While it is probably late for Valentine's flannel stories, I just had to re-share this one. For the Valentine edition of Flannel Friday
Miss Cate at Storytiming shared her flannel version of Matt Novak's My froggy valentine. I ran across it last week when looking for something to use for my Valentine theme this week and it was too cute to pass up. Also, if you happen to need a Valentine flannel for next week and have a frog dye-cut you could probably whip up your own version fairly quickly.
This story is a cute take on the story of the Princess and the Frog. We did not actually have the book at my library (nor did any libraries I had access to though ILL) so I had to modify some and based my re-telling on Cate's post and reviews that I could find for the book. All of the flannel pieces have 2 sides, so when you say 'Poof' (or whatever you want to use) you flip them over (which is why this one is actually made of flannel). Also, Polly has some kissing lips that you put on each frog as she kisses him. As I told it:
Princess Polly was lonely and she decided that she really wanted to meet a prince. The problem was that she spent most of her time down at the pond, so all she met were frogs.
One day she was telling the frogs about how lonely she was and how much she wanted to meet a prince. The frogs informed her that they were, in fact, princes under spells that could be broken if she kissed them. Being that Polly knew her fairytales, she decided to give it a try, so she puckered up and gave the first frog a BIG kiss. (Here I had all of the kids make kissing sounds). And, poof! The frog turned into...
... a hairy beast! 'You are not a prince,' cried Polly, 'you are a hairy beast!'
'True,' replied the Hairy Beast, 'but I am Prince of all hairy beasts!'
But, Polly was not looking for the Prince of Hairy Beasts so she decided to give the second frog a kiss. (Kissing noises from the kids again). And, poof!
... an ogre! 'You are an ogre, not a prince' said Polly.
'No, I am the prince of ogres,' replied the Ogre.
But, Polly was not looking for an Ogre prince, so she went ahead and kissed the third frog. (Kissing sounds). And, poof!
... a toad stool! (From what I could find the book has a goblin here, but I already had decided that I wanted a toadstool. Not sure why, maybe to much Mario Bros as a kid? Either way he is my favorite and got lots of 'awwwws' from the parents.) 'Let me guess,' said Polly, 'you are prince of the toadstools?'
'Yep,' said the Toadstool, 'marry me?'
'No thanks,' said Polly.
She turned to the last frog. At this point she was really sick of kissing frogs, but there was only one left so why not try. She puckered up... (kissing sounds) and, poof!
Princess Polly turned into a frog! 'You are in luck,' the last frog told her, 'for I am Prince of the Frogs and you can be my princess!'
And the two frogs hooped happily away together!
Anyone feel like kissing a frog?
You can find this week's round-up all the way across the pond (if you are in the States like I am) with Library Quine at
Loons and Quines @ Librarytime, a history of round-ups with Anne at
Sotomorrow or you can have a visual feast of flannel at Pinterest by clicking on the Flannel Friday button to your right.
LOVE this -- reminds me of those Red Riding Hood dolls taht you flip over and there's granny and the wolf under her skirt.
ReplyDeleteThis makes me want to read the book -- which is the best of compliments!! Nice!
ReplyDeleteI need to find a copy of this book so I can make this flannel board quick! This is so cute--I think the kids would get a kick out of it!
ReplyDeleteVery well done! I am hoping we have a frog diecut so I can make this tomorrow for my Sunday Spectacular event this month which is a Royal Valentine Party. This story would be a perfect addition and your pictures have helped me visualize what I want to do. Can I get it done in time?!??! :-} Wish me luck!
ReplyDeleteOh that's a lot of fun - one of the reasons I often don't do princess story times is that I can't seem to find any preschool read aloud books that have people of color in them. But I COULD make my flannelboard princess any shade I wanted, I just realized.
ReplyDeleteI found the book! I found the book! And it is at my closest library ~ from my house, too. But I work at my library all day tomorrow. :-{ I'll have to see if they stay open later than we do. Fingers crossed!
ReplyDeleteErica, I love your idea of changing the princess's skin tone. My storytime friends are of many different nationalities and skin tones. It would be simple enough to make that change for this story and others, too. Thank you for mentioning that idea.
What a clever flannel! Well done!
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the compliments! And I'm glad someone was able to find the book. It was kind of weird making a flannel story without having read the book. You'll have to let me know how it compares!
ReplyDeleteWhoever was looking to make it for Sunday, I got it done in under 2 hours. Having the dye cut helped, but I did have to trace the frog head so that the flip side did not have eyes and mouth.
Very cute! I love how you can flip the pieces over to keep the story going. So smart.
ReplyDeleteYou did such an awesome job, I LOVE it!
ReplyDeleteThis is so cute. I'm going to have to add this to my line-up.
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