Loons and Quines @ Librarytime

Reviews: Award Winning Books in March

2012-03-04T20:12:00.001Z

This month's award-winning books start off with some Red House Book Award winners.
The Red House Book Award is a national UK award whose nominations and voting are made exclusively by children. There are three categories:

Books for Younger Children,

Books for Younger Readers, and

Books for Older Readers.

The book with the most votes overall becomes the Red House Book Award Winner.
The award is owned and co-ordinated by the Federation of Children's Book Groups. At the time of writing they hold a Twitter chat on Sunday evenings between 8 and 9 p.m. (UK time), using the hashtag #fedbkgrp.

The first two books were both winners in the Books for Younger Children category.

What! [Alternative title: What! Cried Granny] by Kate Lum
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Patrick, like many other little boys, gives lots of excuses as to why he can't yet go to bed. Granny has a solution to each problem, but making all the things that Patrick needs for a comfortable night's sleep takes a lot of time and effort. As a read aloud there is lots of repetition and opportunity for participation. It is a funny book, and would be great for a group of mixed ages and genders. It would fit a sleep, bedtime or pyjama party theme.

Winner of the Red House Children's Book Award for Younger Readers in 1999.

Scruffy Bear and the Six White Mice by Chris Wormell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a lovely story, and well told. The pictures complement the action perfectly, with sympathy and clarity. When out walking one day, Scruffy Bear happens upon a group of six white mice in need of help. They fear they will be eaten by owls, or foxes, or snakes and don't know what to do. Scruffy Bear helps them out when they eventually meet up with all the things they are scared of and outwits each adversary. I'll say no more, except to say that all turns out well for the mice. I can't wait to read this book aloud to all my young groups, I feel sure they'll love it!

Chris Wormell is an English print-maker as well as an author and illustrator.

Red House Children's Book Award Winner for Younger Readers 2012.

View all my reviews

Reviews: British Books for March

2012-03-04T08:53:00.002Z

This month brings a rare old mixture of books.

I'm starting off with another YA Title that I really enjoyed.

This is Not Forgiveness by Celia Rees
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is NOT Witch Child! This is not even an historical novel; it is most definitely set in the here and now, but is equally as unsettling. Written from the point of view of Jamie, a love lorn teen, it touches on such themes as dysfunctional families, violence, post traumatic stress, suicide, and sibling rivalry. Yet
Celia Rees pulls it all together to make a gripping tale of young lives lead dangerously. This may be too controversial for some readers, so watch who you recommend it to!
Readers who loved John Green's Looking for Alaska will probably like this one too, although this is a little more 'raw'.

In the interests of disclosure I should declare that:

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher (as the result of being an early reviewer on the British Books Reading Challenge) and
Witch Child is possibly my favourite YA novel, ever!

Now ... back to more familiar territory; picture books. Here are some that I've discovered this month.

Red Car, Red Bus by Susan Steggall
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

With minimal text, this book traces the journey of a red bus, with changing scenery, and a growing convoy of other vehicles (cars, vans and lorries of various colours, and another bus). The pictures also depict pedestrians and a bus stop. There is plenty to discuss, but I unfortunately missed the little boy's loss of his teddy (mentioned by other reviewers) and I need to go back and look at it again. The pictures are clear and make great use of primary colours. This book would work for a colours, traffic or vehicles storytime, particularly if you wanted to model a discussion about pictures.

Iris and Isaac. Catherine Rayner by Catherine Rayner
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

A nice story about Polar bears and friendship.

Mr Gumpy's Motor Car: Book and CD by John Burningham
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A nice story about an outing in Mr Gumpy's overcrowded car. Mr Gumpy allows an assortment of animals to accompany him on a car ride in the country. When it starts to rain and the car gets stuck in the mud all the passengers have an excuse for not getting out to push. Eventually when they all have to help and no one seems to mind. The illustrations are beautiful with retro appeal as are all John Burningham's books.
However, I much prefer the boat journey described in Mr Gumpy's Outing.

Tiger by Nick Butterworth
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Tiger is a kitten, not a tiger, but he'd like to be one! In this amusing tale he pretends to be a tiger. The illustrations are adorable.

Nick Butterworth is a British author-illustrator of children's books best known for his "Percy the Park Keeper" picture books.

On a the theme I Tigers, I recently re-read The Tiger Who Came to Tea. I'd forgotten what a great read aloud it is!

The Tiger Who Came to Tea by Judith Kerr
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A story about a tiger's teatime visit with a little girl and her mummy. The tiger's insatiable appetite leaves the family with no food or drink. The family situation is a little dated, but the story is still a fabulous one.
We read the 40th anniversary edition which included tactile tiger stripes! The reading lead on to a great discussion as to who each child would like to have around for tea.
Judith Kerr is a German-born British author and illustrator who created the Mog series and the autobiographical novel When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit about her childhood experiences in the Second World War.

View all my reviews

Flannel Friday - Stop and Go

2012-02-24T16:53:00.001Z

Here's a quick and fun idea for Stop and Go, and Vehicle Storytimes, made with laminated paper.

First time around I used them on the flannel board with this action rhyme.

I have a little bicycle

I have a little bicycle (cycling motion with hands)

I got it at the shop.

And when a see that big red sign,

I know it's time to STOP! (hold palm out in front, and bit of a shout!)

I have a little bicycle (cycling motion with hands)

I ride it to and fro.

And when I see a big green sign,

I know it's time to GO, GO, GO! (jumping up and down)

I cut some out with handles (freehand), to make stop/go paddles for the children, and second time around I got them to cycle with the paddles and then hold up the correct paddle.

The children wanted to do this four or five times over, so it must have been a success!

We used them later in the storytime with the song I'm a Little Motor Car (sung to the tune of I'm a Little Teapot).

I made the signs from scratch. If you're in a hurry you can download the file by clicking on the link below:

Dowload PDF file

For some great ideas for books to use with this theme, check out Storytime Katie's Stop and Go Storytime post.

The Flannel Friday Roundup this week is hosted by Meghan at Busy Crafting Mommy and links to past and future roundups can be found at Anne's blog at SoTomorrow. Images of Flannel Friday posts are displayed on Flannel Friday Pinterest.

Reviews: British books read in February

2012-02-15T17:58:00.000Z

I love a cheeky book, and this first book is definitely one of those!

Sing a Song of Bottoms! by Jeanne Willis

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The rhyming text has a different adjective for the bottoms of a host of animals, a few humans and some mythological beings too.
It also has what appears to be a repeating chorus, but it's a shame there is no tune for it (I expected it to fit Sing-a-song of Sixpence from the first line, but the rest doesn't fit).

"Sing a song of bottoms, cos everybody's got 'em
They come in every shape and size.
Everyone's behind is perfectly designed
But which of them deserves to win the prize?"

A more musical person than I would write their own.

Animals mentioned are: dogs, bears, monkeys, whales, rabbits, squirrels, camels, kangaroos, elephants, peacocks, skunks, squid, rhinos, tortoises, pigs, pythons, and bats.
Others are: clowns, princess, snowman, pirates, trolls, Martians, and babies.
So, it could fit just about any storytime theme.
If it wasn't for the lack of a tune I'd give it 5 stars!

Wee Granny's Magic Bag by Elizabeth McKay
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Here is a fun story about all the amazing things Wee Granny brings out of her special tartan bag. Her grandchildren, Emily and Harry, enjoy going places with Granny as whatever Granny has in her bag is sure to surprise. I won't list the items here as that would spoil the reading, I'll just say that there is everthing to bake cupcakes, except the kitchen sink!
The publisher is Picture Kelpies who have some activities to go along with the book.

Apple Pie ABC by Alison Murray
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

An ABC book with a tail/tale to tell. Georgie the dog is tantalised by a freshly baked apple pie. The illustrations tell the story with minimal text, and they capture the thoughts and actions of the dog beautifully. The end papers give more to talk about with what goes into an apple pie! I aim to read this with all my groups, I think they'll all love it (at different levels).

Here are some activities to go along with the book provided by the Scottish Book Trust. They have also provided a video of the author reading the book.

This book has been shortlisted for the Scottish Children's Book Awards, Scotland's largest children's book awards, in the 0-7 years age category. The winners will be announced on 23rd February 2012, so we'll see then if this book becomes an award winner.

Playtime Rhymes: for little people by Clare Beaton
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Clare Beaton is an amazing artist whose colours and skill with appliqué produce simply lovely pictures. No wonder it has been rereleased with a CD (good for me as there are a few unfamiliar rhymes included). There is a good selection of rhymes, and some very useful action instructions.
Clare Beaton is British. You can read about her and her work http://www.clarebeaton.com/about.php.

Angelica Sprocket's Pockets by Quentin Blake
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A fun exploration of the eclectic contents of Angelia Sprocket's pockets in rhyme. Contents include: alligators, boats, cheese, cooking utensils, ducks, elephants, goats, hankies, hats, ice cream, mice, motor horns, skateboards, swimming costumes, umbrellas, even the kitchen sink, so will fit in with a variety of storytime themes. The beautiful coat has a host of pockets of all shapes and sizes and would make a spectacular looking (if enormous) flannel board story. The illustrations are amusing and stylish, so it would be a shame to miss out on them though. Maybe a flannel could be used to discuss what would or wouldn't fit in a pocket! However, I found the rhyming text a little difficult to scan in places, and I felt the urge to leave out some of the words. E.g. "There's a pocket for mice, and a pocket for cheese, and a pocket for hankies in case [anyone feels that] they're going to sneeze." If you try it, let me know if you agree or disagree.

View all my reviews on Goodreads

Flannel Friday Roundup for 10th Feb 2012

2012-02-09T20:57:00.001Z

Welcome to this week's Flannel Friday Roundup!

I hope you like the various animals inspired by My Heart is Like a Zoo, by Michael Hall. The theme of our family storytime was Hearts and Flowers, and Lions too! We all had a great time!

There is a fantastic round up for you this week. Apologies if my comments are sparse, but my admiration for all the contributions is as great as ever!

So ... here we go!

First off we have our Flannel Friday Newbie of the Week - Erin of LibrErin.
Erin says that although this is her first post, she has been a longtime stalker (her words)!
Erin hosts her own birthday party storytime with Happy Birthday to Me. She shows us three flannels; a flannel activity Where is the Little Balloon, a flannel song with 10 balloons, and a custom made felt glove for 5 Little Candles.
Happy Birthday Erin and welcome!

