The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams is another story that is popular with Flannel Friday folk this time of year. Jenna of Stories with Ms. Jenna just posted her version last week. There are three more versions on Flannel Friday's Halloween Pinterest board - one by Jane of Piper Loves the Library, one by Meghan of Busy Crafting Mommy and one by Mary of Miss Mary Liberry.

I liked the idea of taking the pieces off the board to make the scarecrow in Meghan's version. I was able to find a suitable piece of wood to hold the scarecrow at a craft store. I also used "Velcro" clear dots to attach the pieces to the wood and to each other. I also added magnets to the back so that I can put the individual pieces on the board as I tell the story.

 

The Pieces

 

 

 The Scarecrow

 

 

This was an easy prop to make. Coloring the pieces took the most time. I drew my own figures because I wanted them to be bright and colorful.

 

 

This week's Flannel Friday Round-up is hosted by Katie of Storytime Katie. Check the Flannel Friday pages for everything you need to know about Flannel Friday.

Haunted Houses, Courtesy of Flannel Friday

I'm planning a Halloween Preschool Storytime. Two years ago, I did a Halloween Family Storytime. (Last year we did a Monster Family Storytime in October.) I wanted to do another family program but due to a bump in my personal life, it was not to be. However, since our regular preschool storytime takes place on the 31st, I will be doing that program instead. Since I don't want to repeat everything that I did before (at least one of my family storytime regulars will be attending), I decided to look for some new ideas. Of course the first place I went to was the Flannel Friday Halloween Pinterest board.

I found several haunted house props. Amanda of Trails & Tails created an amazing haunted house play mat with removable finger puppets. It goes with her "Jack Lantern, Jack Lantern, What Do You See?" rhyme. Sarah of Read, Sarah, Read made a great haunted house to go with Ten Timid Ghosts by Jennifer O'Connell. She also added a rhyme, "Five Little Ghosts" that could be adapted for use with the haunted house. Andrea of RovingFiddlehead KidLit has a simple but very effective haunted house for the song, "The Haunted House." Another haunted house prop has also been added to the Halloween board from this year's Halloween Round-Up. Sarah inspired Lisa of Thrive After Three to create her fantastic haunted house for Ten Timid Ghosts.

Since our story room is quite small, I did not need a large prop. I decided to go with the "Five Little Ghosts" rhyme found on Sarah's blog. Of course I adapted the rhyme to suit the characters I wanted to use. I drew my own figures. For me it was quicker than trying to size clip art to fit the "windows." I did use clip art for inspiration.

The haunted house is made from orange card stock. The roof and chimney are made from construction paper. I used leftover laminating film to cover the windows. I made pockets by taping a piece of card stock to the back of each window to hold the figures.

The figures are glued onto card stock pieces that fit in the pockets with a ghost on one side and the one who chases it away on the other side. As I say the rhyme, I simply turn the piece to the other side and return it to the pocket. At the end, the piece is turned again to have the ghosts return. I numbered and labeled the pockets so that I would have the figures in the correct order for the rhyme.

This is my adaptation of the rhyme:

                                    "Five Little Ghosts"

                    Five little ghosts in a haunted house at play,
                    Along came a witch who chased one ghost away.
                    Four little ghosts in a haunted house at play,
                    Along came a monster who chased one ghost away.
                    Three little ghosts in a haunted house at play,
                    Along came a vampire who chased one ghost away.
                    Two little ghosts in a haunted house at play,
                    Along came a mummy who chased one ghost away.
                    One little ghost in a haunted house at play,
                    Along came a bat who chased that ghost away.
                    Let's find the ghosts and say:
                    1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ghosts come back and play!

 

Shadows on the Moon

Flannel Friday's Annual Halloween Round-Up is this week. Last year I contributed a draw and tell story. I have another one for this year.

Shadows on the Moon: A Halloween Draw and Tell Story

by Linda Meuse

(Notes from the Story Room - 10/4/13)



It had been a great night for trick-or-treating. Mike and Sara were on their way home with bags full of candy. Sara glanced up to see a full moon in the night sky. (1) "The moon looks different tonight. It seems to have lots of shadows on it," said Sara. (2) "Some of those shadows look more like spots," replied Mike, stopping to look at the moon. "See, there is one right in the middle." (3) Sara also stopped to look carefully at the moon. "I see it," she said, "and there's an even bigger one under it!" (4) Mike started to get excited. "I see two more!," he said. "They are on top of the other spots. There is one on each side." (5) "It looks like the moon has a face," said Sara. "There is also something on top of the moon. It looks like the moon is wearing a funny hat." (6) Sara and Mike looked at the moon and then looked at each other. They both smiled for they realized that the moon was having some Halloween fun too!

Drawing Sequence:

(1) Draw moon

(2) Draw shadows

(3) Draw middle spot

(4) Draw big spot

(5) Draw two more spots

(6) Draw hat

Just for fun - Picasa automatically made this:

Click on "Halloween" in the Labels list to the right to find other Halloween storytime ideas on this blog.

This week's Round-Up is hosted by Storytime ABC's. Information about Flannel Friday can be found on the Flannel Friday blog. Follow us on Facebook and Pinterest.