Tag Archives: numbers

Flannel Friday: Sorting Socks Game

7 Dec

socks

I have to start with a shout-out to my friend Becky who runs Denver Craft Ninjas (and who has just started an awesome new crafting party business, Kunoichi Craft Events): after several felt-related craft projects, she found herself left with far more felt than she could ever hope to use up. So she very kindly donated a chunk of it to the library for flannelboard making! That’s how I was able to create the clothes dryer below: with a large piece of cream-colored felt courtesy of Becky and the Denver Craft Ninjas.

socks1

I told the kids that I did my laundry before I came, and now I needed their help to sort the socks into pairs. If you’ve got a small enough group you can invite children up to pull out a sock and add it to the flannelboard. If its mate is already up there, they can put them together to make a pair. We identify the colors, too. If it’s a larger group like I had today, I do the sock pulling and putting. But the kids help me figure out what color we’ve got and if its mate is already on the board.

SOCK MONSTER!

SOCK MONSTER!

The kids had a great time with this game – the yelled out the colors and quickly noted a match. It’s a great addition to my clothing-themed storytime!

socks3

The clothes dryer is a box with a hole cut in (a kleenex box would work, although mine is a bit larger and sturdier), covered in cream-colored felt wrapped like a gift. I glued two pieces of felt over the hole but there’s plenty of room for me (or a kid) to stick my hand in and remove socks. I added black circles with paint for a little flair.

I’m really proud of this project and so far, the kids have LOVED it!

Today’s roundup will be hosted by Cate at Storytiming. And to see all past flannels, click on the icon to the right to visit our Pinterest page!

Happy flanneling!

Flannel Friday: Pretty Ladybug

2 Mar

I was looking for something new to add to my bug storytime when I found Mollie Kay’s Pretty Ladybug flannel on Pinterest. Perfect!

Ladybug looks great, but is missing something – spots! We add each one as well as its corresponding number:

After each one, we sing (supposed to be to the tune of “The Muffin Man” but I couldn’t remember that and used “Johnny Works With 1 Hammer”; “London Bridges” would also work):

Ladybug has 1 black spot,

1 black spot, 1 black spot;

Ladybug has 1 black spot,

pretty ladybug!

(From preschooleducation.com)

Eventually pretty ladybug has 6 lovely spots!

The kids I tried it on today really liked it – especially because the song is simple enough for them to learn quickly and join in easily. Thanks, Mollie Kay for this wonderful idea!

The ladybug is all felt and the numbers are painted on felt squares.

The Flannel Friday roundup today will be hosted by Storytime Katie. And check out our Pinterest page for ALL past flannels!  Also, for your convenience, I’ve added a Flannel Friday page (see top menu) where all MY flannels will be archived. Because, you know, it’s all about me.

Happy flanneling!

Flannel Friday! 1 Elephant Went Out To Play/Un elefante se balanceaba…

3 Jun

This week I’m doing a “Big, Grey Animals” Storytime: Elephants, Rhinos, and Hippos. So many great books to choose from! I will post all of my choices later on, but for now, here’s my flannelboard for this traditional rhyme:

Hard to tell, but Elephant #1 is grey. Really.

1 Elephant went out to play

Upon a spider’s web one day

He had such enormous fun

He called another elephant to come.

(HEY, ELEPHANT!)

2 Elephants went out to play

Upon a spider’s web one day

They had such enormous fun,

They called another elephant to come…

etc.

I used a pipe cleaner for the web – it sticks really well. I’ve also used a piece of yarn, tied around the flannelboard. I decided to number my elephants to reinforce numeracy, and I did them in a variety of colors so we could, at the end, talk about them. “What color is number 3?”

Will the spider web hold them all?

Aren’t the elephants cute? I used this clipart elephant as my pattern.

When we get all 8 elephants on the spider web, I give the whole thing a shake and they fall off. Yes, I said 8: I only made 8 because why do we always have to count to 5 or 10? You can make as many as you like.

That's a lot of elephants!

This is also a traditional rhyme in Spanish; here’s the text:

Un elefante se balanceaba

Sobre la tela de una araña

Como veía que resistía,

Fue a llamar a otro elefante!

¡ELEFANTE!

Dos elefantes se balanceaban

Sobre la tela de una araña

Como veían que resistía,

Fueron a llamar otro elefante…

etc.

Here’s a video of me singing the song version, in Spanish, on the StoryBlocks website.

Check in with Miss Mollie’s Storytime Fun later today for the full Flannel Friday roundup!