Next we have a non flannel, but an important post just the same. Mel of Mel's Desk has updated her Storytime Resource Page. Make sure to bookmark it, because you'll be returning there again and again!

Katie at StorytimeSecrets shows us a quick and easy way of making shadows to use along withher ShadowGuessing Game flannel board.

Katie at Recipefor Reading shares a cute action rhyme and a flannel board about FiveLittle Raindrops

Andrea at Rovingfiddlehead“Ingenious” Kidlit demonstrates to us how to make a light box in her Tracing Light Box Tutorialto help us all with our Flannel Friday creations.

Sarah at Read itAgain retells the story MyFroggy Valentine with flippable flannels and a toadstool twist!

Angela at ValleyStorytime introduces us to a flannel musical to ‘Who’s afraid of the BigBad Wolf?’ with her 3Pigs.

Lissa at Ticklethe Clouds shows us her 5Little Nails flannel rhyme.

Mary at Miss MaryLiberry relates the flannel rhyme 5Little Caterpillars/5 Little Butterflies and not one more with fun flannelpieces.

Katie at StorytimeKatie shows us her Band-Aidflannel activity. Poor Applesauce, I hope he’s all better now!

Mollie Kay at WhatHappens in Storytime … brings us a Fullof Heart post inspired by Flannel Friday with 2 flannel board activities; agame with the Little Red Valentine rhyme and a song with Who has a Red Heart.

Sharon at RainMakes Applesauce relates the story of My Red Umbrella by RobertBright in her flannel post this week following an interestingdiscussion at the FlannelFriday Facebook Group.

Linda at NotesFrom the Storyroom admits to not making flannel boards from flannel (ever)but nevertheless brings us two Valentine’s rhymes with great looking pieces;Four Candy Hearts and Six Little Valentines in her FromFelt to Prop post.

Anna at FutureLibrarian Superhero introduces us to a story book flannel combo techniquein the telling of the story of Cupcake:a Journey to special by Charise Harper.

Bridget at What isBridget Reading? brings us a felt set to use with the nursery rhyme Hey, Diddle, Diddle

ABad case of Books translates Eric Carle’s illustrations intofelt for BrownBear, Brown Bear, What do you see?

Nikarella of NarratingTales of Preschool Storytime creates a flannel set to tell the story of Mamaloves You by Caroline Stutson.

Shawn of Read,Rhyme, Sing shows us two variations on the story of MyRed Umbrella; one with a real umbrella and how to make the umbrella in flannel usingtriangles, and then one with a mushroomwhich ingeniously grows and shrinks again in Thingsthat grow in Spring

Lucy In theChildren’s Room writes an ORIGINAL color poem and devises her own unique flannelwith her RainbowPoem.

Kay of StorytimeABCs makes a set of hearts in both flannel and fun foam for the rhyme ValentineRace, but which also ties in with the book My Heart is Like a Zoo byMichael Hall.

Cate of Storytimingreminds of a now out of print book, MrsWishy-Washy with her set of flannels for this muddy tale.

And here's one that (almost) flew away ...
Kari of My Storytime Life uses Judy Sierra's felt collage technique with a variation on Two Little Dickie Birds with her Fly Away Birds! poem.

If I've omitted your post, or anything is inaccurate or not working, please comment below.

Reviews: Award-Winning Books in February

2012-02-02T21:58:00.000Z

If you read my Library Quine blog post on venturing into YA Literature, you'll know I'm attempting to read more widely and deeply into YA lit this year. Here is my first award-winning Young Adult book of 2012.

Blood Red Road by Moira Young
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

COSTA CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD WINNER 2011
** CYBILS AWARD 2011 for Fantasy & Science Fiction **

Saba is a strong, stubborn and determined girl. She survives a tough childhood in a harsh and barren land. When her twin brother is kidnapped she is determined to rescue him. She survives captivity by becoming a successful cage fighter, but has still many more challenges to overcome. This post-apocalyptic debut novel will appeal to lovers of the Hunger Games. The style of speech is unusual and takes some getting used to. This appears to have deterred some reviewers, but I found it enhanced the story.
As the authour has moved to the UK from her native Ireland, this can also be considered to be a British book. I'm looking forward to reading the next book due out in September 2012.

I also loved this award-winning early reader:

Are You Ready to Play Outside? by Mo Willems
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Winner of the 2009 Theodor Suess Geisel Medal.
Elephant and Piggie are ready to play, but when they go outside it has started to rain. The friends are disappointed, until they see some worms enjoying the rain and they try playing in the rain themselves. The friends start to enjoy the rain and are sad when it ceases. Elephant knows how to make his friend happy again, and all ends well. This is a sensitive book, with the friends acknowledging each other's feelings and emotions.

I'll keep adding reviews here throughout the month, so do check back now and again.

And that other (possibly more famous) title by this author:

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Mo Willems
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

An amusing story to read aloud, although I feel a bit of extra explanation to the kids is needed as I read it.
The pigeon is desperate to drive the bus, and tries to persuade us that he should. Despite his best efforts at persuasion, even a hissy fit doesn't get him behind the wheel of that bus, and after the driver leaves (in the bus), the pigeon's attention is soon drawn to a big red truck. The tale very much reflects the changing obsessions of it's young listeners.

And it's won ALL these awards!
Caldecott Honor (2004),
Kentucky Bluegrass Award for K-2 (2005),
Charlotte Zolotow Award Nominee for Highly Commended Title (2004), Vermont's Picture Book Awards: Red Clover (2005),
An ALA Notable Children's Book for Younger Readers (2004)
An ALA Notable Children's Book for Younger Readers (2004),
South Carolina Book Award for Picture Book Award (2006),
Flicker Tale Children's Book Award (2005),
Golden Archer Award for Primary (2005),
Buckaroo Book Award (2004),
Indies Choice Book Award for Picture Book Hall of Fame (2009)

My Heart Is Like a Zoo by Michael Hall
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book doesn't have great text, but has outstanding pictures.
There is so much to spot, count and talk about, and so many follow-on activities are possible. I love it!
Links to activities http://www.harpercollinschildrens.com/ha...

So far it has won the Minnesota Book Award for Children’s Literature (2011), I wonder if it will win more before the end of 2012?

View all my reviews on GoodReads

Flannel Friday: All Kinds of Weather

2012-01-27T07:10:00.000Z

You must have heard, Brits like to talk about the weather, right? So here are some flannel pieces to facilitate that conversation with the wee ones!

Well, I thought I'd develop the idea of my snowflakes with templates a little further. Now I have a number of flannel pieces showing different sorts of weather to talk to my storytime kids about. They can choose which one they think today's weather is most like.

Here is last week's sunny sun! And also daytime, as opposed to ...

Sun or Daytime

... night time!

Moon and Stars or Night-time

This one might see a lot of use ...

Cloudy

... hopefully this one not so much! (Although being realistic, it might wear out from over-use pretty quickly)

Raining

Now, this is still a work in progress, looks a bit like an egg, but really it's overcast.

Overcast

Then we finish with a little snow (unfinished).

Snowing

I'd welcome ideas for other weather symbols, I'm thinking ... lightening, fog?
Please post your ideas as comments, I'm a little brain dead this week.

Now, I promised more templates this year. They'll be in my next FF post. Why not subscribe to the blog so you don't miss them? The buttons to subscribe by email or RSS are up on the right, just below the Flannel Friday logo.

The Flannel Friday Roundup this week is hosted by Anne at SoTomorrow and links to past and future roundups can also be found at Anne's blog at SoTomorrow. Images of Flannel Friday posts are displayed on Flannel Friday Pinterest.

Oh! Have a nice day (weather-wise)!

Baby Rhymetime with Scarves

2012-01-17T22:01:00.005Z

We tried something a little different ... and what fun we had!

Babies from 4 to 18 months and their carers joined us today.

Amazing Baby: Black and White at Goodreads

Dance with Me at Goodreads

Hello, How Are You (song)

Scarves were handed out and there were alomost enough to go around [muslin sqares were added to the mix by on-the-ball mums].

Round and Round the Garden (rhyme with scarves)

[moving the scarves around to attract the babies attention]

Where is Baby? (song with scarves)
[to introduce a game of peek-a-boo, and to judge how the babies liked scarves touching their faces].

One Bright Scarf (rhyme with scarves)
[to demonstrate hiding and finding]

Roley Poley (rhyme with scarves)
[holding the scarf in baby's hand and making the actions]
Roley poley, roley poley,
Up and down, up and down,
Roley roley poley,
Roley roley poley,
Up and down, up and down.

Amazing Baby: Black and White! by Emma Dodd (book)
The illustrations are such high contrast that even the smallest baby seemed to look at it. I moved the book a lot to make the patterns described in the book; wavy, zig zag, spirals, etc. and they were intrigued.

Horsey, Horsey Don't you Stop (bouncing rhyme)

[time for a change of pace and some giggles]

This is the way we clap our hands (action song)

Tune: Here we go round the Mulberry Bush

This is the way we clap our hands,

Clap our hands, clap our hands,

This is the way we clap our hands,

On a cold and frosty morning.

... this is the way we flap our wings.

... this is the way we touch our nose.

The Wiggle Song (action rhyme)

[getting ready for another book, and everybody joined in]

Dance with me by Charles R. Smith, jnr (book)

[this was very popular and we moved around as directed by the words in the text. There is just enough repetition and I especially love the line, 'Shake it, shake it, shake it baby!']

Bounce, Tickle and Hug (action rhyme mostly from Mission Bay Library)

[Then time for a bit of touchy, feely time with three favourite actions in one rhyme!]

I bounce you here,
I bounce you there
I bounce you, bounce you, everywhere!

I tickle you here,
I tickle you there
I tickle you, tickle you everywhere!

I hug you here,
I hug you there,
I hug you, hug you, everywhere!

Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes (action song)

[I demonstrated this with the babies lying on the floor, with some toe wiggling at the end]

The More We Get Together (action song)

[A bit of rocking and swaying to bring the pace down further]

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star (action song)

[finishing off with our usual song/lullaby]

I'm a relative newcomer to scarves, but love them for this age group. I have some more scarf rhymes for babies and toddlers on my static rhymes to use with scarves page. There is also an earlier post with more ideas and resources.

I'm happy to learn more, so do comment if you have some other favourites.

