Friday, March 2, 2012

Flannel Friday! A Winter Story

Every once in a while, I will embark on a challenging flannel story to make.  The following story I created last winter, when, here in Connecticut it literally never stopped snowing. 



This story is adapted from:  A treasury of flannelboard stories / by Jeanette Graham Bay.  Allyside Press, 1995.  The flannel figure patterns are from that same book! 

Once upon a time, it snowed.
 And snowed, and snowed.
  And snowed, and snowed. 
 Everyone was so happy to see the snow. 
 The children couldn't wait to go out and play.
And when they did, they played, and played, and played!

They made snowmen!
And played snowfort and snowball hide and seek.


They skated on the ice. And did loop-d-loops and figure eights.



The children were so happy!!!

But, it never stopped snowing.  It snowed so much that snow covered everything!

The houses were covered, 


the trees were covered,



the whole world was covered!


And because of this, the birds, and other animals too,
but mostly the birds, were so sad!



The children could hear them crying. 


Why were the birds crying?


The birds were crying



 because all their food was covered in snow! 
The seeds and the berries were covered!
 

The bugs in the bark of the trees were snowed in!


So the children decided to help!

 Jane, (use names from your audience), knew how much sparrow birds like bread crumbs, so she made some toast bread and gave it to the sparrow!
Yum!


And Elliot, had his grandmother pop some popcorn, and he gave it to the goldfinch!
Yum! Yum!


And Sophia, found a pinecone and spread it with peanut butter and rolled it in cereal and hung it outside for the bluejay! 
Yum! Yum! Yum!



And then, Ace, ran and got and an apple
and gave it to the cardinal! 
Yum! Yum! Triple Yum! Yum!


And that winter, the children promised that as long as the snow kept falling, and piling up, they would make sure that their bird friends would always have something delicious to eat!

And you know, it never did stop snowing!
But they all lived happily through the winter anyway...............


................and then it was Spring!

Oh, Happy Day.

The End







Friday, February 24, 2012

Hippity Hop!! (part 1)



 


Hippity Hop, 1 frog on top, 1 frog, 1 frog tall
what's over the wall?

Hippity Hop, 2 frogs on top, 2 frogs, 2 frogs tall
what's over the wall?

 

Hippity Hop, 3 frogs on top, 3 frogs, 3 frogs tall
what's over the wall?


Hippity Hop, 4 frogs on top, 4 frogs, 4 frogs tall
what's over the wall?

Hippity Hop, 5 frogs on top, 5 frogs, 5 frogs tall
what's over the wall?

Hippity Hop, 6 frogs on top, 6 frogs, 6 frogs tall
what's over the wall?

Hippity Hop, 7 frogs on top, 7 frogs, 7 frogs tall
what's over the wall?


Hippity Hop, 8 frogs on top, 8 frogs, 8 frogs tall
what's over the wall?

Hippity Hop, 9 frogs on top, 9 frog, 9 frogs tall
what's over the wall?



Hippity Hop, 10 frogs on top, 10 frogs, 10 frog tall
what's over the wall?


Hippity Hop, 10 frogs on top, 10 frogs, 10 frogs tall ......

UH-OH!!!!!!

Something IS over the WALL!!!
YIKES!!!!


to be continued.........


Okay, everyone I need to finish the pieces for this story. (10 frogs in 7 days) 
 Thanks to my friends at Avon Public Library (now I don't have to borrow theirs)
  for introducing me to this wonderful spring frog book,
 Hippity Hop Frog on Top by Natasha Wing.  
Front Cover

Friday, February 17, 2012

Flannel Friday! Baa Baa Black Sheep!

Look At My Sheep!

Baa Baa Black Sheep
Have you any wool?
Yes sir, Yes sir
Three Bags full!


baa baa black sheep

baa baa blue sheep....
baa baa green sheep
baa baa gray sheep
baa baa red sheep
baa baa pink sheep

I made these sheep for my
Mother Goose on the Loose program.

I passed out sticks and the children TAPPED out the syllables for the rhyme.

I only used the first verse.

I placed each color sheep on the felt board one at a time.

I specifically only used colors that had 1 syllable.

Thanks to Jane over at Piper Loves the Library
for the idea and her constant inspiration!!



Friday, February 10, 2012

Flannel Friday! Fly Away Birds!

Two little dickey birds sitting on a cloud
one named soft
the other named loud!
fly away soft
fly away loud!
come back soft
come back loud!



my two birds
sittin' on their cloud


Hello!  My birds are from The Flannel Board Storytelling Book / By Judy Sierra.
Each bird is made using a felt collage technique.  My cloud is a single piece of white felt.
When reciting the rhyme, children and parents use their index fingers for birds.  When the bird flies away, the finger goes behind their back.  When the bird comes back, so does the finger.
Our voices are soft for the soft bird and LOUD for the loud bird.   

I use this rhyme each week during Mother Goose on the Loose.
  I learned it from Betsy Diamant-Cohen. 

Friday, February 3, 2012

Flannel Friday! Humpty Dumpty


Hello!

This is  my Old School Humpty Dumpty!
I made him in Boston
while I was at Mother Goose on the Loose Training!

I used no pattern and I had to have it done in 15 minutes!

He gets dumped, cracked and thrashed week after week!

And the best part.............I love him! 



Sunday, January 29, 2012

Flannel Friday! Time for Cake!

It's someone's Birthday!  Let's Bake a Cake!


Let's make a cake!
What do we need?
sugar! flour! eggs! butter, lots of butter!
vanilla! kisses!
Put it in the oven!
Set the timer!
Now we wait and practice our patience!
I smell something deeee - licious
It's Ready!
Let's count the candles!
Let's light the candles
Now we sing Happy Birthday!

here is the back view

here are the candles unlit

Happy Birthday!


I start out with a shoe box. Using a birthday cake pattern. I cut out a cake from a cardboard cereal box.  Using FELT COLLAGE techniques, I cut peach, white and pink felt to decorate the cake.  Two clothespins are hot glued to the back of the cake.  I decorate the cake simply with daisy buttons. 
For the candles, I use clothespins and decorate each one with leftover cardstock paper and also blue wire ribbon.  I trim the silver wire ribbon edges to use as wicks for the candles.  
My candles flames are double sided.  The front is made from tacky felt (stiff felt) and the back is left over white interfacing.  I hot glue the two flames pieces together leaving one side open. 
Everything is stored in the box.
When Presenting this cake activity, I use a GIANT whisk to "stir" the ingredients the children tell me to add to the cake.
I close the box and I bake it under my chair, as we do a music activity.
Then, we check the cake! I take the cake out of the "oven", remove the lid, pull it out of the box, and then we count out the candles. Light the Candles!  
And, .......Magic! 


Friday, January 20, 2012

Happy Birthday, Flannel Friday!

Guess who's coming to the party?
 Mouse!


He brought a yellow present box!


Look at all the other presents!
What color are the boxes?



We can play hide behind the box!



Have fun everyone!

For my present boxes, I cut each from felt and glued each felt piece to cardboard cut from cereal boxes.  I hot glued velcro and cut a pretty ribbon from fancy paper.  I will hide a mouse, or 2 or 3 and use this rhyme with the boxes:

Did you bring the pink box, pink box, pink box?
Did you bring the pink box, little mouse?