Flannel Friday! Jump Frog Jump!

Hello!

I wanted to share my frogs and bugs! 

I use 5 green and speckled frogs for this activity in storytime:

five green and speckled frogs sat on a speckled log, eating some most delicious bugs!

yum yum

1 jumped into the pool

where it was nice and cool

then there were four green speckled frogs......

CLA '2013 - Here I come...........

On my way to CLA 2013

Guess who's coming with me?

dudes from the Jurassic period

Dino Dudes........

Please take a moment to check out my video from last year's

CLA Conference:

Click Here for My Fabulous Video on How To Make Felt Collage

See you at CLA - Tuesday April 30th 

Flannel Friday! Ice Cream, Ice Cream !

Hello!

This week in storytime we celebrated

Summer

&

 Ice cream!! 

We talked about our favorite flavors:

Strawberry, Vanilla, and Chocolate.

I made very simple felt sugar cones and single scoops in lots of colors.  Each child participated building up their favorite ice cream cone.  As we sang: 

Ice cream, Ice cream Piled High.............

Ice cream, Ice cream touch the sky ..........

We finished our creations with Cherries on Top!!!

I shared these stories with my 2 year olds:

And I also shared this story with my 3 year olds:

We also celebrated our love for ice cream by singing and playing with Debi Derryberry's Song: Scoops of Ice Cream.

Each child was given a paper water cup covered with brown paper ~ to resemble an ice cream cone.  In a plastic baggie they each received 10 poms poms.  First, I had the kids count out their ten "scoops" in a row.  Then as I played the song, they placed each "scoop" inside their "cone." 

We all had a marvelous time and since we were only playing with pom pom scoops and not real ice cream scoops, we didn't get Tummy Aches.

See you next week!

Flannel Friday! 1 2 3 Dinosaur Roar

Hello!

Welcome Back to Summer Storytime !!

Dinosaurs are roaming all over West Hartford! 

Here are my dinosaurs for Flannel Friday.  I made these for CLA and they have been waiting for their debut!

For my two year old storytime we read these books:

We marched to Laurie Berkner's We are the Dinosaurs!

These are the rhymes I used:

For my 3 year old storytime, these are the titles I wanted to share:

This one was my favorite:

This one was kinda SCARY, so I skipped it:

These two were great !!

Thanks for looking!

You will find the dinosaur pattern at Mel's Desk !!  Thanks Mel

Flannel Friday ! Up you get !

Hello!

Today I have a Box story for you based on the book

Clip-Clop! by Nicola Smee!

Enjoy!

Mr. Horse is ready take a trip!

Who wants to come!

Cat wants to come !

Up you get, cat !

Dog wants to come !

Up you get, dog !

Pig wants to come !

Up you get, pig !

Wait, Duck wants to come !

Up you get, duck !

Now everybody hold on !!!!

Here we go !!!!

Up Up Up !!!

Up to the TOP !!!

Down!!!!

Down to the ground !!!

Whoa !! That was fun !!

Let's do it AGAIN !!!

Mr. Horse and friends are holding on with the help of small clothespins and hot glue.  Faces are made from black contact paper and cat's whiskers and pig's tail are light blue embroidery thread with a little hair spray for stiffness. 

Everybody held their breath, when, on the AGAIN part, Mr. Horse, cat, dog, pig and duck turned UPSIDE DOWN !!!

fun   fun  fun



Flannel This ! Sneak Peak Preview !

Hi Everyone !

Today you are invited to a Special Sneak Peak Preview of my Flannel This ! video which was created for the upcoming Connecticut Library Association Conference on May 8, 2012

My colleague, Jane Breen, and I are co-presenting at this year's annual conference which will be held in Mystic, Connecticut in 2 weeks !!!!

Our presentation, Flannel This ! Puppet That !, will explore felt boards and puppetry and how to use these wonderful tools to enhance your storytimes. 

Cheers! 

Special thanks to Judy Sierra

Special thanks to Melissa Depper, Flannel Friday, and Twitter for inspiring me to share my flannel collections.

The dinosaur template can be found on Melissa's site.

Flannel Friday! The Carrot!

Hello!

Today I am sharing a classic story
that I made using felt collage over 14 years ago!!!

A true testament to my love for felt,

the pieces have held up very well. 

I love this story and I tell it often.

The pattern and story outline is from :

Mother Goose's Playhouse: Toddler Tales and Nursery Rhymes, with Patterns for Puppets and Feltboards /  by Judy Sierra.