Review: British Books reviewed in January

2012-01-10T20:48:00.000Z

Mister Magnolia by Quentin Blake
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Life is a little perplexing, and fun is curtailed when you only have ONE boot!
Re-reading this book after a break of at least 10 years has left me wondering why I left it so long. It would be a great book to read aloud at a rhymetime or storytime, and would be a perfect fit for a clothing or footwear theme (there are some wonderful shoe and boot picture books, unlikely as it sounds).
The illustrations are delightful (hence why
Quentin Blake received a Kate Greenaway Medal in 1980), and the repetition is perfect for little ones. I'll be including this in a rhymetime really soon!

Mr. Gumpy's Outing by John Burningham
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book won the Kate Greenaway Medal in 1970.
In this simple and humorous story, some children and a number of different animals ask if thy can join Mr Gumpy on his boat. Mr Gumpy tells each animal that they can, on condition that they behave. The animals all misbehave with predictable results. The illustrations are light and gentle.This book won the Kate Greenaway Medal (1970), and the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Picture Book (1972).

One Year with Kipper by Mick Inkpen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A useful book for storytimes as it covers New Year's resolutions, the seasons as well as friendship. Kipper, the adorable dog is joined by a fellow canine, Tiger. Mick Inkpen's drawings are clear and simple, but with lots of extra things to talk about. My only criticisms would be that the book was slightly long as a read around for 3s and 4s, and I did omit some of the text and the circular nature aspect of the story wasn't as obvious as it might have been.

I Love My Mommy by Giles Andreae
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book won the UK's Booktrust Early Years Award 2010 for Best Book for babies under one year old. The lovely rhyming text describes the ways in which a baby loves their mummy. The illustrations show mother and baby having fun filled times together. A nice book for baby rhyme times, especially around Valentine's Day.

Jack and the Flumflum Tree by Julia Donaldson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow! This is a great book - it has it all!
Jack's granny is ill with the moosles and the only cure is to eat the fruit from the flumflum tree. Jack and his multicultural crew set sail to the Isle of Blowyernose to bring back a cure for granny. The engaging story is told in rhyme, with just the right amount of naughtiness and repetition with the phrase "Don't get your knickers in a twist said Jack, let's have a look in the patchwork sack". The illustrations are fun too, very colourful with lots of intriguing little details and facial expressions. This will be a heap of fun at a family storytime and a read at home favourite.

View all my reviews on Goodreads

Review: We Are in a Book! by Mo Willems

2012-01-10T20:20:00.002Z

We are in a Book! by Mo Willems
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I adore books about books, and the fabulous characters Elephant and Piggie star in this one. Elephant and Piggie are so different in character, yet are the very best of friends. Mo Willem's drawings express their differing feelings so well in these deceptively simple pictures.
This book is all about the joy and anxiety associated with dicovery. E and P discover that they are in a book, and that someone is reading them. They are elated by their power over the reader, but then realise that the reader will stop reading them when the book comes to an end. They come up with a potential solution to this problem, and you'll have to read the book yourself to find out what it is and if it works.
The concept of this book may be a little over the heads of my pre-school audience, but I'd love to have the opportunity to read it in a family storytime. I'll have to bide my time until the opportunity presents itself.

WOW! This is the first review I have posted via Goodreads. What a great bit of coding, I love it!

Making online life easier with IFTTT (part 1)

2012-01-09T18:20:00.000Z

One online service I use to cut down on repetitive tasks and to be a bit more organised is IFTTT, which stands for IF This Then That. A couple of people asked me about it, so I thought I'd write a short post to demonstrate how I use it. I'm not an especially 'techie' person, but I haven't had any problems with it, so it can't be that difficult. However, I can be a bit blinkered, so if you a see a use for it, that I've not shown here, please share it with the rest of us - we will all learn that way.

It works with a number or programs like Twitter, Facebook, your web-based email, Dropbox and Evernote and RSS feeds . It calls them CHANNELS.

It will then carry out IF instructions on items in the programs. It calls these TASKS. The procedure it uses is called a RECIPE. Recipes are general, and tasks are more specific.

You can use RECIPES that already exist and personalise or modify them to become your TASKS.

Then, if you wish, you can share your TASK as a RECIPE and then share it with others (I'm going to share mine with you.
First you'll need to sign in and choose your channels and specify which accounts to use (e.g. your Twitter account and your email address). You can add them later too.

HINT: Unless you're feeling particularly confident, set up one TASK at a time and test it out. If you revisit the TASK it will tell you if it has been triggered, and then you can see if you can find if/where it's been saved.

Example 1

If a new person follows you on Twitter, automatically send a Tweet to thank them for following. It is then easier to see who is new if you have a lot of followers.

Locate Recipe 15577 then change the greeting and create the task, as shown in red below.

Example 2
If I make a Tweet a favourite, send a copy to my Evernote account and put it in a folder.
I used Recipe 10380 (made by @usernametaken)

Flannel Friday: Five Little Snowflakes - with templates

2012-01-05T15:42:00.002Z

5 Little Snowflakes

Five Little Snowflakes

One little snowflake with nothing to do,

Along came another and then there were… two!

Two little snowflakes laughing with me,

Along came another and then there were…three!

Three little snowflakes looking for some more,

Along came another and then there were…four!

Four little snowflakes dancing a jive,

Along came another, and then there were…five!

Five little snowflakes, having so much fun!

Out came the sun, and then there were none!

Inspired by Miss Mary Liberry, Rhyme from DLTK Kids, courtesy of Shelley.

To make the snowflakes more robust, I stuck them on to blue circles

(yes, there are 2 different shades).

Making flannel snowflakes

Oh, and not forgetting a nice warm sun to melt the snowflakes!

Flannel Sun

Now for ... a little review and reflection

I've been actively posting on the blog now for almost 6 months, and thought it was time to review the time and effort spent on blogging, making flannels and the response and feedback I've had.

When I started I had no existing stock of flannels to share so I've have had to make them as I've gone along. This has obviously been quite time consuming, but loads of fun. I also started off with zero flannel experience and my fellow flannellers have generously given inspiration and advice along the way. Thanks for all your positive comments.

5 Little Man in a Flying Saucer

My first post included in a Flannel Friday roundup was 5 Little Men in a Flying Saucer back in September, which used iron-on transfer paper. I've tried out a number of other techniques along the way including; leaves and mittens with puffy paint; owls with stitching; pirate and monster with a flannel backing layer; and the rest simply with flannel/felt and PVA glue or hot glue gun.

Rupolph Template

My most popular post in terms of visitor numbers and comments has been Rudolph, Rudolph, which included a download-able template. I've decided to include more templates this year, as I think these are more useful, but obviously take longer to produce. Consequently I've decided to post less often, probably just once per month, but include templates whenever I can. I'll still follow all the posts and roundups though, I can't resist seeing what great ideas you'll come up with next!

Finally... here are the templates.

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

The Flannel Friday Roundup this week is hosted by Molly at What Happens in Storytime @molliekay and links to past and future roundups can be found at Anne's blog at SoTomorrow. Images of flannel friday posts are displayed on Flannel Friday Pinterest.

Review: The Jolly Christmas Postman

2012-01-03T16:02:00.001Z

It's a little late in the season for this one, but it qualifies for both the British Books Challenge and Award-Winning Books Challenge, and I'm about to put it away with my other children's Christmas books until next year, so my window of opportunity is pretty narrow.

The Jolly Christmas Postman by Janet & Allan Ahlberg

This book is the closest thing my family has/had to a Christmas reading tradition, and is the most popular of the books that I still get out each Christmas and place under the tree or in the fireplace. We no longer snuggle up and read together (on account of my children being too grown up for that now), but they'll still look through it, just as fascinated by the bits and bobs tucked into pockets and pages, as they were when they we wee (well, almost).
It qualifies as a British book and an award-winner, as the couple were both born and lived in the UK (in the Midlands, England, where I grew up) and Janet won the Kate Greenaway Award for illustration for this book in 1991.

The Jolly Christmas Postman was a follow on book to The Jolly Postman, and preceded The Jolly Pocket Postman. They wrote (either singly, or together) a number of other young children's classics including Peepo!, Each Peach Pear Plum and The Baby's Catalogue.

In this story the hardy postman cycles through the snow delivering seasonal post to the inhabitants of a nursery rhyme and fairy tale land including: a card to Baby Bear from Goldilocks; a board game to Little Miss R Hood from Mr. Wolf; a jigsaw puzzle to a bedridden Humpty Dumpty; a miniature Christmas Annual for the Gingerbread Boy; and A Wolf Spotter's Guide to Mr Wolf from Red Riding Hood and her Grandma. When his deliveries are done, and the postman is lost in the snow, he ends up at Santa's workshop, where he receives a marvellous gift of his own.

The pictures are colourful and fun, but very small, too small for a conventional read-aloud. However the details are fascinating, there is lots to spot, and then there are all the removable bits and pieces to read and play with. Its a great family heirloom book, but don't think it wouldn't last very long in the public library.

Navel-Gazing my Twitter Habits

2012-01-03T09:27:00.000Z

I've been doing a bit of reviewing and reflection today which included looking at my Twitter habits using TweetStats.

I really only started using my Twitter account @Library_Quine to communicate that I'd posted something on my blog for Flannel Friday just 6 months ago.

I've widened my scope a little to include professional library, storytelling and book interest contacts, but not much further than that, Keeping my alias has meant that personal stuff doesn't really feature.

I thought I might illustrate this with a Wordle word cloud of frequently used words in my Tweets, just to show that I seem to have kept the focus (I stray a bit sometimes, especially if something says win - I've won a few!).

A big thank you to all you Tweeting Flannel Friday-ers for enriching my storytime experience!

British Books Challenge, too!

2012-01-02T14:39:00.001Z

Earlier today I started listing books I might read for the Award Winning Books Challenge 2012. Once I'd located the awards archives I was surprised to find how few of them I'd actually read. If you are also doing this challenge, the British Books Challenge, or any other reading challenge in 2012 where you might want to read UK award winning books, you might find the following websites useful.

Carnegie and Kate Greenway Awards endure at http://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/livingarchive

The site of the Book Trust (UK-wide) gives links to newer UK awards http://www.booktrust.org.uk/prizes-and-awards/

The Scottish Book Trust lists Scottish awards* (and more) at http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/node/21369

Hope this helps those who are interested in reading British books.

Oh, on a personal note, I've upped my target to Platinum on the Award Winning Books Challenge, and couldn't resist signing up for the British Books Challenge too!

