Flannel Friday – Thanksgiving Edition: We Eat Turkey

Posted on November 8, 2013 by jeninthelibrary

It has been a while since I did a Flannel Friday post, but it seems fitting to do one for Thanksgiving, because I am thankful Flannel Friday led me to blogging!

This tasty song includes all the delectable things we eat for dinner on Thanksgiving. I don’t know where I got the song, I think it was passed down from my mom’s files. And after doing a google search,I know it’s been included in a previous Flannel Friday (check it out on Story Time Secrets), but here’s my take on it.

We Eat Turkey
Templates found via Google Images Search and Microsoft clip art
(to tune of: Frere Jacques)

We eat turkey.
We eat turkey.
Oh so good.
Oh so good.
Always on Thanksgiving.
Always on Thanksgiving.
Yum, yum, yum.
Yum, yum, yum.

Repeat the song with other foods including: mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, cranberries, sweet potatoes, and pie.

I like to do this as a sing and repeat with my groups. I sing one line, and they sing it back to me. I also start with my flannelboard empty, and only put on the food we are singing about. When we start another verse, I bring out the food from behind the flannelboard and ask “What food is this?” The green beans and the cranberry sauce always throw the kids, but they join in the singing once they learn what they are. You also can open it up at the end by asking kids what their favorite Thanksgiving foods are and singing about those!

Thank you very much for reading Jen in the Library today!

Today’s Flannel Friday roundup is hosted by Tracey at 1234 More Storytimes. For more information on Flannel Friday, visit the Flannel Friday blog or Pinterest page.

Flannel Friday – Mother and Babies Match

Posted on May 3, 2013 by jeninthelibrary

I was looking through my flannelboards to find something for my Mother’s Day storytime and came across this one handed-down to me by my now-retired librarian mother. It was taken from A Storytime Year by Susan M. Dailey. The templates for the patterns were from that book and others.

Mother and Babies Match

Start with one baby animal on the flannelboard.
This baby makes a mooing sound
When his mother’s not around.
Calf is the name of this baby.
What is his mother called?
COW!
Add the mother to the flannelboard after the audience answers.

Continue the rhyme, substituting the correct animal sounds and names.

Barking, puppy, dog.

Meowing, kitten, cat.

Quacking, duckling, duck.

Oinking, piglet, pig.

Growling, cub, bear.

Roaring, cub, lion.

Cheeping, chick, hen.

Soon you’ll have so many mothers and babies on your board they won’t all fit! (Or at least they didn’t all fit on mine!)

And if you have a bigger board, you can continue this with all sorts of different animal matches. Make up new pairs until you do run out of room, or the audience is tired of guessing.

Today’s Flannel Friday roundup is hosted by Library Quine at Loons and Quines. For more information on Flannel Friday, visit the Flannel Friday blog or Pinterest page.

Flannel Friday Birthday Extravaganza: Five Birthday Candles

Posted on March 15, 2013 by jeninthelibrary

This week we’re celebrating Flannel Friday’s 2nd Birthday!! I think instead of terrible twos we are in for some terrific twos.

To celebrate I’m sharing a flannel inspired by fellow Flannel Friday participant Katie.

Five Birthday Candles

5 Birthday Candles
wish there were more
Blew out one,
then there were 4.

4 birthday candles,
pretty as can be.
Blow one out,
then there are 3.

3 birthday candles,
Hope my wish comes true.
Blow one out,
then there are 2.

2 birthday candles
Birthday cakes are fun
Blow one out,
Then there is 1.

1 birthday candle,
the party’s almost done.
Blow out one,
Then there are none.

Today’s Flannel Friday roundup is hosted by Flannel Friday originator Melissa at Mel’s Desk. For more information on Flannel Friday, visit the Flannel Friday blog or Pinterest page.

Flannel Friday: What Flannel Friday Means to Me

Posted on March 8, 2013 by jeninthelibrary

To celebrate the second anniversary of Flannel Friday, bloggers who to post or use Flannel Friday are answering the question:

I haven’t been active with Flannel Friday as a blogger for that long, but I have been a user of Flannel Friday posts and pinterest for a while. For me, what I get from Flannel Friday is:

INSPIRATION, PROFESSIONAL GROWTH, COMMUNITY, and CONFIDENCE

This may seem like a lot from weekly blog postings, but it’s all true. It’s nice to know small things like sharing ideas can have such a large impact. (In fact, the idea that sharing ideas can have a large impact is one of the reasons I became a librarian in the first place.)

