Saturday 26 January 2013

Flannel Friday - Where is Little Green Bug?

Valentine's Day isn't celebrated in the UK in quite the same way as it is in the USA. So our closest storytime to Valentine's Day won't be of the mushy, gushy variety!

However, as our regular sessions in Valentine's week fall on a day when the school is taking a break, we decided to give our Bookbug Rhymetimes a Hug-a-Bug theme! As we've more space when school classes aren't in the library we've combined our Baby and Toddler Rhymetimes and invited older siblings to come along too. These family events are always well attended and we love hosting them. The older children always seem very willing to participate in group activities, and the little ones get to learn how much fun it is to join in.


Where is little green bug? 





For this rhyme I'll display a bug , a rug, a jug and a mug on the board.
I'll start off by asking ...
 
Little green bug, little green bug,
Where are you resting little green bug?
 
 
... and moving the bug around ...
 
The little bug's resting on the rug
 
The little bug's resting on the jug
 
The little bug's resting on the mug ... etc
 
 
As we've got some older children too, I thought we'd talk about WHERE the bug is resting on the objects?
 
 
 


 
Little green bug, little green bug, where are you resting little green bug?

The little bug's resting ON the rug
 
 
 

  
Little green bug, little green bug, where are you resting little green bug?

The little bug's resting BEHIND the jug!
 
 
 

 
 
Little green bug, little green bug, where are you resting little green bug?

The little bug's resting in FRONT of the mug!
 
 
Then I'll introduce some stranger objects ...
 

 
 


 
Little green bug, little green bug, where are you resting little green bug?

The little bug's resting NEXT to a plug!
 
(Sorry non-UK types - I guess your plugs don't look like this!)
 
 


 
 
Little green bug, little green bug, where are you resting little green bug?

The little bug's resting on TOP of a slug!




Where is he this time?
 
Who is he with?

A dog? Does that fit the rhyme?
 
NO!
 
We'll need a sort of dog that rhymes with bug - have you heard of a pug?
 
What is little bug doing?

He dosn't look as though he's resting, what do you think he's doing?
 
 
Little green bug, little green bug, what are you doing little green bug?

The little bug is making friends with the pug!


... and to finish (thanks to Sarah from her suggestion in the comments)

Little green bug, little green bug,
Friends say goodbye with a GREAT BIG HUG!






 

Technique - using HTV and a digital cutter





I've been doing some more experimenting with my digital cutter. These pieces were all made by cutting out the white bits from HTV (heat transfer vinyl) and ironing them onto the felt. They could also be drawn on with puffy paint. In theory, this SHOULD be a quicker process! I'll tell you more about it in a separate post.
 



Check out Sarah's blog, Miss Sarah's Storytime, for this week's Flannel Friday roundup.



Want to know more?

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

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

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


I'm taking a turn at being the Flannel Friday Fairy Godmother (for January and February 2013) and you can contact me at flannelboardfriday [at] gmail [dot] com.





 
 
 
 

Friday 25 January 2013

Flannel Friday - Valentine Octopi (Guest Post from Miss Kristine)

I am delighted to have a guest post this week. My guest is Miss Kristine. She is the children's librarian and co-director of a small public library in Wisconsin. She told me that she can never decide if her favourite part of librarianship is the literature, the creativity or the people.


Over to you Miss Kristine:

"Valentines are such wonderful things.  Just imagine how many creatures express emotion.  Ask your little ones if they have ever seen a dog wag its tail happily, or snuggle in close during a thunderstorm.  Now have them imagine an unexpected animal celebrating a holiday.  Maybe we can travel deep into the ocean to see how an octopus might behave on Valentine’s Day.

What did the boy octopus say to the girl octopus on Valentine’s Day?
 
Valentine Octopi (Miss Kristine)


I want to hold your hand, hand, hand, hand, hand, hand, hand, hand.


These two critters have been in our library’s story time files for more than fifteen years.  They are fun to bring out for Valentine’s Day, but with a little twist to the joke, you can make them work for an ocean theme at any time of year."



Love it! [I hear The Beatles song in my head, with the needle stuck in just the right place]
Thanks for sharing this flannel from your library's archives Miss Kristine.




Check out Sarah's blog, Miss Sarah's Storytime, for this week's Flannel Friday roundup. 



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

Scan images and links to Flannel Friday posts on Pinterest.

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

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


I'm taking a turn at being the Flannel Friday Fairy Godmother (for January and February 2013) and you can contact me at flannelboardfriday [at] gmail [dot] com.






Thursday 10 January 2013

Flannel Friday - Five Currant Buns with template

I still need a few more flannel sets to enhance our back-to-basics nursery rhymes. I've not used the 'Five Current Buns' rhyme for a while, so think it will be just the right time to introduce it to my 0 to 18 month year old Baby Rhymetimers.

I've included the version of the rhyme that I intend to use and a template for a flannel/felt pattern or to print onto card to laminate or magnetise. Towards the end you'll find a brief overview of my experience of using a digital cutter to produce this flannel set.


Five Current Buns in a Baker's Shop

Five buns fit perfectly on my hand-held flannel board
BTW, those aren't real pennies, so the buns are bigger than you might think!


Of course, those clever Flannel Friday-ers have adapted it to all sorts of baked goodies:




I might just have to adapt it to a new Scottish version, "Five Fine Pieces", featuring tray bakes, macaroons, shortbread and all the 'auld toon' bakery specials!



Five Currant Buns
(to the tune of '5 Little Ducks went swimming one day') 

Five currant buns in a baker's shop.
Big and round with a cherry on the top,
Along came a boy with a penny one day,
Bought a currant bun and took it away.
Four currant buns in a baker's shop...
Three currant buns in a baker's shop...
Two currant buns in a baker's shop...
One currant bun in a baker's shop.
Big and round with a cherry on the top,
Along came a boy with a penny one day,

Bought the currant bun and took it away.

(source: traditional)


You can hear the tune on this audio file from the BBC...







Template: Click the download link below the picture to obtain a .pdf pattern







Technique: Using a Digital Cutter

Round and Fat with a Cherry on the Top


This is the first flannel set that I've cut using my new digital cutter. This is my own cutter, and not really intended for work purposes, but I couldn't resist trying it out to see if it would work.

The instructions require that fabric is backed with heat transfer fabric interfacing with the backing paper removed before being placed on the cutting mat. The three felt colours are all slightly different in texture and thickness, and the thinner white one cut best of all. Once all the pieces are cut, they are ironed together. A few 'currents' are then added with pen to complete the set.

It was a quick process (now I'm familiar with the software), and producing the template in .pdf format was MUCH faster than I'd managed previously.  I've considered making and including more image formats - the proprietary format on my software is Silhouette's .studio file type. I've not yet worked out how to change them to the more common .svg cutting file type.

Does anyone else use a digital cutter for their flannels? Would .svg files be useful to other Flannel Friday-ers? Do share your thoughts and experience - I'd love to find out more!




Check out K's blog, Storytime ABC's, for this week's Flannel Friday roundup. 



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

Scan images and links to Flannel Friday posts on Pinterest.

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

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


I'm taking a turn at being the Flannel Friday Fairy Godmother (for January and February 2013) and you can contact me at flannelboardfriday [at] gmail [dot] com.






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