It’s hard to believe, but I haven’t participated in Flannel Friday since June! Though I have used flannel boards a few times in story times for my mothers groups, I’ve been relying on old favorites and haven’t had much time to come up with new ideas. But with Thanksgiving coming up, I’ve been looking for fun ways to incorporate the holiday into Little Miss Muffet’s playtime, and inspiration struck!
This “flannel board” is a piece of cardboad with felt stapled to either side of it. On it is a set of clipart from KizClub.com which makes up a single place setting. With older kids, setting the table properly could be a flannel board activity unto itself. Preschoolers could help you figure out where each item goes and correct you if you make a mistake. With an almost-toddler, though, I’m lucky to keep the pieces on the board for more than 5 seconds!
Once the table is set, either choose a piece of food or ask a child in your audience to make the choice. Say, “2-4-6-8, tell me what is on your plate!” Call out the name of the food as you set it on the plate, and then sing this song from Sharon, Lois, and Bram. (In the Sharon, Lois, and Bram version, they repeat each meal at the end of every verse, but that seems a bit tedious, so I’d probably skip that part, even with kids who were old enough to remember them all.)
This flannel board works for Thanksgiving because of the food connection, but it could really be used any time of year to accompany food-themed books.
This week's host for Flannel Friday is Linda at Notes from the Story Room. For more about this weekly round-up of story time ideas visit, the official website.