Doing children’s programming is wonderful, but after a while it can become stale if you do the same thing time after time. Flannel Friday helps expand my repertoire of storytelling ideas and themes. I get great ideas not only for flannelboards to make, but also different prop stories I may not have tried before, different books to use that work well, and different themes. It was Flannel Friday posts, in fact, that made me want to try my hand out at blogging. I thought if I was getting so much out of posts that others were writing, maybe someone out there would benefit from my ideas.

This, in turn, leads to my growth as a professional. Be it growing as a storyteller to try new things I may not have thought of without the group, or growing as a blogger who writes about her day-to-day work with youth, Flannel Friday is making me better at my job.

And it’s nice to realize that there are others out there who are concerned with the same things you are. The community around us librarians who want to make the library a fun, exciting place for children is great. I’m fortunate that I work at a library location where I am with a staff of great people who are dedicated to serving youth. But sometimes it’s nice to look outside our own organizations to grow, and Flannel Friday helps do that for me. It lets me know that as much as we are encouraged (and I want to) grow and develop and pursue and advance up the library ladder, there is beauty and satisfaction in the day-to-day of working with books and youth. And I’m not the only one who sees that.

Finally, Flannel Friday helps give me confidence. I posted my first Flannel Friday post on January 4, 2013 (I told you I’m new at this!). As anyone who has posted to the group knows, you wait with bated breath that first time to see your post go live, and then see how many people are visiting your blog. Then you get comments saying that your ideas will be useful to others! There’s a fantastic rush that goes along with that. And it’s also nice to hear others say, even if they don’t comment on your blog, that they like it and use what you’ve posted there. Another reason I like being a librarian is because I enjoy helping others, my blog feels like an extension of that in some way.

So thanks, Flannel Friday, and all you bloggers, readers and commenters out there. You’ve inspired me, helped me grow, expanded my community, and helped me gain confidence. I am so so grateful to you! You are awesome!

Today’s Flannel Friday roundup is hosted by Sharon at Rain Makes Applesauce. For more information on Flannel Friday, visit the Flannel Friday blog or Pinterest page.

Flannel Friday: I Saw a Giraffe Drive By

Posted on February 1, 2013 by jeninthelibrary

When I was in library school, we had an assginment to make a booklist centered around a theme — any theme we wanted. My theme was “Animals and Their Vehicles”. Ever since that booklist, I’ve had a soft spot for animals taking a spin, and I’ve used it as a storytime theme a few times. Here’s a great flannelboard that goes with it.

I Saw a Giraffe Drive By
May be sung to the tune of “Down by the Bay”

Poem and Patterns from Toddler Storytime Programs by Diane Briggs

One sunny day I saw a giraffe drive by,
In a shiny car and a big bow tie.
Then I saw a sheep,
Riding in a jeep.
Then I saw a duck,
Driving a truck.
One sunny day.

One sunny day I saw a platypus,
He was going for a ride on a little orange school bus.
Then I saw a goat,
She was rowing a boat.
Then I saw a bear,
Flying through the air,
One sunny day.

Oh, me, oh, my,
What a lot of funny animals went by!

I’ve mentioned before that I got a lot of flannelboards from my mom when she retired. This is another one of those, and I think it’s among my favorite. My mom somehow cajoled my dad into making her flannelboards for her, so when I use them it’s like using a small piece of family history as well.

Today’s Flannel Friday roundup is hosted by Anne at so tomorrow. For more information on Flannel Friday, visit the Flannel Friday blog or Pinterest page.

Flannel Friday Valentine’s Special: Vincent’s Valentine Animals

Posted on January 25, 2013 by jeninthelibrary

This week at Flannel Friday we’re spreading the love of Valentine’s Day! I’m sharing a story I use often around this time of year, Vincent’s Valentine Animals. It’s not too mushy, and the kids can make fun animal noises with it.

This is another flannelboard story that I got from my mother after her retirement from librarianship, so I’m not 100% sure on the original source. It’s on page 28 of A Storytime Year, and while I haven’t verified to make sure this is the correct book (we don’t have a copy in my system) I think it is by Susan M. Dailey.

Vincent’s Valentine Animals
One day, Vincent the toymaker received word from the King that he was to create a special toy for the Princess for Valentine’s Day. Vincent knew a lot about making toys, but he had never made a Valentine toy before. So he thought long and hard and finally had an idea!