I plan on starting with some old favourites (that I probably haven't read since my kids were wee):

Mr Gumpy's Outing by John Burningham
Mister Magnolia by Quentin Blake (review here)
The Jolly Christmas Postman by Janet & Allan Ahlberg (review here)

Best of luck!

*This also lists prizes to authors (and calls them awards)!

Award Winning Books Reading Challenge 2012

2012-01-01T15:39:00.001Z

Having blogged about a selection of personal reading challenges for 2012 on my Library Quine blog a few days ago, I've now selected my challenge ... and it wasn't one of those named in the earlier post!

I've opted for the Award Winning Books Reading Challenge hosted by Gathering Books. I've chosen this challenge as it is something I've started to do already, albeit on a less structured footing. Last year I reviewed the short-listed picture books for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize 2011 (part 1, part 2 & part 3). I'm new to review writing, and it's something I want to improve on in 2012.

This challenge encompasses children's literature, including picture books, YA literature, as well as adult literature, "all welcome as long as they have received an award or recognition." I also intend to read and review more early readers and junior fiction generally.

There are four levels of participation:

Level 1 (10 books or less) – Bronze Medal
Level 2 (11-25 books) – Silver Medal
Level 3 (26-35 Books) - Gold Medal
Level 4 (over 35 books) - Platinum Award

At this stage I'm opting for ~~level 2~~ level 4, for a ~~silver medal~~ platinum award. I don't want to be overly ambitious, as I've still to work on my CILIP Chartership.

Wish me luck!

Reviews:
The Jolly Christmas Postman, (1991) Janet and Allan Ahlberg, Kate Greenaway Medal

Flannel Friday - Owls and Longevity

2011-12-16T07:29:00.000Z

These owls were inspired by What a Hoot, the owl storytime post at Sunflower Storytime - I loved the colours and variety, and of course, the template!

Lately though, I've been concerned that some of my flannels are getting a little brittle and falling apart - I'm thinking I should look at a different type/brand of glue. However, for these owls I thought I'd use a tip given by another FlannelFriday-er who stitches her flannels, and so I reinforced mine with a little hand stitching to see if it made any significant improvement to my flannel's longevity.

Five Little Owls

Here's what they looked like. I was fortunate in that I have a heap of leftover embroidery threads, so could match up the colours quite closely. My stitching isn't the best, but on closer examination, not too shabby, either! It was a little hard to stitch where I had already glued (so there are some areas I couldn't get a needle through).

Do have suggestions for keeping your flannels looking good through repeated usings? If so, please pass them on by leaving a comment below.

Owl closeup

Here are some links to Owl storytimes which will inspire my owl storytime for 2012! Of course there's Sunflower Storytime's What a Hoot! and more at Storytime Katie, Rain Makes Applesauce, and Recipe for Reading (apologies for ommissions). You'll find even more if you use Mel's Custom Google Search.

The Flannel Friday Roundup this week is hosted by Linda at Notes from the Storyroom and links to past and future roundups can be found at SoTomorrow. Images of flannel friday posts are displayed on Flannel Friday Pinterest.

If you still need a last minute holiday flannel there are host of them on the Holiday Extravaganza Roundup.

FF Holiday Roundup

Almost Christmas - Last Storytime of the Year

2011-12-09T15:23:00.001Z

Today we had the last public librarytimes of 2012. We didn't have a huge turnout, but sometimes that makes for great group dynamics and participation!

Almost Christmas Storytime
As it was our last session before Christmas, I couldn't get away without doing something Christmassy so we followed the usual format with the addition of some holiday tweaks.

SONG: Hello, how are you? The great thing with small groups is that we can include a verse for everyone. Most went a bit shy when in the limelight, but beamed when it passed on to the next child.

ACTION SONG/RHYME: This is big, big, big I use this song (written by Mel, of Mel's Desk) so often, that now my Storytime and Rising 3's groups start singing before I've finished saying that we're about to do it!

NURSERY RHYME: Little Jack Horner

Little Jack Horner, sat in the corner

Eating his Christmas Pie.

He put in his thumb and pulled out a plum

And said "What a good boy am I!"

This is the only nursery rhyme I could think of with a Christmas connection - If you know any others, please leave a comment.
We did it a couple of times with actions. One of today's visitors can only communicate with a few hand signals and facial expressions (she doesn't sign). This rhyme could have been made just for her, 'thumbs-up' is her best sign! I got lots of those, and lots of smiles too (it made my day, I hope we made hers a little happier too!).

Home made mincemeat a la Delia Smith's Christmas

We had a good chat about pies and things that we leave out to sustain Santa and Rudolph - carrots, cookies, sugar lumps and mince pies. BTW mince pies are a UK Christmas pastry made with mincemeat filling (a sweet jam-like mixture of dried fruits, nuts, citrus peel and juice and spices). I make my own filling, although it can be bought. I've included a picture as evidence!

COUNTING RHYME: Counting Pies This is an adapted version of Miss Allison is Blogging's Reindeer Cookies. I used clip art mince pies on a paper plate covered with clear contact paper.

Five mince pies sitting on a plate
Waiting for Santa
But he was running late.
Along came a reindeer and guess what he ate?
CRUNCH! [pull off one of the pies]
One of the mince piessitting on the plate.
[Removing pies until there are none]

We also had carrots and cookies, just in case.

ACTION SONG: If you want to read a book, clap your hands

ACTION SONG: The Wiggle Song

STORY: Aliens love Panta Claus by Claire Freedman [This was very popular, lots a giggles and laughter from adults and children]

STORY: Happy Christmas, Boris by Sam Lloyd [A book with a built in hand puppet, who likes to do a lot of 'kissy, kissy!']

ACTION SONG: Rudolph! Rudolph! Turn around [an adaptation of Teddy bear, Teddy bear turn around ] We did it with our hands on our heads as a pair of antlers and the had a lot of fun 'touching the ground' and 'turning off the light' with our antlers.

Rudolph! Rudolph! Flannel

FLANNEL RHYME: Rudolph's Noses (Rudolph! Rudolph!) from last week's Flannel Friday Holiday Extravaganza.

ACTION SONG: Five Little Christmas Trees (from Mollie's What happens in storytime post). she was right, the kids DO love the chopping actions!

CLOSING SONG: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star I almost always use this as a closing song. We often 'whisper sing' it second time around, and the concentration used on making as little noise as possible, brings the children down to a nice quiet level for choosing books, and/or going home.

The Flannel Friday Roundup this week is hosted by Mrs D at Putting Smiles on Faces and links to past and future roundups can be found at SoTomorrow. Images of flannel friday posts are displayed on Flannel Friday Pinterest.

Flannel Friday: Rudolph! Rudolph!

2011-11-28T13:45:00.001Z

This is my contribution to the Flannel Friday Holiday Extravaganza!

Rudolph! Rudolph! What will you do?

I first heard about this flannel on the Flannel Friday Facebook page, but dismissed it initially because it sounded as though a heap of people would also be doing it. However, after trawling and re-trawling the Internet I couldn't find a holiday rhyme that sounded as much fun for my Storytime kids. So, sorry for copying SoTomorrow, but like all the best ideas, they're worth imitating!

It's a lovely festive rhyme and calls for audience participation too!

The first verse starts like this ...

Rudolph! Rudolph!
What will you do?
You can't guide Santa
If your nose is BLUE!

Each verse describes how Rudolph's nose is not suitable, until ...

Rudolph! Rudolph!
The children are in bed.
And now you're ready
Cause your nose is RED!

You can read the rest of the rhyme at the Crafty Chic Mommy's blog.

Download PDF part 1

Download PDF part 2

I have made some PDF templates for you to download; part 1 and part 2. You may need to re size them to fit on to Letter-sized paper. Please let me know if you can't get them to download.
I drew the reindeer head following a tutorial at Oodle-doodle - I'll be using their tutorials again, as they'd work for many animals.

This week's HOLIDAY EXTRAVAGANZA is hosted my me, here at Loons and Quines!
Come back and see the roundup and I'll have a little present waiting for you*, as well as a host of fabulous holiday flannel ideas!
*Only available for until the end of 2011!

Flannel Friday: Last of the Leaves

2011-11-25T05:46:00.001Z

This post is a little late for Autumn/Fall, but here in Scotland there are still a few leaves on the trees!

This rhyme only calls for 5 leaves, so I have one in reserve! I found this rhyme on an older post at Mel's Desk. I also got the idea for the second guessing activity from there too!

The leaf shapes came from a couple of templates found here and here. The first link is from a tutorial to make a very attractive felt Thanksgiving Garland, the second is from a range of fall activities at the fabulous site, Enchanted Learning.

5 Little Leaves

FiveLittle Leaves

5little leaves in the tall, tall tree
As bright and pretty as they can be
Along came the wind
Blowing all around
And one bright leaf
Fell to the ground

Fourlittle leaves…

Threelittle leaves…

Twolittle leaves…

One little leaf...

Little Mouse Guessing Game

Little mouse, little mouse,
Are you behind the red leaf ... ?

Little mouse, little mouse,
Are you behind the orange leaf ... ?

Little mouse, little mouse,
Are you behind the brown leaf ... ?

One Little Mouse

[now from the photo you'd think there are 3 brown leaves, but in reality one is dark red (maroon), and one is light brown (beige, tan), I'd make sure the mouse was behind one of these, after we'd eliminated the 'easier' colours]

Explanations on how to play the game and ideas for variations can be found at these posts:
So Tomorrow's Little Mouse, Little Mouse,
Roving Fiddlehead's Little Mouse in the House Flannelboard Game, &
Sunflower Storytime's Little Mouse, Little Mouse

The Flannel Friday Roundup this week is hosted by Katie at Story Time Secrets and links to past and future roundups can be found at SoTomorrow. Images of flannel friday posts are displayed on the Flannel Friday Pinterest boards.

Next week's HOLIDAY EXTRAVAGANZA will be hosted here, at Loons and Quines on Friday 2nd December! I'll have a little present waiting for you, as well as a host of fabulous holiday flannel ideas!

Flannel Friday Roundup - Holiday Extravaganza

2011-11-14T07:17:00.001Z

This is truly a holidayextravaganza! You have producedsome wonderful flannels, and I am awed by your resourcefulness.

I’ve tried to organise the flannels by the type of activity,and where some of you have amazingly produced multiple activities, you’llappear in more than one category. I hope you’ll forgive the minimal narrative,but there are SO many!

STORIES/BOOKS

First up we have Katie from Recipe for Reading with

Santa’sNew Suit

Tracey from 1234 More Storytimes brings us

WakeUp Bear … it’s Christmas!

