There were five in the bed and the little one said 'roll over, roll over.'
So they all rolled over and one fell out!
Repeat with 4, 3, 2, then...
There was one in the bed and that little one said 'I'm lonely.'
So they all got back in and fell fast asleep!
The first time I did this I just pulled the bears off of the board, but that was no fun because then they were 'falling out' from the middle of the bed. So, I decided to try and rig it so that they would fall out.
I took a strip of felt and made sure that it was long enough to wrap around the flannel board. It does not have to be really tight, you need to be able to make it move - plus, the felt stretches after a few uses. I put velcro at the end to better help hold it together. You place the bears on this strip so that as you sing you can pull the strip and they 'roll over.'
Then, I placed a craft stick at one end hoping that once they would get to the stick and it would separate the velcro from the flannel and they would pop off.
The bears did not 'pop' quite as well as I wanted. It usually worked for the first one and the rest just bunched up and I had to pull them off. So, if you have any ideas to make it work better, let me know. Maybe felt bears with no velcro? But then they may not move well... Either way, they at least move to the edge of the bed :).
Clever. It never occurred to me to actually make them roll over... I always pop em out myself. I'm sure you'll find your answer.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if you used just felt on the backs of the bears, would they stay stuck while you rotated their strap? I think the popsicle stick device should pop them off pretty easily, the trick would be keeping them on until then. Now I want to rig my own and test this out!
ReplyDeleteWhat a cute idea - because you're right... WAY more fun to see them pop off the edge than have the storyteller just pluck one off the board. Hope someone had an engineering mind and can help you perfect this awesome idea!
ReplyDeleteHow cute! Maybe with some felt on their backs, a long strip of felt along their backs that could be slowly pulled out would work?
ReplyDeleteWhen I tell this one, I just lift off each bear in turn and drop it on the floor - the kids think this is SO funny!
ReplyDeleteI was thinking they could be fixed to the strip and rotate to hide behind the bed - but then they wouldn't roll. Are you sure you don't have a degree in engineering?
ReplyDeleteI think you'd need silky fabric for the blanket and "sheet" and no velcro, so they slide easily to the side under the blanket and the bears stick lightly to the purple band from felt to felt static until it goes over the edge.
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