He cut out hearts from wood, glued and painted them. He made a Valentine cat, dog, mouse, pig and snake.

And to make them extra special, he gave them each a sound. The cat said, “Meow”. The dog said, “Arf”, the mouse said, “Squeak”, the pig said, “Oink” and the snake said, “Hiss”.

Vincent was very proud of his animals, and couldn’t wait to give them to the Princess. But he was in such a hurry to get to the castle, he stumbled and all the heads and body’s became separated.

“Oh no!” said Vincent. “Now I need to put them back together. Let’s see.. here’s a mouse head. Does this head go with this body?” Place the animal head on top of the wrong body. Now here comes the fun part of the story – you place the head of one animal on the body of the other and make the new sound that results. For example, with the mouse you would have it say:

The toy said “Sque-arf!” Oh no, that can’t be right! What about the next body. The toy said “Sque-Oink!” No no no. Let’s try this one… “Sque-Eow!”… Continue doing this with the various pieces until you match the cat, dog, pig and mouse correctly. Then continue the story.

But Vincent heard the King impatiently calling for him. He couldn’t keep the King waiting! In a hurry, Vincent gathered up all his Valentine animals (take all the animals down from the board and put them up momentarily as you name them one by one) and brought them to show the Princess and the King. And they were both very pleased. The Princess loved her Valentine Cat. She loved her Valentine Dog. She loved her Valentine mouse. But here favorites were the Valentine pig-snake who said, “oin-hiss” and the Valentine snake-pig who said “hi-oink”. When she heard those noises, she laughed and laughed.

Today’s Flannel Friday roundup is sponsored by Sarah at Read it Again. For more information on Flannel Friday, visit the Flannel Friday blog or Pinterest page.

Flannel Friday – The Bear Went Over the Mountain

Posted on January 18, 2013 by jeninthelibrary

Another simple one for today’s Flannel Friday.

The Bear Went Over the Mountain

Pattern & Song from: Mother Goose’s Playhouse by Judy Sierra
(song adapted by me, a little)
If you do infant and toddler storytimes, and don’t have this book yet, it’s so worth getting!

The bear went over the mountain,
The bear went over the mountain,
The bear went over the mountain,
To see what he could see.
But all that he could see,
But all that he could see,
But all that he could see was
The other side of the mountain.
The other side of the mountain,
The other side of the mountain,
was all that he could see.

The best part is the reversible bear. You make him move up the mountain on one side, and then flip him over to sing it all over again and move him up the other side of the mountain. Judy Sierra also suggests making this into a stick puppet, which I need to do.

And isn’t the fact that he has a backpack so rugged?

Here’s a copy of the bear pattern:

Katie at Storytime Secrets hosts the Flannel Friday Roundup this week!

Flannel Friday – Where is Your Bellybutton?

Posted on January 11, 2013 by jeninthelibrary

For today’s Flannel Friday I have a really simple flannelboard that I love using with my infant and toddler storytimes, especially when I am doing a “body” theme.

Where is Your Bellybutton?

Pattern and idea from: Flannelboard Stories for Infants and Toddlers by Ann Carlson & Mary Carlson

Begin by saying:

This is baby’s head.
Where is your head?
Have child or parent identify their head.

Continue identifying as many body parts as you wish. Don’t forget to include the bellybutton though — as everyone knows (and is reinforced when I do this activity), bellybuttons are HILARIOUS!

Flannel Friday – A-Hunting We Will Go Down Under

Posted on January 4, 2013 by jeninthelibrary

I’m so excited to have this be my first Flannel Friday post!
Whenever I find myself in need of a great new storytime idea, I find myself turning to Flannel Friday, so it’s wonderful to finally be able to take part in this wonderfully creative, welcoming community.

Today I have an Australian spin on the traditional song “A-Hunting We Will Go”. I’ve had this one for a while, so I don’t remember where I found the rhyme, but all the images were found via a Google Image search.

A-hunting we will go,
A-hunting we will go,
The king brown snake will eat some cake
and then we’ll let him go!

The bandicoot will play the flute…

The fat wombat will wear a hat…

The platypus will dance for us…

The cockatoo will wave at you…

At the end of the rhyme it’s fun to have the kids see if they can remember the names to all the different animals. To make it even more interactive you can also have the kids act out what the animals are doing.

Lisa of Libraryland is hosting the Flannel Friday round-up this week. Check out all the other wonderful ideas there!

Jen in the Library

Storytimes, Programs and Library Thoughts

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