Not a Flannel Friday: 5 Green and Speckled Frogs

Welcome to Flannel Friday! I will post a round up of all the Flannel Friday posts at the end of the day, so make sure to come back to see the full line up. You won’t want to miss any of the fabulous ideas. You can check out the other Flannel Friday Round Up posts while you wait! [Ed: Flannel Friday Round Up 5 is here!]

Here’s a prop I just made for our bookmobile storytime librarian. I have seen this idea before (on the Internet? In a storytime storage closet?) and liked it because it is an all-in-one prop, no flannelboard or separate pieces necessary. I have no idea what it’s called. “Storytime Paper Towel Tube Song Prop Thingy”?

The frogs are on construction paper rings that slide around the paper towel tube. When you start the song, all frogs are right side up, on top of the log. As you sing and as each frog jumps into the pool, you rotate the ring around the tube until the frog is upside down and facing backwards, and the “pool” is facing the audience instead.

Here’s how I did it:

First, cover a paper towel tube with brown construction paper. I used a plain old glue stick.

Then use more brown construction paper to cut five strips 2 x 12. You can find your own frog images, or use the adorable ones I found in Microsoft Clip Art. If you use your own frogs, resize the images so they are no more than 2″ wide, and a uniform height. (Ed. 11/11: I am no longer sharing my clip art files due to copyright concerns, so I’ve taken down the link to the photos. However, if you search in Microsoft Word clip art you may find the original files I started with.)

Take each strip and wrap it around the tube. What I did was match the ends, then crease the paper where it met the tube. Don’t glue it yet!

When you have the creases on the strips, you can draw on some “speckles” to the center portion, on what will be the outside of the ring. I also tried gluing a strip of wax paper to the center portion on what would be the “inside” of the paper ring. I was thinking it might make the ring easier to slide around the tube, but now that I did it, I’m not sure it makes a big difference.

Cut a 2 x 12 inch strip of blue construction paper, and cut “waves” along one edge.

Take your brown strips and glue the top and bottom sections together so that your speckles are on the outside and the wax paper is on the inside. You’ll have a ring with a flap on top.

Then, cut out your adorable frogs, and cut your blue strip into 2-inch sections. Hold a ring so the flap is on top, and glue the frog on, right-side-up. Flip the ring upside down, and glue a wave section onto the other side. Remember, you want the tips of your waves to be near the ring, so they will be right-side-up when you slide the ring around the tube. Check out the picture to make sure you’ve got it:

Trim off the extra flap at the top of each ring.

Carefully slide the five rings onto the tube. Make sure your frogs are all facing the same direction!

Looks like they all jumped into the pool!

Hear the tune and the words to this song over here.

I’m trying to think of other songs or stories you could use this type of prop for. I guess any “Five Little Whatsit” rhyme would work! Do you have any ideas?

If you make your own Storytime Paper Towel Tube Song Prop Thingy, let me know! I’d love to post a photo of yours here too, or link to a post on your blog.