Friday 20 July 2012

Flannel Friday - Lots of Cars

A few months ago I had the opportunity of doing an outreach storytime with one of my library system's mobile libraries (we have four) and a parent-run Mother & Toddler group.


It took the form of a transport storytime in a rural village hall with around 30 children with ages ranging from birth to five years and their parents, grandparents or other carers. I timed the end of storytime with the arrival of the Mobile van. The children then got to meet the mobile driver, see around the van and choose some library books. Some non-members signed up for library cards too!




For a flannel activity I used clip art cars* in various sizes and colours, and a song I learnt from Nancy Stewart's website.  I heard about this song and site from The Library Lady who featured the song in a post back in March 2012.



There are lots of cars driving down the street

Tell me what colour car do you see?

Big cars, little cars

Beep, beep, beep!


I put up one coloured car up on the board at a time, and then had them all displayed and asked (sang) which was the smallest, and which was the largest.

At Nancy's site you can not only play the song, but also download the MP3, and pdf documents of the words. The website is a great resource for children's activity songs, with most available to download for free and used for any purpose that is not for profit.  

© Copyright Sarah Charlesworth and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

I cheated here and the picture shown above isn't one of our mobiles, I took interior photos on the day, but forgot to take one of the outside! Our mobile is of a similar size, but has a more modern rounded body shape. The kids loved the opportunity to see the vehicle and meet the driver - and I did too!

*The clip art originally came from Open Clip Art Library, but longer seems to be available there.





Want more?

Find out about Flannel Friday on the dedicated website. Features include past roundups, host schedule and how to participate.

Scan the Flannel Friday posts on Pinterest.

Search for flannels and storytime ideas at Mel's Desk.

Discuss storytime and flannel boards on the Flannel Friday Facebook Page.




This week’s round up will be hosted by Kay at Storytime ABCs.





Thursday 12 July 2012

Flannel Friday - Red Ted Said


This flannel is just what I needed for a group activity for our Soft Toy Sleepover. Thanks to Sarah at Read Rabbit Read for reminding me of this one in last week's Flannel Friday Roundup over at Miss Mary Liberry's Blog.






The pattern is from Making Learning Fun. Using Sarah's idea of reducing the bears to five, I omited the pillows and added a litttle embelishment to the bed frame.

I used Making Learning Fun's rhyme with just a little tweeking.



Red Ted Said

There were five in the bed, and Red Ted said,
"Roll over, roll over".
So, they all rolled over and yellow fell out.

There were four in the bed, and Red Ted said,
"Roll over, roll over".
So, they all rolled over and brown fell out.


There were three in the bed, and Red Ted said,
"Roll over, roll over".
So, they all rolled over and green fell out.


There were two in the bed, and Red Ted said,
"Roll over, roll over".
So, they all rolled over and blue fell out.

There was one in the bed, and Red Ted said,
"I'm lonely, so lonely". [Ahhh!]







[but then comes the group activity ... ]

If you've got a brown bear, then put it on the bed.
"Come over, come over"

If you've got a yellow bear, then put it on the bed.
"Come over, come over"

If you've got a green bear, then put it on the bed.
"Come over, come over"

If you've got a blue bear, then put it on the bed.
"Come over, come over"

If you've got a red bear, then put it on the bed.
"Come over, come over"

[Now ...] "We're crowded, so crowded!"





Thanks to assistance from a helper at A Mess To Be Made blog, I was able to give every participant a bear to bring up to the front. This is what they looked like in action!














Want more?

Find out about Flannel Friday on the dedicated website. Features include past roundups, host schedule and how to participate.

Scan the Flannel Friday posts on Pinterest.

Search for flannels and storytime ideas at Mel's Desk.

Discuss storytime and flannel boards on the Flannel Friday Facebook Page.




This week’s round up will be hosted by Katie at Storytime Katie.

Monday 9 July 2012

Book Review: Aliens In Underpants Save the World


Aliens In Underpants Save The WorldAliens In Underpants Save The World by Claire Freedman


This is one of my favourite books to read aloud in children's storytimes. Claire Freedman's 'underpants' titles are all good, Aliens Love Underpants!, Dinosaurs Love Underpants, Aliens Love Panta Claus, but I enjoy reading Aliens In Underpants Save The World to children most of all!


Any book featuring underpants is bound to raise a chuckle, but this is such a fun and zany read. Aliens devise and execute a plan to save the earth using underpants! The rhyming text scans well and the illustrations are bright with lots of amusing detail. I've read this aloud to children from 2 to 10 years, and they all seem to have loved it. We had a blast in an Aliens themed storytime when we all designed (and wore) our own underpants and alien masks together. The publisher has even provided a template for the underpants so you can't go wrong.

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