Flannel Friday-We're Going on a Bear Hunt

This week's submission is We're Going on a Bear Hunt, which I needed for one of our Play to Learn programs.  To make it really easily, there is a pattern at Making Learning Fun.

This week's round-up is hosted by Kim at Literary Commentary.  

If you want to know more about Flannel Friday:

• Check out the official Flannel Friday blog that includes schedules and other important information.
• Search for images and links on our Pinterest page.
• Discuss story time stuff (and other ys stuff) on the Flannel Friday Facebook page.
• Follow #flannelstorytime on Twitter.

Marshmallow Challenge

 

Last year at the PLA Conference in Indianapolis, I watched a group of librarians take part in the Marshmallow Challenge.  It was so awesome that I knew that it could be a whole program at my library.  Today was that day!

Supplies 
To run your own Marshmallow Challenge, you will need:

• 20 pieces of spaghetti per participant or team (2 oz. of spaghetti=60 pieces)
• 1 yard of string
• 1 yard of masking tape
• 1 marshmallow

 My total cost for this program was $3 as I had string (well, yarn) and masking tape on hand.
 
Registration & Set-up
We preregistered 20 7-12 year olds as that is what our Activity Room could hold.  I made sure to roll up the carpet (because marshmallow does not easily come out of carpet!).  Since we are low on staff this week, I prepped each set of supplies ahead of time.  I put the marshmallows in at the last minute so that they didn't get stale.

I also measured out the masking tape right before the program and hung it off of our cabinets.

The Program
At the beginning of the program, I went over our rules:

• The challenge lasts 18 minutes.
• You can work together, but can only use 1 set of supplies.
• The paper bag does not count as a supply.
• The tallest freestanding structure at the end of 18 minutes is the winner.

I passed out the supplies and called out "GO!" as I started my stopwatch app on my phone.  I called out various times with how much time was left.  As the kids were having so much fun, some of the adults wanted to play too.  I had a few extra kits so they started their own challenge.

Our tallest structure ended up being 29 inches.  We talked about how all of the tall structures built had good bases to support the height.  The kids even cleaned up afterwards!

As parents left, they were raving about the program and planning their own Marshmallow Challenges.  I gave them the idea that they could also build structures with mini marshmallows and spaghetti noodles and it was like a light bulb went off in their heads.

We're already planning on when we could do the program again!

Early Lit Kits, Round 5

Let me start this post off by saying that I have an awesome boss.  Last summer I thought that I was done putting together our early literacy kits as we ran out of grant money and they take time and money to put together.  After our first four rounds of kits (here, here, here, and here), we had 24 kits on 15 themes and we could not keep them on the shelf.  In December my boss asked if I would like $1250 to create more kits that we received through a donation.  The glitch was that they had to get done by the beginning of March, which meant that this was my major January/February project.  I also work with an awesome PR person who takes all of my knowledge and turns it into the fancy booklets that you will see attached.  During the first week of March, we released an 15 additional kits on 4 new themes and we are still going strong in terms of circulation.  Our funder wanted to see the kits in action so we ran our story times one day around parts from each of the new kits.  Not one new kit was left in stock after story time as parents took them all home!

Kit 16-I Went Walking (Animals)
This kit contains:

• I Went Walking by Sue Williams
• What Do You Do with a Tail Like This? by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page
• Wee Sing Animals, Animals, Animals book and CD by Pamela Conn Beall
• I Went Walking puppet and props
• Booklet

Kit 17-Colors with Pete the Cat

This kit contains:

• Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes by Eric Litwin
• Mix It Up! by Herve Tullet
• Pete the Cat Storytelling Kit
• Storytelling Lapboard
• Color Viewers
• Booklet

Kit 18-Cookie's Week (Days of the Week)

This kit contains: 

• Cookie's Week by Cindy Ward
• Today is Monday by Eric Carle
• Folkmanis cat puppet
• Storytelling Lapboard
• Cookie's Week flannelboard
• Booklet

Kit 19-Lunch (Food)

This kit contains:

• Lunch by Denise Fleming 
• Eating the Alphabet by Lois Ehlert
• Storytelling Lapboard
• Lunch flannelboard
• Melissa and Doug Picture Bingo
• Counting Cookies by Learning Resources 
• Booklet

 

 

Flannel Friday-Lunch

This is an "inspired by" post as I have always loved Storytime Katie's version of Lunch by Denise Fleming.  When I needed to make a version for our early literacy kits, this is the one that I chose.

Since this flannelboard would circulate and get a lot of handling, I didn't glue as many small pieces as Katie did.  Instead, I used puffy paint for the details on the grapes and the watermelon.

This week's round-up is hosted by Kathryn at Fun with Friends at Storytime.  

