This Little Piggy ...

I started this flannelboard a few years ago, and as you will see from the pictures I never finished it, but I recently came across an idea that has motivated me to get it out again. I found the original idea in Flannelboard Stories for Infants and Toddlers (Bilingual Edition) by Ann & Mary Carlson, and liked their suggestion of doing flannelboards on interfacing with the pictures and words paired together. Even though I don't work with a Spanish speaking population, I also liked that the book included both the English and Spanish text for all their ideas. The book is full of patterns that can be traced and using the interfacing made that easy, since you can see through it.

The process is pretty simple, you lay a piece of interfacing (make sure to use the sew-in interfacing, not the iron-on or fusible type) over top of the image and trace, then go over the tracing with a permanent marker. To color in the pictures I experimented with paint markers and crayola fabric markers, and they worked okay, but where a little frustrating, and the reason why I didn't finish - then looking for something on the internet the other day I found where someone suggested using crayons, I tried it and they worked very well.

Below are the pictures for each verse of "This Little Piggy", in various states of doneness, the first two I had done with different markers, the third I have started with crayon and the last two haven't been colored in yet.

There's a Wocket in my Pocket ...

Last week I posted my Yottle in a Bottle, this week I am showing you My Wocket, who today, will live in my pocket. I made him the same way I made the Yottle (copied a page from the story, taped it up on a sunny window and traced the image onto orange and green construction paper, then laminated him). You don't really need to laminate the Wocket, since he will be safely tucked into you pocket, but just like the librarian from the Black Lagoon - I do enjoy laminating things :)

In the story, the Wocket is in the little boys back pants pocket, however, the picture below is actually the Wocket in my front shirt pocket (it just made the picture taking process easier and less embarrassing) and he seems to be happy - as long as he can be in a pocket.

Enjoy ...

Yottle in a Bottle ...

This isn't a flannel board, but with Dr. Seuss's birthday coming up, I thought it would be fun to share.

I used the illustrations from There's a Wocket in My Pocket, to make my own Yottle. I made a copy out of the book, taped it up to a sunny window, traced the picture onto a piece of orange construction paper and colored the black parts black. Then I laminated the Yottle, it's important to laminate it, as this makes it much easier to put into the bottle without ripping, plus it makes it stand up straight. When I cut out the Yottle, after laminating, I made sure to leave an 1/8 - 1/4 inch of laminate as a boarder around the edge of the Yottle, and didn't cut the laminate out between his legs.

I took a 20 oz soda bottle and made a slit in the bottom with a utility knife, then I carefully slide the Yottle up into the bottle. I left a little bit of laminate sticking out the bottom of the slit, folded it over onto the bottom of the bottle and taped it down.

Taa-daa! A Yottle in a Bottle!!!

















Last March when I did my Dr. Seuss storytime, I had the Yottle and several other creatures form There's a Wocket in My Pocket, hidden around the storytime room, the kids had fun searching for them after storytime. I even had a Wocket in my pocket - I pretended I didn't know it was there - and when we got ready to start storytime one of the kids yelled out "Hay, there's something in your pocket!". I acted scared and refused to look down at my pocket, asking them if what was in my pocket was scary looking. They told me things like "it's sleeping", "he's cute", "it's not scary", until one kid yelled out "It's a Wocket!", and we all had a good laugh. Unfortunately all my creatures are at work, so I will have to get pictures of them tomorrow and post those on Sunday.

Enjoy!

Flannel Friday - February 3, 2012

Check out my "How to make a Ryhming Dust Bunny" page - for instructions on how to make your own! :)

Three Little Kittens

I love mittens, and today is a mitten day! So, here are my three little kittens, who lost their mittens, found their mittens, ate pie in their mittens and got them dirty, and washed their mittens to make mother dear happy.

I start with just the plain kittens on the flannelboard, then when they find their mittens, I put them on their front paws and give them their pie. The pictures below are the kittens, in their mittens, with goo from the pie on them.











Then I take off the mittens, remove the goo from the pie (just little pink blods cut out of felt), and hang them on the line to dry.











I know you can find this rhyme just about anywhere and it may be one of those things that many of us just know, but I found the words very nicely typed out on KIDiddles.com, you have to register for the site, but they have tons of lyrics for all kinds of songs.