Flannel Friday: Have I mentioned that I LOVE Pete the Cat

I will be the first to admit that I am slightly obsessed with Pete the Cat.  And, it seems very appropriate that this, being my 100th post (YAY!!!), is all about Pete!  I was very sad when I had to leave my collection of 3 Petes (yes three, one even had a change of clothes) behind when I changed jobs.  So, I knew that it would not be long before I would be making more Petes.

Earlier this week I offered to do a very last minute story time for my daughter's pre-school Valentine's Party. The room parent needed some activities so I offered up my services.  But, there were not many Valentine books left being that I offered on Monday, the party was Wednesday, and Valentine's Day is Thursday.  I decided to do a Valentine's / Books that I love theme.  Our books were Big Smelly Bear by Britta Teckentrup and Waking Beauty by Leah Wilcox  (this was my Valentines-y book as it involves kissing, kind of).

For my flannel story I decided to adapt the Gingerbread Pete the Cat (based on Pete the Cat and his four groovy buttons by Eric Litwin) that I made at Christmas.  It was really easy to adapt, instead of having gum drop buttons I made candy heart buttons (if I still had the previous Pete I made all that I would have needed to make were new buttons).  You can read the original post here, basically instead of having the buttons pop off like in the book I eat them because they look so delicious!

I did give the 'new Pete' an iced belly to hide the velcro dots.  And he has licorice whiskers this time instead of peppermint.  The kids really enjoyed this story.  I was a bit dismayed when I told them I made a cookie based on my favorite book character Pete and one little boy said 'like from Mickey?'  I guess for the next show and tell day we will be sending a book along!

After I ate the first button the kids all wanted to eat a button too.  So, I would hold it out and they would all pretend to nibble it along with me.  And they all really enjoyed singing with me:

My buttons, my buttons, 
I love my candy buttons! 
My buttons, my buttons,
I love my candy buttons!

And when all of his candy buttons get eaten, we replace them with plastic ones and Pete says:

My buttons, my buttons,
You can't eat my plastic buttons!
My buttons, my buttons,
You can't eat my plastic buttons!

All in all, the new version of Pete was a hit.  You could use it with a cookie or food theme too, he could have chocolate chip buttons, jelly bean buttons, maybe broccoli buttons!  The possibilities could go on and on...

This week's round-up can be found with Katie at storytime katie.  Check Pinterest for a very organized and visual display of all Flannel Friday posts, or visit the Flannel Friday blog for all kinds of Flannel Friday information, tips, and links.

Flannel Friday: Flannel board on the fly

I have been at my new job for about a month now (though I am part time so really it feels like less) and I am still catching on to where things are.  I think when my job-share partner was showing me around she showed me a smaller flannel board to hold easily, but on Monday she was not there and I had no idea where it was.  The only flannel board that I could find was part of a large easel and not really appropriate for my baby time.

So, I decided to just make one.  It really did not take much time at all.  At first I planned to cut a piece of cardboard to the size that I wanted.  But, as I was scrounging around for a good piece of cardboard I came across this kind of old binder.  Since there were several spares in a cupboard and this one had really gunky stuff all over the one side I figured it would be ok to cut apart.  The front was the perfect size for a small flannel board, and BONUS - it has a pocket to store the pieces in!

I took my binder cover and found some felt that would fit.  Ideally I would have used a light blue for a 'sky' background, but there was none on hand so I went with an off white.  One sheet of flannel did not cover the whole binder, so I just cut some green to look hillish.

To stick the flannel to the binder I used some rubber cement.  I had thought about using a glue gun, but the rubber cement will make a smooth binding where as  the glue gun will be bumpy.  I coated both the binder and the flannel with the rubber cement and stuck them together.  After a little drying - voila - quick flannel board.

I did add a little tacky glue under the green where it overlaps the white as the flannels had absorbed a lot of the rubber cement and were not sticking together.  And, were I to do this again I might cut the white to match the green a little better so there is not that ridge, but it is really not that big of a deal.

I would say it took maybe 30 minutes to get this made (and that probably includes rounding up the supplies) and I let it dry for a little while.  But, if needed you could whip one out to be ready in an hour.

I also have an actual flannel to share this week.  We have a monthly program where kids come to play with some toys and we put out a few crafts and activities.  I decided that I would love for the kids to have some flannels to play around with.  I had seen this idea from a blog while browsing Pinterest and decided to make some of my own boards to put out in the library.  The original poster made individual flannel pages for her kids to play with and I thought that would be a great literacy tool.  So, I made a fish flannel.

I have some rhymes and songs to put out with the fish.  All of the pieces come off so they can move them all around and tell a story if they like.  One side of the fish are decorated as fish and the flip side is numbered so they can count them.  And, of course, I can add them to the flannel collection to use in story time as well!

You can find this week's round-up with Courtney at Miss Courtney Meets Bobo.  All things Flannel Friday can be found on the blog and all flannels are shared via Pinterst.