Lions...Oh My!

I realized this week that I don't have many flannelboard sets for a Zoo or Safari theme. I found a cute 5 Ferocious Lions rhyme at Read, Sarah, Read.  I had made a cute lion hand puppet for my grandson that I decided to use as a pattern for my lions. I used a 9x12 sheet of felt for 2 puppets.I cut the sheet in half so that I had 2 pieces 6x9. I cut those in half so that I ended up with 4 pieces 3x4 1/2.  I used my scrap bag for all the features and large google eyes and some string that I used black shoe polish on! The little circle 'cheeks' are from a sizzix diecut that I have and use a LOT!  I glued all the features with tacky glue. Black slick fabric paint 'glued' the whiskers. After the glue dried I hot glued the front to the back along the edge. 
These probably cost me about $3.50. I've made puppy handpuppets for one of the grandson's goody bags for his puppy birthday party.  Easy peasy.  I'm thinking any finger puppet pattern would probably enlarge easily for these small puppets.

 

I will use these on the flannelboard with the rhyme. If my group is small enough I can let the children hold a puppet as I say the rhyme. Lions are a lot of Fun with Friends at Storytime!

Check out this week's Flannel Friday roundup at Stories with Ms Jenna.

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Dalmations!

I have a coworker that has shared an adorable rhyme he made up and a set of 5 cute dalmatian puppies he made for his Firefighter/Firetruck theme. I made my own set of felt doggies and tweaked his pattern just a bit by adding large google eyes instead of felt eyes for the puppies.  I had the eyes and was too lazy to cut out 10 more small circles!  Anyway, here are the doggies I made and the link to Mr. Thad's rhyme; Five Dalmatians. 

These are about 5 in.circles for the bodies and 3 in. circles for the heads and a gazillion small black dots for the spots and noses. O.K.  so it's not a gazillion...it felt like it as I was cutting them out! That's the main reason for the large google eyes; I was tired of cutting small circles. I used some black slick fabric paint for the mouth.  I might add a little red tongue to a couple of the pups just for variety. I think Dalmatians are so much Fun with Friends at Storytime! 
The Flannel Friday Roundup is hosted by Kay Leigh at Storytime ABC's!  Have questions about Flannel Friday? Check out the Flannel Friday official blog.  Be sure to  join us on the Flannel Friday Facebook page and enjoy the great Flannel Friday Pinterest boards too!

Another Circus Post!

Yes, I have a new circus rhyme/guessing game/ file folder storytime prop to share.  I am doing a set of special storytimes at a preschool that I love and Circus is the theme I'm planning to share.  I have several books to use:  Little Monkey Says Good Night by Ann Whitford Paul, Circus Numbers; a Counting Book by Rodney Peppe, Circus by Lois Ehlert and The Circus by Heidi Goennel. Since I will be presenting several storytimes for ages 2 - 5, I'll be able to use different titles that will work with the different ages.  I shared a couple of other posts last year about circus here and here.  I just wanted something new (I have a short attention span myself LOL!).  Here's the link for the script for the Circus guessing game. You can tweak it for whatever pictures you want to use.  The file folder is in two parts and the pictures came from Google images.  I cut out several circus tents at the same time and then cut them apart and reassembled the pieces on a piece of file folder so that the tent would be striped. I also added 'curtains' to the inside of the cutout space of the file folder and then laminated the two parts. I added a couple of pieces of velcro to the two pieces to make it easier to store.  I stacked my pictures in order to match the script and we're ready for some guessing Circus fun! *update* I used this today and it was a big hit! 

The Circus is a LOT of Fun with Friends at Storytime! The Flannel Friday Roundup is hosted by Meg at Miss Meg's Storytime!  Have questions about Flannel Friday? Check out the Flannel Friday official blog.  Be sure to  join us on the Flannel Friday Facebook page and enjoy the great Flannel Friday Pinterest boards too!

Dragons!!

I just had to share this great book that my grandson J. and I have really enjoyed for several weeks now! He tends to fixate on a favorite that we read over and over and over... Thank goodness this is one that I like too!  It is George and the Dragon by Chris Wormell.

This is a delightful book, with 2 page spread illustrations that are clear and fairly uncluttered, with minimal, clever text! Everytime we read it he understands the humor more and he notices more details in the illustrations. It's so much fun to be a part of his process!  This book reminded me of the 10 Dizzy Dragon felt set I made after I saw it mentioned at Sunflower Storytime. The rhyme is from Super Storytelling by Carol Elaine Catron & Barbara Catron Park. I tweaked the rhyme a little too. That eighth dragon line bothered me a little. My coworker suggested we change the line to be; 'the eighth dragon was best friends with a squire." (thanks Margaret!)  I made a set of dragons from felt and a deconstructed Google image. I used google eyes and fabric paint for the features. I'm still thinking about adding some glitter to their bellies! I can't leave well enough alone LOL!   Dragons are so much Fun With Friends at Storytime!

The Flannel Friday Roundup is hosted by Christine at Felt Board Ideas!  Have questions about Flannel Friday? Check out the Flannel Friday official blog.  Be sure to  join us on the Flannel Friday Facebook page and enjoy the great Flannel Friday Pinterest boards too!