Flannel Friday: Gingerbread Friends

HAPPY 

FLANNEL

FRIDAY!

I hope you are all having a wonderful day! 

This has been a busy week but it has also been an especially fun one, too!

We have had lots of new visitors ~ of the tiny tots and preschoolers types ~ at our library all week long. They have been so adorable that it has inspired me to start a new #hashtag on Twitter in honor of them. 

If you are one Twitter, just look for me ~ @StorytimeFun ~ or for #LibraryCuties. 

If you aren't on Twitter yet, I highly recommend that you try it out. You will find lots of ideas and interesting conversations for #Librarians and for others who work with young children (#ECE) including young parents. :o)

Oh, and we also have our own #FlannelFriday hashtag, too. (Bet you wondered where I was going with all this Twitter talk, huh? I also bet you didn't think it had anything to do with felt and Flannel Friday but ~ it did!!!)

So... 
come join in on all of the fun Twitter conversations!

Okay, let's get on with this week's Flannel Friday contribution:

We have been having an exciting time with Nursery Rhymes and Fairytales at my Library for the past few weeks. Last night was our culminating program. 

It was our Mother Goose Pajama Party featuring our very own version of the Gingerbread Boy! Yum! Yum!

I was inspired to do our new version by a resource book that I have had sitting on my desk for quite some time. It is such a wonderful book that I think all Storytime presenters (teachers, childcare providers, and parents) should at least take a peek inside its covers. 

This wonderful book is:

FingerTales

written by Joan Hilyer Phelps

As I was searching for Gingerbread Men ideas and Cookie ideas, I scanned the contents page and found BOTH! 

JACKPOT!

Combining the two topics, I came up with this version of the Gingerbread Boy (full written script available on request):

There was a little old lady and a little old man...

Don't you love the way the oven door opens and allows our Gingerbread Boy to look like he is popping out? I had fun tweaking the pattern to make that work. :o)

The Gingerbread Boy hopped out of the oven and ran...

The Gingerbread Boy ran by a black and white Cow
 chewing on grass in the green pasture...

The Gingerbread Boy ran by a brown Horse
munching on hay near the old red barn...

The Gingerbread Boy ran by a pink Pig
snuffling at its empty trough...

The Gingerbread Boy ran by a white Dog
by the kitchen door sniffing for food...

The Gingerbread Boy ran by a gray cat
in the flowerbed searching for a mouse...

And, as the story goes, none of them could catch the Gingerbread Boy as he ran past them calling, "Run, run, as fast as you can. You can't catch me. I'm the Gingerbread Man!"

Soon, the Gingerbread Boy saw a:

Fox coming across a field. 
The Fox began to run after him...

The Gingerbread Boy ran faster and faster until he came to a river and...

since the Gingerbread Boy could not swim, the Fox offered to...

Take the Gingerbread Boy across the river on his tail.

But when the water got deeper, the Fox suggested that:

The Gingerbread Boy climb onto his back
so he wouldn't fall off.

As the Fox swam further across the river, the water rose higher. The Fox worried that the Gingerbread Boy might get wet so he suggested that:

The Gingerbread Boy climb onto his head.

Finally, they reached the other side of the river. When they had climbed onto the shore, the Fox threw back his head and...

Gobbled up the Gingerbread Boy! Yum! Yum!

I know, I know! I spoiled the ending for you but I had to share the surprise of the Gingerbread Boy IN the Fox's mouth. I was so excited when I figured it all out.

It is actually too simple for words but here's how I did it:  I cut along the Fox's mouth line then I was able to slide the Gingerbread Boy into his mouth. 

I am really easy to excite, aren't I? 

Weeeell, in my defense, my storytime friends were just as excited about that part as I was!

By the way, did I mention that the patterns for this story were found in the book shared above? They are! 

Some of the patterns are in the "Cookies" chapter and the rest are in the "Gingerbread Men" chapter. They are simple patterns that can be enlarged to whatever size you want. Then simply cut them out of construction paper and laminate for the magnetic board or out of felt for the flannel board. I also like to make copies for each of my storytime friends to take home, color and cut, and use to retell the story.

I also have another activity for these pieces. I found it in the "Cookie" chapter and tweaked it so that I could use it as an extension activity for this storytime. It is my Gingerbread Friends version of Who Stole the Cookies From the Cookie Tray? Click here for the game.

The title of this post mentions "Gingerbread Friends" and "Flannel" so I will share a sneak peek at another Gingerbread Man extension activity that I will be posting about soon.

Here are my adorable little Gingerbread Friends that absolutely delighted my storytime friends last night:

Very simple to make from felt, glue, and brads.
Plus they are very versatile and easily used for
lots of learning activities like 
color recognition, counting,
and so much more!

I will have a "how I made my Gingerbread Friends" post up very soon since they are one of the items that I sent to one of my swap partners in our First Annual Storytime Swap. (Boy, I have a lot more typing to do, don't I?)

The swap  was such a wonderful experience! It was so successful that I have had many requests to do another one. Planning is underway for the next one and it will be announced this week. Be sure to check out the posts about our first swap and then come on back next week to find out how you can join in our next one!

Have a wonderful weekend!

And, as always,

HAPPY READING TOGETHER!

This week's Flannel Friday Round-Up is being hosted by Ann at So Tomorrow.

And I will be pinning all the awesome contributions from this week's Round-Up on Flannel Friday's very own Pinterest boards. :o) Stop by and enjoy all of our beautiful flannels and creative storytime ideas.