Teddy Bear Pattern Flannelboard

A couple of years ago I found these great looking teddy bear cutouts at the dollar store.  They came in three colors: yellow, red, and blue.  I thought I could use them at storytime.  My first thought was to have the children color on them.  This did not work out.  The bears had some strange coating that did not allow crayons or pen ink to stay.  Then one day, while I was working on a teddy bear themed storytime, I thought to use them for a flannelboard.

I slapped magnets on the backside of the cutouts.  Then I used these colorful bears on my magnet board to create color patterns during storytime.  I made patterns such as

Red, Red, Yellow, Blue, Red, Red, Yellow, Blue, etc.

or

Yellow, Red, Blue, Yellow, Yellow, Red, Blue, Yellow, etc.

Of course, I kept the patterns pretty basic. I only had a finite number of bears to use while repeating the pattern.

These bears make a great addition to my flannelboard repertoire.  They worked out beautifully to introduce the math concept of patterns to my toddler storytime crowd.

Mothers Toddler Storytime

Storytime for 1 to 3 year olds:

• Opening - Skinnamarink, Sticky Sticky Bubblegum

• Book #1 – Mama Cat Has Three Kittens by Denise Fleming

• Stand-up Activity – "If You're Happy and You Know It" from Songs for Wiggleworms by Old Town School of Folk Music

• Bridge - Open, Shut Them (fingerplay)

Open, shut them
(open and close hands)
Open, shut them
Give a little clap (clap)
Open, shut them

Open, shut them
Put them in your lap
(put hands in lap)

Creep them, creep them
Under your chin
(creep fingers up chest)
Open your mouth, but don't put them in
(do as words say)

Open, shut them
Open, shut them
Give a little clap
Open shut them
Open shut them
Put them in your lap 

• Flannelboard - Five Little Ducks (traditional song)

• Book #2 – My Mom Is Fantastic! by Nick Butterworth

• Activity – "Come A' Look A' See" (fingerplay song I first picked up at a workshop conducted by Jane Cobb but can also be found on the CD The Baby Record by Bob McGrath)

• Closing - Scarves to the song "Popcorn Calling Me" from Buzz Buzz by Laurie Berkner

 

• Art Experience – Create a Mother's Day card that says, "The earth laughs in flowers." a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson.  The card was decorated with muffin cup flowers glued to the card.  For a personal touch, the children were to use an ink stamp pad to stamp their fingerprints into the center of each muffin cup (or really, anywhere on the card).  I used card stock for the card which I pre-printed the quote on by running it through the library's copy machine.  

• How It Went - The art activity did not go as I intended.  I meant to make the Mother's Day card a type of special momento of the children by including their tiny little fingerprints.  But most of the parents would not let their children touch the stamp pads.  Very unfortunate.  I did have baby wipes on hand so I am not sure why the parents were hesitant to do this messy art project.  

Free Comic Book Day was a blast!

Last Saturday my library celebrated Free Comic Book Day with a mini comic book convention.  Kudos to our teen librarian for spear heading a fun event!  Not only did we give out free comics, but there was also an artist alley, a scavenger hunt, a crafting zone, panelists, and a cosplay dance.  The atmosphere inside the library actually felt like a comic book convention.

I was in charge of the craft zone.  I totally over planned this area.  Most of the people who came into the crafting zone just wanted to make something with the Perler beads.  The coloring sheets and paper crafts were mostly ignored.  The papercrafts consisted of Yoda ears and Princess Leia headbands inspired by a post at Nerd Craft Librarian, Naruto headbands/armbands, plus Sailor Moon tiaras and Wonder Woman crowns.

I am pretty proud of how the Sailor Moon tiaras turned out.  I thought it would be easy to find directions on creating a "v" shaped tiara that looks similar to what Sailor Moon wears.  No such luck.  Since I am origami-challenged, I was having difficulty figuring it out for myself.  Luckily another librarian figured it out for me (thanks Bonnie!).  Here are the directions I wrote up for creating a Sailor Moon style tiara out of strips of yellow construction paper.

Windy Rainy Weather Toddler Storytime

Storytime for 1 to 3 year olds:

• Opening - Skinnamarink, Sticky Sticky Bubblegum

• Book #1 – Kite Flying by Grace Lin

• Stand-up Activity – "Shakin' Like a Leafy Tree" action song from Racing to the Rainbow by The Wiggles

• Bridge - Open, Shut Them (fingerplay)

Open, shut them
(open and close hands)
Open, shut them
Give a little clap (clap)
Open, shut them

Open, shut them
Put them in your lap
(put hands in lap)

Creep them, creep them
Under your chin
(creep fingers up chest)
Open your mouth, but don't put them in
(do as words say)

Open, shut them
Open, shut them
Give a little clap
Open shut them
Open shut them
Put them in your lap 

• Flannelboard - What a Windy Day (rhyme to the tune of "The Wheels On the Bus" that I found in Mailbox Preschool magazine, April/May 2008, page 33)

• Book #2 – Kipper's Rainy Day by Mick Inkpen

• Activity – "Eensy Weensy Spider" fingerplay song from Toddler Tunes by Cedarmont Kids

• Closing - Scarves to the song "Popcorn Calling Me" from Buzz Buzz by Laurie Berkner

 

• Art Experience – Use a gluestick to glue a paper umbrella shape to a regular size paper and then draw rain around the umbrella with blue crayons

• How It Went - I happened to do this storytime on a windy day.  It was fun to point to the trees bending in the wind outside the windows before doing the "Shakin' Like a Leafy Tree" song.