Flannel Friday: One of These Things…

I started working on a storytime post and then realized that I have never shared the accompanying flannel! Oops.

Flannelboard: Three groups of three. A soccer ball, tennis ball and kite; an orange, a donut and a pizza slice; and the letters O, B and L.

This basic flannel always generates giggles and great conversation! I usually just grab pieces from various existing flannel sets that share common attributes (with one notable difference). In this example, I grabbed 3 outside play objects, 3 food objects and 3 letters.

You COULD use this flannel with the classic Sesame Street song:

One Of These Things

One of these things is not like the others.

One of these things doesn’t belong.

Can you tell which thing is not like the others

By the time I finish this song?”

CREDIT: SESAME STREET

…although I personally have stopped singing this song in storytime because I am uncomfortable implying that something doesn’t belong because it is different. Sorting and grouping objects by various attributes is an important early math skill, but I think it can be done without encouraging exclusion.

So we simply have a conversation as I put pieces on the board. Our conversation might go like this:

Soccer balls are round… tennis balls are round… and kites are round!

(pause to let kids yell no)

NO! Well, some kites might be round. But this kite isn’t. What shape is this kite? That’s right, it’s a diamond, or a rhombus.

Oranges are round… donuts are round… and pizza slices are round!

(pause)

NO! What shape is this pizza slice? That’s right, it’s a triangle. A triangle has three sides.

Letter O is round… Letter B is round… and Letter L is round!

(pause)

NO! Letter L doesn’t have any round parts. Letter L is a straight line down and a straight line across!

Sometimes I mix the objects up even more (e.g. the first line would be Letter O is round, Oranges are round, Soccer Balls are round…) and then have the kids help me sort all the objects in another way.

I’ve done this flannel focusing on colors, shapes and size. It’s always a big hit with the preschool crowd!

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