Sarah from Read it Again! has a

Crazy,Confused Christmas!

Moxie Librarian of Storytimes with Moxie presents herversion of

Froggygets Dressed

Cate at Storytiming has a prop for the book

In the Driver's Seat

Natasha the Artsy Librarian showcases

Counting 1...2...3!

SONGS

Sharon from Rain Makes Applesauce introduces

Must BeSanta

Mollie from What happens in Storytime … brings us

HanukkahCandles

Abby of Abby the Librarian has

SantaHad a Christmas Tree

Moxie Librarian of Storytimes with Moxie presents

5Little Snowmen

Anna the Future Librarian Superhero showcases

There'san Elf

GAMES

Erin of Falling Flannel Boards introduces us to two games

Snowballfight and S-A-N-T-A

Mel of Mel’s Desk has both

Color and Counting OrnamentsGames

RHYMES

Katie of Story Time Secrets brings you

OneMenorah Candle and FiveLittle Presents

Linda of Notes from the Storyroom has

Holiday/SilverBells

Andrea of Roving Fiddlehead Kid Lit introduces

5Little Candy Canes

Anne from So Tomorrow showcases

Rudolph,Rudolph!

And at Loons and Quines, so do I (with a template todownload)

Rudolph,Rudolph

Alison of Miss Alison is Blogging has

ReindeerCookies

Mollie from What happens in storytime … has

FiveLittle Christmas Trees

Moxie Librarian of Storytimes with Moxie presents

5Little Penguins

Mary from Miss Mary Liberry brings you

5Little Snowflakes plus a Bonus Snowflake Tutorial!

Anna the Future Librarian Superhero introduces versatile

FeltFinger Puppets

REQUESTS

Katie of Storytime Secrets Secrets and Sharing Soda is collectingmemories of The Night Before Christmas at her book blog, to be compiled andpublished on Christmas Eve.

GIVEAWAYS

Meghan the Busy Crafting Mummy has a fabulous giveaway. Get well soon Meghan!

You can see the flannels on FlannelFriday's boards on Pinterest,and the list of previous Flannel Friday round-ups at So Tomorrow.

~~Meantime, do download the holiday blogger button (top right), it should link directly to the Seasons Pinterest Board – my presentfrom me to you!~~

Picture Books for Roald Dahl Funny Prize 2011 (part 3)

2011-11-08T07:43:00.000Z

This, the last in a series of 3 posts, briefly reviews the remaining books from The Roald Dahl Funny Prize 2011 shortlist for The Funniest Book for Children Aged Six and Under. They have been assessed for their suitability as read-alouds for library storytime for pre-schoolers.

The Roald Dahl Funny Prize 2011 winner will be announced on Monday 8th November 2011.

cover image from GoodReads

A Place to Call Home by Alexis Deacon
(2 out of 5)
A family of furry creatures (some kind of endearing rodent) decide that they have outgrown their home. They venture forth into the dangerous and exciting world of the back yard and have all sorts of daring and scary experiences. Kids might enjoy identifying what (to them) are everyday items and some will see the humour in seeing the world through the eyes of the brave creatures. I fear that this might go over the heads of many smaller children, and therefore recommend it for a one-to-one reading, rather than for a storytime read-aloud for pre-school visitors.

Marshall Armstrong is New to our School by David Mackintosh
Unfortunately I wasn't able to obtain a copy of this book, and this final review of the picture books in the short list for the Roald Dahl Funny Books 2011 has been delayed in the hope that one would materialize. It hasn't, so I offer you a link to the BookTrust's description as a substitute for my short review. However, I suspect that the book is aimed a children slightly older than my regular pre-school visitors.

I would like to wish good luck to all the nominees for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize 2011, and especially to the authors and illustrators involved in creating the books reviewed in the Children Aged Six and Under category.

These are links to the previous reviews:

Bedtime for Monsters by Ed Vere and
Cats Ahoy! by Peter Bently
Limelight Larry by Larry Hodgkinson
First Week at Cow School by Andy Cutbill

Flannel Friday - Preparing for a Pirate Party!

2011-11-04T07:12:00.000Z

Greetings from Pirate Pete!

I've made this new flannel to use at upcoming Pirate Parties to be held for our visiting Nursery (Kindergarten) classes. It is a combination of song and game which came from the site Making Learning Fun.

Pirate Pete Flannel- complete

The pattern pieces came from their downloadable templates. I made a few alterations to make it work better for me, and to make better use of the layered effect. The pieces I cut are shown in the photos below. I substituted a different hat, as I didn't think the one from their pattern looked pirate-y enough. You'll see I cut one big piece to go underneath it all for better stability. I also added an extra hat-shaped piece to go behind the head for the same reason, although it does seem to have made the whole thing a bit top heavy!

Pirate Pete Flannel - flannel pieces

I layered up the pieces and stuck everything together except the eye patch, and cut out additional eye patches in different colours.

Pirate Pete Flannel -selection of eye patches

A bit of stripey ribbon, and some puffy paint for a mouth, and Pete is good to go!

The song is sung to the tune of Mary wore a Red Dress, and goes something like this:

The pirate wore a *blue* patch, a *blue* patch, a *blue patch*,

The pirate wore a *blue* patch all day long.

The patches are handed out to the children, and as you sing, the child with that *colour* can place the patch on the pirate. Then the patch can be taken off and a verse with another colour sung instead.

We could have up to 20 children (although most likely 10 to 16), so thought I'd probably made duplicates of some colours, and have 2 children come up at once, and put one on top of the other, rather than get into colours they might not know. I'd welcome any better suggestions though!

The Flannel Friday Roundup this week is hosted by Anne at SoTomorrow and links to past and future roundups can also be found at SoTomorrow. Images of flannel friday posts are displayed on Flannel Friday Pinterest.

More Mittens - and more playing with paint

2011-10-30T16:48:00.000Z

I made some extra mittens on top of those I posted earlier in the week, and thought I'd share them ...

little piggies ... and

leaves, but the yellow paint got a bit bubbly ...

festive pumpkins (used a toothpick here to move the white paint around)

white paint went on too thin, so was absorbed into the fabric

Just to show that a fair bit of procrastination is involved!

Flannel Friday Definitions (just a bit of fun!)

2011-10-30T12:15:00.000Z

#FlannelFriday

Twitter hashtag #flannelfriday, see Flannel Friday

FFRU-bies

1. people who do or follow #FFRU

2. templates of flannel fridaypatterns (like freebies, but flannelized)

flannable

adj. a story, rhyme, song, or game with the potential tobecome a flannelboard

flannel

n1. a soft fabric made from wool or synthetics with a raisednap used to make flannelboards (aka felt in the UK)

n2. a soft warm cotton fabric, often worn as nightwear orcasual outerwear by outdoor hunky-types and Flannel Friday-ers (casualdefinition)

n3. a story, rhyme, song, or game which has been transformedinto a flannel story, flannel rhyme etc.

flannelboard

n. a flannel-covered surface to which other paper or flannel pieces, such asletters, numbers, shapes, and other creations adhere merely by contact. Alsoincludes surfaces to which items stick by magnetism, loop and hookfastening (e.g. Velcro®) or double-sided tape.

flaneled/flanelled

v. the transformation of a story, rhyme, song or game into aflannel

flannelgraph

n. another name for a flannelboard (a new one on me!)

flannelicious

adj. shows a condition of excellence in flannelization

flannelish

adj1. –ish, like a flannel, but made of alternative materials(i.e. not made of felt or flannel)

adj2. –lish, the best kind of flannel, gorgeous, the top ofits game!

flannelizable

adj. when a story, rhyme, song or game has the potential to be made into a flannel. See Flannel Friday Round Robin

flannelize

v. to transformation a story, rhyme, song or game into a flannel

flannelography

n. a list of flannelboard creations

flannelology

n. the art/study of flannels, flannelboards and flannelization

flannels

n.1. the flannel pieces used with flannelboards

n.2. clothing made from flannel fabric, often plaid, worn ascasual outerwear by the ‘other’ Flannel Friday folks (Twitter hashtag#flannelfriday)

Flannel Architect

n. a flannel designer or creator

Flannel Friday

n1. informal group of children’s librarian storytellers whopublish their flannel board blogs on a Friday (Twitter hashtag #flannelfriday).May be regarded as a Community of Practice as individuals share in and learnfrom the process.

n2. day on which some individuals wear casual flannelclothing (also using Twitter hashtag #flannelfriday).

Flannel Friday Pinterest

Visual record of images from Flannel Friday blog posts.

Flannel Friday Round Robin

def. Flannel Friday-ers, children’s librarians, and anyone else who uses flannelboards is invited to help Cate answer the question - What makes a story (picture book, song, rhyme, game, etc) flannelizable? Details on Cate's blog.

Flannel Friday Roundup

def. Weekly summary of Flannel Friday blog posts, hosted on a rotational basis. List of hosts past and present at So Tomorrow.

flantastic!

adj. sometimes they just work out that way!

With thanks to the Flannel Friday Facebookerswho contributed: Tami Chumbley Finley, Sharon Hrycewicz, Cate Levinson, Anne Clark & Sarah Hay and others.

Apologies for any errors - feel free tocommunicate additions or amendments either as comments here, or on Facebook – I’ll update periodically!

Flannel Friday - Mittens - experimenting with 3-d paint

2011-10-28T08:56:00.000+01:00

Armed with 5 colours of 3-d paint and a little spare time these mittens are the result!
The inspiration was from Miss Mary Liberry's Matching Mittens back in July. I'll make a few more pairs, but I need to go out and get some more felt/flannel colours first.

The yellow pair is an exact copy of Mary's (I think they are my favourites) - thanks Mary!

However the red ones were all my own design, inspired by a design in a card-making book a colleague gave me as a birthday present earlier in the year. I shall ditch the white ones - how come they look a different shape when they're cut from the same pattern?

The pattern for the mittens came from the first page of this story template for the Three Little Kittens.

I also plan to post the Flannel Dictionary/definitions/vocab/taxonomy over the weekend, so do check back later. Do add suggestions for words to include at the facebook group.

Tracy at 123 More Storytimes is hosting the roundup this week.

Sorry this is so rushed, apologies for errors - I'll correct later!!!!!!

Flannel Friday - Go Away Big Green Monster flannel story

2011-10-07T07:57:00.000+01:00

This seems to be another popular flannel among Flannel Friday-ers and, hoping the advice that 'this is an easy one' was correct, I gave it a try.

