Fun with Friends at Storytime: animals

Showing posts with label animals. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 14, 2024

Two Little Zebras

A new set of 2 little fingerpuppets! Here is Zoe and Zane. They like to gallop on the African plain. I found a cute Google image to deconstruct for a pattern and used some hot glue and slick paint and here they are! Zebras are so much Fun with Friends at Storytime!

Friday, April 24, 2020

The Turnip: a Russian Folktale

This cumaltive tale of an Enormous Turnip is a lot of fun! There are a lot of variations too. I used The Flannel Board Storytelling Book by Judy Sierra for my patterns and story. I made the ground as a pocket for the turnip to 'grow' and pop out at the end. I used a couple of shades of purple marker to shade the top of the turnip. Here's a tip, let it sit and dry for a couple of hours! I did add a lesson at the end of the story. "Big or small, old or young when we all work together we get the job done!" Such a lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime!

Saturday, October 6, 2018

Marching Elephants

We recently did an elephant theme for storytime and I wanted a new flannelboard set! I have shared my circus elephants HERE and I also made my own set of 5 Elephants in the Tub but that just wasn't enough! LOL! I made a new set of 10 elephants marching trunk to tail. Elephant Counting. This rhyme gives us an opportunity to talk about 'first' and 'last'. We really enjoyed counting to 10 and then, subtracting and counting backwards to 0.
Elephants are so much Fun with Friends at Storytime!

Friday, May 26, 2017

Happy Gorilla and Rainbow Bananas!

I just shared 2 story times at my favorite preschool's end of the year picnic and wanted to share with you the Gorilla rhyme/activity that I used. I shared a fun gorilla blog post before HERE but didn't have this activity finished then. Here is 'Rainbow Bananas for Happy Gorilla'. I programmed a paper with 6 banana images and printed it on 7 different colors of paper. I used a deconstructed Google image for my Gorilla face and construction paper for him. I just free-hand cut green fun foam that I had to make the leaves to hot glue to my shoe box. I painted the inside of the shoe box black before I glued the leaves to the box. I laminated my banana papers and Gorilla face and cut them out. I taped the Gorilla face to my box and we were ready for FUN!

I had the banana shapes on a small table by the door as the kiddos entered the storytelling room. I invited them to pick a colored banana and find a spot on the rug. They held onto the banana until later in the program when we played our game. Since this was a family event I had all ages of preschoolers for the program and everyone was able to play and everyone enjoyed feeding the Gorilla! Something about stuffing a colored banana into the mouth of a Gorilla was exciting and Fun with Friends at Storytime!! Check out the other ideas on the Flannel Friday Roundup HERE!

Thursday, February 16, 2017

Koala Fun!

We are planning for our summer session already and wanted to use some books about the cutest animal ever...koalas!! Of course this was a perfect opportunity for me to make some new felt pieces and write a couple of new rhymes. I have a 5 little whatsit rhyme for my koala pieces, here's the link for 5 Koalas. I used a Google image and deconstructed it to make my koalas. They were labor intensive so I'm not sure I'll make another set any time soon!! But, I am so pleased with their sweet little faces! They have a eucalyptus branch for counting and eating!

Koalas are so sweet and so much Fun with Friends at Storytime! There are other ideas this week @ Flannel Friday Roundup. Check out the wonderful resources on the Flannel Friday Pinterest Boards. Here's the link for the official Flannel Friday blog for more info!

Saturday, January 14, 2017

Pandas!

So, we are programming for the winter and realized we've never done a Panda theme at our library! Well, that's got to change! I had seen this cute idea @Storytime Sparks and decided it was just the ticket for our program. I had made a felt set for Pippa's Penguins by Susan M. Dailey similar to the one @ RainMakesApplesauce. So I just adapted the story script to reflect our boy, Peter, and his cute colorful pandas. My pandas are a deconstructed Google image. Since we are using a nonfiction book about pandas too, we can talk about the difference between the real pandas and pretend toy pandas! Talking and Playing are two of our ECRR components!

There are more ideas on this week's Flannel Friday Roundup! Check out the wonderful resources on the Flannel Friday Pinterest Boards. Here's the link for the official Flannel Friday blog for more info!

Thursday, September 8, 2016

Happy Gorillas!

