Flannel Friday: This is NOT a Pumpkin

This is NOT a Flannel Story!

(Because it's made out of paper)

I made most of my "flannel" stories out of paper not because I'm some sort of rebel against the fabric industry, just because I like paper. It's a more versatile and easier medium to work with for me.

With Halloween coming up, I wanted to do "This is is NOT a Pumpkin" by Bob Staake. If you have read this book, you probably have found it as quirky and charming as I do.

Also if you've used this book in storytime, you'll notice it presents some challenges.
1- It's small (typical board book size)
2- It's an older book and often harder to find in libraries (Our system only had 7 copies)

I researched and googled ideas for a flannel on this story and didn't find one. So perhaps I'm the first person to do this book as a flannel and share it. Enjoy!

This is NOT a Pumpkin- Text by Bob Staake

Book added for scale

This is NOT a pumpkin, 
It's round
It's big, 
It has a steam
But this is NOT a pumpkin

You can turn it sideways
You can even turn it upside down.

You can put it in a corner
or throw it high in the air
And wonder if it will come back down

But no matter HOW you look at it this is NOT a pumpkin!

Why because EVERYONE knows that pumpkins
(Turn you pumpkin around)

Don't SMILE!
NO! NO! NO!

Pumpkins don't smile or frown

Jack-o'- lanterns do.

This is NOT a pumpkin.
THIS is a Jack-o'- lantern!


The trick to creating this is to make sure the back of your pumpkin matches the front of your pumpkin. Since I used laminated paper, I also made sure to place a few pieces of double stick table on each side of your pumpkin and in the corners (for the "putting in in the corner, throwing it up" etc.) If your felt is super good at sticking to your board, kudos to you! But for the rest of us...double stick tape.

The eyes, nose and mouth are removable, chiefly the mouth has to be easy to move so you can turn it upside down to frown.

May your upcoming storytimes be spooky!

BOO!

Storytime from the Liberry: Toddler's Chinese New Year

I wished my toddler storytime group a "Happy New Year!" yesterday.

They just stared at me blankly (but to be fair they do that a lot)

I corrected myself "You might be thinking, 'Whoa you are a month late wishing a happy new year' so I will say instead Happy Chinese New Year."

The Chinese Zodiac has interested me ever since I was a kid, reading over the place mats at the Chinese buffet while chowing down on fried rice. Indeed, I was one of those women desperately trying to conceive during 2012 so I could have my firstborn be born in the Year of the Dragon.

I found a storytime idea for Chinese New Year in Artsy Toddler Storytime which has a whole year of storytime themes incorporating arts and craft activities. I adapted mine since I can never count on a small or large group. I might have 30 plus kids and no space to put up finger painting tables (Much less keep kids from tearing into them before stories are done)

2015 brings us the Year of the Sheep (or Goat depending on your sources) Children born under this new year are suppose to have calm, gentle and creative personality.

Since there are more picture books about sheep than goats, I'm sticking with sheep. Half the books deal with Chinese New Year/Culture, the rest are about sheep.

Books:
My First Chinese New Year by Karen Katz *
Round is a Mooncake by Rosanne Thong* - She also has two other books that deal with colors and
numbers with Chinese culture. A good pick for a multicultural storytime.
Where is the Green Sheep by Mem Fox
Sheep in a Jeep by Nancy Shaw- Or any in this series. I find them all cute and funny.

My Lucky Little Dragon by Joyce Wan- Shorter Board book if you do baby storytimes, totally adorable.

*These books I shorten for time an attention span. You can do this easily without losing the whole story.

Activities:
Fireworks, parades, dragons, holidays there are so many direction you can go with this. Here's what I did.

Fire Little Firecrackers- I told the kids we would have indoor fireworks. How exciting is that? The flannel idea came from Storytime with Miss Tara and Friends
The firecrackers were made from red felt with white pipe cleaners attached with hot glue. The fireworks were made with felt and curling ribbon. I curled several dozen strands of ribbon (Only cutting myself twice) taped them together in bundles before stapling them to the felt. 

As you can see here, this firework flannel has many uses not just for Chinese New Years but also 4th of July, patriotic holidays and a Letter F themed storytime. This was one flannel story that my group really responded well to. It's defiantly a keeper!

I try not to lean on the crutch of doing the same storytime every year. I have at least two years rotation. I only have a handful that I repeat because they involve common and popular themes. I think this one is going into that select group. All you have to do is change the animal every year and your have something new. So be on the look out for Monkeys in 2016!

 
 

Storytime From the Liberry: The Letter H (Bonus Flannel Friday Story)

This Storytime is brought to you by the letter H!

Inspiration for this one came from the story/poem " The House that Jack Built" specifically from the Disney 1956 short cartoon which set it to music.

I wish there was a book of this version! I think its' so clever how the shape of the letters create the animals and characters.

However I was having a hard time finding an actual book version of the nursery rhyme that was suitable for my toddler crowd. I need one that was shorter. After much fruitless searching and finding none to my liking (I'm picky) I decided to just make it a flannel story instead.

Disclaimer: The only thing truly flannel about this is that its on a flannel board. My preferred method is drawing and coloring my own designs on card stock, laminating them and sticking them up with double sided tape.

