Mel's Desk

I am working on refreshing our “Build It” storytime resource pack this week, and when I opened it up, I found a laminated magnet set of building blocks! These are photo images, printed & laminated, with a magnet on the back.

What a fun open-ended storytime idea!

I know not every branch has a magnet board, so I made a set of flannel shapes to go along with. I made 3×3 squares and 3×5 rectangles. The triangles are cut from 3×5 rectangles and the half-circles are cut from 2×4 rectangles.

You can hand out one or two blocks to each child, and have them come up and “build” a castle on your flannelboard.

You could build a bridge instead, and think with the kids first about what you’ll need to make the bridge (a support or ramp on each end, then a flat horizontal section in the middle). You could build a monster or robot together! Or you could have them bring all the rectangle blocks up first, then all the squares, and so forth, and just put them on the board without “building” anything. With the flannel shapes, you can have the kids sort by color as well. That might be good for a toddler group, rather than trying to coordinate one project.

This goes well in a Construction or a Building storytime, but you could pull this out for other storytimes too. You could make a car or a rocket together for Things That Go, or a castle in a Royalty storytime, or play with them during a Colors or Shapes storytime.

Update 11/17: I learned this week that the building blocks photo set was developed, created, and added to our Build It storytime kit by my colleague Julie! Julie’s the one who shared her shoebox-and-clothespin Storybox idea with us this past summer. Thank you, Julie!

The round up this week is on Sharon’s blog Rain Makes Applesauce. (If you have a contribution, leave a comment on her round up post with a link to your post. If you can’t include it by the end of the day Friday, go ahead and wait to join next week’s round up. This will make sure the most number of people see your post! If you are on Twitter, post your link, and use the #flannelfriday hashtag and also @readingchick)

Round up archives and host schedule is at So Tomorrow. Visually scan all the Flannel Friday posts at Pinterest. Talk about storytime and flannelboards at the Flannel Friday Facebook Page. Follow Flannel Friday on Twitter with the #flannelfriday hashtag. (You don’t have to be on Twitter to check this out.) Last but not least, if you’re a contributer, grab the blog button in the right hand menu here at Mel’s Desk!

Recently, my tech support department (aka my husband) asked me if I really had permissions to share my clip art files with you on Mel’s Desk. I went searching out the service agreements…and decided I probably didn’t. Yes, clip art is meant to be used and distributed, but only when it’s a small part of the final product (one image on a blog post or newsletter, for example). You can’t redistribute Microsoft clip art if the final product is primarily the images themselves…which is exactly what I’d been doing.

So this weekend I went through and pulled down all the links to my clip art flannelboard files. Since I want to continue to provide grab-and-go flannelboard sets, as we go forward I will work on developing more of my own patterns and cut-paper images to share.

If you have any questions about any of the clip art sets you see here, please leave me a comment and I will try to share some tips for creating your own file.

I love sharing and am sorry to take this step, but I’m excited about creating more of my own things instead!

Also, check out Mary’s recent post, with links to other clip art resources online.

From The Microsoft Service Agreement at
http://explore.live.com/microsoft-service-agreement

17. Office.com and Office Web App media elements and templates
If you use Microsoft Office.com or the Microsoft Office Web Apps, you may have access to media images, clip art, animations, sounds, music, video clips, templates, and other forms of content (“media elements”) provided with the software available on Office.com or as part of a service associated with the software. You may copy and use the media elements in projects and documents. You may not: (i) sell, license, or distribute copies of the media elements by themselves or as a product if the primary value of the product is the media elements; (ii) grant your customers rights to further license or distribute the media elements; (iii) license or distribute for commercial purposes media elements that include the representation of identifiable individuals, governments, logos, trademarks, or emblems or use these types of images in ways that could imply an endorsement or association with your product, entity or activity; or (iv) create obscene works using the media elements. For more information, see the Use of Microsoft Copyrighted Content webpage (http://www.microsoft.com/permission).

Earlier this week I posted about adapting stories to the flannelboard, and one of the examples I dug out of my files was a set for The Tortoise and the Hare, so today I’m sharing the pattern.

You can see I have red strips to make the path of the race course, which you can add or not (they’re not in the pattern). In this version of the story, the tortoise and the hare start the race, and along the way the hare is distracted by a carrot, a cool puddle to splash in when he gets hot, and a shady bush he naps under when he’s tired. The tortoise, of course, just keeps plugging along regardless.

