Flannel Friday Guest-Post-Palooza: The Best Gift

Hi all! Welcome to the Flannel Friday Fourth Anniversary Guest Post Palooza!

I am thrilled and delighted to host Gayle, who sent in her guest post from New Zealand! Here is her Flannel Friday contribution:

This story has been created from the book ‘Kindergarten Magic’ by Kathy MacMillan and Christine Kirker.

For this story you get between 5- 8 boxes to nest inside each other and the smallest box contains the red heart cut out of felt or paper. They said to wrap the boxes however as I wanted to be able to reuse the prop I decided to decorate with stickers and ribbons. I also just used different sized shoe boxes and jewellery box is the smallest.

To start with the story, I sit with the box on my knee and I ask the children what have I got here and then what do you think could be inside, children start saying doll, car, plane, train, transformer etc. then I start reading the little story and slowly open each box, or ask a child to come up and open the box.

Story goes along the lines of….

When I was little, my mother gave me a present. She said to me, this is a very special present, one that has been passed down for many years in my family. “Is it a bike?” I asked “No!” she said. “Your great grandmother didn’t have a bike, and she still had fun every day.” I thought some more. “Is it a remote control aeroplane?” I asked. “No!” said my mum, “Your grandmother didn’t have a remote controlled aeroplane, and she still had fun every day.” I thought some more. “Is it a video game?” I asked “No,” said my mother, “I didn’t have video games when I was a little girl, and I still had fun every day.” What do you think it could be? Wow, those are all great suggestions. Let’s open the present and see. (Open each box in succession, building the suspense. When you finally reach the last box, open it slowly and reveal the heart.) “That is the best gift anyone can give you, and it’s something that has been passed down in our family for generations,” said my mother. Do you know what it is? Love!

Since I work in a Christian Kindergarten, my heart has a picture of Joseph, Mary and Jesus and I say: “The love we get from Jesus.”