(Not a) Flannel Friday: Felt Ribbon Rings

Last year I posted a few times about Fourth of July storytime ideas, and one of the activities I mentioned but haven’t tried yet is ribbon rings.

Well, I am actually going to be around the week of the Fourth this year–usually we are on the road and I miss that storytime! We are definitely going to sing “It’s a Grand Old Flag,” and I figured this was as good a time as any to try some ribbon rings with my babies.

I knew I wasn’t going to have the patience to wrap ribbon all the way around 15 shower rings, and I didn’t want the lengths of ribbon to be too long, anyway. So I bought two packs of plastic shower rings and pulled out one sheet each of red, white, and blue felt.

I cut the felt vertically so I had 1/2 inch x 12 inch strips of each color. If you have some sewing tools around, a rotary cutter and a mat make this a zippy task. But scissors and a little patience work just as well.

When I had all my strips cut, I got out the rings.

Then it’s just a matter of looping your strips around the ring.

Tighten it up…loop the strips over the clasp of the ring, which will keep it from pinching little fingers and leave a smooth curve for holding on to.

Add as many strips as you like! I just did one each of red, white, and blue.

Finished set!

You can turn on the music and march while waving your ribbons, or you can see if you can make shapes in the air (squares, triangles, curvy lines, rainbows), or you can pretend to be fireworks and jump up high and shake your ribbons on the way down, or you can have older kids make the letters of their names, or you can make the ribbons move like a bunny or a snake or a bumblebee…

Have fun!

The round up is at Shawn’s place today!

Check out the Flannel Friday website!