The House that Jack Built (For the Younger Crowd)

This is the house that Jack built
This is the cheese that lay in the house that Jack built.
This is the rat, that ate the cheese, that lay in the house that Jack built.
This is the cat, who chased the rat, that ate the cheese, that lay in the house that Jack built.
This is the dog, who worried the cat, who chased the rat, that ate the cheese, that lay in the house that Jack built.
This is the cow with the crumpled horn, who tossed the dog, who worried the cat, who chased the rat, that ate the cheese, that lay in the house that Jack built.
This is the maiden, all forlorn, who milked the cow with the crumpled horn, who tossed the dog, who worried the cat, who chased the rat, that ate the cheese, that lay in the house that Jack built.
This is the man all tattered and torn, who kissed the maiden all forlorn,who milked the cow with the crumpled horn, who tossed the dog, who worried the cat, who chased the rat, that ate the cheese, that lay in the house that Jack built.

The House the Jack Built

Close up of the man and the maiden

Close up of all the animals (floating in space!)

I shorten the rhyme and changed some elements. For example the "malt" becomes the "cheese" and the cat no longer kills the rat but chases him instead. You can always add more elements (preacher, rooster, farmer etc.) if you have a older group with a longer attention spans. There is also a pattern for this nursery rhyme in The Flannel Board Storytelling Book by Judy Sierra.

Books:

The Tree House that Jack Built by Verburg and Teague- Brand new book, just published this year. Better for older kids (preschool age)

We Were Tired of Living in a House by Leisel Moak Skorpen

Giddy Up! Let's Ride by Flora McDonnell

Clip Clop by Nicola Smee - Great book to act out during storytime!

Activities:

We adapted This is the Way the Ladies Ride from a lap sit song to letting the kids just pretend their were riding horses on their own. Obviously they only got excited and participated once we got to the "cowboy" part and went really fast.  

Johnny Has One Hammer

10 Horses- A finger play

Check out More Flannel Friday Fun at this week's round up hosted by Notes from the Story Room and the Flannel Friday blog

Storytime from the Liberry : Puppy Love

Storytime Season is back in full swing here @ the liberry. It is rather shocking to see how fast some of my storytime friends have grown up. Some kids I haven't seen since April and they look completely different. I work with toddler so I get to experience their some of the supernatural growth and development they go through at that age.

I used some new things with storytime that I had worked on through the summer and decided to introduce to my regular group in the fall. Our opening in closing song is "Wheels on the Bus" so I ask the kids to pretend that the storytime area is like a bus and I am the "bus driver". We have to try our best to sit on our bottoms and use our listening ears to hear stories and directions. I used the suggestions of having a puppet come out and tell the rules because it seems to relax the kids, make them smile and creates a better atompshere. I don't feel like I'm lecturing the kids and grown ups if they are smiling at me and my puppet.

I also had the balls to state this rule at every storytime to grownups.

"We know that kids often model our behaviors, so please turn off you cell phones and save your personal conversations till after storytime. We will have time to play and socialize after the stories. Let's all do storytime TOGETHER!"

I put this together by gathering examples of other brave and seasoned storytime pros from around the interweb.  I got a few nods in agreement when I stated this to my first group. I had a few cocked eyebrows and disapproving looks from previous offenders in my second group but I'm sorry, not sorry ..It is so nice to have quiet while I'm reading stories!!  It makes a world of difference. Not that I need complete silence, I understand the squirmy nature of toddlers. But reading aloud and having just the sound of my voice carry, knowing that kids were watching and listening and not having to overhear caregivers talking about last week's church service lunch date or whatever BLISS. My job is not to ensure everyone likes me. I'm not going to be the chatty track suit wearing grannies' best friend. I'm here to read and inspire children. My job is to spread the joys of literacy so sometimes I have to be the cranky librarian and tell you to shush.

Okay enough of my blathering. Onto the stories. My theme was Puppy Love- because come on who doesn't love puppies?

Books:
The Best Thing about A Puppy By Judy Hindley

What Puppies Do Best by Laura Numeroff

Bark George by Jules Feiffer- I LOVE this book. I ADORE reading it out loud and getting the kids to laugh and the end is slightly twisted.

Activities
The Saints of Pinterest provided much inspirations for this storytime.
I did Dog's Colorful Day (by Emma Dodd ) as a flannel storytime.
I also sing BINGO whenever I do a storytime about pets or dogs. I just had crummy flannel letters on a board until I saw this super cute design done StorytimeABCs .

We also had fun talking and acting like puppies.
We did our closing song of Wheels on the Bus before we did our last activity, which was a song that was going to introduce puppets to to group. I knew I would lose their attention once those puppets came out. The kids and I had a blast singing Going to the Pet Store


Verses I use for Wheels on the Bus (Opening and Closing Song)
Opening:
The Wheels on the Bus go Round and round
Round and round, Round and round.
The Wheels on the Bus go Round and round
all through the town

The horn on the bus goes beep beep beep
The kids on the bus go up and down
The driver on the bus says "Have a seat!"

Closing:
The babies on the bus go "wah, wah wah"
The grown ups on the bus go "shush, shush, shush"
The doors on the bus go open and shut
The kids on the bus go "See ya next time!"