 

 

 

Here is my version:

The Carrot, adapted & retold  by Kari Ann

Once upon a time, there was a Bunny Rabbit.

 Bunny was SOOOOO excited because HE was invited to A PARTY! Not a little party, but a BIG PARTY.  And he needed to bring A DISH.  Not a little dish, but a BIG DISH!  So he decided to make one of his Favorite Recipes!  But he needed his most favorite and most treasured ingredient to make it the BEST, What do you think he needed? (ask audience)

You guessed it  --  CARROTS!  Bunny LOVES CARROTS.

So he went out into the garden to look for a CARROT, for his BIG DISH!

And, when he got to the carrot patch, guess what he found?

You guessed it -- A carrot leaf, sticking out of the ground.

But it wasn't a little carrot leaf, it was a BIG ENORMOUS CARROT LEAF!

WOW - Bunny knew this carrot would be PERFECT for his BIG DISH.

So, He grabbed on to the Leaf, and he PULLED, and he PULLED, and he PULLED!!! (kids pull)

But the carrot WOULDN'T come out,  IT WAS STUCK!!!

WOW, this carrot must be huge!

Uh-oh, I'm never gonna make my BIG DISH now, I NEED HELP!

Well, Bunny's friend SQUIRREL was watching from the nearest tree.

  Squirrel could tell that her friend needed help.  So she called out: BUNNY what's going on, do you need HELP?

Bunny said:  YUP, I need this carrot for the BIG PARTY, see I'M MAKING A BIG DISH,  I can't get it out! IT'S STUCK.

Squirrel said she could help.

So Squirrel held on to BUNNY, and BUNNY held on to the CARROT LEAF, and together they PULLED, and they PULLED, and they PULLED!!! 

But the carrot STILL WOULDN'T come out,  IT WAS STUCK!!!

This carrot must be enormous!

Uh-oh, we NEED MORE HELP!

Now, TURTLE was watching from way on the other side of the carrot patch, and he called out :  BUNNY !  SQUIRREL ! do you guys need HELP?

Squirrel said : Yup, Bunny's going to a SUPER DUPER BIG PARTY and he needs to make a SUPER DUPER BIG DISH, he wants this here carrot, but IT'S STUCK.

Turtle said he would help.

So Turtle held on to the SQUIRREL,  and Squirrel held on to BUNNY, and BUNNY held onto the CARROT LEAF, and together they PULLED, and they PULLED, and they PULLED!!! 

But the carrot STILL WOULDN'T come out,  IT WAS REALLY REALLY STUCK!!!

This carrot must be bigger than enormous (ask what's bigger than enormous?) GIGANTIC!

And uh-oh, Bunny started to get STRESSED.
Bunny started to CRY. 

Now, Snail, just happened to be taking a leisurely stroll, when she came upon this situation.

Snail said: BUNNY why are you crying?

Turtle answered: BUNNY is going to THEE BIGGEST PARTY, he wants to bring THE biggest CARROT DISH, but this carrot won't come out, IT'S TOO BIG, TOO HUGE, IT'S STUCK! We've been pulling and pulling but it's no use. 

Snail said: Well maybe I CAN HELP.  I bet I could pull pretty good.  

BUNNY, SQUIRREL, and TURTLE looked at snail like she was the craziest thing in the world.

YOU? But SNAIL, how can YOU help?
YOU are so SMALL, and you are SO SLOW,
this CARROT is TOO BIG.
  
SNAIL! 

This Carrot is BIGGER THAN THE MOON!!

Snail, straightened herself up and said as strong and as clear as she could:
 I  ....   CAN ....   help.  I can PULL Bigger than the MOON -   give ME a CHANCE. 

one tiny CHANCE.  please?

And so, with that, snail held on to TURTLE, and TURTLE held on to SQUIRREL,  and SQUIRREL held on to BUNNY, and BUNNY held on to the CARROT LEAF, and together they PULLED, and they PULLED, and they PULLED!!!

 And then they PULLED ONCE MORE AND ..................

You got it --- the BIGGEST CARROT CAME OUT!

Bunny was so happy and thankful and blessed to have such good friends.  He thanked them for helping and then they all lifted SNAIL up onto their shoulders and marched into BUNNY'S KITCHEN where they all HELPED cook up the most DEEELICIOUS, AMAZING, SCRUMPTIOUS CARROT DISH YOU HAVE ever tasted in the entire world!    

And the BIG SUPER DUPER PARTY was the BEST EVER!!

And do you know that BUNNY's DISH
was BIGGER than the MOON !

yup!!
and that's the end!!