Since with this board the animals move both from left to right at the beginning of the race and right to left at the end, I drew the black outlines (and glued black felt squares) to both sides of the felt pieces, so each animal could face both directions. The sleeping hare is just drawn on one side.

To make a shorter version of the story, just lay out one strip of felt for the race course, and use only the shady bush as a distraction.

Here’s the pattern!

I think I will work on a set for Three Billy Goats Gruff next!

The round up this week is on Anne’s blog So Tomorrow. (If you have a contribution, leave a comment on her round up post with a link to your post. If you can’t include it by the end of the day Friday, go ahead and wait to join next week’s round up. This will make sure the most number of people see your post! If you are on Twitter, post your link, and use the #flannelfriday hashtag and also @sotomorrow)

Round up archives and host schedule is at So Tomorrow. Visually scan all the Flannel Friday posts at Pinterest. Talk about storytime and flannelboards at the Flannel Friday Facebook Page. Follow Flannel Friday on Twitter with the #flannelfriday hashtag. (You don’t have to be on Twitter to check this out.) Last but not least, if you’re a contributer, grab the blog button in the right hand menu here at Mel’s Desk!

Recently Cate asked us some great questions about how we choose to adapt stories to the flannelboard, and I am finally getting a chance to answer one of them!

I have to admit that I don’t think of adapting picture books into flannelboard sets very often, mostly because the only storytime I do these days is a baby storytime, and I think most flannel stories are a little too long for that crowd. When I do have a chance to present toddler and preschool storytimes, I am so excited about the chance to share “big kid” books that I read as many as I can, and choose shorter rhymes and songs for my flannelboard activities.

However, I do have a couple of flannelboard stories in my repertoire, so I’m going to tackle one of Cate’s questions about the “Flannelizing” process. She asked, “What makes something Flannelizable?” Specifically, “Why did I choose these stories?”

When I do consider adapting a story, I ask a few questions. The first couple of questions are, “Do I like this story?” and “Is this story too long for storytime?” Once I decide Yes and No, then I keep going.

Are there not too many characters or objects in the story?

For one thing, I don’t want to have to make too many pieces, since making flannelboards can be labor-intensive. Also, I don’t want to have to keep track of too many pieces as I tell the story (my lap can only handle so many of them before they start abandoning ship and falling to the floor), and I don’t want the kids to have to keep track of too many pieces, either.

I made a Gingerbread Boy set for my daughter’s preschool once. They were reading Jan Brett’s “Gingerbread Baby” at the time, so I made pieces that matched up exactly to that version. This set was intended for the kids to play with after they’d read the story, so they could make up their own Gingerbread Boy story or retell parts or all of the Jan Brett book. There were a LOT of pieces…the boy, the gingerbread baby, the girls at the well, the cat, the fox…

(I am SO SURE I took a photo before I gave the set to the school, but that was 10 years ago and I can’t find it!)

If I were going to tell this story on a flannelboard in storytime, I would adapt it, and use fewer characters…maybe the gingerbread baby, the goat, the cat, and the fox.

Will the story make sense if the felt pieces are fairly static on the board?

For my presentation style, there’s a difference between a flannelboard story and a puppet show. In the puppet show, I use the motion of the puppet to help show an emotion or an action. In a flannelboard, the pieces are smaller, and my style is to keep them on the board–where they’re not hidden by my hand and where everyone can see them. If I’m going to be tempted to move the pieces around in the air to get my point across, then flannel is not the best medium for me to tell that story.

Think about the Three Billy Goats Gruff: I would tell this story with the 3 goats, the bridge, and the troll as my pieces. The bridge would go up first, and then when the first billy goat was going across, I’d just put him on the board on the bridge…I wouldn’t “walk” him across the bridge, or wiggle him when he was talking to the troll. He’d just stay on the bridge while I put the troll up and told their part of the story. Then I’d move the first billy goat from the bridge to the other side, and put the 2nd billy goat on the bridge.

This is just my style! It’s not the right way or the wrong way. But since it is my style, I’m going to be looking for stories that will make sense as a series of static scenes like this.

Are the characters or objects fairly distinct from one another?

Flannel pieces are small, and the level of detail for each piece is usually pretty low. I don’t want kids to have to tell the difference between, say, a donkey and a horse, in order to make sense of the story. So I want to make sure that the pieces are unique, and easily recognizable as whatever they’re supposed to be.

