Thursday 25 August 2011

Flannel Friday - 3 Craws sitting on a wa'

Three Craws Sitting on a Wa'

Although I don't have a Scottish accent I try to incorporate some Doric or Scots rhymes into my librarytimes.  One of my favourite books for little ones is Katie's Coo: Scots rhymes for wee folkThe illustrations by Karen Sutherland are fun and bright and can be seen from quite a distance.  She has also illustrated Rabbie's Rhymes which is the only book featuring Robert Burns' work, I'm aware of, that is fun for the 1 to 4 age range!


Katie's CooKatie's Coo by James Robertson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars



Rabbie's Rhymes: Robert Burns for Wee FolkRabbie's Rhymes: Robert Burns for Wee Folk by Robert Burns
My rating: 4 of 5 stars





I started off wanting finger puppets to perform the song Three craws sat upon a wa' (Three crows sat upon a wall) from her Katie's Coo book.  It's a traditional rhyme/song, and I have reproduced it here in full, this version came from Rampant Scotland and has an unusual 4th verse (I think the concept that 'The fourth craw wisna there at aw..' in the original, is beyond the ken of the little ones!):

You can hear the song here, the crow sounds at the end are great - I'll have to work them in!

Three Craws

Three craws sat upon a wa',
Sat upon a wa', sat upon a wa',
Three craws sat upon a wa',
On a cauld and frosty mornin'.


The first craw was greetin' for his maw,
Greetin' for his maw, greetin' for his maw,
The first craw was greetin' for his maw,
On a cauld and frosty mornin'.


The second craw fell and broke his jaw,
Fell and broke his jaw, fell and broke his jaw,
The second craw fell and broke his jaw,
On a cauld and frosty mornin'.


The third craw, couldnae caw at a',
Couldnae caw at a', couldnae caw at a',
The third craw, couldnae caw at a',
On a cauld and frosty mornin'.


An that's a', absolutely a',
Absolutely a', absolutely a',
An that's a', absolutely a',
On a cauld and frosty mornin'.


Meaning of unusual words:
craws=crows
wa'=wall
cauld=cold
maw=mother
I used this template for a Raven finger puppet and transformed it into a blackbird ...


... and then into a crow (I had forgotten that crows don't have yellow legs)!


The crows are made of dark brown card faced with black felt.  This way I thought they would work as felts as well as finger puppets, having realised I could only fit one puppet on each hand, and couldn't manage 3 crows at once (dumbo!).

Here are pics of the crows in production:



BTW, I made the wing tips more pointy, the finger holes smaller (and attached legs/feet) and made the beak and eyes bigger. 

I could also use 2 of these for Two little dickie birds sitting on a wall.  And I'm sure with slight alterations they could be different types of birds; robins, eagles etc.  I feel a bird-themed Storytime coming on!


Friday 12 August 2011

Flannel Friday - 5 Little Men in a Flying Saucer

Five Little Men in a Flying Saucer

I made this flannel to use in my aliens storytime with the song/rhyme Five Little Men in a Flying Saucer.  The song is a new one on me, and I found various versions of the lyrics, but finally opted for this set.

I decided to do this in flannel so that the 'men' would stick to the flying saucer and I also had some old T-shirt transfer paper that I wanted to play with.

Flying Saucer
The pattern and idea also came from the AllJoinIn blog, and I used the flying saucer straight from the downloadable .pdf (unfortunately no longer available) and printed that directly onto the transfer paper with only a slight enlargement. In order to keep the top section 'felty', I had to cut away a lot of the transfer paper, so there was no transfer image on that part (bit fiddly) and this is shown below.

Transfer paper backing sheet
I had the iron on the highest setting and kept it moving as instructed, but still managed to singe the felt a little!
The felt got a little singed!


However, the template peeled away nicely, and although the image was a little discoloured, it didn't show too much.
No problems peeling off the backing though


Cutting out was straight forward, taking the photo was trickier!
Magic scissors stand up by themselves (eventually)!


'Men'
I simplified one of the 'men' and made that a little larger too. Then cut out 5 in different shades of green felt from a pack of felt samples, each one a few inches square, just the right size for one 'man'.


Then I draw on the mouths with sharpie and stuck on googly eyes.  In retrospect I should have used fabric ones for safety's sake - I'll fix that later.



Aliens Storytime

Aliens Masks - the kids versions were much better!

This is one of two storytimes held during the summer vacation.  The other was the Rockets Storytime when we made the astronaut helmet paper plate craft.

We had a great turnout, but with a big age range 0 to 8, 19 children in all.  The older children got stuck into the crafts right away and were ready to help their younger siblings when the storytime was over.  All in all, it worked out really well.


Craft: Alien Mask & Underpants Almost everyone made both and the photos were somewhat surreal, but fabulous!


