Polar Bear Flannelboard

The Cold, Cold Night

One cold, cold night in the snowy, icy north a man heard a crunching outside his little house.  He opened his door to look out into the night but suddenly it was quiet.  The cold wind blew, and the stars above twinkled, and the moon shone bright when over the snowdrift appeared two big, big ears.

“Oh, my,” he said.

“How strange to see such big, big ears in the cold, cold night!”

And the cold wind blew, and the stars above twinkled, and the moon shone bright

when over the snowdrift appeared two dark, dark eyes under the big, big ears.

“Oh, my,” he said.

“How strange to see such dark, dark eyes under the big, big ears in the cold, cold night.”

But still he stood in the doorway.

And the cold wind blew, and the stars above twinkled, and the moon shone bright

when over the snowdrift appeared a black, black nose under the dark, dark eyes under the big, big ears.

“Oh, my,” he said.

“How strange to see such a black, black nose under the dark, dark eyes under the big, big ears in the cold, cold night.”

But still he stood in the doorway.

And then the man said, “Where did you get such big, big ears?”

“Much listening, much listening.”

“And where did you get such big, big eyes?”

“Much watching, much watching.”

“And where did you get such a black, black nose?”

“Much sniffing, much sniffing.”

“And what brings you to my door?”
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“Snowshoes!”

Circles made with various die-cut patterns: planets, insides of 4" letter O, etc.
Black flannel is plain, but white flannel is fuzzy flannel that I keep hidden from the rest of the library. 

We've had snow down here all week, which is unusual for here and while I usually do something snow-related for pre-schoolers (many of them have not seen snow or ice - I had to explain icicles in December), I'm tired of doing the same stuff.  I saw a print-out online of some circles that could be cut out to make a polar bear and I decided it would make a cute flannelboard.  After looking at photos of real polar bears, though, I made the eyes smaller than the nose.  I'd been casting around for a rhyme to go with this when I remembered the flannelboard of "The Pumpkin Man" - so I used that as a basis forthe flannelboard story above.

Next I'll probably make a big book out of it!

Storytime Goodies/GA Children's Lit Conference

One of the concurrent sessions was given by Kaleema Abdurrahman, who simply did not have enough time to share all she knew about fun ways to share books with children. This session was packed. They had to bring in more chairs.

Abdurrahman makes her own feltboards (to change the shape, size, color, make them more portable) and uses sandpaper for the backing, which is an interesting alternative to, say, velcro.
She works with stick puppets in something she calls Box Theatre, a medium sized box from which the top, back, and a bit from the sides has been removed. Inside, at the top of the front she has put the foam double-sided tape to hold the stick puppets still, when necessary. She replaces the protective paper on the exposed side to keep it fresh. OMG, what one cannot learn from this woman!

I had never heard of a magnetboard. Maybe that's what that white thing is on the back of our store-bought (I feel so wasteful now!) flannelboards. Does Abdurrahman buy some expensive magnetboard? No way! She brings in a cookie sheet and uses the back. She showed us the front side to prove it was actually used for baking cookies as well. Now you can put sandpaper and magnet tape on your shapes!

Here's an idea, before putting up posters, put some booktape in the corners (where you plan to use other tapes or adhesives) to protect the poster.

She also makes her own story aprons, tree trunks out of Pringle's cans for the squirrel puppet, a toilet paper tube for a candle to do "Jack Be Nimble" - and demonstrated for us jumping over it. You can just picture a whole roomful of kids jumping over the paper and cardboard candle. She hangs scenery around her neck and

She decorated a peanut can to look like a dog and then wrote the titles of stories about dogs on paper "bones" she put inside the can. Children could draw out a bone to determine what story would be told next. She made story cards out of discarded books (we have a couple of these).

And her Humpty-Dumpty egg with a fake "yoke" inside was a hilarious idea. Oh, and I laughed out loud when she did "Ten in the Bed" with the Little One (babydoll) in a homemade bed who was overcrowded with toys and she just tossed a toy out for each verse.

Some of these sessions should be a bit longer.