Flannelboard Friday: Hickety, Pickety, My Black Hen

I have started to make flannelboards at home using fabric crayons and fabric markers. First I found an outline of a hen I like on clipart.com. Then, I printed it on paper and colored it with Crayola fabric crayons. Next I transferred the hen onto felt per the instructions on the crayon box. It didn't turn out quite as bright as I would have liked (I am getting better at it though). So, I added more detail and color with some fabric markers I already had at home.

I love using Hickety, Pickety, My Black Hen in storytime. I am going to use this flannelboard next year for several different storytimes I am putting together: feathered friends, eggs and probably a storytime about colors. I will cut out more eggs for storytime so the toddlers can bring them to the board when we are talking about the different colors of the eggs.

Right now I am using it at home with my son. He loves pulling the eggs off our homemade flannelboard while I talk about the different colors and count how many eggs our black hen lays.

Hickety, Pickety, My Black Hen
Hickety, pickety, my black hen,
She lays eggs for the gentlemen;
Gentlemen come every day
To see what my black hen doth lay;
Sometimes nine and sometimes ten,
Hickety, pickety, my black hen.

Flannelboard Friday: Where's Spot by Eric Hill

I used the flannelboard below to tell the story Where's Spot by Eric Hill in my dog/puppies storytime this year. I found the template online at The Daycare Resource Connection. There are other stories here you can make into storytime visuals or flannelboards.

I laminated all the pieces and then cut them out. I used magnets to hold the flaps closed until we looked under them in storytime. I photocopied, laminated and cut out a couple of the missing pages of the book that were not included in the template. A lot of the toddlers had heard the story before, but they loved helping me tell it again and got really involved.

Flannelboard Friday: Print Awareness

I made this story with clipart and images from Google last month for my Family Early Literacy Time. This is a storytime I do once a month to focus on one early literacy skill. We were doing print awareness, so, I put together this story to highlight environmental print. I copied Bill Martin, Jr.'s format for Brown Bear (so good to use for almost any storytime theme). By the end of the story everyone was reciting it with me.

I printed this on 11 x 17 paper and then laminated it. I don't know if it counts for a flannelboard, but it is definitely a storytime visual you can use in the future. I call the story "Blue Car, Blue Car What Do You See?".

Blue Car, Blue Car What Do You See

Flannelboard Friday: Counting in the Garden

I always try to have something visual to involve the toddlers in storytime. A lot of times I will create clip art flannelboards for the toddlers to put on the board while I am reading a book. I use the clip art because I have to have enough copies for the toddlers (at least 15) and then extras for attending siblings. I am going to use this flannelboard for my butterfly storytime next week with the book Counting in the Garden by Kim Parker. When I get to each animal or insect, the child with that picture and number will put it on the board. Here is the pdf if anyone would like to use the images.

Counting in the Garden