Monday 28 November 2011

Flannel Friday: Rudolph! Rudolph!

This is my contribution to the Flannel Friday Holiday Extravaganza!

Rudolph! Rudolph! What will you do?


I first heard about this flannel on the Flannel Friday Facebook page, but dismissed it initially because it sounded as though a heap of people would also be doing it.  However, after trawling and re-trawling the Internet I couldn't find a holiday rhyme that sounded as much fun for my Storytime kids. So, sorry for copying SoTomorrow, but like all the best ideas, they're worth imitating!

It's a lovely festive rhyme and calls for audience participation too!

The first verse starts like this ...

Rudolph! Rudolph!
What will you do?
You can't guide Santa
If your nose is BLUE!

Each verse describes how Rudolph's nose is not suitable, until ...

Rudolph! Rudolph!
The children are in bed.
And now you're ready
Cause your nose is RED!

You can read the rest of the rhyme at the Crafty Chic Mommy's blog.


Download PDF part 1
Download PDF part 2

I have made some PDF templates for you to download; part 1 and part 2. You may need to re size them to fit on to Letter-sized paper.  Please let me know if you can't get them to download.
I drew the reindeer head following a tutorial at Oodle-doodle - I'll be using their tutorials again, as they'd work for many animals. 






This week's HOLIDAY EXTRAVAGANZA is hosted my me, here at Loons and Quines!
Come back and see the roundup and I'll have a little present waiting for you*, as well as a host of fabulous holiday flannel ideas!
*Only available for until the end of 2011!

Friday 25 November 2011

Flannel Friday: Last of the Leaves

This post is a little late for Autumn/Fall, but here in Scotland there are still a few leaves on the trees!


This rhyme only calls for 5 leaves, so I have one in reserve! I found this rhyme on an older post at Mel's Desk. I also got the idea for the second guessing activity from there too!

The leaf shapes came from a couple of templates found here and here. The first link is from a tutorial to make a very attractive felt Thanksgiving Garland, the second is from a range of fall activities at the fabulous site, Enchanted Learning. 

5 Little Leaves
Five Little Leaves

5 little leaves in the tall, tall tree
As bright and pretty as they can be
Along came the wind
Blowing all around
And one bright leaf
Fell to the ground


Four little leaves…

Three little leaves…

Two little leaves…

One little leaf...


Little Mouse Guessing Game

Little mouse, little mouse,
Are you behind the red leaf ... ? 

Little mouse, little mouse,
Are you behind the orange leaf ... ?

Little mouse, little mouse,
Are you behind the brown leaf ... ?

One Little Mouse
[now from the photo you'd think there are 3 brown leaves, but in reality one is dark red (maroon), and one is light brown (beige, tan), I'd make sure the mouse was behind one of these, after we'd eliminated the 'easier' colours]

Explanations on how to play the game and ideas for variations can be found at these posts:
So Tomorrow's Little Mouse, Little Mouse,
Roving Fiddlehead's Little Mouse in the House Flannelboard Game, &
Sunflower Storytime's Little Mouse, Little Mouse



The Flannel Friday Roundup this week is hosted by Katie at Story Time Secrets and links to past and future roundups can be found at SoTomorrow. Images of flannel friday posts are displayed on the Flannel Friday Pinterest boards.

Next week's HOLIDAY EXTRAVAGANZA will be hosted here, at Loons and Quines on Friday 2nd December! I'll have a little present waiting for you, as well as a host of fabulous holiday flannel ideas!

Monday 14 November 2011

Flannel Friday Roundup - Holiday Extravaganza






This is truly a holiday extravaganza!  You have produced some wonderful flannels, and I am awed by your resourcefulness.
I’ve tried to organise the flannels by the type of activity, and where some of you have amazingly produced multiple activities, you’ll appear in more than one category. I hope you’ll forgive the minimal narrative, but there are SO many!

STORIES/BOOKS
First up we have Katie from Recipe for Reading with
Tracey from 1234 More Storytimes brings us
Sarah from Read it Again! has a
Moxie Librarian of Storytimes with Moxie presents her version of
Froggy gets Dressed


Cate at Storytiming has a prop for the book


In the Driver's Seat


Natasha the Artsy Librarian showcases

SONGS
Sharon from Rain Makes Applesauce introduces
Mollie from What happens in Storytime … brings us
Abby of Abby the Librarian has
Moxie Librarian of Storytimes with Moxie presents
Anna the Future Librarian Superhero showcases

 GAMES
Erin of Falling Flannel Boards introduces us to two games
Mel of Mel’s Desk has both