In the Tortoise and the Hare, there’s a pretty clear difference between a white bunny and a green turtle, even without a lot of detail involved. And they’re the only two pieces you really need to tell the story, as well. In this case, I added in red lines for the race course, a carrot, a pool, and a shady bush (to distract the hare), and a blue ribbon; different shapes for all of them.

Can I use the illustrations in the book as a pattern, or am I going to have to design them or search them out myself? If there is a pattern available, do I like it?

This is partly a time issue, and partly a visual issue.

In terms of time, can I just take the book to the photocopier and have my patterns ready to go? Or is it going to take me longer investment of time to search for a ready-made pattern online, or find clipart I can use as patterns for the characters and objects, or design my own patterns.

In terms of visuals, it’s simply that I want to like the flannelboard set I make! If I don’t find the available patterns appealing, or I know it’s beyond my artistic capabilities to design patterns that I will be satisfied with, I’m not going to want to spend the time and effort to make the pieces.

Recently I shared the set I made for The Mouse and the Apple. In this case, I loved the round, clean shapes of the animals, loved Butler’s distintive style, and knew they wouldn’t be too detailed to make out of felt. I just photocopied pages of the book, and used those photocopies as is for my patterns.

So that’s some of the thinking I do before I adapt a story to the flannelboard. I’d love to hear if there’s a question you ask that I haven’t thought of!

Telling "The Mouse and the Apple" at my daughter's preschool

*Sorry about the title. I grew up reading the column “Can This Marriage Be Saved?” in my mom’s Ladies’ Home Journals.

Or, In Which I Go A Little Overboard But Have a Really Good Time!

I’m going to try Where Is Catkin? by Janet Lord in my Pets baby storytime this fall, less because I think it’s a great book for storytime (it has lots of details my babies won’t necessarily be able to see much of across the room), but because I love it so much I want the grown-ups to know about it. I think it makes a great story to share one-on-one, even with toddlers, since the colors are so rich and the details and hidden animals are not too hard to spot, especially with a little direction.

I usually sing a pet store version of “Down Around the Corner” for this storytime, and thought it would be fun to sing it with some of the different animals in the book. Having decided that, I wanted to use Paschkis’ marvelous illustrations as my patterns. Once I had all the colored felt in front of me, I decided I could use a little craft project for the week, and so I got out my needle and thread to make the black outlines instead of a Sharpie (which is what I typically use).

So the project snowballed a bit, but I’m super happy with how it turned out.

There’s a few things you can do with a set like this! I mentioned “Down Around the Corner,” but you could also sing, “One little cat went out to play / In a meadow one fine day / She had such enormous fun / that she called for another animal to come.” Sing it to “Five Little Ducks Went Out To Play.”

You could also play I Spy, since in the book Catkin is on the hunt for all the other animals. You could tuck the smaller animals behind the leaves, with just a little bit showing, like this:

And then say, “Catkin is looking for a frog! Where’s the frog?” And see if the kids can guess which leaf is hiding the frog just from the little bit that is peeking out. With younger kids, you could hide the animals completely behind the leaves, and say, “Catkin is looking for the mouse! Is the mouse behind THIS leaf? No! This is the…snake!”

The round up this week is on Tracey’s blog 1234 More Storytimes. (If you have a contribution, leave a comment on her round up post with a link to your post. If you can’t include it by the end of the day Friday, go ahead and wait to join next week’s round up. This will make sure the most number of people see your post!)

Round up archives and host schedule is at So Tomorrow. Visually scan all the Flannel Friday posts at Pinterest. Talk about storytime and flannelboards at the Flannel Friday Facebook Page. Follow Flannel Friday on Twitter with the #flannelfriday hashtag. (You don’t have to be on Twitter to check this out.) Last but not least, if you’re a contributer, grab the blog button in the right hand menu here at Mel’s Desk!

Have a great week!

So last week I finished an original pattern for train cars, and shared a rhyme. And I promised THIS week I’d actually MAKE the pattern! Plus I thought I’d talk about the process I use to come up with original flannelboard patterns. Hint: It involves nothing fancy, and LOTS of copying and tracing and incremental adjustments.

Here’s the finished train cars! The rhyme I adapted is on last week’s post. Here’s my Train Car pattern (pdf).