During the month of November we are featuring storytime themes that start with the letter G. Our first week is a week of gorillas! After checking the Flannel Friday Pinterest boards, I decided to make my own rhyme and set of gorillas. Here's the link for 'Happy Gorillas' and pics of my counting to five set of gorillas and colorful gorilla food. To make my pattern for my gorillas I used the best features from 2 or 3 different Google images that I traced and deconstructed for the parts.I made my own patterns for the banana, leaves, tree, bush and bugs. The five bugs have pipe cleaner legs hot glued to the back. I have a diecut that I used for the flowers and the berries. We are giving a Gorilla paper bag puppet as our Home Extension. Yep, Gorillas are a lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime!

There are more great ideas on the Flannel Friday Roundup. Check out the wonderful resources on the Flannel Friday Pinterest Boards. Here's the link for the official Flannel Friday blog for more info!

Thursday, September 24, 2015

Little Forest Animals revisited!

Last year I posted about a rhyme/activity that I used called Little Forest Animals. When I made it up I hadn't seen any of the other wonderful posts on the Flannel Friday Forest Animal Pinterest board. Since then I found similar rhymes @Falling Flannelboards and @ 1234 More Storytimes. You could do a month of Forest/Woodland animal storytimes with all of these resources! I usually use the Beanie Baby animals that I have with my rhyme but I also made a set of laminated animals from Google images (just in case) LOL!

This theme would be an excellent opportunity to use or highlight non-fiction titles for little kiddos! Any of these rhyme/activities would be great for the Talking and Playing components of ECRR! Forest Animals are a lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime.

There are more great posts on the Flannel Friday Roundup. Check out the wonderful resources on the Flannel Friday Pinterest Boards. If you want more info about Flannel Friday here's the link for the official Flannel Friday blog.

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Mole's New Hole...an inspired post

Two years ago when our Summer Reading theme was 'Dig into Reading' I was inspired to make my own set for the story that Linda Meuse shared from Notes from the Story Room. Not only had she made up a cute story, she shared patterns ready for use!! I used her patterns and instead of coloring the pellon with colored pencils I used acrylic paints. I made my hole for mole out of felt with a couple of dots of velcro on the back to hold it tight as I maneuvered mole and then possum in and out of it. We all really enjoyed the story!

You could also play "Which animal is missing?" game with these pieces by having the kids close their eyes (ha!) while you take an animal off of the board. It's so funny that someone always peeks!! This story would be great with a nonfiction book also!! Forest Animals are a lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime!

Friday, September 11, 2015

Happy Hippos

We recently got this new juvenile nonfiction book at our library. It has great pictures and the text lends itself to condensing or telling so I tested it on my preschool grandsons. Big Hit!! So....one thing led to another and I made up a couple of hippo rhymes and made a set of 5 hippos and we are ready for Happy Hippos at Storytime! Hippos are terrifying in real life but adorable in animation or illustrations in picture books. You know, there are a lot of pictures books that feature adorable illustrations of animals that are really not so nice in real life!! Anyway, I found a Google image that I tweaked a little and used some black slick fabric paint and little google eyes for my set of hippos. I remove one at a time as I do the rhyme and I put up the folded 'river' after the last hippo is gone. Then I unfold the river to show the 5 cool hippos swimming in the water! Makes me smile!

5 Hungry Hippos

Kathryn Roach

5 hungry hippos eating grass by the shore.

One went swimming in the river and that left 4.

4 hot hippos under a shady tree,

another went swimming and that left 3.

3 grazing hippos, found some grass to chew

another went swimming and that left 2.

2 hot, cranky hippos want to get out of the sun

one went swimming and that left 1.

1 lonely hippo needs the others for some fun!

He went swimming and now there are none...

But wait!...

Look in the river, what do we see?

5 cool hippos now happy as can be!!

The book, All God's Critters by Bill Staines features illustrations of the funniest hippo ever! Hippos can be a lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime! There are more great posts on the Flannel Friday Roundup. Check out the wonderful resources on the Flannel Friday Pinterest Boards. If you want more info about Flannel Friday here's the link for the official Flannel Friday blog.

Thursday, August 27, 2015

Sleeping Bag Chant

For some reason I think of camping this time of year?!! I don't even like to go camping. LOL! I like the idea of camping out but the reality of it...not so much! But, I don't have to tell my little kiddos that I don't like it...we can all enjoy camping fun at Storytime. I have posted before about some of my camping activities and books Here. Here's my set for 'The Sleeping Bag Chant' that I originally saw @ Welcome to Storytime. I did tweak mine as she suggested (I took out the ghost and cricket). I made a little kiddo in a sleeping bag under a glittery star to begin the chant. I just chanted it and did not use the CD, H.U.M.:Highly Usable Music by Carole Peterson that she cited as the source of these lyrics:

Sleeping Bag Chant

I was lying in my sleeping bag—I couldn’t get to sleep

When the wind began to howl and the bugs began to creep.

