Friday, January 27, 2012

Flannel Friday: Winter Post #3: Mittens

This is my third Winter Flannel Friday post. The previous ones focused on penguins and snowflakes - today's theme is mittens!

I've got two main ideas for using these mittens. The first I picked up at Staff Day from the coordinator of youth services for my library system. It's sung to the tune of Six Little Ducks, and goes like this:

Colorful mittens for me and you
Red ones, yellow ones, blue ones too.
But the one pair of mittens that rhymes with head,
They're my favorite mittens, and their color is red!
Their color is red! Their color is red!
They're my favorite mittens, and their color is red!

This song will work with any color that rhymes - so yellow, green, and blue will work, but my purple mittens will not.

All of the colors will work for this next one, though. The tune is Skip to My Lou. I know I overuse it, but it works so well for so many things!

One red mitten, what'll I do?
One red mitten, what'll I do?
One red mitten, what'll I do?
I'll find the other one - now there are two!

With babies, I use popsicle stick puppets and just hold up one mitten, and then two, and then clap them together and say "Yay!." With my toddlers, I do the song with the flannel board and put up the pairs as they're completed.

This week's Flannel Friday host is Anne (@sotomorrow). Also find us, as always, on Pinterest and Facebook.

14 comments :

  1. I love the idea of using popsicle stick puppets with the babies! I might have to try that in my baby program. Thanks for sharing!

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    1. It really works well. I try to include at least one popsicle stick puppet song in every lap time. It works especially well for songs that don't really have motions that go with them.

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  2. Seconding the popsicle stick puppet awesomeness. Great idea!

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  3. I love using piggyback songs - it makes my memory work a bit harder :-)!

    Your mittens are simple enough that you can use them over and over for a variety of songs/rhymes. It stretches your efforts when they are so versatile. Great job!

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    1. I do, too. :-)

      Thanks. I've been trying to make flannels for things that have a lot of uses, so I can get a lot of mileage out of them!

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  4. I'm in the middle of making popsicle stick puppets for Laurie Berkner's "Goodnight" song with the different animals. There's a frog, an owl, and a tiger. The last verse is singing goodnight to the child, so I'm hoping I can find something reflective that I can cut (I'll use aluminum foil if I have to but I'm trying for something else first) to use as a little mirror. Next I'll be making some mittens :)

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    1. Oh, I love that song. I'm learning it on the ukulele for this summer's Dream Big, Read theme. I'd love to hear what you come up with for a mirror. I'm probably going to use puppets for the animals, but hadn't thought about what to do with that last verse!

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  5. I've always tried to use a smaller flannel board with the babies, but I think I'll be trying the stick puppets next week. It sounds like an easier way to share songs. Thanks for the great idea!

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    1. I have a much larger baby group this Winter than I had in the Fall, so the flannel board's not working for me. I hadn't considered trying to do my usual flannels with puppets, but I bet some of them would adapt nicely. Let me know how the stick puppets work for you!

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  6. STICK PUPPETS. Those are great ideas; I sometimes use prop sticks when I do a song. I stole a great set from Melissa for "Baa Baa Black Sheep" about a year ago!

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  7. Love both songs! I try to do a color song or activity for each of my storytime themes. These can easily be adapted. Thanks! I also like the idea of clapping the mittens together. Fun!

    At our 3 and under storytimes, we offer the parents a take-home craft to help them continue their child's learning beyond storytime. Some of my most popular crafts are stick puppets. The parents and the little ones love them!

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  8. i love this. so many wonderful mitten ideas today! I've used a variation of the first rhyme with autumn leaves. the mittens are a great idea also.

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  9. Hmm, now I'm thinking about piggy backing in storytime.... {drifts away to consider}

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