by pompom, and dark blue) but for the other three I improvised the tops, gluing each in a slightly different way. I then attached pompoms and googly eyes, and gave each a puffy paint smile.

Silly little monsters!

I found several different “5 little monsters” poems to use (see link), but this one was my favorite:

5 little monsters sleeping in my bed,

1 crept out from under the spread

I called to mama and mama said,

No more monsters sleeping in your bed!

4…3…2…1…

No little monsters sleeping in my bed

None crawled out from under the spread.

I called to mama and mama said,

There are no monsters! Now go to bed!

This week’s roundup will be hosted by Mollie Kay! And if you’d like to see all of the past flannels, helpfully organized into categories, click the icon to the right to visit our pinterest page! To learn more about Flannel Friday (and to get more involved) visit our website!

Happy flanneling!

*I’m totally making the owls too.

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Book Review: The Monsters’ Monster by Patrick McDonnell

14 Oct

It’s been QUITE A WHILE since I posted a book review. Perhaps that’s because I’ve not felt inspired to do so in a while? Maybe, maybe not. At any rate, I felt VERY inspired to write about Patrick McDonnell’s (he’s the creator of the Mutts comic and several other lovely picture books) new story, The Monsters’ Monster.

Grump, Groan and Gloom ‘n Doom are monsters. At least, they THINK so. The like to SMASH, BASH and CRASH, and they live in a gloomy castle on a hill above a monster-fearing town. However, they can’t decide which of them is the MOST monsterly. All of their debates on the subject end in a brawl (these are two of the glorious vocabulary words used in the book: debate and brawl). So, Grump, Groan and Gloom ‘n Doom decide to solve the problem by making the BIGGEST, BADDEST monster EVER. They gather supplies (like gunk, glue, and a smelly old shoe) and, in true Frankenstein fashion, raise their monster up to the heavens for a jolt of lightning. When their monster is lowered to the ground and begins to tear off his bandages, they cheer “It’s alive!”

And then the monster utters his first words: “DANK YOU.”

Wait, what? Who is this BIG, BAD monster saying thank you? Monsters don’t say  that! But Monster finally plows through a wall and heads toward the village to the bakery. Grump, Groan and Gloom ‘n Doom  cheer and follow closely behind, hoping to hear the “howls and yowls” of the bakery’s inhabitants. But when Monster emerges, having NOT smashed up the bakery, with a small white paper bag, what will they do?

This is JUST the right kind of not-so-scary story that’s right for young kids. It’s a bit long for toddlers, and introduces lots of great new words to add to a preschooler’s vocabulary. And the message of happiness at simply being alive? LOVELY. McDonnell’s illustrations are silly and filled with detail, but the muted shades of green, orange and grey are just right for the slightly-eerie tone. Add this to your Halloween or Monster storytime ASAP. You WON’T regret it – and neither will the kids who get to enjoy it!

DANK YOU! 

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Flannel Friday: 5 Spooky Ghosts!

5 Oct

In honor of Flannel Friday’s HALLOWEEN EXTRAVAGANZA (I’m hosting the roundup too!) I made a quick and easy flannel to go with a “5 Little Ghosts” rhyme I found on Preschool Education.  I don’t generally do a Halloween storytime in the preschools, unless the school I’m visiting that day tells me they’re having a special celebration, so I don’t have a large stash of Halloween-related flannels.

BOO!

5 little ghosts dressed all in white

Were scaring each other on halloween night.

“Boo!” said the first one, “I’ll catch you!”

“Boo!” said the second, “I don’t care if you do!”

The third ghost said, “You can’t run away from me!”

And the fourth one said, “I’ll scare everyone I see!”

Then the last one said, “It’s time to disappear!”

“See you at Halloween time next year!”

Here’s a pattern you can use if you’d like to recreate my silly little ghosts.  Check back RIGHT HERE later today for the full roundup EXTRAVAGANZA! And click the icon to the right if you’d like to see ALL past posts, organized neatly for your browsing ease.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN, Y’ALL! And happy flanneling!

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Flannel Friday: The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything

21 Oct

Halloween flannels FTW! I just remembered late last week that I had this or I would have posted it sooner. I’m pretty sure you all know the story, but here’s a quick recap:

Little old lady goes walking in the woods looking for nuts. It’s getting dark as she’s heading home, and behind her, she hears a sound: two boots, going “CLOMP CLOMP”. One by one, other disembodied items of clothing begin to follow her:

A pair of pants goes “WIGGLE WIGGLE”

A shirt goes “SHAKE SHAKE”

A pair of gloves goes “CLAP CLAP”

And a scary pumpkin head goes “BOO! BOO!”

(Here are all the things that are following her. I had a piece of felt with tiny sparkles in it that simulates night):

She runs home, but the clothing and pumpkinhead follow her. She tells them she’s not afraid, so they ask, “what’s to become of us!” She whispers her idea to them.

(I turn the flannelboard around – I use a portable one – and set up this scene before having them guess the solution. Then…)

The next morning, she finds, in her garden, a lovely, big, scarecrow. Perfect!

Here’s a picture of what the scarecrow’s hanging on:

I freehanded all of these pieces, and I’m not the greatest artist, but if you’d really like to use my designs here they are. I also found some activities to go with the book from Making Learning Fun and a reader’s theater version.

Visit Mollie later today for the full Flannel Friday roundup! And click on the icon to the right to visit our Pinterest page! Thanks!

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