Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts

Sep 8, 2013

Are You My Mother? Felt Board Story


Are You My Mother by P.D. Eastman was one of my favourite books when I was a child, and this felt story was one of the first ones I created for my Circle Times.  I usually tell the story close to Mother's Day or in the spring time, but it works anytime throughout the year, and correlates well to an All About Me theme.






Online Early Childhood Workshops with Circle of Ideas

Sep 5, 2013

10 Little Rubber Ducks Felt Board Story by Eric Carle





Eric Carle's books correlate to felt stories so effectively. In addition, his stories always contain lessons for young children to learn such as mathematical concepts like subtraction and addition. Years ago, I read 10 Little Rubber Ducks and immediately knew I wanted to turn the book into a felt story. When I finished and was at circle time telling the story, I realized a little mistake that I made... the pieces were so big, it was challenging  to tell the story on a regular felt board easel. I had to take pieces on and off throughout the telling of the story. You can tell through the photos, the creased lines where the felt material has been folded to get into its bag. But, we always learn through our mistakes and since then, when making felt stories pieces, I make them smaller in size. Best of all,  it saves on felt material and cost! So, since the pieces are extra large, the felt story is shown among a number of photos.

The children love this story and at the end I hide the plastic toy duck and squeak it behind the board, so they cannot see.  Throughout the story, the children can help to count the ducks and learn about direction (north, south, east, west, up, down, etc.) I wrote the story on index cards, which makes it easier to tell as I coordinate the felt pieces.













Online Early Childhood Workshops with Circle of Ideas


May 23, 2013

Pete the Cat Felt Board Story



Pete the Cat by Eric Litwin is becoming a popular story among young children. I recently made this
felt story for the preschool and I am really happy with the results.I like how the felt cat can be used
for two books: Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes as well as Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy
Buttons. I always start with a template on fairly thick paper. It was a little tricky to cut the curvy tail:)

Further reading suggestion:

                                            

The important part of this felt story is to make up your tune or follow the creators themselves:



Online Early Childhood Workshops with Circle of Ideas


Mar 2, 2013

Brown Bear, Brown Bear Felt Board Story



Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? was written and illustrated by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle and published in 1967.  The book is designed to help toddlers associate colors and meanings to objects and has been enjoyed by readers around the world for years. Young children are so attracted to the  bright images and repetitive verse which allows them to quickly join in with the telling of the story. This classic book turns well into a felt board story!




Online Early Childhood Workshops with Circle of Ideas


Jan 31, 2013

The Rainbow Fish Felt Board Story



This is my newest version, but the Rainbow Fish was one of the first felt stories I made as an Early  Childhood Educator, actually I made it for a practicum assignment. I have told the story so many times, and all ages enjoy it! I place some scotch tape behind the sparkly scales so they can be moved onto the other fish and then at the end of the story replaced back. The technique lasts for a long time!



Online Early Childhood Workshops with Circle of Ideas

Jul 3, 2012

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Felt Board Story



Aside from accompanying the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, this felt story encourages literacy in young children with its added bonus of letter recognition.

There are many youtube videos of the story. I like the ones with music...


Online Early Childhood Workshops with Circle of Ideas

Feb 18, 2012

The Mitten Felt Board Story

                                               

Where I live, the snow had almost entirely melted. We could see the grass and then...it snowed and snowed all over again. *sigh*. Oh well, it is only February. So, I read "The Mitten" story by Jan Brett. I have always loved this book, and recently came upon a book called "Don't Wake Up the Bear". The felt story pieces could certainly be used for both stories.

In addition, you may want to visit my blog entry: Mitten Preschool Songs

                              

Online Early Childhood Workshops with Circle of Ideas

Feb 10, 2012

Eric Carle Books into Felt Board Stories



Felt stories derived from published books is a popular way of enjoying the flannel board with young children. Eric Carle has always been my favorite author and artist to transfer into felt stories. His pictures are not complex and his storyline is usually systematic, lending itself to pieces coming on and off the flannel board. His stories always hold learning elements, from counting numbers to life lessons! The following photos are some of my hand-made stories that are a part of my "toolbox"  as an early childhood educator. "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" felt pieces to accompany his published book, is a popular purchase when I am selling felt stories at markets or conferences. In addition, I have written an article about creating a theme within a preschool or daycare curriculum all around the book which can be viewed on my website: Circle of Ideas.



The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Rooster is Off to See the World

Brown Bear, Brown Bear
Little Cloud

10 Little Rubber Ducks


Dec 19, 2011

All About Felt Stories (Flannel Board)


Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
Early childhood educators have been using felt stories (flannel board stories) for years. The felt pieces will sit upright onto felt boards or easels, thus allowing caregivers to provide colourful and vibrant visual aides to a group of preschoolers. In addition, young children enjoy playing with felts themselves. Felt pieces can be used for telling a story or poem, as a visual addition to lyrics of a song, to help teach concepts, or utilize as a transition out of group circle.

The Benefits of Using Felts in Early Childhood Settings

Felt material is beneficial to all young children, but in particular is useful for children who need extra attention visually. Children who have speech delays benefit with large visual pieces to view as the words are being spoken, as with children whose language being spoken is not their first language learnt at home.

Furthermore, felt boards can help children who are hearing impaired as the pieces are easy to see. At a group circle, the teacher/storyteller can give felt pieces out to the children to bring to the board and contribute, thus involving children who otherwise might be easily distracted and/or disruptive to the teacher led activities. The benefits of this alternative way of storytelling and teaching are plentiful.

Felt Stories and Poems

One of the favourite ways to use felt boards is to tell a story with the felt pieces. Stories and poems that have limited pieces or that involve pieces coming off and on to a board work the best. When there are too many felts needed to effectively tell the story, the board can become too busy and difficult for the storyteller to manage effectively. Some suggestions of books that transfer well to felt stories are Eric Carle's Brown Bear, Brown Bear and The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister and I Know and Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly.


In addition, using short poems are a wonderful way of displaying the felts onto a board for the children to enjoy.

Felts With Songs

Songs can be enjoyed with the visual support of felts. The children can listen to music on CD or join in with the teacher to sing. Some great songs that correlate well to felts are fingerplay songs which have the number five in the title. Five is a nice number of felts to view on a board! Plus, we have five fingers to use for extra visualization and child engagement, such as:
 Felt Glove: Five Little Monkeys Swinging on the Tree
  • Five Little Ducks
  • Five Green and Speckled Frogs
  • Five Little Monkeys

Using Felts to Teach Concepts

Felt pieces are a wonderful way to teach children concepts, such as color and number recognition, sizing and matching to name a few. By allowing the children to bring the felts to the boards they are learning with hands-on experiences. Some ideas for this type of learning involvement are matching winter mittens, correlating colour cars to colour garages, placing autumn leaves in the right order from small, medium and large, and matching numbered raindrops to the right numbers on an umbrella.


Felt Pieces and Transition

Lastly, felt pieces on the board can facilitate children transitioning out of circle. In Early Childhood programs, such as preschool and daycare, it is best for children to leave the group in a slow transition, to aid with structure and pace. For instance, if all the children leave the carpet area and rush to the washroom to wash their hands before snack, it potentially leads to problems that need to be addressed. Asking children to come to the board one by one helps with transition. An Educator can ask questions, for instance, "can you find me the red car?" followed by, "great, now you can leave to wash your hands".

Felts are fun for children to use, watch and learn from. Felt material is durable and timeless and is a wonderful addition to any early childhood educator's toolbox.