Go Away Big Green Monster

Pattern pieces can be found in various places and I decided on the ones at KidsClub. There are pdfs in black and white and colour, so this could easily be printed onto card too. There is another black and white version at Making Learning Fun and other activities to do with the book (cup cakes looked nice, but not practical for us).

Katie has a super smart flannel at Storytime Katie and Amy at Laptime and Storytime has two versions; conventional and a super pumpkin variation!

I didn't have any light or bright green felt for the face, so used a scrap of quilting fabric (with a sort of tie-dye pattern), glued onto a piece of felt of the same size - the was the first time trying this, and seems to have stuck well without being too heavy. I'll let you know how it works out!

By the way, I used Mel's new Storytime Search to check who else had used this flannel, and I can thoroughly recommend it.

The Flannel Friday Roundup this week is hosted by Anna at Future Librarian Superhero and links to past and future roundups can be found at SoTomorrow.

Picture books for Roald Dahl Funny Prize (part 2)

2011-10-03T15:22:00.000+01:00

Cover image from Goodreads

Limelight Larry by Larry Hodgkinson (3 out of 5)
We all know that peacocks like to show off right? Well, Limelight Larry is no exception, and this book is all about him (or so he thinks). However when all his cute animal friends make appearances in HIS book, Larry's share of the limelight is reduced, and HE IS NOT HAPPY about it. However, he discovers that you can't show off without an audience and learns an important lesson about sharing and all ends well. The story is written in all sorts of wacky type which makes it more difficult for new readers to read for themselves, but great for adults to read aloud because all the IMPORTANT words and phrases are HIGHLIGHTED for emphasis!

Cover image from GoodReads

First Week at Cow School by Andy Cutbill (4 out of 5)
This is a follow-on book to The Cow that Laid an Egg and The Best Cow in Show, in which Daisy starts school. Daisy doesn't seem to be so good at the things that all the other cows are good at, and she starts to get a little deflated. That is, until the chickens visit the head teacher and the curriculum changes overnight. The tables are turned and Daisy excels whereas the other cows can only stand back and admire her talents. Kids will find lots to laugh at in this book; who couldn't resist a snicker at cowpat training! It would be a great selection to celebrate difference and individuality.

The earlier post reviews

Bedtime for Monsters by Ed Vere and
Cats Ahoy! by Peter Bently.

The final part will include

A Place to Call Home by Alexis Deacon and
Marshall Armstrong is New to Our School by David Mackintosh.

Flannel Friday - Pete the Cat - I spent too long making these!

2011-10-01T09:35:00.001+01:00

This was my first ever flannel, and I started it way back when I first discovered Flannel Friday.

I loved the book, Pete the Cat - I love my white shoes, and FELT that I had to do more than just read it and sing along! When I discovered several of the flannel friday folks had already made flannel of it, I had to try it for myself. However, as a complete beginner, I made it way too complicated, and I didn't get it finished in time, so put the flannel idea to one side. It featured in an early blog post in an unfinished state and eventually got finished (the pictures are shown below).

I love all my shoes ...

... but I love my Red shoes best!

Meantime I'd introduced the book and song to all our visiting groups (Nursery classes, Storytimes, Rhymetimes and Rising 3's), and they all loved it too!

I would like to share with you a reading of the book I found which shows how much it has impressed another 'reader'. I just wished we had the technology to offer to make videos like this in the library.

So, I've ended up with a set of overly elaborate shoes, and feel I need to do more activities with them to justify the time expended on them. Can you help me out here, and suggest other activities to use them with?

The Flannel Friday Round up is at Rain Makes Applesauce this week. Thanks for the button Mel!

Picture Books for Roald Dahl Funny Prize 2011 (part 1)

2011-09-25T10:10:00.002+01:00

"Yo, ho, ho and a carton of cream!"

It is possibly my favourite quote from a children's picture book this year. The book in question is Cats Ahoy! one of 6 books nominated for The Funniest book for Children Aged Six and Under in the Booktrust's Roald Dahl Funny Prize 2011. This is the first post of 3 in which I review the nominated titles.

Cover image from GoodReads

Cats Ahoy! by Peter Bently (5 out of 5)
In a world where cats are pirates and fish their bounty, the cats have a whale of a time securing a prize catch under the leadership of the charismatic feline, Captain Alphonso. The rhyming text is witty and will entertain adults as much as children (something I'm always looking for in a Storytime read-a-loud). This would be excellent reading choice as part of a pirate theme.

Cover image from GoodReads

Bedtime for Monsters by Ed Vere [spoiler alert] (3 out of 5)

There is a familar feel about this storyline with the immanent arrival of monsters ready to eat you up, but finishing instead with a big kiss. The images are great and the colours beautiful, but it's possibly not one for sensitive children. That said, it would be a good choice for a Halloween story time, beating ghouls, ghosts and exotic pumpkins (shame there aren't more books featuring the native *neep!).

The other nominees will be covered in the forthcoming weeks.
Limelight Larry by Larry Hodgkinson
First Week at Cow School by Andy Cutbill
A Place to Call Home by Alexis Deacon and
Marshall Armstrong is New to Our School by David Mackintosh.

*turnip/swede - Read about neeps in the Scots pages of Wikipedia (no, I didn't know they existed either). If you can understand the article, perhaps you'd send me a translation! Also the potential for an international brassica-based diplomatic incident in the Guardian's food blog together with the ensuing debate.

Flannel Friday - Five Enormous Dinosaurs - One Flannel, Two Jobs!

2011-09-16T07:15:00.003+01:00

Five Enormous Dinosaurs (squashed into a frame)

I have at least one storytime regular who is mad for dinosaurs and so, inspired by recent Flannel Friday posts, I decided to write a dinosaur storytime. As I only do two public storytimes each month, I have a while to prepare, so thought I'd make the flannel this week to present the following week.

I loved Katie @ Sharing Soda's Five Enormous Dinosaurs, and almost decided to print off her lovely clip art. However, having seen the Library Lady's Magnet Monday - Whooose Missing, I wanted to play her colour game too, and so needed some dinosaurs in plain colours. I couldn't find any templates that were just right, so turned to a book (imagine)!

I was enchanted by the techniques and results in the book It's Fun to draw Dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures by Mark Bergin. This book is part of the Scribblers Bright Start Right Start series and not the one aimed at older readers by the same author. I don't normally include covers, but it might help you see why I think the book is so great!

I used some of the outlines to cut out my felts. The illustrator outlines all of his dinosaurs in felt pen, so the outlines are really clear. He also names and indexes all his dinosaurs, and I drew the following:

Ankylosaurus - green
Pteranodon - blue
Parasaurolophus - purple
Stegosaurus - yellow
Triceratops - red

Once I'd cut out the felts, I just added eyes and mouths or nostrils (guided by the illustrations). I don't have any puffy paint, so for the eyes I used a white opaque pen to do a big white dot, and then put a coloured dot with sharpie over the top (leaving some white exposed). Not ideal, but you have to use what you have!

So now I have my flannels I'm going to incorporate BOTH Molly's song Five Enormous Dinosaurs AND Library Lady's Whose Missing game into my storytime!

Tracy is hosting this week's Flannel Friday roundup and there are past Flannel Friday images pinned at Pinterest - looking forward to seeing more of those great ideas.

Thanks guys!

Developing a new library session - Baby Rhymetimes - Fingers and Toes

2011-09-12T21:00:00.002+01:00

Some of our visitors had been commenting for a while that they didn't bring their wee ones to storytimes because they thought they were a bit too young for the storytime group. I'd assured them that they were never too young to share stories and rhymes, but that I'd try and sort them out a session of their own; twice-monthly Baby Rhymetimes for babies 0 to 24 months are the result. As is often the case, none of the 'requesting' group came along (circumstances and timetables change so often at this stage of parenthood) and we welcomed a slew of new faces. Most of the children were between 10 weeks and 11 months.

Image by KittenBella

The content which follows is a combination of the first two baby rhymetimes. I don't intend to change the content of these sessions very much as repetition is so important for the little ones, I'll just change out the story, and just a few of the rhymes and songs.

We started with a favourite ...

Hello Song

Hello, how are you?
Hello, how are you?
Hello, how are you?
How are you today?

Hello {child's name}, how are you?
Hello {child's name}, how are you?
Hello {child's name}, how are you?
How are you today?
[moving around the group we soon got to know all the children's names]

In the second session I brought out the coloured scarves and we played peek-a-boo first and then played with the scarves with these songs and rhymes ...

Where is?

Where is {child's name}?, Where is {child's name},
There {s}he is! There {s}he is!
We're so glad to see you, we're so glad to see you,
Peek-a-boo! Peek-a-boo!

One Bright scarf
[adapted from 10 Little Fingers at Storytime Rocks]

One bright scarf waiting for the wind to blow (hold in hand)
Wiggle it high (wiggle scarf above head)
Wiggle it low (wiggle scarf by knees)
Shake it fast (wiggle scarf quickly)
Shake it slow (wiggle scarf slowly)
Put it behind your back
Where did it go? (bring out empty hands)

Then we had a selection of fingerplays (and toeplays too) ...

Round and round the Garden

Roon Aboot
[Scots Rhyme from Katie's Coo]

Roon aboot, roon aboot,
Catch a wee moose.
Up a bit, up a bit,
In his wee hoose.
[finishing up mussing little one's hair]

This little piggie went to market

Ten Little Toesies
[adapted from 10 little Indians]

One little, two little, three little toesies,
Four little, five little, six little toesies,
Seven little, eight little, nine little toesies,
Ten little tickley toes!
[then back again]

[ .. in preparation for a story ...]

The Wiggle Song

I wiggle my fingers,
I wiggle my toes,
I wiggle my ears and I wiggle my nose,
Now that the wiggles are all out of me,
Let's cuddle up and have a sto-ry.
[just a small variation in the last line there!]

STORY: Ten little fingers and ten little toes, Mem Fox
[this book was spot on - the right length, good repetition, nice rhythm & lots of pics of multicultural babies]

One, two, three, four, five

One, two, three, four, five,
Once I caught a fish alive,
Six, seven, eight, nine ten,
[etc.]

Head, shoulders, knees and toes
[sitting down]

The more we get together
[rocking back and forth, either on lap or in arms]

... and finally ...
Twinkle, twinkle, little star

The twenty minutes flew by and everyone seemed to enjoy it. Some of the babies responded well to rhythms, so next time we'll incorporate our home-made shakers [more about them in a later post].