One adjustment I can see now that I’ve got all the finished pieces in one place: The engine needs to be bigger! If you’re going to make this set, either shrink down the rest of the cars on your photocopier, or increase the size of the engine.

Now, how did I get here?

I Don’t Bite Off More Than I Can Chew

Whenever I’m considering whether to make my own patterns, first I look at what I’m trying to create. Is it made up of basic shapes? Is there iconic imagery I can tap into? If the answers are yes, I will give making my own patterns a try. If the images are complex, and unique, then maybe I will look for a template somewhere else. I have some basic drafting and composition skills, but I’m not really an artist. So I will be more successful if there are lots of “crutches” I can use to make the patterns I want. And my personal crutches are basic shapes and cliches.

This is what I mean: Train cars, if you look at them, can be broken down pretty easily into basic shapes like rectangles and circles. There are also standard, familiar, iconic “train car” images that many people are familiar with…Think of Thomas the Tank Engine or The Little Engine That Could. If I can see the basic shapes and come up with a couple of those “cliches,” then I can use them to create a pattern someone else will recognize as a train car, even if there’s not a lot of artistic flair involved.

I did the same thing when I made the Castle Set. Princess = triangle hat (shape) and little veil (cliche). Castle = rectangles (shape) with crenellations (cliche) on top.

I Thank Goodness for Google Image Search

Then I do a few Google Image Searches. I typed in “train engine” and “caboose” and “passenger car” and looked at a collection of the photos and clip art at once. I was looking for specific details: I know I want a smokestack on the front of my train engine, but where is it? And how big is it? When I looked at the passenger cars, I didn’t know yet what detail would set them apart from the other cars, but in the Image Search I noticed that many of the cars had rounded roofs.

Then with all the images on the screen in front of me, I make my first rough sketches. I’m not trying for anything fancy, just working on getting those basic shapes and those cliché pieces in place. These are sketched on the back of 3×5 index cards:

I Start Tracing, and Tracing, and Tracing

Now I stop looking at the image search results and just work from my rough drafts. For the train cars, I traced a 4 x 6 index card onto a sheet of paper, and sketched out my basic pattern into the rectangle. The 4 x 6 outline does a couple of things: I can use it to help me figure out where some of my lines need to go and to keep them square to each other, and it keeps my finished patterns all relatively the same size.

Once I rough out my basic shape in pencil, then I put another sheet of paper over the pencil lines and trace it with a marker. This cleans up the image and I can see easily what I want to fix. In this case, once I saw the train engine in marker, I realized I’d put the front wheels all the way under the cowcatcher. Then I put a sheet of paper over my first marker tracing, and trace again. As I’m tracing, I move the first marker sketch around under the top sheet to make adjustments. So this time when I got to those front wheels, I moved the bottom sheet over, and traced them where I wanted them.

Is this making sense? I’m trying to show that after the first sketch, my process does not involve any freehand drawing. By tracing over and over, I can use parts of the first sketch that turned out well, and make adjustments to the parts that didn’t. If the wheel was too small the first time, I don’t have to freehand another wheel and hope that it turns out bigger, I can trace a larger wheel over the first one. If I’m being a terrible circle-draw-er that day, I can trace a punched shape or a circle template instead of freehanding. If the window turned out to be in the wrong place, I just scoot the bottom sheet over until the window is where I want it, and trace it into a new spot on the fresh copy.

Using marker for my tracing steps keeps me from adding in too many details; I want to be able to cut these pieces out of felt, after all.

When I’m finally satisfied with how my traced patterns look (and this can take a LOT of repetitions) then I make one final tracing, and photocopy it, and use the photocopy to cut my felt.

Anna had a nice post about making her own pattern for the book How Do I Put It On?

How do you make your own patterns?

Flannel Friday Resources:

The round up this week is on Mollie’s What Happens in Storytime… blog. (If you have a contribution, leave a comment on her round up post with a link to your post. If you can’t include it by the end of the day Friday, go ahead and wait to join next week’s round up. This will make sure the most number of people see your post!)

Round up archives and host schedule is at So Tomorrow. Visually scan all the Flannel Friday posts at Pinterest. Talk about storytime and flannelboards at the Flannel Friday Facebook Page. Follow Flannel Friday on Twitter with the #flannelfriday hashtag. (You don’t have to be on Twitter to check this out.) Last but not least, if you’re a contributer, grab the blog button in the right hand menu here at Mel’s Desk!