A few years ago I made a storytelling board for Ten Timid Ghosts and the kids loved the suspense of it. I wanted to do something new, so I found the perfect story: The 13 Nights of Halloween. I bought a black canvas board from the craft store and drew a haunted mansion with 13 windows. I can now either read/sing his book, or sing the lyrics as I draw each curtain. Lots of laughs ensue!
Using Guy Vasilovich’s lyrics, I drew all the ghosts and goblins from the story using metallic Sharpie markers. It really pops!Here’s a detail of one of the windows. After the drawings were completed I added clear Velcro tabs to hold the “windows” on.Here is the haunted mansion with all the curtains drawn.
To get more Halloween ideas, check out the Halloween Extravaganza Roundup here. To find out more about Flannel Friday, check out the website, the Pinterest board, and the Facebook Group.
I made a flannel story to accompany Tickle Monster after seeing Jbrary use it a while back. (This is part of Flannel Friday’s Halloween Extravaganza!)
I made two monsters: one completely assembled and the other with all the pieces loose to put together. If I storytell, I can use the whole monster to keep on the board and reinforce shapes and matching:
I also made a puzzle game/activity to play during storytime:
I had my teen volunteers cut out the pieces and place in snack-sized baggies to staple to the board, creating a board game as part of a take-home craft:
Here are pdf files you can download to make your own:
To get more Halloween ideas, check out the Halloween Extravaganza Roundup here. To find out more about Flannel Friday, check out the website, thePinterest board, and the Facebook Group.
Welcome to Flannel Friday’s Halloween Extravaganza! If you have anything Halloween inspired, now’s the time to share it. (Of course, add non-Halloween submissions, too!)
I’m posting the placeholder early because of the upcoming long holiday weekend for some of us. So post a link in the comments section and I’ll publish a roundup Friday.
Over the eight-week summer reading program I had a reading club featuring the classic stories of A.A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh. It was hugely successful with a high retention rate of early elementary school students. Each week we met at the same time for one hour. I read aloud a short story (30 minutes), we watched a movie slip together (5-10 minutes), and then we played a game (the rest of the time). I had a nice progression from both classic storybooks.
Here are the games we played each week. You can open each pdf file and scroll to the bottom of the answer sheet to find the movie clips that correspond to each chapter. I used two DVDs: The Many Adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh and Winnie the Pooh. I added a take-home craft and created a paper bag puppet for each character. So every week, the children went home with a “souvenir” from the book club. This was also a huge hit. I had my teen volunteers prep them for me, so the only thing I did was pass them out: winnie-the-pooh-paper-bag-puppets
Last week I presented my first full-day professional development workshop in Fennimore, Wisconsin. I met a lot of lovely people and was happy to visit a part of the country I never went before. It was so beautiful! We had a blast all day, playing with STEM. Here’s my presentation, followed by a lot of links I used throughout the day with plenty of ready-to-print handouts:
This year I want to incorporate more props into my storytelling. So, I created a hat to use with Dr. Seuss’ Ten Apples Up On Top! Well…my husband engineered it for me. He welded a wooden dowel to a hat and drilled holes through each plastic apple. (I found a set of 20 at the craft store. I used 10 for this story, and 10 for Ten Red Apples.) I wear the hat and add apples with the dog, cat, and tiger:
For more storytime ideas, check out Lisa’s Libraryland. She’s hosting this week’s Flannel Friday roundup. To find out more about Flannel Friday, check out the website, the Pinterest board, and the Facebook Group.
For the fall I decided to spruce up my apple themed stories for storytime and outreach. I made a prop to go along with Pat Hutchins’ Ten Red Apples. I placed ornament hooks on small plastic apples and hung them on a plastic shrub in my flowerpot. (I found a bag of 20 apples at the craft store. I used 10 for this story and 10 for 10 Apples Up on Top!) I use this prop to countdown the apples with the children:
I also created lap flannel boards to use this fall. I used my tree-shaped die cut to create green trees, and counted out 10 red pom poms for each child. I placed them in a plastic baggie to go with each lap board. Now, each child can count along with me:
For more storytime ideas, check out Lisa’s Libraryland. She’s hosting this week’s Flannel Friday roundup. To find out more about Flannel Friday, check out the website, the Pinterest board, and the Facebook Group.
To celebrate Flannel Friday’s Shark Week I made a sequel to one of my kid’s favorites…Shark in the Dark. Nick Sharratt’s series is out of print and insanely expensive from secondary buyers. So, I decided to make my own story:
I bought a 9 x 12 black canvas board at the craft store. I used felt to create Timothy Pope’s window that he looks out using his telescope.I used stiffened white glitter felt to cut out the pieces from the book: sailboat, seagull, ice cream, and shark.With the original Shark in the Park story, the three shapes weren’t enough. The kids kept wanting to guess more, so I made some more up: rhino, star, moon, plane, kite, elephant, and a teddy bear named Corduroy. I always end with Timothy’s teddy, Corduroy, asking Timothy to go bed.I end the story each time, sneaking the Shark in at the last minute. I hold up the board with the shark and say, “There are no sharks in the dark today.” The kids yell and yell and yell. I shake my head and play it up, until I am startled to see the shark fin. I slowly take the “telescope” away to reveal the shark.
Here’s a video of the original story, Shark in the Park:
I love Emma J. Virjan’s new beginning readers series, Pig in a Wig, that I had to flannelize the latest installment! The new book, What This Story Needs is a Munch and a Crunch, is perfect for summer. Pig in a Wig gathers all the things needed for a picnic. The kids love this silly rhyming series and I can’t wait to use it when my summer session begins!
Lisa Shulman’s The Moon Might Be Milk is sadly out of print. But the story can still be used in puppet form if you can’t get your hands on a copy of the book!
You’ll need farm animals (or substitute for what you own):
Girl (named Rosie)
Cat
Hen
Butterfly
Dog
Mouse
Rosie asks each animal what the moon is made of and they each answer:
Cat = Milk
Hen = Egg
Butterfly = Sugar
Dog = Butter
Mouse = Flour
Rosie asks Grandma and she adds all of the answers to create a sugar cookie! The story can be used to discuss recipes or making predictions. I have an idea for a sequel (The Sun Might Be Cheese) and if I ever get it fleshed out enough I’ll post it. Until then, check out Mel’s Desk this week. She’s hosting Flannel Friday. Find out more about Flannel Friday at our website, see all the past ideas at our Pinterest, and hang out with us on Facebook.