Flannel Friday - My First Flannel (or Dog's Colourful Day)

2011-09-09T06:08:00.001+01:00

I think almost everyone who contributes to Flannel Friday has made a version of Dog's Colorful Day*, and here is mine. It was the first flannel I ever made and I used it in a colour themed storytime.

Following the links posted on Nikarella's Blog, I downloaded the pattern from Making Learning Fun. Then I printed it on to card, transferred the dog to cream-coloured felt, drew the outline (inner line) freehand with black pen, just cut out the dots direct from the card and stuck Velcro dots on the reverse - job done!

Two good things came from this flannel board:

Firstly, the kids loved the interactivity - we had just a small group, few enough that the kids could have one dot each. They each came up to the front and added thier dot when I read the page featuring their colour. Later they also had a lovely time playing with the whole thing when storytime had finished.

Secondly, I showed the flannel to someone who was in a position to request funds for early years literacy projects, and she agreed to put in a request to purchase a flannel board easel for the library's exclusive use (for the time-being I am using either a piece of display board, or my homemade felt covered art canvas). Yeah for Partnership working!

You can see more cool versions at:
So Tomorrow
What is Bridget Reading?
Storytime Katie
Awesome Storytime

There is an other version of the pattern (which is more like the dog in the book) in the book Storytime Magic and at the weblink for the book's patterns. I have bought this book since and love just about everything in it!

The Flannel Friday roundup is a Mel's Desk this week!
*If you are wondering about the spelling, the library didn't own a copy of this book, so I bought a super cheap one from an online book retailers (a UK printing, so it was Dog's Colourful Day).

Fire engine storytime (and fire trucks too)!

2011-09-02T07:13:00.003+01:00

Were you ever holding storytime when the fire bell sounded?

It happened at our storytime last week, and although it was a scheduled fire evacuation practice, storytime should have just/almost have finished when the alarm was scheduled. We did have some notice, not enough to re-schedule, but sufficient to change the theme to fire engines. We started off very promptly and set off at a clip, after giving them fair warning of what was to happen.

Song: Hello, How are you? (now my favourite opening song)

Rhyme: 5 Little Fire Engines (adapted from So Tomorrow's 5 Little Fire Trucks)

1 fire engine [thumb up]

2 fire engines [index finger up]

3 fire engines [middle finger up]

4 [ring finger up]

5 fire engines all in a row [pinkie finger up]

Back to the fire station they all go! [Thumb into palm with fingers folded over the thumb].

Action Song: Hurry, Hurry Drive the Fire Truck (a Barney favourite from Kiddles suggested by Storytime Katie)

Hurry, hurry, drive the fire truck, [pretend to steer]

Hurry, hurry, drive the fire truck,

Ding, ding, ding, ding!

... turn the corner [lean to the right & then to the left]

... Climb the ladder [pretend to climb ladder]

... spray the water [pretend to spray hose]

Slowly, slowly, back to the station [pretend to steer slowly].

Song: If you want to read a book, clap your hands (do this every time)

Action Rhyme: I Wiggle my fingers (do this one everytime too)

Story: Meeow and the big box, Sabastien Braun
Cute black cat makes his own fire engine from a cardboard box and household items. This went down well and was borrowed after, so yeah!

THE BELL RANG NOW!!!!
I cleared the library, saw them out of the building, apologised to the participants. They all went home (so I thought) and Staff and diehard customers walked to the rallying point. After the 'all clear' we returned to the library. All the storytime mums were waiting for us - they hadn't changed their books! They were eager to do some more, so we continued ...

Song: The Wheels on the bus

Story: The journey home from Grandpa's, Jemima Lumley
A story/song about a variety of vehicles seen on the journey to Grandpa's house, including a fire engine. We didn't sing it, I was still in shock from seeing them all again so soon! I wasn't happy with all the repititon (the more the merrier usually), so I skipped quite a few of the lines. It would have been much better to sing it (note to self).

Action Rhyme: Fireman, Fireman Turn Around (adaptation of Teddybear, teddybear)

Fireman, fireman, turn around

Fireman, fireman, touch the ground

Fireman, fireman, show your big work boot [no scanning here!]

Fireman, fireman, that will do

Fireman, fireman, climb the stair

Fireman, fireman, jump in the air

Fireman, fireman, turn out the light

Fireman, fireman, say good night.

Closing Song: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star (as per usual)

Extra song we didn't do (the age make-up of the group was too young, and we had to drop something). Actually this would make a good flannel, but I didn't have enough red felt.

Five Little Firemen (From Early Years Experience)

Five little firemen standing in a row,
1 2 3 4 5 lets go.
Jump on the engine with a SHOUT,
As quick as a wink the fire is out.

Four little firemen standing in a row,
1 2 3 4 shhh lets go.
Jump on the engine with a Shout
As quick as a wink the fire is out.

Three little firemen standing in a row,
1 2 3 shhh shhh lets go.
Jump on the engine with a Shout
As quick as a wink the fire is out.

Two little firemen standing in a row,
1 2 shhh shhh shhh lets go.
Jump on the engine with a Shout
As quick as a wink the fire is out.

One little firemen standing in a row,
1 shhh shhh shhh shhh lets go.
Jump on the engine with a Shout
As quick as a wink the fire is out.

I used some of the items for my Rising 3's group later in the week, and we read the books: Touch and feel fire engine, and The journey home from Grandpa's. They really enjoyed the Hurry, Hurry song, although none of them (nor the teachers) were familiar with it previously.

Flannel Friday - 3 Craws sitting on a wa'

2011-08-25T08:18:00.126+01:00

Three Craws Sitting on a Wa'

Although I don't have a scottish accent I try to incorporate some doric or scots rhymes into my librarytimes. One of my favourite books for little ones is Katie's Coo: Scots rhymes for wee folk. The illustrations by Karen Sutherland are fun and bright and can be seen from quite a distance. She has also illustrated Rabbie's Rhymes which is the only book featuring Robert Burns' work, I'm aware of, that is fun for the 1 to 4 age range!

I started off wanting finger puppets to perform the song Three craws sat upon a wa' (Three crows sat upon a wall) from her Katie's Coo book. It's a traditional rhyme/song, and I have reproduced it here in full, this version came from Rampant Scotland and has an unusual 4th verse (I think the concept that 'The fourth craw wisna there at aw..' in the original, is beyond the ken of the little ones!):

You can hear the song here, the crow sounds at the end are great - I'll have to work them in!

Three Craws
Three craws sat upon a wa',
Sat upon a wa', sat upon a wa',
Three craws sat upon a wa',
On a cauld and frosty mornin'.

The first craw was greetin' for his maw,
Greetin' for his maw, greetin' for his maw,
The first craw was greetin' for his maw,
On a cauld and frosty mornin'.

The second craw fell and broke his jaw,
Fell and broke his jaw, fell and broke his jaw,
The second craw fell and broke his jaw,
On a cauld and frosty mornin'.

The third craw, couldnae caw at a',
Couldnae caw at a', couldnae caw at a',
The third craw, couldnae caw at a',
On a cauld and frosty mornin'.

An that's a', absolutely a',
Absolutely a', absolutely a',
An that's a', absolutely a',
On a cauld and frosty mornin'.

Meaning of unusual words:
craws=crows
wa'=wall
cauld=cold
maw=mother

I used the template Raven finger puppet and transformed it into a blackbird ...

... and then into a crow (I had forgotten that crows don't have yellow legs)!

The crows are made of dark brown card faced with black felt. This way I thought they would work as felts as well as finger puppets, having realized I could only fit one puppet on each hand, and couldn't manage 3 crows at once (dumbo!).

Here are pics of the crows in production:

BTW, I made the wing tips more pointy, the finger holes smaller (and attached legs/feet) and made the beak and eyes bigger.

I could also use 2 of these for Two little dickie birds sitting on a wall. And I'm sure with slight alterations they could be different types of birds; robins, eagles etc. I feel a bird-themed Storytime coming on!

Flannel Friday - 5 Little Men in a Flying Saucer

2011-08-12T20:20:00.003+01:00

Five Little Men in a Flying Saucer

I made this flannel to use in my aliens storytime with the song/rhyme Five Little Men in a Flying Saucer. The song is a new one on me, and I found various versions of the lyrics, but finally opted for this set. I can't decide whether my voice is ready to sing this one unaccompanied ~~(I'm not sure that any of the carers will be familiar with it) so I'll probably do it as a rhyme~~ [Surprise!, I sang it and they mostly all joined in] The tune is here if you need it.

I decided to do this in flannel so that the 'men' would stick to the flying saucer and I also had some old T-shirt transfer paper that I wanted to play with.

Flying Saucer

The pattern and idea also came from the AllJoinIn blog, and I used the flying saucer straight from the downloadable .pdf and printed that directly onto the transfer paper with only a slight enlargement. In order to keep the top section 'felty', I had to cut away a lot of the transfer paper, so there was no transfer image on that part (bit fiddly) and this is shown below.

Transfer paper backing sheet

I had the iron on the highest setting and kept it moving as instructed, but still managed to singe the felt a little!

The felt got a little singed!

However, the template peeled away nicely, and although the image was a little discoloured, it didn't show too much.

No problems peeling off the backing though

Cutting out was straight forward, taking the photo was trickier!

Magic scissors stand up by themselves (eventually)!

'Men'
I simplified one of the 'men' and made that a little larger too. Then cut out 5 in different shades of green felt from a pack of felt samples, each one a few inches square, just the right size for one 'man'.

Then I draw on the mouths with sharpie and stuck on googly eyes. In retrospect I should have used fabric ones for safety's sake - I'll fix that later.

Aliens Storytime

2011-08-12T20:19:00.023+01:00

Aliens Masks - the kids versions were much better!

This is one of two storytimes held during the summer vacation. The other was the Rockets Storytime when we made the astronaut helmet paper plate craft.

We had a great turnout, but with a big age range 0 to 8, 19 children in all. The older children got stuck into the crafts right away and were ready to help their younger siblings when the storytime was over. All in all, it worked out really well.

Craft: Alien Mask & Underpants Almost everyone made both and the photos were somewhat surreal, but fabulous!

Opening Song: Hello, How are you?

[naming & encouraging names from 'new' children. It worked really well this way, and was a lovely way of drawing non-regulars into the group]

Song: We’re Flying Off in Space (to the tune of Farmer in the Dell)

[Inspired by Katie’s Beach song ]

We're flying off in space,

We're flying off in space.

