Flannel Board Story

Since the kiddos are becoming away more active and can easily crawl over the ottoman we use to keep them corralled, we have started to follow more of a schedule. We have breakfast in the morning and then it’s on to some free play while I get the kids dressed and ready for the day. It’s getting harder to get them to want to come into the room for this task so I usually ask them what toy they’d like to play with first. I have also been trying to bring out a ‘new’ or rarely used box of toys to entice (trick) them. After we are dressed, we clean up and do some flashcards. I bought a few packs at the dollar store a while back and they absolutely love doing them. We have little routines with some of the cards, and it cracks me up to watch when I skip a routine to speed things up, and they do it anyway. For example, when we get to the teddy bear card, we say the rhyme “Teddy bear, teddy bear turn around. Teddy bear, teddy bear, touch the ground!” and touch the ground. As soon as that teddy bear card pops up, they slap the ground and say GROUND! My little sponges!

This week we got a very exciting new toy to work with! G-pa brought over a huge flannel board that the church no longer needed. I looked up some story board ideas and decided to use 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' by Eric Carle. It’s one of my and Lily’s favorites, and I figured it wouldn’t be too hard to recreate. I went page by page and using the felt (that I have an abundance of from my Busy Book), I cut and hot glued shapes together to make the items in the book. It came out pretty cute, and I could not wait to try it out.

I had the kids sit in front of the board and I started to tell the story and place the felt pieces onto the board. They both got so excited that they couldn’t sit still. I finished the story and let them touch the different pieces. The second time around, I handed them each an item or two to put up on the board. This excited them even more. Then we had some free play with the caterpillar and the different types of food while I snapped pictures of my handiwork. Lily picked up the book and started checking my work to make sure I got it all. I am so glad this went over so well and I cannot wait to do another book! I’d like to be able to do a book a week, and have them help me tell the story by the end of the week. 

I also plan on using it to practice our shapes and colors, and I might even make some sort of weather chart that we can do each day! I think mornings will be reserved for circle time and afternoons will be projects and once it gets warmer, outside time! They're at such a fun age now that I count my blessings every day that I get to spend all day with them both and watch them grow. 

Simple Dr. Seuss Projects

In honor of Dr. Seuss’s birthday this past weekend, I decided to take a break from the shapes we’ve been doing and do some Seussical projects! We’ve been reading all the Dr. Seuss books that Lily has in her collection. The group favorite is Dr. Seuss’s ABCs. We’ve read this so many times that I can recite it by heart, which now comes in handy when little hands want to hold the book and turn the pages. Or take the book and run from the room.

We have been doing a different hand or foot painting project each day. We started out making Thing 1 and Thing 2 by using a handprint in blue to show the Thing’s crazy hair and a footprint in red for the body. I sketched the faces and names and glued them together but with older kids they could make the faces themselves. Yesterday, we talked about the Lorax and had fun trying to say his name. We used handprints in yellow to make his silly mustache. Once again, I helped with the drawing of the body. Today we read One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish and made some corresponding artwork by turning handprints into fish. If I had a laminator, these would make adorable little homemade books for the kiddos to read and share! Maybe I’ll grab some contact paper and see what I can do.

I think tomorrow will try to make Horton the Elephant made out of a gray hand print, and if I can get organized, perhaps a Seuss-themed Photo Shoot Friday! I usually start planning those earlier in the week but we'll see what can be thrown together!