Flannel Board Inventory

I took the time to organize and photograph my flannel board sets today.  Since I keep them in an old-fashioned file cabinet, it's easy to forget just what's in there.
Of course, they are organized alphabetically.
I used a simple word document.  I added a table with four columns and four rows for each page.  Then I simply added the photograph, the name of the set, the description and then any themes which the set could be used with.

So, without further ado, here's what I found in that old grey file beast:

Name/Title	Photo			Description		Themes
ABC’s				Not made yet!		Alphabet
APPLE Bingo				For this song:  “I know a fruit that grows on trees and Apples is its name-oh!  A-P-P-L-E, A-P-P-L-E, A-P-P-L-E, and Apple is its name-oh!		Apples, letters (alphabet)
The Farmer’s Wife				For Use with telling the story by Indries Shah.  “Once upon a time there was a farmer’s wife…”		Apples
The Apple Tree				For use with the song:  “Way up high in the apple tree, some little apples smiled at me.  I shook that tree as hard as I could, down came the apples, umm, mm, good!” then:  angry, cried, whispered, yawned.		Apples, emotions
Apple Basket				“The first apple in the basket was bright and shiny red…Oh dear!  Oh me!  Oh my!  This basket looks like pastry!  I think we’re in a pie!”		Apples, food,
Barnyard Banter			For use with the book by Denise Fleming		Animals, farm
BINGO			For use with the song: Bingo		Dogs, letters, farms
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?		Need photo	For use with the book		Colors, Animals
One Little Blue bird			One little blue bird up and up he flew.  Along came another one and that makes two…		Counting, birds
In My Nest			Use with the text from the board book:  in my nest by Sara Gillingham		Birds, group participation, homes

Birds					“Two little dickey birds…one named Jack, one named Jill…”  (Cloud, soft, loud)  (Sky, Low, and high) Finger play	Birds
Black Birds baked in a pie					For use with the Nursery Rhyme	Birds, food?
Bug					Pull Bug parts out of your story time apron and make…a bug!	Bugs
BUGS					For use with the book Bustle in the Bushes	Bugs
Bunnies				Fingerpuppets:  “Five little rabbits sitting by the door.  One hopped away and then there were…four!  Etc”		Rabbits
CATS				To pull out of the apron		CATS
Three Little Kittens				Finger puppets to use with the Nursery Rhyme and a bigger hand puppet as the mother		Cats, conditional love
Little Cat, duck, mouse, pig				For use with the song which teaches sign language		Cat, Mouse, Duck, Pig…
Dinosaurs			For apron use and also for Five Little Dinosaurs Jumping on the Bed song			Dinosaurs
Dogs				Apron usage		Dogs
Dog’s Colorful Day				To tell the story by Emma Dodd		Dogs, colors
This Old Man				To tell the story/song		Counting, dogs, rhyming
Little White Duck				To tell the story by Whipple		Ducks, ponds, frogs, bugs, snakes,
Animals in Winter				Borrowed the frog and snake from “Little White Duck” and the bird from “Birds”		Snow, Winter, Animals, Hibernation
Hibernation				For use with the song:  “Hibernation, time for Hibernation, Hibernation, Time to go to sleep!”		Hibernation, animals in winter…
Deep Blue Sea				To tell the story from the book by Woods		+Colors, Ocean,

Flowers			For use with the rhyme:  Five little Flowers				Flowers, spring, gardens
Pie			For use with the rhyme:  “One whole pie set by the door, Cut into pieces:  Let’s count four!  Four pieces of pie, all for me!  I ate one piece and then there were three!...”				Food, Thanksgiving, fractions…counting
Five Brown Buns			Use with the Song:  “Five brown Buns”				Food, counting,
Flip-Flap Jack			Song:  There was a man made of food…				Food,
Five Green and Speckled Frogs				Use with the song		Frogs, ponds, counting
Three Billy Goats Gruff					Use to tell the story	Goats,
It looked like Spilt Milk					Use to tell the story	Shapes, clouds,
Lazy Jack					Use to tell the tale	Days of the week…

Jo MacDonald’s Garden		Use to tell the story	Gardens
Five little Mice		Use with a cat puppet to tell the rhyme:  “Five little mice came out to play, gathering crumbs along the way…”	Mice, Cats
Hide and Seek Mice		Can you find me?  Where can I be?  rhyme	Mice.  Hiding.
Monsters		For use in Apron or Five little Monsters jumping on the bed…	Monsters, Halloween

Go Away, Big, Green, Scary Monster!			Use to tell the story		Monsters Halloween feelings
The Squeaky Door				Use to tell the story by Margaret Read MacDonald	Halloween, monsters
Five Little Hoot Owls				Use with the rhyme: “Five Hoot Owls sitting in a tree, ONE  Flew away and then there were….”	Birds, owls,
Five Little Penguins				Penguins Finger Puppets.  Use with “Five Perky Penguins standing  on the shore…” or song “Did you ever see a Penguin”	Penguins, birds, ice,

