Storytime Swap

Thanks to Storytime ABC's, it is time for another Storytime Swap!  Kay put all of our names in a hat and matched us up to a partner who we will trade "treasures" with just in time for summer.  I gave my partner, Amanda, a list of possible choices and she chose:

Yep, Pete the Cat is back again!  He seems to appear here a lot since he is my favorite children's character.  You may remember him from here, here, or here.  Since I have done Pete the Cat before, I figured I should add to him so you have something new to look at.  Amanda had asked if I could cut some extra felt shoes since we have a die cut machine and this got me thinking.  

Pete now has numbers to match his 4 groovy buttons.  Now we can work on early math skills by counting the buttons and matching the amount to the number.  You can use all 5 numbers on the board or do something like this:

Amanda had asked for additional colored shoes for Pete so her kids could match them up.   Here's what I came up with:

If you don't want to use your feltboard, you can pull out your clothesline and do something like this:

Finally, since you have the shoes and you have the numbers, you can do some additional counting like this:

This week's Flannel Friday round-up is hosted by Lucy at In the Children's Room.

Storytime Swap

For our first ever Storytime Swap, I decided to make Pete the Cat with a twist.  We have a family literacy program coming up in March and I was looking for ways to make flannelboards more accessible.  I saw somewhere online where a teacher created pizza box flannelboards and my Pete the Cat idea was born.

I started off with a 10x10 pizza box.  You can try asking your local pizza places for empty boxes or you can buy them in bulk at Gordon Food Service.  I now have 47 empty pizza boxes waiting for a fun idea.  I cut a piece of felt to fit the top of the box and used Tacky spray glue to attach it.  Next time I would probably use a darker color as the flannel background.

 

Next, I took a pattern that I created in April and shrunk it down to fit the 10 inch pizza box.  (If you would like your own pattern, please send me a message.)

 

 

Here is Pete the Cat.

 

 



Oops, he stepped in strawberries and now has red shoes. 

(If you read the story, he also has white, brown, and blue shoes.)

 

 

Here is Pete with his four groovy buttons.

 

 

Pete's ready for a little baseball coming in his new book         

Pete the Cat: Play Ball (February 2013).

 

All of these cool costumes are stored in plastic baggies inside the pizza box.  I am running a little behind on getting this to the post office, so my swap partner will get this sometime next week.

Bug ABC's Blog Hop

My contributions to the Bug ABC's Blog Hop are both storytelling ideas.  Click on the button to the right to find more bug ideas from other blogs!

Old Black Fly Clothesline Story
I love to find new and different ways to use props in my story times.  I had never done a clothesline story before, but had heard about them, so I decided to create one.  If you are making a clothesline story, they work really well with cumulative stories.  That way you can add the pictures as you go.  You will also need a way to hang the clothesline.  I have used 2 parents, 2 chairs that I can tie the clothesline around, and the handles on cupboards.  It all depends on your group and how high the clothesline needs to be so you can tell the story and everyone can see.

For my first attempt at a clothesline story, I picked Old Black Fly by Jim Aylesworth.  I used blank index cards and on each I would glue a piece of clip art and add a sticker letter.

What also helped was to write out the story on the back of the cards (so I didn't have to memorize the book-it just looks like I did!)



With 26+ pieces to this story, I attached all of them to the clothesline ahead of time.  Then I went along behind it with the black fly and told the story.  The kids really liked it as it was something different.

Little Red Bug Flannelboard
I love how this flannelboard turned out.  To make the ladybug, you need 2 circles.  Cut the larger circle out of red felt and the smaller circle out of black felt.  Glue them together.  I added large googly eyes to his head.  Then, you will need 5 smaller black circles.  For mine, I used 1 inch black circles.



Little Red Bug

Little red bug, oh so cute, here's a black spot for your suit.

Now you go and have some fun with your spot, your very first one.

It's so nice to own a few, so enjoy these lovely two.

We are very pleased to see, how you look with all three.

You might feel that you need more, so we proudly give you four.

Heaven, heaven sakes alive, look at you, you're wearing five!

(As you say the numbers, add a spot to the ladybug.)

Many thanks to Storytime ABC's for starting this blog hop!