I think we'll see the moon up there!

We're flying off in space.

... I think we'll see some planets there ...

... I think we'll see some stars up there ...

... Maybe be we’ll see some aliens there ...

[holding up photos of objects as prompts, but with friendly cartoon-style aliens]

Fingerplay: 10 Little Alien Toys (to the tune of 10 Little Indians)

[actually forgot to do this one!]

One little, two little, three little alien ...
Four little, five little, six little alien ...
Seven little, eight little, nine little alien ...
Ten little alien ... toys! [shout]

Song: If you want to read a book, clap your hands

Rhyme: I Wiggle my fingers

Book: We're off to look for aliens, Colin McNaughton
[The kids enjoyed the rhythm & rhyme in this one]

Flannel Song: Aiken Drum

Song: There's an alien on the floor [inspired by Sticky Kids Lyrics]
[skipped this one as the group seemed eager for another story]

There's an alien on the floor, on the floor.
There's an alien on the floor, on the floor.
There’s an alien on the floor
And he’s coming through the door
There's an alien on the floor, on the floor.

Now the alien’s on my knee, on my knee.
Now the alien’s on my knee, on my knee.
Now the alien’s on my knee
And he’s looking right at me
Now the alien’s on my knee, on my knee.

Now the alien’s on my tummy, on my tummy.
Now the alien’s on my tummy, on my tummy.
Now the alien’s on my tummy,
And I think I want my mummy
Now the alien’s on my tummy, on my tummy.

Now the alien’s on my arm, on my arm.
Now the alien’s on my arm, on my arm
Now the alien’s on my arm
And he won’t do any harm
Now the alien’s on my arm, on my arm.

Now the alien’s on my head, on my head
Now the alien’s on my head, on my head
Now the alien’s on my head!
Can he visit you instead?
Now the alien’s on your head, on your head

Book: Aliens in Underpants, Claire Freedman
[adults and children alike loved this one!]

Flannel Rhyme: 5 Little Men in a Flying saucer

Action Rhyme: Alien, Alien Turn Around
[just like Teddybear, teddybear, turn around]

Book: The aliens are coming! Colin McNaughton
[the book within a book facinated some of the kids]

Closing Song: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

Rockets Storytime

2011-08-10T12:04:00.065+01:00

Held earlier this summer.
Craft: Paper plate astronaut helmet

Hello Song (Sung to the tune of "Skip to my Lou")
Hello, how are you?
Hello, how are you?
Hello, how are you?
How are you today?

I'm fine; Hope you are too!
I'm fine; Hope you are too!
I'm fine; Hope you are too!
I hope you're fine today.

I'm clapping my hands; you can, too.
I'm clapping my hands; you can, too.
I'm clapping my hands; you can, too.
Clap your hands with me.
[I borrowed this from Katie's wiki with a few tiny changes to fit my strange sense of rhythm. Next time I plan to do some verses with kid's names ... Hello Sarah, how are you, Hello Benjamin, how are you, Hello ... pause for carer to insert name ... how are you, How are you today etc. ]

Ten astronauts in a rocket ship
[Hold up fingers and touch both hands together at fingertips to make point of rocket]
Flying through space gonna make a little trip
[Keep point of rocket with hands and go back and forth]
Going past Mars and Jupiter, too!
Ten little astronauts, what a crew! [Hold up 10 fingers]
[from Krissy Conn's Stars & Space Storytime]

Ten Little Rockets (aliens, astronauts)
One little, two little, three little rockets,
Four little, five little, six little rockets,
Seven little, eight little, nine little rockets,
Ten little rockets, what a noise!
(counted on fingers, then hands over ears for "what a noise")
[adapted from 10 Little Indians]

I'm a Little Rocket [Sung to "I'm a Little Teapot" ]
I'm a little rocket pointing at the moon.
Now I'm getting fuelled up
We'll be ready soon.
When it's time to board me, then I'll say
Blast off! Zoom! We're on our way.
[from Krissy Conn's Stars & Space Storytime]

If you want to read a book, clap your hands
If you want to read a book, clap your hands
If you want to read a book, clap your hands
If you want to read a book, listen up [cup ears]
and take a look [look through imaginary binoculars]
If you want to read a book, clap your hands.
[Not exactly sure where this came from ... notes, notes NOTES!]
Wiggle Song
[I always do this one pre-story]

Books*

If You’re Going to the Moon [Flannel Song]
(Sing to: If You’re Happy and You Know It)
[I stole this straight from Mel's Desk, including the clipart - thanks Mel!]

Twinkle, Twinkle
[My standard closing song, I have a lovely little star finger puppet]

* I had a pile of books as I didn't know old the kids would be. I read a selection of the rocket books, but in retrosect, I should have used the titles aimed at the older kids.

The craft was very popular, and the kids looked so sweet in them. We took photos and one was chosen and published in our local paper.

Flannel Friday - The Ultimate in Scottish Aliens - Aiken Drum!

2011-07-27T20:05:00.001+01:00

Aiken Drum - the ultimate alien!

In preparing for an Aliens storytime in a couple of week's time I have just put together a non-flannel Flannel Song - Aiken Drum. As far as I can gather, Aiken was actually a Brownie (not of the cake variety), deeply entrenched in Scottish history/folk lore. Superficially though, the man in the moon has to be the ultimate alien, doesn't he? My inspiration was a digital Flannel board assignment set by Dr Annette Lamb as part of ALA's Every Child Ready to Read. I have shamelessly copied the flannel ideas, but changed the words of the song to please myself. I'll post the running order and observations after the event.

To flannel or not to flannel?

2011-07-24T07:21:00.000+01:00

Work in progress - I love my white shoes!

I have been so inspired and entertained by the offerings of Flannel Fridays and other storytime blogs and web offerings that I really must express my thanks!

Of course I've wanted to 'have a go' myself, the combination of using my crafty skills while enhancing our storytimes and rhymetimes is TOO great to resist! However, for the school vacation, our normal timetable of librarytimes has been suspended and I've taken the opportunity of using the extra space (from no school classes, as we are a combined high school and public library) to have extended sessions with older siblings and craft activities. So I've found my time taken up with design and prep of those things. Some of these such as astronaut helmets and mini rockets are shown in earlier posts. Others, including alien masks will be published in the weeks to come. Just look under the label 'Space' to see them (I've not worked out yet if I can link back to earlier posts).
Aside: in case you are wondering about the choice of crafts, our summer reading scheme slogan this year is 'Take Off with a Good Book', incorporating all things space and rocket related.

So, back to the poll. I've been symied by choice of flannels and books, and initially opted for simple, and tried out Dog's Colourful Day. However, our biggest hit in new books has been Pete the Cat: I Love my White Shoes, so when I saw Moxie Librarians's post I just had to try it out! I may have bitten off more than I can chew, and am beginning to wonder if it would have been easier, although maybe less effective, to use clipart.

Benefits (as I see it) of using felt are:

novelty
opportunity to experience new textures
my own enjoyment/entertainment
sticking to board w/out velcro dots
simplication of images
avoiding copyright issues (mostly)

Disadvantages:

preparation time
cost
safety of participants (choking hazzard?)

I love to hear what you think are the advantages/disadvantages~~, and please complete my poll to see which are the preferred materials~~. [poll expired and removed from blog] Much thanks from a flannel newbie!!!

Mini Rocket Craft

2011-07-20T17:56:00.000+01:00

These rockets were a winner at a recent craft session. They were not the main event, but a side craft for older siblings. The younger children however loved playing with them, and I had the teen volunteers make them to hand out towards the end of the session, when interest in the main craft was flagging (i.e. when the parents had decided to 'help' just a little too much).
Full instructions on How to Make a Soda-Straw Rocket can be found at NASA's website and the pictures on the Jet Propulsion Laboratory blog help too.
The rockets were very economical to make - to make 10 rockets it took:

2 sheets white paper (for the fins),
1 sheet red paper (for the bodies),
10 drinking straws (bendy straws are best),
some sticky tape, and
a few pencils (which could be re-used after).

I also set out a measuring tape in case the kids wanted to measure how far the rockets went. However, we had such high attendance that there just wasn't room!

Using Scarves in Rhymetimes

2011-07-19T19:53:00.000+01:00

Flickr image created by Song_sing

I am a novice to using scarves at librarytimes, but feel sure they would be popular for both baby and toddler rhymetimes. A quick trawl of the Internet brought up some interesting resources:

Tracey, a librarian from Ohio, has some fun and practical ideas. She suggests ways of using them with Pattie cake [Pat-a-cake in the UK], Here we go round the mulberry bush, and Peek-a-boo. Also for directed movement, hiding parts of the body and to act out weather, leaves etc.
Kathy MacMillan & Christine Kirker, authors of Storytime Magic have more ideas, some for older children in their item Super Scarves.
Scarf Dancing Circle Activities for Preschoolers by Kelly Pfeiffer can be found at Pre-school Rock and has good ideas for re-inforcing the concepts of over and under.
Finally a rhyme I adapted from 10 Little Fingers at Storytime Rocks.

One Bright scarf

One bright scarf waiting for the wind to blow (hold in hand)

Wiggle it high (wiggle scarf above head)

Wiggle it low (wiggle scarf by knees)

Shake it fast (wiggle scarf quickly)

Shake it slow (wiggle scarf slowly)

Put it behind your back,

Where did it go? (bring out empty hands)

I'm collecting rhymes to use with scarves and can't wait for my new set of ten scarves to arrive!

Astronaut Space Helmet

2011-07-15T16:00:00.001+01:00

This paper plate craft was very easy and cheap to prep. The adults did most of the construction and then let the kids get on with the decorating. We just used foil stars and matt flag stickers, but holgraphic ones would be really good. Best of all the children looked adorable in them (better than my teddy). Inspiration for this craft came from an image at KidsSoup a subscription site, but I couldn't find free instructions anywhere so made up my own.

Crafts for Spring

2011-07-13T07:45:00.000+01:00

This craft is suitable for a wide age range. If you can hold the glue stick the right way up, you can make one of these - with a little help! I've attached instructions on how to make this simple egg card. I used a mix of wrapping papers (the patterned parts) and paper off-cuts (the plain strips - a little goes a long way). This craft could be adapted to many different themes, just substitute the egg-shape and the colours - how about a bell-shape and red, green and shiney bits for a Christmas card!