If you want to know more about Flannel Friday:

• Check out the official Flannel Friday blog that includes schedules and other important information.
• Search for images and links on our Pinterest page.
• Discuss story time stuff (and other ys stuff) on the Flannel Friday Facebook page.
• Follow #flannelstorytime on Twitter.

Early Literacy Kits, Round 4

I am finally catching up on posting from our first set of early literacy kits from last year.  If you missed the first three posts, check here, here, or here.

Kit 11-Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed
This kit contains:

• Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed by Eileen Christelow
• Count the Monkeys by Mac Barnett
• Five Little Monkeys finger puppets
• Five Little Monkeys CD
• Booklet

Kit 12-Color Zoo
This kit contains:

• Color Zoo by Lois Ehlert
• Shapes, Shapes, Shapes by Tana Hoban
• Songs About Colors and Shapes CD
• Colors & Shapes Memory Match
• Common Shapes Stencils
• Shapes Match-Ups
• Storytelling Lapboard
• Color Zoo flannelboard
• Booklet

 

Kit 13-If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
This kit contains:

• If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff
• Who Ate All the Cookie Dough? by Karen Beaumont
• If You Give a Mouse a Cookie puppet and props
• Take 10 Shape Finders Cookies game
• Booklet

Kit 14-Llama Llama Red Pajama
This kit contains:

• Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney
• Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star by Jane Cabrera
• Laurie Berkner Lullabies CD
• Llama Llama puppet
• Twinkle finger puppet
• Booklet

Kit 15-Where is the Green Sheep?
This kit contains:

• Where is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox
• Opposites! by National Geographic
• Fun & Games CD by Greg & Steve
• Where is the Green Sheep? doll
• Opposites Fun-to-Know Puzzle
• Match Me Cards Opposites
• Booklet

 

Farm Night with Early On

One of my favorite programs of the year that I do with a local group is when our Early On program sets up a special story time at the library.  I find this one especially rewarding as these kids and families really need us and are very appreciative for anything we do with them.  This makes me want to add extra to their program!  I run the program similarly to how I do my 2-year old story times, but add in a craft or 2 to take home.  If I can, I add in some sensory story time elements.

As people come into the room, I have a couple of our flyers out for them to take including our current calendar of events, early literacy calendar, and 100 Books to Read Before Kindergarten booklist.

I have the crafts set up on tables in the back as we tend to get a lot of kids for this event and I am the only staff member in the room with them.  Set-up looks like this:

This year's theme was farm.  The Early On coordinator gives me a theme when we set up the program and this helps her to advertise to her families.  We read some of my favorite books.

We also sang "When the Ducks Get Up in the Morning" with puppets.  This added my sensory part as some of the kids liked to touch the puppets and they all have different textures.  We used a cow, a pig, a duck, and a sheep.

I had two magnetboard rhymes along.  If you ever don't have a magnetboard and need one in a jiffy, the tray for your AccuCut machine works just great!

Then we sang Old MacDonald using one of our craft samples.  This helped to show the kids what to do.  While it looks like a barn on the outside, there are clip art animals inside the bag that we had kids pick to choose our next animal in the song.

We also made paper bag animal puppets.  All of the pieces were precut so kids just had to color and glue their pieces onto their puppet.

The Early On coordinator brought milk and cookies for all of the kids so they each had a snack when they finished their crafts.

This program is so popular that they have asked if they can come more than once a year! My answer was "Yes, please!"

Guest Post-Palooza-The Runaway Cookies

 

As a part of the Flannel Friday is four celebration, I am guest hosting Jane's post below. 

Attributed to The San Diego County Kindergarten Club, from the book Storytelling with the Flannel Board, by Dr. Paul Anderson, this was another of my earliest flannel stories.

The pieces are pretty basic shapes, (cookie jar with lid, gingerbread man, sugary duck, frosted rabbit, cinnamon bear, and coconut lamb), but I used fabric paint to put in the details on each of the cookies. King County Library System has the words to the version I use, see:

http://tmas.kcls.org/the-runaway-cookies/

At the end of the story I sweep all of the cookies in my hand, and place hand to mouth, as if I devoured all the cookies. I turn to the children and ask, where do you think they went? Hm-m-m…

There is another version, see Flannel Friday, The Runaway Cookie Parade:

http://lisaslibraryland.blogspot.com/2012/12/flannel-friday-runaway-cookie-parade.html

 

You can find Jane McManus on Pinterest at https://www.pinterest.com/storylady101jm/.
She is a Library Assistant who has been holding story times for 24 tears at the Winton Branch of the Rochester Public Library!  Although she doesn't have her own blog, she is one of the contributors to http://mclskids.pbworks.com/w/page/20658653/Story%20Time, part of the wiki of the Monroe County Library System in Rochester, NY.