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

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