Happy Flannel Friday! On a Saturday. Because lately, that’s how I roll. Get it? Lately? As in I’m late with this post? Ha ha? (Sorry, too many long nights doing homework!)
Although I don’t do holiday themes for storytimes, I do usually do a birds and or migration/hibernation themed storytime in November. I just love busting out this fun audience participation flannel!
There’s many different flannel versions of our fine feathered friend, but mine is called “Tommy the Turkey.” It’s got a nice beat to pat or clap along to! I also encourage the grown ups to talk about the color feather their child has as I’m passing them out. What color is it? Can they find that color on their clothes? In the room? It helps manage the controlled chaos that is passing out props during storytime!
Tommy the Turkey
to the tune of “Alice the Camel”
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Tommy the turkey has no feathers,
Tommy the turkey has no feathers,
Tommy the turkey has no feathers,
And poor Tommy’s cold!
(ask audience to bring up blue feathers)
Now Tommy the turkey has blue feathers,
Tommy the turkey has blue feathers,
Tommy the turkey has blue feathers,
But Tommy’s still cold!
(repeat with other colors, until…)
Tommy the turkey has lots of feathers,
Tommy the turkey has lots of feathers,
Tommy the turkey has lots of feathers,
Now go, Tommy, go!
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Credit: Original
Pattern: click here
With toddlers I stick to colors, but with preschoolers I incorporate a little more early math skills. After bringing up our first round of feathers, I ask the kiddos how many feathers they think Tommy has now. After we estimate, we count and then sing “Tommy the Turkey has 5 feathers.” I repeat this after each time we add feathers, so we also practice counting up from different numbers. As in, “Tommy had 5 blue feathers, we added more yellow feathers, let’s count how many we have together now!” So on and so forth.
This is a more accurate representation of Tommy after toddlers have helpfully added his feathers. 🙂
Thanks to Shawn at Read, Rhyme and Sing for hosting this week! To learn more about the fantastic and fun Flannel Friday initiative, I encourage you to check out the blog, Facebook group and Pinterest pages!
