Flannel: Five Little Kites

This flannel rhyme was inspired by Storytime Katie.

Five Little Kites

One little kite in the sky so blue,
Along came another, then there were two.

Two little kites flying high above me;
Along came another, then there were three.

Three little kites, just watch them soar,
Along came another, then there were four.

Four little kites, so high and alive
Along came another, then there were five.

Five little kites dancing across the sky,
What a sight to see, way up so high!

————-

This week’s Flannel Friday host is Brooke from Reading With Red. Check out her post for a round-up of awesome flannel creations!

Happy Birthday Flannel Friday!

My blog is all about birthdays lately! My last post was about my Happy Birthday! storytime that I did in honor of my upcoming birthday. However, this post is about a different birthday… Happy 3rd birthday Flannel Friday! To celebrate, participants were asked to share their favorite Flannel Friday projects.

There have been so many awesome and inspirational Flannel Friday projects that I cannot list them all, but here is a sampling of some that I really loved:

Hedgehogs from Miss Meg- Little hedgehogs the kids used with a song and then got to take home with them! Adorable.

I Dream of an Elephant from Miss Tara- I love using this book in storytime, and this flannel version is so cute!

Five Little Kites from Storytime Katie- I need to make some kites of my own soon, and if they turn out half as lovely as these, I’ll be thrilled.

Goldilocks from Library Village- I am in love with this flannel set. The pieces are so beautiful.

The Lovely Ladybug from Fun with Friends at Storytime- I made my own copy of this since I loved it so much. Thanks Kathryn for introducing me to the wonderfulness that is folder stories!

Go Away, Big Green Monster! Draw and Tell from So Tomorrow- I have yet to use a draw & tell in storytime, but when I do, this is one I’d love to try.

For more posts like this one, check out the round-up hosted by Anne at So Tomorrow.

Flannel Friday Round-Up

It’s Flannel Friday! Here are this week’s awesome submissions:

Bridget over at What is Bridget Reading crocheted these cute Rabbit Finger Puppets. Think of all the rhymes and stories one could use with these!

Kathryn at Fun with Friends at Storytime made these Lion Puppets (Yes, they’re puppets!). She’s using these along with the rhyme “5 Ferocious Lions.”

Lisa from Thrive After Three made this video about using Edward Gibbs’ I Spy series in flannel form. I love when librarians make videos. It’s so helpful!

Anne at So Tomorrow created a flannel adaption of The Noisy Counting Book by Susan Schade. It sounds like such a fun story to tell!

Jennifer at Storytime Extras made these Two Little Blackbirds props for the kids to use while saying the rhyme… Much more exciting than just using their pointer finger!

Katie at Story Time Secrets made this flannel set for the rhyme There Was an Old Man with a Beard by Edward Lear. Kids will love this silly rhyme, and will probably enjoy discussing what else could find a home in his beard!

Mrs. Todd at A Librarian Less Ordinary wrote about her Shark Storytime that included this flannel set to go along with the song Five Little Fishies. I love that shark!

Dana over at Magic Librarian created this Down by the Bay set to use with the Raffi’s version of the song. This set looks so fun, and this song will be stuck in my head for the rest of the day now for sure!

Ms. Monica at Ram Ram Storytime shared this prop to go along with the book Monkey Soup by Lois Sachar. What a great way to bring this story to life!

Miss Sue at Library Village created a flannel set to tell the classic tale, Goldilocks. These pieces are GORGEOUS!

Anne at itsybitsymom made this fabulous I Can Read! rebus rhyme magnet set. I’m sure the kids loved making all kinds of different sentences!

Piper at Piper Loves the Library made this lovely flannel circles as part of her Common Ground Art Smart program. This sounds like such an amazing program, and Piper gives an in-depth how-to!

This week, I (Jenna at Stories with Ms. Jenna) made this cake to use with the rhyme Five Birthday Candles in my upcoming birthday storytime.