RHYMES
Katie of Story Time Secrets brings you
Linda of Notes from the Storyroom has
Andrea of Roving Fiddlehead Kid Lit introduces
Anne from So Tomorrow showcases
And at Loons and Quines, so do I (with a template to download)
Alison of Miss Alison is Blogging has
Mollie from What happens in storytime … has
Moxie Librarian of Storytimes with Moxie presents
Mary from Miss Mary Liberry brings you
5 Little Snowflakes plus a Bonus Snowflake Tutorial!
Anna the Future Librarian Superhero introduces versatile
  
REQUESTS
Katie of Storytime Secrets Secrets and Sharing Soda is collecting memories of The Night Before Christmas at her book blog, to be compiled and published on Christmas Eve.

GIVEAWAYS
Meghan the Busy Crafting Mummy has a fabulous giveaway.  Get well soon Meghan!

You can see the flannels on Flannel Friday's boards on Pinterest, and the list of previous Flannel Friday round-ups at So Tomorrow.
Meantime, do download the holiday blogger button (top right), it should link directly to the Seasons Pinterest Board – my present from me to you!







Tuesday 8 November 2011

Picture Books for Roald Dahl Funny Prize 2011 (part 3)

This, the last in a series of 3 posts, briefly reviews the remaining books from The Roald Dahl Funny Prize 2011 shortlist for The Funniest Book for Children Aged Six and Under. They have been assessed for their suitability as read-alouds for library storytime for pre-schoolers. 

The Roald Dahl Funny Prize 2011 winner will be announced on Monday 8th November 2011.


A Place to Call Home
cover image from GoodReads


A Place to Call Home by Alexis Deacon 
(2 out of 5)
A family of furry creatures (some kind of endearing rodent) decide that they have outgrown their home.  They venture forth into the dangerous and exciting world of the back yard and have all sorts of daring and scary experiences. Kids might enjoy identifying what (to them) are everyday items and some will see the humour in seeing the world through the eyes of the brave creatures. I fear that this might go over the heads of many smaller children, and therefore recommend it for a one-to-one reading, rather than for a storytime read-aloud for pre-school visitors.





Marshall Armstrong is New to our School by David Mackintosh
Marshall Armstrong Is New to Our SchoolUnfortunately I wasn't able to obtain a copy of this book, and this final review of the picture books in the short list for the Roald Dahl Funny Books 2011 has been delayed in the hope that one would materialize.  It hasn't, so I offer you a link to the BookTrust's description as a substitute for my short review. However, I suspect that the book is aimed a children slightly older than my regular pre-school visitors.

I would like to wish good luck to all the nominees for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize 2011, and especially to the authors and illustrators involved in creating the books reviewed in the Children Aged Six and Under category. 

These are links to the previous reviews:

Friday 4 November 2011

Flannel Friday - Preparing for a Pirate Party!


Greetings from Pirate Pete!

I've made this new flannel to use at upcoming Pirate Parties to be held for our visiting Nursery (Kindergarten) classes. It is a combination of song and game which came from the site Making Learning Fun.



Pirate Pete Flannel- complete


The pattern pieces came from their downloadable templates. I made a few alterations to make it work better for me, and to make better use of the layered effect. The pieces I cut are shown in the photos below.  I substituted a different hat, as I didn't think the one from their pattern looked pirate-y enough. You'll see I cut one big piece to go underneath it all for better stability. I also added an extra hat-shaped piece to go behind the head for the same reason, although it does seem to have made the whole thing a bit top heavy!



Pirate Pete Flannel - flannel pieces


I layered up the pieces and stuck everything together except the eye patch, and cut out additional eye patches in different colours.

Pirate Pete Flannel -selection of eye patches

A bit of stripey ribbon, and some puffy paint for a mouth, and Pete is good to go!

The song is sung to the tune of Mary wore a Red Dress, and goes something like this:

The pirate wore a *blue* patch, a *blue* patch, a *blue patch*,
The pirate wore a *blue* patch all day long.

The patches are handed out to the children, and as you sing, the child with that *colour* can place the patch on the pirate. Then the patch can be taken off and a verse with another colour sung instead. 

We could have up to 20 children (although most likely 10 to 16), so thought I'd probably made duplicates of some colours, and have 2 children come up at once, and put one on top of the other, rather than get into colours they might not know.  I'd welcome any better suggestions though!

The Flannel Friday Roundup this week is hosted by Anne at SoTomorrow and links to past and future roundups can also be found at SoTomorrow. Images of flannel friday posts are displayed on Flannel Friday Pinterest.

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