Flannel Friday: Build a Snowman, 1, 2, 3! by Megan E. Bryant

I made this board book into a flannel board visual to storytell it in my toddler storytimes this winter. It wasn't too hard to put together. I just found clipart I liked to use as a template for some of the snowman parts and went from there.


Build a Snowman, 1, 2, 3! by Megan E. Bryant

Max and Ella woke up one morning to a winter white world.  They decided to build a snowman.

First they needed one carrot for the nose. Then they found two branches outside for arms. Then they rolled three balls of snow- one big, one medium, one small- for the body. The four holly leaves made the snowman look fancy.

There was still some things missing. They decided to put five buttons on him to make the snowman look dressed up. Then they put a special hat on top with six feathers.

The snowman was almost done, but Ella decides to give him her scarf with seven stripes in seven different colors. Max used eight pebbles to give the snowman a happy face and Ella gave him a heart made out of nine red winterberries.

It still looked like there was something missing. Suddenly birds flew down from the sky and landed on the snowman (this is where the toddlers each bring up a bird to put on the snowman). Finally the snowman was done and Max and Ella did their best. Let's count the birds to see how many landed on the snowman.



Flannel Friday: Five Shiny Stars

Our volunteer made this board book by Little Scholastic into a flannel board story for me.


Five Shiny Stars illustrated by Gabrielle Buckingham

Five shiny stars were twinkling at the cat,

Looking very pretty in the sky like that.

One of the stars found the perfect place to hide…

Leaving four shiny stars and a cloud outside.

Four shiny stars were twinkling at the cat,

Looking very pretty in the sky like that.

One of the stars found the perfect place to hide…

Leaving three shiny stars and some clouds outside.

Three shiny stars were twinkling at the cat,

Looking very pretty in the sky like that.

One of the stars found the perfect place to hide…

Leaving two shiny stars and some clouds outside.

Two shiny stars were twinkling at the cat,

Looking very pretty in the sky like that.

One of the stars found the perfect place to hide…

Leaving one shiny star and some clouds outside.

One shiny star was twinkling at the cat,

Feeling very lonely in the sky like that.

All the other stars came out to shine so bright…

So there were five shiny stars to wish the cat good night!

The book suggests you sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star at the end of the book.

Flannel Friday: Little Boy Blue

I made this flannel board for parents to use with their kids at the Early Literacy Fair we will be having at our library in July. I couldn't find the flannel board we had bought of Little Boy Blue, so I decided to use clipart to make my own. I found all these images on clipart.com and in Microsoft clipart. I like using real images when I can because some kids may not realize what a corn field or what hay actually looks like. I grew up on a farm, so all these things were normal for me, but not always the case for kids in suburbia. I will probably use this in one of my storytimes this year. Here is the pdf.

Flannel Friday: Lunch by Denise Fleming

We have an amazing volunteer who is making some wonderful flannel boards for us right now. She just finished Lunch by Denise Fleming. I can't wait for my storytime to start again in the fall so I can use it. Here is the pdf she used as a template. As you can tell, she added her own artistic flare.

Flannel Friday: Fun Books Storytime

At our library, we divide the weekly family storytimes between the librarians during the summer. This summer I did two. My second one was this week. I decided to do books and stories that I love to make it fun and easy since we don't get a lot of time to plan a storytime in the summer. Here is my storytime outline. Thanks Storytime Katie for sharing the great owl flannelboard. We have an awesome volunteer who is making a bunch of the Flannel Friday visuals for us.

Fun Books Storytime

Sing: Open, Shut Them

Early Literacy Tip: Today I am going to share some of my favorite books with you. Reading with your kids should be fun for everyone. So, share books both you and your child love.

Rhyme: Leg Over Leg

Sing: Bouncin' Up & Down in My Little Red Wagon

Read: Yummy Yucky by Leslie Patricelli (One of the other children's librarians made a large visual on the copier for this book to make it easier to share in a large group.)

Rhyme: 5 Hungry Ants (One of the other  children's librarians made this flannelboard. So, I don't have the clipart she used.)

Sing: Row, Row, Row Your Boat (bounce version)

Sing: Itsy Bitsy Spider

Read: Ivan the Terrier by Peter Catalanotto 

Sing: Hey Diddle, Diddle (perform actions)

Sing: Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes

Rhyme: Five Little Owls

See the Storytime Katie blog

Read Big Book: Owl Babies by Martin Waddell (I used a set of stuffed Owl Babies that came with a board book. I held up each bird when I said his or her line. Our set looks like the stuffed owl with this one on Amazon, but we have three baby owls and one mother owl. I don't know where we got it. I am making a crocheted set of Owl Babies to use at home and as a gift idea with a cute and easy owl pattern from the book Amigurumi World: Seriously Cute Crochet by  Ana Paula Rimoli.)

Hand out shakers.

Shake to Hap Palmer's Shake Your Sillies Out

Sing: Goodbye Song

Flannelboard Friday: Mouse Shapes by Ellen Stoll Walsh

I made this flannelboard for Mouse Shapes by Ellen Stoll Walsh in Microsoft Publisher with the shapes you can draw. I printed them on card stock, cut them out, laminated them and then put magnets on the back. I have used it in my toddler storytime for shapes and my family early literacy storytime for letter knowledge. In toddler storytime, I needed to copy enough of the pieces to hand out to each child (15 - 20 pieces). The toddlers put the pieces on the board when we come to that part in the story. In my family early literacy storytime, I used the pieces as I was telling the story to put on the flannelboard. Here is the pdf.

Flannelboard Friday: Making Food Storytime

I did a storytime called "Making Food"  this week for one of our summer family storytimes. I made a of visual out of clipart and a flannelboard from Mel's blog (thanks!) to use with two of the rhymes. Here is my storytime outline with the flannelboard templates linked.

Early Literacy Tip: Today we are going to read books about preparing food. Cooking with your kids is a great way to make learning fun at home. Reading the recipe, talking about the different foods, making lists and going to the grocery store are all literacy building skills that will prepare your child for learning how to read.

Rhyme Five Little Kernels (see Mel's Desk)

     Lift baby/child in air on the word POP (bounce to rhyme)

     Clap on the word POP

I made my popcorn pop too hard the first couple of times and all the kearnels fell off the board. I figured it out by the second storytime. Everyone thought it was fun, even with the flying kearnels.

Rhyme Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake… (speed up each time for the older kids)

Feast for 10 by Cathryn Falwell

Rhyme Jumping Beans

Sing I'm a Little Teapot

Rhyme Do You Know the Muffin Man? Cupcake man? Pizza man?

During one of the storytimes a little boy kept saying, "I don't know the Muffin Man..." and the little girl next to him would say each time, "I do. I know a muffin man..."

Bee-bim Bop! By Linda Sue Park

Rhyme Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes

Sing Mix a Pancake

The Cazuela that the Farm Maiden Stirred by Samantha R. Vamos
I made a visual to go with this story, but I didn't end up using it for the storytime. It is a picture of each animal, person and thing in the book with the English and Spanish word. Feel free to use the pdf I made.

Hand out shakers and shake to Laurie Berkner’s I Know a Chicken on CD Whaddya Think of That

Extra Books

To Market, To Market by Anne Miranda


Happy Belly, Happy Smile by Rachel Isadora


Soup Day by Melissa Iwai