Pippa’s Penguins		Use to tell the story	Penguins
Pirates		Use to sing the song, “This old pirate has a hat..”	Pirates
Pumpkins		Apron use,	Pumpkins, fall
Jack ‘o’ Lanterns		Sing”  “If you’re happy and you know it…”	Pumpkins, fall, feelings

The Little Old Lady Who wasn’t Afraid of anything		Use to tell the story	Halloween, Pumpkins, feelings
Rainbow		Song:  “Make a Rainbow” to the tune of Skip to my Lou	Shapes, Colors,
Shape houses		Use with the Rhyme:  “Some houses are made of wood and some of clay but let’s make a house just of shapes today…”	Shapes
A Pizza is a Triangle		Lay down the pieces and say, this is a triangle, etc until you get to the next shape and the children will correct you..	Shapes

Shapes		Use with the song: Who has a shape today?	Shapes, colors
Five Little Rockets		Use with Rhyme:  “Four little Rockets…”	Space, Things that go
Eight Spinning Planets		Tell the story of Eight Spinning Planets	Space
Turkey		Use with song:  Have you ever seen a turkey?  (to the tune of Have you ever seen a lassie?)	Turkeys, colors, Thanksgiving

Thanks a Lot		Use with the song by Raffi	Thanksgiving
Zoo Animals		Use with:  My Name is Lou.  I work at the Zoo…	Zoo or jungle animals
Zoo Animals		These are the habitats that you hide the zoo animals behind…also use the snake from Little White Duck	Zoo Animals
Fall Leaves		Use to tell the story of Mouse’s first fall or just for leaves in apron	Fall, leaves

Animals in Winter

Here's a calm and quiet storytime.  It leaves the teachers and children happy.  Keep calm and hibernate on! 

Books Shared or Recommended:
A Den is a Bed for a Bear by Baines
Animals in Winter by Rustad
Bear Snores On by Wilson
Hibernation by Hall
Old Bear by Henkes
Sleepy Bear by Dabcovich
Snow Rabbit, Spring Rabbit by Na
Time to Sleep by Fleming

It is so cold outside that we find snowflakes in the storytime apron.  It's winter!  We can go inside our warm houses and schools when the temperatures drop down below freezing, but what do animals do in the Winter? 

We find a white rabbit in the next pocket.  She can hop around in the snow and look for food.  Some animals stay where they are during the Winter because they have warm furry coats.

 

Then out hops a bird.  Some animals migrate many miles to get to sunnier, warmer winter homes.  Animals like birds and whales and deer migrate.

 

Some animals stay where they are and hibernate during winter.  Look, here's a bear sleeping in a lair.

 

Frogs and turtles hibernate.

Even some snakes hibernate!

 

Look here's a bat.  They hibernate up-side down.

 

Here's a book about Animals in Winter: 

 

The children really love the photos of real animals in this quick read.

Then, here's a hibernation song sung to the tune of "Alouette":

Song: “Hibernation” (Tune: “Alouette”)

Chorus:

Hibernation, time for hibernation,
Hibernation, time to go to sleep.

In the winter, where's the bear?

Sleeping in its log or lair.
Where's the bear? Log or lair. Oh!

 

Chorus

In the winter, where's the frog?

Sleeping by a pond or log.
Where's the frog? Pond or log.
Where's the bear? Log or lair. Oh!

 

Chorus

In the winter, where's the snake?
In the mud beneath beneath the lake.
Where's the snake? In the lake.
Where's the frog? Pond or log.
Where's the bear? Log or lair. Oh!

 

Chorus

In the winter, where’ the bat?
In a cave is where it’s at.
Where’s the bat? A cave it’s at.
Where's the snake? In the lake.
Where's the frog? Pond or log.
Where's the bear? Log or lair. Oh!

 

I'd like to make another verse about a mouse in a field by a house...or a turtle friend in the stream til winter's end...but let's see if we get to that this year or next.

Then we either read Time to Sleep (longer)

 

or Snow Rabbit, Spring Rabbit (shorter), depending on time.

 

 

 

Then it's time for our visitor and the children help to tell this story of a little Bear who is sleeping and then has a busy day.  The parts in italics are sung.

 

 

 

 

 Have a little run bear
Spoken: Once upon a time there was a little bear who was sleeping in his bed.

            Have a lit-tle sleep bear, sleep bear, sleep bear

           Have a lit-tle sleep bear, sleep bear, sleep (Hold hands under chin as if to sleep)

The next day, the sun came out and the bear woke up and stretched.

            Have a little stretch bear, stretch bear, stretch bear

            Have a little stretch bear, stretch bear, stretch (Pretend to stretch)

And since it was a nice sunny day, the bear decided to go for a walk.

            Have a little walk bear, walk bear, etc..... (Pretend to walk)

But this was a very active little bear and soon he became bored with walking and decided to run.

            Have a little run bear....... (Run)

And after all the running he was so hot and sweaty. Before him was a big cool lake, So what do you think he did? Yes he jumped in and swam!

            Have a little swim bear..... (Pretend to swim)

And after he swam, he climbed out of the water and he was all drippy wet. And do you know how bears dry themselves off when they're wet? Yes, they shake!

            Have a little shake bear.... (Shake)

And after all that shaking he looked up and saw a taaaaall tree. And you know how much bears like to climb trees!

