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Friday, April 29, 2011

Flannel Friday: Five Astronauts Went Up in Space


I have only been a children's librarian for about 6 months (it will be 6 months on May 8th), so I don't have much of an archive of flannel board activities just yet. I'm also shamefully inept with scissors and not very crafty, so the thought of making a bunch of flannel board sets is very daunting. Therefore, I often cheat. The astronauts in the photo above are paper (which is way easier to cut than felt), and they are being held to the flannel board with velcro. This is how I have made all of my flannel board creations so far, and I definitely recommend it, if you are felt-phobic and/or work in a library system where money for felt is scarce. (I do worry that these will get ripped, and I will have to replace them frequently, but this hasn't happened to me yet.)

I created these colorful guys to go with a song I adapted. The original is either Five Little Ducks or One Elephant Went Out to Play, but I changed it to Five Astronauts Went Up In Space. I performed it for the first time at Baby/Toddler Story Time this past Tuesday.

The words I wrote are as follows:

One astronaut went up in space
Upon the moon to play one day
He had such enormous fun
That he called for another astronaut to come!

(Repeat, counting up to five.)

Five astronauts went up in space
Upon the moon to play one day
They had such enormous fun
That they called for everyone to come!
(End the rhyme by saying goodbye to each astronaut by color.)


I used this coloring sheet as my astronaut template, and then colored each one with crayons. The colors don't really matter, since there's no reference to them in the song, but I chose the five brightest crayons I had on hand. For the moon, I resized this photo from Google Images.

Be sure to visit Mel's Desk for more Flannel Friday posts!
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6 comments:

  1. AnonymousApril 29, 2011 at 4:01 PM

    Welcome to Flannel Friday! I am going to steal this for an outer space storytime this summer---I am sure it will be "out of this world!" PUN INTENDED!

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  2. KatieApril 29, 2011 at 4:11 PM

    Thanks, Anne!

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  3. AbbyMay 1, 2011 at 7:15 PM

    Katie - We often make "felt" sets out of paper or printed photos. We cover them in clear shelf liner (Con-Tact) paper before gluing felt or velcro on the back and that helps keep them sturdy and in shape! You can get Con-Tact paper pretty cheap at a place like Walmart - we usually find it with the laundry/house supplies.

    This is such a cute rhyme! Love it!

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  4. AnonymousMay 3, 2011 at 3:06 PM

    Welcome to Flannel Friday! Hooray!

    If you have access to a laminator, you can also laminate your paper pieces. I do that, and then back them with self-stick felt if I'm letting the kids handle the flannel that week.

    (Though Abby's suggestion is way more budget friendly!)

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  5. KatieMay 3, 2011 at 4:51 PM

    Abby - Thanks for the tip! I actually considered contact paper, but didn't know where to look for it. I will check Walmart next time I'm there.

    Katie - Alas, we don't have a laminator. But thanks for the welcome, and the comment!

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    Replies
    1. AnonymousDecember 16, 2013 at 5:15 PM

      I have discovered Pellon works really well for us for our flannel boards. I lay a template of what I want under the Pellon and then trace it out and then paint it with acrylic paint. They have seemed to hold up so far. I use them at our library but also when I go to several different preschools.

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