Paul's Pandas

My co-worker Sue had a toddler request a panda toddler time. Sue was charmed since this little one was very shy & needed encouragement from his parent to share his wish.  While she worked on it, I remembered Pippa's Penguins by Susan M. Dailey.  I suggested Sue switch it to pandas & since the boy's name was Paul, Paul's Penguins were born.  They were so cute I wanted to share them.

Sue used circle dies for the head & body.  She said all her kids loved them especially Paul!


I haven't had much time to post but I thought I'd show you my five blue birds.

These are magnetic dry erase boards from Dollar Tree.  Here they're on the side of our refrigerator so I could snap a quick photo.  I haven't had a chance to use them yet but look forward to doing a counting rhyme with them.

Nikki is hosting Flannel Friday at heytherelibrary.  Check out her sight for some great ideas.

Spring Flowers

I found these felt flowers at Target several years ago in their dollar bins.  Each flower is 5" or wider.  With spring starting next week, I'm planning on using them in story time, possibly with more than one rhyme.

Rhymes that I'm considering are:

Five Flowers

 

Five flowers standing in the sun

 

See their heads nodding, bowing one by one.

 

Down, down, down comes the gentle rain

 

And the five flowers lift up their heads again.

 

 

 

My Flowers

 

 

One bright flower in my garden grew,

 

Up popped another and now there are two.

 

Two bright flowers for everyone to see,

 

Up popped another and now there are three.

 

Three bright flowers that I adore,

Up popped another and now there are four.

 

Four bright flowers prepared to thrive,

 

Up popped another and now there are five.

 

Five bright flowers standing straight and tall.

 

Five bright flowers answered Spring's wake-up call.

 

 

Sandy Wallick

 

 I've added a 2nd picture without all the background "noise", but left the first one up because I think it shows the colors better.

 

Laura at Library Lalaland is our host this week, so check out her site for lots of  fun ideas.

Valentine Bears (or any other creature)

I remember reading someone's blog about how they used window clings like they would flannel board pieces.  GENIUS!  (I'm sorry I can't remember who--but please know how much the idea was appreciated)

I found these window clings at the dollar store & thought I'd give them a try.

I only used the bears & here's the rhyme I wrote to go with them:

FIVE BEARS' VALENTINE DAY

 

One bear dressed in an outfit brand new

Called for a friend and now we have two.

 

Two bears dressed and ready for a party,

In strolled another and now we have three.

 

Three bears talking, heard a knock on the door,

In pranced another and now we have four.

 

Four bears began to dance a jive,

In walked another and now we have five.

 

Five bears continued to dance and play

On a very, very happy Valentine's day.

 

 

This could easily be any animal you wanted it to be & you could used pieces you already have.

 

 

Flannel Friday this week is hosted by Ms. Kelly at the Library

Snowmen, Snowmen

I've been doing several winter themes and last week I focused on snowmen.  This first one is one that we make ages ago (& despite the photo it is still very white).

We used a rhyme from RHYMES FOR FINGERS & FLANNELBOARDS by Louise Binder Scott.  We added the last four lines since the children were upset that the original rhyme didn't have arms.

THE SNOWMAN

 

Roll a snowball large,

Then one of middle size;

Roll a snowball small;

Use lumps of coal for eyes.

Place a carrot for a nose,

An old hat on his head,

And for his necktie, tie around

His neck a ribbon red.

A corncob pipe goes in his mouth,

Some buttons on his vest;

And there he stands so round and fat;

Of snowmen, he's the best.

But's something's missing...Can you guess what?

Let's give our friend a hand;

Some sticks from a tree will work just great

As arms for our snowman.

 

 

 

 

This guy is new (& also white)  I found the following rhyme in an old book that was donated to us & loved the fact that it used pebbles for eyes and raisins for the mouth.  I've since seen some very similar rhymes on the web. 

 

LET'S BUILD A SNOWMAN

 

First the body

And then the head.

A stovepipe hat

And a scarf of red.

Pebbles for eyes,

And a carroty nose,

And a mouth made of raisins

In two smiling row.

 

 

 

Just by adding a heart, you can use any snowman for Valentine's Day:

 

VALENTINE SNOWMAN

 

I made a snowman yesterday

So jolly, fat and fine.

I pinned a red heart on his chest

And called him Valentine.

 

 

Lisa at Libraryland is hosting Flannel Friday this week, so visit her site for lots of good ideas.