Opening Song: Hello, How are you?
[naming & encouraging names from 'new' children.  It worked really well this way, and was a lovely way of drawing non-regulars into the group]

Song: We’re Flying Off in Space (to the tune of Farmer in the Dell)
[Inspired by Katie’s Beach song ]
We're flying off in space,
We're flying off in space.
I think we'll see the moon up there!
We're flying off in space.
... I think we'll see some planets there ...
... I think we'll see some stars up there ...
... Maybe be we’ll see some aliens there ...
[holding up photos of objects as prompts, but with friendly cartoon-style aliens]

Fingerplay: 10 Little Alien Toys (to the tune of 10 Little Indians)
[actually forgot to do this one!]
One little, two little, three little alien ...
Four little, five little, six little alien ...
Seven little, eight little, nine little alien ...
Ten little alien ... toys! [shout]

Song: If you want to read a book, clap your hands


Book: We're off to look for aliens, Colin McNaughton
[The kids enjoyed the rhythm & rhyme in this one]

Flannel Song: Aiken Drum

Song: There's an alien on the floor [inspired by Sticky Kids Lyrics]
[skipped this one as the group seemed eager for another story]
There's an alien on the floor, on the floor.
There's an alien on the floor, on the floor.
There’s an alien on the floor
And he’s coming through the door

There's an alien on the floor, on the floor.

Now the alien’s on my knee, on my knee.
Now the alien’s on my knee, on my knee.
Now the alien’s on my knee
And he’s looking right at me

Now the alien’s on my knee, on my knee.

Now the alien’s on my tummy, on my tummy.

Now the alien’s on my tummy, on my tummy.
Now the alien’s on my tummy,
And I think I want my mummy

Now the alien’s on my tummy, on my tummy.

Now the alien’s on my arm, on my arm.

Now the alien’s on my arm, on my arm
Now the alien’s on my arm
And he won’t do any harm

Now the alien’s on my arm, on my arm.

Now the alien’s on my head, on my head

Now the alien’s on my head, on my head
Now the alien’s on my head!
Can he visit you instead?

Now the alien’s on your head, on your head



Book: Aliens in Underpants, Claire Freedman
[adults and children alike loved this one!]


Action Rhyme: Alien, Alien Turn Around 
[just like Teddybear, teddybear, turn around]
Book: The aliens are coming! Colin McNaughton
[the book within a book facinated some of the kids]

Closing Song: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

Wednesday 10 August 2011

Rockets Storytime

Held earlier this summer.
Craft: Paper plate astronaut helmet

 
Hello Song (Sung to the tune of "Skip to my Lou")
Hello, how are you?
Hello, how are you?
Hello, how are you?
How are you today?

I'm fine; Hope you are too!
I'm fine; Hope you are too!
I'm fine; Hope you are too!
I hope you're fine today.


I'm clapping my hands; you can, too.
I'm clapping my hands; you can, too.
I'm clapping my hands; you can, too.
Clap your hands with me.

[I borrowed this from Katie's wiki with a few tiny changes to fit my strange sense of rhythm. Next time I plan to do some verses with kid's names ... Hello Sarah, how are you, Hello Benjamin, how are you, Hello ... pause for carer to insert name ... how are you, How are you today etc. ]


Ten astronauts in a rocket ship
[Hold up fingers and touch both hands together at fingertips to make point of rocket]
Flying through space gonna make a little trip
[Keep point of rocket with hands and go back and forth]
Going past Mars and Jupiter, too!
Ten little astronauts, what a crew! [Hold up 10 fingers]
[from Krissy Conn's Stars & Space Storytime]


Ten Little Rockets (aliens, astronauts)
One little, two little, three little rockets,
Four little, five little, six little rockets,
Seven little, eight little, nine little rockets,
Ten little rockets, what a noise!
(counted on fingers, then hands over ears for "what a noise")
[adapted from 10 Little Indians]


I'm a Little Rocket [Sung to "I'm a Little Teapot" ]
I'm a little rocket pointing at the moon.
Now I'm getting fuelled up
We'll be ready soon.
When it's time to board me, then I'll say
Blast off! Zoom! We're on our way.
[from Krissy Conn's Stars & Space Storytime] 



If you want to read a book, clap your hands
If you want to read a book, clap your hands
If you want to read a book, clap your hands
If you want to read a book, listen up [cup ears]
and take a look [look through imaginary binoculars]
If you want to read a book, clap your hands.
[Not exactly sure where this came from ... notes, notes NOTES!]
Wiggle Song
[I always do this one pre-story]

Books*

If You’re Going to the Moon [Flannel Song]
(Sing to: If You’re Happy and You Know It)
[I stole this straight from Mel's Desk, including the clipart - thanks Mel!]

Twinkle, Twinkle
[My standard closing song, I have a lovely little star finger puppet]

* I had a pile of books as I didn't know old the kids would be. I read a selection of the rocket books, but in retrosect, I should have used the titles aimed at the older kids.

The craft was very popular, and the kids looked so sweet in them.  We took photos and one was chosen and published in our local paper.
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