So I rolled to the left and I rolled to the right

And I heard every sound that you hear at night—

Then I would make the sound of one of the animals/birds and the kiddos would identify it as I added it to the board. This is a cumulative rhyme so I would say the sounds and name of the previous creatures as I added another one. This was a lot of fun and led to a lot of discussion!

Camping out is a lot of Fun with Friend at Storytime!! There are more great posts on the Flannel Friday Roundup. Check out the wonderful resources on the Flannel Friday Pinterest Boards. If you want more info about Flannel Friday here's the link for the official Flannel Friday blog.

Thursday, July 30, 2015

Hickory Dickory Dock!

Nursery rhymes are easy and fun. There are a lot of benefits for preschoolers in hearing and learning nursery rhymes. A wonderful online resource for nursery rhymes is dltk-teach.com. I found this cute Hickory Dickory Dock that counts from 1-12 (noon). There are printable pieces from this site if you want to print and laminate them. I made my set a long time ago. It is part Pellon and part felt diecuts and cutouts. I used my basic mouse pattern that I used for the Five Little Mice in this post HERE. I didn't worry that the bee and mouse are as big as the horse and cow! Thank goodness little kiddos don't call me on that! LOL!

Jean Warren has some excellent ideas for using nursery rhymes that I want to share with my prechooler's caregivers from her website, Preschool Express. Her site is a treasure trove of rhymes and activities that can be adapted for storytime! I also found this great song resource at Nancymusic.com. Here's a link for printable pictures to make books that go with the songs, including one for Hickory, Dickory Dock!. Nursery Rhymes are so much Fun with Friends at Storytime! There are more great posts on the Flannel Friday Roundup. Check out the wonderful resources on the Flannel Friday Pinterest Boards. If you want more info about Flannel Friday here's the link for the official Flannel Friday blog.

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Little Forest Animals

This post originally went with my camping theme but you could use it with MANY themes. I use my Beanie Baby animals but I also have clipart pictures of the animals. This is a riddle/rhyme I made up a couple of years ago when our summer theme was Dig Into Reading. It turned out to be a lot of fun and there is a lot of learning/thinking going on too! Here's the link for the rhyme: Little Forest Animals. You could easily add more forest animals to guess; an owl, or beaver, or deer...This theme would be a great time to use my Hedgehog flannel set too! Forest Animals are so much Fun with Friends at Storytime!

You'll want to see the rest of this week's Flannel Friday Roundup HERE. Have questions about Flannel Friday? Check out the Flannel Friday official blog. Be sure to check out the Flannel Friday Facebook page too!

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Morning on the Farm

There are so many fun books about Farm that you could use it for the overall theme for a month! Actually, I've done that before. The first week I did general Farm books. The second week I did Chicken books. That was an excuse to use Laurie Berkner's song, ' I Know a Chicken' and use the shaky eggs! The third week I did Pig books and the fourth week I did Sheep books. I guess I could have continued with Cow or Tractor or Seeds or Veggies. There are so many great books to choose from. Also, there are so many great songs to use too! There's the classic 'Old MacDonald had a Farm'. It's not technically about a farm but 'Cat Goes Fiddle-i-fee' has all the farm animals. I have a new favorite song now from Nancy Stewart. It's her song, 'When Ducks Get Up in the Morning'. I think I first saw it mentioned on one of the Flannel Friday blogposts...but I can't remember which?! Anyway, since I have access to some great Ellison farm animal diecuts I decided to make the song an interactive activity. So I cut out about 5 or 6 of 6 different farm animals and handed them out to the kiddos. As we sang about that animal the children holding the matching animal diecut brought it up to the board. I tried a different way to do this with a small group of 2's and young 3's. I was able to give them all the same animal and they had to wait for me to say the sound that the animal makes to bring up their diecut. Waiting and listening for the sound before they could get up was challenging for one of the little kiddos. It didn't take long though, he got the hang of it and could sit on the edge of his chair and wait for the animal sound! I had as much fun as they did!! Playing is one of the ECRR components that we model in our storytimes. Now, I'm thinking a set of jungle/zoo animals might be next on my to-do list. The song is really easy to learn so that you don't have to have the music and you can improvise as you like. Be sure to check out some of the other great Farm/farm animal ideas on the Flannel Friday Pinterest boards.

Farm animals are a lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime! Check out the rest of the roundup @ Library Village. Have questions about Flannel Friday? Check out the Flannel Friday official blog. Be sure to join us on the Flannel Friday Facebook page too.

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Fun with Friends at Storytime