Flannel Project: Snowmen

This week I finished working on a flannel of Snowmen. I know what you're thinking - snowmen in Summer?! - but who knows when we will return to programming and I want to revamp all of the flannels I use often while I have the time.

Five Little Snowmen Rhyme:

Five little snowmen standing in a row,

Each with a hat and a carrot nose.

Out came the sun and it shone all day, (make a big sun with your arms over your head)

And one little snowman melted away.

Count down...4, 3, 2, 1...

Source: A library assistant? This flannel rhyme was one that was in my flannel drawer when I started as a librarian six years ago.

Flannel Project: Picnic/Ants

Last week I finished an unexpectedly time-consuming flannel to make. It is a flannel about a picnic that several ants find themselves at. 

The rhyme goes:

Five hungry ants, marching in a line,

Came upon a picnic where they could dine.

They marched into the salad,

They marched into the cake,

They marched into the pepper,

UH-OH! That was a mistake!

Count down...4, 3, 2, 1

Here are my five hungry ants: 

My salad: 

My cake: 

And, because you can't make one without the other, my salt & pepper shakers: 

Flannel Project: Storytime Visual Schedule

Several years ago I made a Very Hungry Caterpillar visual schedule for storytimes. While I love it, I have not used it in awhile since it has been harder to incorporate and for kids to see in large crowds. A peer librarian at one of the other libraries in my system does a flannel visual schedule. He adds the flannels to the schedule as he does the activity. I brainstormed some ideas we could turn into a flannel visual schedule with my programming library assistants and we decided that a 'bookshelf' would be a fun concept to try out.

To start, I used a flannel-backed poster-board that I already had on-hand from my Rocketship Run project from last year. I added a layer of backing to the back-side of the Rocketship Run poster-board. 

The next step was blowing up images of floating shelves via Powerpoint. I don't even have flannel that was the length I needed so I had to be careful with the templates to piece them together so it would be difficult for people to see that they were two separate pieces.

I think the second layer, on the top of the shelves, made it come together.

And the final step was adding books and other items to the shelf without crowding it, to leave room for our flannels as we add them. I decided to add a small plant, a handful of books, and a couple bookends. 

Flannel Project: More Baby Storytime Songs!

I made a few more flannels specifically for baby storytimes!

Baa, Baa, Black Sheep

I think nursery rhymes and songs are a great tool to use, especially at baby storytimes. So, one of my favorites is Baa, Baa, Black Sheep. It teaches animal sounds and language, and it is a favorite sing-along for my toddler son.

Babies! 

I made a flannel of baby hands/feet as well as a flannel of a sleeping baby. Since I use a lot of songs/rhymes that encourage naming baby's body parts as well as interaction between parent-infant, these will be used all the time! One of my favorite songs is Wake Up Feet. I also love Well Hello Everybody, Can You Touch Your Nose? Both of these are great options for welcome songs or just regular movement songs at baby storytimes. Another song that I enjoy using for naming body parts, and also as a useful song for parents to use for diaper and clothing changes, is Lift One Foot and Then the Other. Obviously, Jbrary is a HUGELY helpful resource for tunes and lyrics, as well as demonstrating how to use them at storytime presentations.

 

Flannel Project: Button Shirt

I am planning on doing a storytime about buttons whenever we get back to programming post-pandemic. I made a flannel shirt with buttons to use at the storytime.

Button Shirt:

The rhyme I found about buttons for the shirt was created by Briony from Librionyian. 

Five little buttons on my shirt,

One popped off and rolled away.

count down...4, 3, 2, 1

No more buttons on my shirt!

Source: Librionyian

I blew up a picture of a shirt using a powerpoint presentation. I was able to fit different parts of the picture into slides to make an even bigger template than an 8.5x11 sheet of printer paper. For the buttons, I used round circles of heavy-duty flannel. 

Then I put circle Velcro hooks glued down on the flannel circles. 

Then I attached hook Velcro on the back of buttons to attach them to the flannel shirt.

It turned out pretty great and I can't wait to use it at storytime!