             Have a little climb bear..... (Hands climb one over the other)

And when that bear got to the top, do you know what he saw? Some golden, sweet, delicious HONEY! And you know how much bears like honey!

            Have a little taste bear...... (Pretend to taste)

But you know, wherever there is honey, there are also BEES! And those bees did not like that bear messing with their honey. And you know what bees do when they get angry!

           Have a little sting bear, sting bear...... (A bee stings your nose!)

And the bear said, "OUCH!"

(Do all of this next part fast and frantic)

Have a little climb bear, climb bear.....
Have a little swim bear....
Have a little shake bear....
Have a little run bear....
Have a little walk bear....

And the bear got inside and said, Mommy, mommy, I went for a walk and ran

and swam in a lake and shook myself off, and climbed
a tall tree, tasted some honey and a BEE stung me on the nose! And mommy
said, "Awwww"

              Have a little hug bear, hug bear, hug bear

              Have a little hug bear, hug bear, hug. (Hug yourself)

Then the little bear layed down for a long winter's sleep.

 

              Have a little sleep bear, sleep bear, sleep bear.

              Have a little sleep bear, sleep bear, sleep.  (Hold hands under chin as if to sleep)

 

 

Then little Bear gets to sing the Goodbye song.

 

Thankful Storytime

Books Shared or Recommended:
Gracias!  Thanks! by Mora
Bear Says Thanks! by Wilson

We find a turkey and his feathers in the story time apron this month!  Why do we have a turkey?  Because of Thanksgiving!  That's when we think of all of the things that make us happy, things that we are thankful for.

 

What's missing?  The turkey doesn't have any feathers!  Let's dress him.

 (To the tune of "Have You Ever Seen a Lassie?")

 

Have you ever seen a turkey, a turkey, a turkey,

Have you ever seen a turkey, with feathers so bright?

WIth red ones, and orange ones, and green ones and yellow ones!

Have you ever seen a turkey with feathers so bright?

 

Then sing this again and get the other four feathers onto that naked bird.  AHA!  Now he's dressed for Thanksgiving.  We count his feathers.  Eight!  Then, to be tricky, we count backwards when we take them off of the flannel board.  What great counters!

We read Gracias!  Thanks!  The children really seem to enjoy this book where a boy lists all of the things that make him happy.

 

Then we read Bear Says Thanks!  At first I thought that this wasn't up there with the best of Wilson's books, but I'm warming to it.  The key to reading it is to sigh or moan when bear sighs or moans.  Also, explain that bear has a really deep voice and ask the children to say 'thanks' with you when "Bear says thanks".  Sometimes when you slow down and emphasize the words, they are more interesting.

Then it's time for pie.  Here is a fun Flannel that the kids just eat up!

 

One Whole Pie
One whole pie set by the door.
Let's count the pieces:  one, two, three, four!
Four pieces of pie, just for me!
I ate one piece and now there are...three!
Three pieces of pie, there's one for you,
You ate one and now there are...two!
Two pieces of pie!  Oh, what fun!
Let's eat another and then there's...one!
One piece of pie!  I can't wait!
I eat it up! And then there's an empty plate!

Next is a flannel set to Raffi's song, "Thanks A Lot".  I got this idea from the wonderful website, Mel's Desk.  I add the flannel pieces as Raffi sings about them.

 

After the song, I say that Raffi was thankful for:  the sun, the clouds, and say the pieces as I pick them up off of the flannel board to get them into the correct order for the next go-round.

Then it's time for Ted, the Turkey!  He's not a puppet, but he works just as well.  So, note to self, if you don't have a puppet, a stuffed animal works pretty well as a substitute.  I borrowed him from Technical Services and they don't seemed to have missed him yet.

 

Here's his song:

I'm a little Turkey!  My name is Ted.

Here are my feathers, here is my head!

Gobble, Gobble, Gobble, is what I say!

I run and hide on Thanksgiving Day!

 

Then Ted gets to sing the goodbye song...

"Now it's time to say good-bye, say good-bye, say good-bye

Now it's time to say goodbye, You can pet me in the bookmobile!"

 

 

STEM Uni Visits our Library

We are all into STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) here at our library.  We have received a grant to look into STEM for birth to three year-olds.  To that end, we were lucky enough to get a travelling STEM UNI.

Here are some photos of the thing.  It was rather large.  I snapped pictures of the cubbies that seemed like they'd be easy to implement in a Children's Library setting. 

 

 

A child would get a prize when she completed one cubbie from each of the four STEM areas.

 

 The box that says equations held craft sticks which said, "2 + 4", "8-2", etc.  The idea is to put the craft stick into the correct answer.  This was, obviously, a math cubbie.

 

This was a very popular bell cubbie which qualified as Science.  You would line the bells up in numerical order and then be able to play a song on them.  Winner!

 

This Magnet cubbie was also a big hit.  It was a Technology cubbie.

And here is an example of an Engineering cubbie.  "Balance the Bears."  One big bear equaled two medium or three small. 

 

It made for a very busy and fun filled time at the library!

I was sorry to see the STEM Uni go.