Thanks everyone for your creative submissions this week!

For more information about Flannel Friday, check out the blog. To find more flannel inspiration, take a look at the pinterest.

Flannel: Five Birthday Candles

My library is on a few weeks storytime hiatus, but we start up again the week of my birthday! I’m going to tell the rhyme “Five Birthday Candles” using this felt birthday cake! The candles aren’t attached so I can take one off each time we blow one out.

Five Birthday Candles

Five birthday candles
Wish there were more
Blow one out
Then there are four

Four birthday candles
Pretty as can be
Blow one out
Then there are three

Three birthday candles
Mother bought them new
Blow one out
Then there are two

Two birthday candles
Birthday cakes are fun
Blow one out
Then there was one

One birthday candle
A birthday wish is fun
Blow it out
Then there are none

source

Goldilocks and the Three Bears Flannel

My newest flannel story creation is for the story The Three Bears, aka Goldilocks and the Three Bears. I think most people say too hot- too cold- just right for the bowls of porridge, but I’ve heard various things for the chairs and beds. For the chairs I said rocks too fast- rocks too slow- just right (but she breaks it), and for the beds: too hard- too soft- just right (falls asleep). In the story, when she eats all of baby bear’s porridge, I turned the bowl upside down. When she breaks baby bear’s chair, I turned it on its side. As you can see in the picture, I color coated the bowls, chairs, and beds. Papa is green, Mama is purple, and Baby is blue.

Three Little Pigs Flannel

I don’t think this flannel story needs any explanation… It’s the Three Little Pigs! I currently have a really young group in my Evening Family Storytime, and I think they’ll enjoy this classic, repetitive story.

Henny Penny Flannel

This week I made a felt story set to tell Henny Penny, the story of a hen who gets hit in the head with an acorn and thinks the sky is falling. She decides to tell the king, and on her journey is joined by Cocky Locky, Turkey Lurkey, and Ducky Lucky (normally there is also Goosey Loosey but I just realized I forgot to make her! Oh well). They happen upon Foxy Loxy who tries to trick them so he can eat them! In some versions, he succeeds, but I’m feeling kind so I will let my animals escape. Either way, the king is never told that the sky is falling.

Too Much Noise Flannel

I recently shared my finger puppet story of Too Much Noise. For that version I say the man is a zookeeper and brings in his animal from the zoo. However, next week I’m doing a barnyard themed storytime so I decided to make flannel farm animals! In the story, the farmer cannot sleep because he thinks there is too much noise (leaves, bed, door..) so he goes to the wise old woman and she tells him to bring the cow into his bedroom. He does this, but that night there is even more noise! He returns day after day and each time the old woman tells him to bring in another animal. Eventually, after 5 animals have been brought in his room and he has still been unable to sleep, the old woman says to put all the animals back in the barn. From then on he is able to sleep. I love telling this story because kids love it every time and always participate in making the animal noises and saying “Too much noise!”.

(also, if the cat looks familiar, it’s because I am borrowing it from my Three Little Kittens set instead of making another one!)

The Singing Pumpkin Flannel

This flannel story goes with the Iranian folktale “The Singing Pumpkin” that I discovered in Judy Sierra’s Silly and Sillier: Read-Aloud Tales from Around the World. In this tale, a woman goes to visit her granddaughter, but happens upon a ogre on her way! She convinces the ogre to not eat her until her way back because she will be much fatter then. When the woman gets to the granddaughter’s house, the granddaughter gives her a huge pumpkin to hide in and roll past the ogre. However, the woman sings while inside the pumpkin and the ogre knows something is weird about this. The ogre tells the woman to come out but she says she cannot until he says the magic words, “Come here my big white dog.” When the ogre says this the woman’s dog comes running and chases the ogre away.

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

Flannel story based on the book The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams. Fun story that uses repetitive phrases and movements. Great for Halloween storytimes!