Flannel Friday (Halloween Edition): Mr. Scarecrow's Jack o'Lantern

It's so hard to believe that Halloween is just around the corner. Thankfully, inspiration for this flannel board struck in mid-September, so I'm actually ready to share it with you today even though none of my other Halloween stuff is planned yet. Like last week's story, I wrote it myself, and also made the pieces myself (except the scarecrow) using paper, crayons, contact paper, and Velcro. (Please feel free to use the story, but if you post the words anywhere, I would just ask that you credit me and link back here.)
 

Mr. Scarecrow's Jack o'Lantern

by Miss Katie 

Mr. Scarecrow has a pumpkin. He wants to turn it into a jack o'lantern. 

He carves one eye. 

Is it a jack o'lantern yet?

Nooooo!

He carves another eye.

Is it a jack o'lantern yet?

Nooooo!

He carves a nose.

Is it a jack o'lantern yet?

Nooooo!

He carves a mouth.

It is a jack o'lantern yet?

Yes! 

Here is Mr. Scarecrow's jack o'lantern...

All lit up! 

How I wrote it: I knew I wanted to write a story with a main character that would also be somehow interactive for my huge baby/toddler drop-in group. I also wanted to make my own pieces, so I knew it had to be pretty basic. Halloween seemed like an obvious topic, and once I thought of pumpkins, the process of carving a jack o'lantern seemed like a pretty logical choice. (I also think it's usually okay to talk about pumpkins at story time, even if there are some people in attendance who don't celebrate Halloween.) It didn't take long to write the original draft, though each time I practice it in my head or share it with someone, it changes slightly. I haven't shared it at a story  time yet, but I'll be up to the letter J on October 23, so I'll have a better idea then of how it goes over.

How I made it: I opted to make six individual versions of the same pumpkin, to avoid having to stick a bunch of Velcro all over the front of the plain one in order to attach the eyes, nose, and mouth. The first thing I did was trace a Cool Whip container to get six pumpkins of the exact same size and shape, then I colored the first one with an orange crayon. After that, I started adding one piece of the face at a time to each of the next four pumpkins, tracing from one pumpkin to the next so the faces would all line up the same. Then I colored everything accordingly, and attached stems (also traced from a single template that I drew) to each pumpkin. Finally, I covered the pieces with contact paper and outlined the facial features once more with a Sharpie. The scarecrow was a piece I already had from last Fall. He came from this website.

Flannel Friday's Halloween Round-Up host is Mary at Miss Mary Liberry. Also check out the FF Facebook page, Pinterest boards, and official website.